Close Call

[Rambler 1-1 9]

Hey guys, Something interesting happened which I just feel like sharing.

 

It's finally spring up here in the Great White North, and I have been taking my beloved motorbike in to school for the last couple months. Today was the first day in months that we didn't get any homework (because of exams tomorrow), so I decided to celebrate by riding over to EB Games and buying a new game. It also happens that I have a motorcycle road test booked for Thursday, so I figured getting some practice driving in heavy traffic would be good.

 

I was approaching the big shopping center where EB Games lies, flanked by Wal-Mart and a bunch of other big stores. The traffic was a little on the heavy side, but I was holding my own. I just had one more intersection to go. It was a very stale green light, and there was a car going the other way, waiting to make a left turn across my lane (Think "right turn" for you brits). I figured he wouldn't turn in front of me, there wasn't enough space. However, as I passed the "point of no return" for stopping at the light, it turned yellow and the car pulled out in front of me.

 

There wasn't enough room to go left of it, and there was a car in the way on the right. I didn't fancy stopping in the middle of an intersection or slamming into this bozo, so I braked hard. I came to a stop midway through the crosswalk on my side of the intersection as the left-turn artist passed in front of me. Out of habit/instinct, I checked my mirrors, and I didn't like what I saw.

 

There was a large white minivan (actually, there was nothing "mini" about it...) bearing down on me from behind, breaks screaming. I twisted the throttle and dumped the clutch in an attempt to get out of the way, but before I could, the van had hit me with a crunch. With both feet still planted on the ground, I pretty much jumped off as my bike shot out from under me, propelled by the van. I fell back onto the hood of the van, which thankfully had now stopped. I have an image burned into my head of my bike (which i had rebuilt myself) crashing to the ground in the middle of the intersection. I almost cried.

 

As soon as I got my balance back, I ran over to my bike and pulled it upright. Everything seemed to be in slow motion, I guess I had a massive adrenaline rush. I pushed it off the road and stood it on it's sidestand on the sidewalk, then ran over to the van, which was still stopped in the middle of the road. I was in full gear, ie armor jacket and gloves, helmet and goggles, and I'm nothing short of 6'2, so I must have looked pretty intimidating going up to the van driver. Predictably, she didn't protest when I told her to pull off the road so we could "talk things over".

 

I'm not hurt at all, which is a miracle. Not even whiplash. The license plate bracket broke off my bike in the crash, so I had to fabricate a new one, and I had to bend the handlebars back into shape. Other then that, no damage. I love that bike.

 

My exhaust pipe scraped the van's hood pretty well, but aside from that there was no damage there. Fortunately, the woman who hit me was very cooperative, and we have settled things without going to Insurance Hell.

 

I rode the bike home fine, albeit with no license plate because it had been broken off, and with crooked handlebars. As soon as I got home, I bent the bars back straight again, and found a piece of nice thick aluminum which I bent into a new license plate bracket. Therefore, the "bodywork" repairs (aside from a dent and a few scratches in the gas tank) cost nothing at all. The person who hit me agreed to pay for a new rear tire, since the one mounted had been damaged, and I had it installed today. I have some pictures here of the bike as it is now, all repaired, as good as (or better then) new.

 

The funny thing is, even though motorcycles are generally perceived as being more dangerous then cars, I'm sure that if I were in a car, there would be hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of damage done, and I would probably have whiplash. Not so here, I'm feeling as good as ever!

 

Anyway, I'd like to pass on what I've learned from this... ordeal.

 

First, all of those who are driving, please take special care to watch for motorcyclists. I'd like to track down the guy who turned in front of me and give him a piece of my mind...

 

Second, to all of you who ride motorcycles, it's up to you to be very careful of other drivers to keep yourself safe. Even in the best situations, a motorcyclist can disappear into a blind spot in a split second.

 

Finally, anybody who dares ply the roads of doom these days, take no green light for granted! If I had slowed down a bit and given the driver behind me a bit more time to react, Maybe none of this would have happened.

 

 

Here's my new bracket, which I am rather proud of. The red circle shows where the bit that broke off was.

 

Here's the paint from the van on the underside of the exhaust pipe. Most of it has come off, but there is still some left. The pic was taken from the back of the bike looking up.

Edited April 13, 2010 by Rambler 1-1

[Slartibartfast 153]

Glad your okay over there and that there is not too much damage...

 

I am a biker over here and have been for around 15 years and I have had my fair share of interesting moments...

 

all I can say as well is be on your guard from the moment you put your gear on to the moment the bikes locked up back in the garage or where you park your bike...

 

and always remember keep it rubber side down shiny side up....

[+Dave 2,318]

I'm a biker as well and I keep my head on a swivel at all times. People just don't look for us. Glad you are ok my friend.

[TurtleHawk 6]

Yikes!!!

 

Glad you're okay.

I ride, too.

[serverandenforcer 33]

This is why I don't ride and keep an eye out for motorcycles. They're so easy to miss. However, if the bike is in front of you, there shouldn't be an excuse. It's right freaken there! Folks just don't pay attention. I always move off to the side to give room for a bike to pass by. I usually get a respectfull salute for it too. Sometimes not, but I figure it's not easy to operate a bike in thick traffic and give a guy a friendly salute at the same time.

[MaverickMike 10]

Glad you are ok. Some drivers dont seem to be as aware of bikers as they are of cars. This is especially true in the UK and the government have recently started an ad campaign on TV to push this point. The ads are particularily hard hitting which I think is a good thing.

 

Bikes are dangerous things if not treated with respect as people say... But I feel that car drivers are sometimes to blame aswel. I have strong feelings on this point as I lost two friends in a bike accident a year ago.

 

Anyway glad things turned out fine

 

Mike

[Capitaine Vengeur 263]

You should have written your three lessons in giant, bold, and underlined type. One will never repeat often enough how vital they are.

[TX3RN0BILL 3]

I must say, as a car driver, I normally try to respect bikers, and those that are driving privately I try to give them most attention, but there are also some kamikaze bike drivers out there, especially pizza and express mail deliverers, which act as if the road was theirs - and they drive for a living, which makes me wonder why they are giving bad examples - since most private bikers drive more leisurely and relaxed. Here we don't get much of waves, more like when we inch over a bit at a stop light to let a bike pass between cars when there's no space, though once I really pulled over to let a female biker pass on a Harley, she gave me a nice salute and smile. Personally, I'd never drive a crotch rocket, though I guess I wouldn't mind trying out driving a chopper or something that cruises around slowly and noisily and still gets everybody's attention - though the only motorcycle I've driven was a quad near the Grand Canyon... which convinced me that I'd be better off with 4 wheels rather than just 2... but wouldn't mind getting a quad of my own some day, who knows...

[ONETINSOLDIER 2]

You got VERY lucky my friend, be extra carefull out there now,you played the odds and won,,,,this time.

 

p.s. ,, was hit by a ford f-250 and dragged about 20 yards, 4 broken verts,,ouch

Edited April 14, 2010 by ONETINSOLDIER

[+Muesli 2,151]

Thank Pete you're okay!

I do not ride, but I drive an Austin Mini Cooper which

also is overlooked by other traffic. Eyes always open

in anticipation of some (*peep!*)-hole's antics.....

Stay safe, goes for everyone here!

[Derk 265]

Glad you were that lucky!!!! Could we please have a pic of the whole bike ??

 

Hou doe,

 

Derk

[Rambler 1-1 9]

^ I was hoping you'd ask! :P

 

This is it's good side, the gas tank is metal and took a few dents and scratches on the other side.

 

This one shows off my new bracket, and tire. You can't even tell it took a hit like it did. Built like a bridge, this thing!

 

And thanks for the sympathy, guys. I was ridiculously lucky to come away scot-free like I did.

 

For the record, the damage to the van looked like it was in excess of $1000 or so. Ha-ha!

[DWCAce 19]

Glad you're OK!

[CarlosemoG 0]

Glad you're just fine, Rambler!

I'm with TX3RN0BILL on this one. As a driver and as careful as I am with riders, there are always a few ones that nearly give me heart attacks. Back in December, on the freeway, I was being overtaken by a big BMW when this biker bolts between us pulling a wheelie, doing at least 180 Km/h! Crazy guy!

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

usafmtl::

People just don't look for us.

I try religiously. I'm a bicycle nut and I always ride BOSS cruiser with big fat tires so I ride off road when traffic is heavy, and I always keep an eye behind me on what's coming up. That's why I will never ride those skinny fast street tires. When I drive I always expect a motorcycle to be behind the canopy framing (lack of better word) when I change lanes so I bobbing my head looking for a bike in the lane next to me.

 

I plan on another truck, older F-150. Long ago I got rammed from behind at red light coming back from school -- some guys at my school (community college). After the E-Team left (one guy was hurting a little but was deemed okay) the cop writes a report and puts about 2000$ damage on the guy's car, looks at my rear bumper and starts laughing. Alot of scratches and small dents from work so I told him to put Zero down. If I recall he had to put "something" so he put like 100$ damage (I didn't claim it). We are all fine and typically I let the other guys drive off first which was a smart move because I got good view of what happened next.

 

As we pick up speed, the damaged car in front, the airflow gets into the gash in the grill under the crumpled hood of the guy's car and the hood flies up and over onto their windshield. They stop and I stop to see if they are okay but their windshield is crushed now. What 3000+$ damage now lol. They should have played Strike Fighters the night before, but this was 1990s so they couldn't do that. Trucks and Bikes are good. Anything in between WretchFest Maximus.