| Author | Message | ||
     Softailbuell |
Steve, 1. Get to court, fight it. 2. I understand entirely how you feel. Back in '95 I was going to college in Detroit and riding an old Kow KZ440 around town due to finances. As I was going across town one day, a city bus going the other direction decided to make a left hand turn in front of me (we were both pushing a yellow). I had left myself no escape options other than lock the brakes, hit the horn and ride it out. I ended up T-boning the bus at about 45mph. Lucky for me I was wearing a full face lid (gift from a freind that saved my life), as well as my UDM Letterman jacket (leather/wool - lots of insulation/padding), and cowboy boots. Long story short the bike was totaled, front tire was bent back and touching the frame behind the brake pedal, etc. As for myself gear made the difference, luckily the sides of buses are kinda "springy" for starters, also I hit the bus right on a seam and if I hadn't been wearing a full face lid it would have ripped my face off - as is the visor took the damage. The jacket absorbed a great deal of the impact, but even as such my entire right side of my body was bruised, and I had a severe concussion. Luckily the boots kept the brake pedal from eating my shin for breakfast atleast until the coverage stopped and that's where the 21 stitches and the bone chip came from. For about the next month I had problems sitting in a moving car and was terrified of intercections. It took me about 5 years to recover mentally and buy another bike. I did learn my lesson (the HARD way) and don't even think about pushing a yellow. I'm also extremely paranoid about my gear and visibility. The first thing I did when i built this bike was slap the HiD light on it as well as LED markers/tail lights. I also invested in a super loud horn complete with air compressor. My advice would be to take it slow and proceed at your own pace and comfort in regards to getting back on the bike. If you're pushing your comfort level, you might end up forgetting about something important. | ||
| Greenskpr |
Thanks guys, feel better - leg is better, court in 2 days. I've found all parts that were damaged on Ebay for under $250! Still don't feel much like riding, but I do feel like storing it and waiting out the heebie jeebies. I know I will ride again. | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
Good for you man. Glad the parts were cheap. I bet you get on sooner than you think. The bike is just to beautiful sitting there all lonely to not hop on her and ride. I know this may sound funny, but my bike was in the shop for 6 weeks and I visited her every chance I got. It was like seeing someones recovery in the hospital. The first ride away from the dealer was joyous! The bike will heal and so too will the mind. | ||
| Jlnance |
How did court go? | ||
| Greenskpr |
Court didn't go... My attorney got a better disposition from the Assistant DA. It's now a parking ticket. Went for a spin today. I need leathers. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Confession time. Not a crash, but probably should have been. I want to go public with it because at it's roots it was probably a case of me being a poser, and the best way to nip that in the bud is to publically declare myself a fool  I was coming back from Rabbit Hash (see tale section). Leading was a WERA racer on race prepped GSXR-750, Lafeyette was behind on his S3. I was on my 9sx CityX. We were on rural roads in Kentucky, some good riding there, lots of elevation changes and turns, but narrow roads with lots of gravel and defect issues you have to always watch for. When we hit the twisties, the GSXR guy would pull ahead, I would follow and keep him in sight, and Lafeyette (to his credit) would fall back a couple of turns riding at a fun but reasonable pace. We would slow down and regroup at the straight parts. We weren't getting stupid or anything, and were more or less in the speedlimit, but were riding aggressively. I was honestly not trying to outrun the GSXR guy, more then anything I wanted to watch his lines and see what I could learn. But if I am honest with myself, there was an element of "the poser" going on, trying to run with the racer, and an element of trying to "defend the brand" and show that a Buell can keep up with a Gixxer in the twisties. Both simply demonstrated me a fool. I got probably the cheapest hard learned lesson in my lifetime. Think about it, this was a WERA racer, with Dunlop GP tires, and a Dunlop sponsorship, riding on his local roads (5 miles from his house) on a GSXR-750. Sure I could learn a lot following his lines.... *ON A TRACK*.... trying to follow the guys lines down a road I don't know, on a bike I have only put 800 miles on, with street rubber, was a *fools* errand. I tracked reasonably close for the first couple miles (he was undoubtedly slowing down to keep me in sight), but we then hit a blind rise. The XB, compared to my M2, is scary fast. Every time I look down at the speedo expecting to see speed "X", I discover I am actually at speed "X + 10" or "X+20". On the M2, I probably would have hit the thing at about 30mph comfortably. I felt like that was what I was doing on the 9sx. But in reality, I don't doubt it was probably more like 45. On the other side of the blind rise was a steepish downhill (my consistent nemisis) followed by a diminshing radius right turn. Coming over the hill, I had the instant "your speed is too high for this situation" reaction, and started braking pretty smoothly (but not panic'd). Then I did what I did the last time I lowsided, and target fixated on the berm that was a straight line, and dropped anchor. It did not work this time either. I blew across the center line (just about no traffic on this road, but that is still no excuse) and right into the grassy berm on the left side of the road. I was pretty calm about the whole thing, thinking "this is the same damn way I crashed last time, and that I am going to feel like an absolute *&^%$^%& fool crashing a brand new bike, and ruining the ride for Lafeyette". Past experience has told me that the second the front wheel leaves the road at speed, the bike falls, regardless of how careful you are. Except this time it didn't. I was probably going 15 mph or so when I left the road. I manged to let off all the brakes as I transitioned from asphalt to gravel then grass, had my butt off the seat, and to not panic (any more then I had already anyway). To my total astonishment, the bike just did what I told it to do. It tracked a nice gentle arc, maybe 3 feet into the grass, and went right back on the road. The "not crashing" part happened even faster and was even more of a suprise then the "about to crash" part. Some things worked in my favor. The suspension on the 9sx is light years ahead of the Cyclone, and even the Cyclone is pretty decent. I have no idea how much better those pirelli scorpians track on grass / dirt then a normal sportbike tire, but they seemed to hold amazingly well to me. The road had maybe 1 car oncoming every 3 miles, so the odds were very much in my favor there. I was in full gear head to toe, so was not super worried about being hurt (which has some element of denial). The road did not have some huge ditch or droppoff, otherwise I would have been screwed. There was divine intervention (again!). The reality though is that this was for all intents and purposes a crash. I just happened to miss the actual crashing part. In hindsight of course, the mistakes stack up and demonstrate my foolishness. 1) Following a WERA racer on a race prepped GSXR-750 through an area he knows like the back of his hand, and that I have never ridden before. 2) The 9sx could have made the turn even at full speed, if I had the nerve to try it. You go where you look, and I looked the wrong way. 3) There was probably plenty of braking margin left. I could have / should have braked harder. 4) I was going too fast for my sightline, depending on the "if he can make it I can make it" approach. That ain't true... the accurate statement should be: "if he can make it, then he can make it". 5) The Cyclone could probably not have transitioned from a hard brake to a hard turn in the room I had available, it would have been flopping all over the place. The 9sx however, probably could have. I am the weak link in the system, and I need work. 6) I was probably trying to "defend the brand", and suffering from your basic testosterone poisening. This is foolish on soooo many levels. Things I should do as a result: 1) Work on braking in general under controlled circumstances. I doubt I am using more then 60% of the bikes capacity. 2) Work on downhill braking to get better at judging distance. 3) Work on being able to transition from a panic stop to a hard turn without loosing the front. Cram it into my muscle memory, so it becomes instinct. 4) Don't ever, under any circumstances, ride faster then my sightline can cover, unless I am on the track and have corner workers. If I must take fast turns (which I do enjoy), wait until I get to the ones I can see completely through. If thats only 5 of 20 turns on a nice piece of road, then so be it. There will be more roads tomorrow. 5) Ride my own ride. I don't have anything to prove to anyone. Just relax and enjoy the experience. 6) When riding with others, deliberately back it down a notch. Testosterone will try and speed you up, so you need to purposfully try and slow down just to break even. Anyway, like I said, it was the cheapest "hard life lesson" I have ever had... | ||
| Road_thing |
Well, cheap is good, especially if all you're out (dollar-wise) is the cost of cleaning your leathers! Thanks for the reminder, Reep, I'll bet we've all been there in some way, shape or form. I'm glad you didn't end up in plaster. rt | ||
| Henrik |
Thanks for your candor, Bill, and I'm really happy all that suffered was your pride. Been there done that. Good reminder. Henrik | ||
| Court |
Reading this is the best spent time of my day today. Should be required reading. Thank you Bill. Court | ||
| Ingemar |
Thank you for the reminder Bill. I need to thank God for a similar experience I had. Still I get carried away sometimes trying to keep with guys who have a lifetime of experience on two wheels. Most of the times I let them go, and enjoy the ride at my own pace, but the truth is I'm dying inside. | ||
| Buellkowski |
Thanks for the excellent post!  | ||
| Rick_a |
I've done the same thing on the exact same type of corner only going twice as fast. Cost a lot of $$ and was a real reality check...a lesson I've never forgot for sure. Glad you kept it on two. | ||
| Outrider |
Bill...excellent post. Highly reflective on an incident that could/should have been avoided or dealt with differently. Yet the cumulative total of your riding knowledge from training and experience saved the day. Many have had similar experiences. My most recent was with the X1. In as much as there is a difference between bikes and tires, it is my contention that it is the rider's skill and ability to remain calm that saves the day. Granted there are some situations that are beyond the rider's control and this won't apply to, but I have the strong feeling that you would have had the same results regardless which bike you were riding. Even more important than reaping the rewards of your present riding skills, the ability to rationalize the situation and deal with it without bias is what will cause to you continue to improve both your skills and instinctive reactions. This analytical ability is one that many lack primarily due to ego and denial. Yet, it can be the difference between life and death in the future. Thanks again for the excellent post and let this be a lesson for all. | ||
| Xb9er |
That's a great post! This is one of those posts that many readers like me will have in the back of their minds whenever riding with more skilled riders and on unfamiliar roads. Thanks. Mike. | ||
| Jpl9sx |
Bill, Nice lesson and very glad to hear you avoided both injury and damage. I believe the Perillis on the CityX are sold as a "dual use", it appears that way on the web site. Whatever they are they do handle adverse road conditions well. I was riding with a small group of various bikes and we go stuck on a serious stretch of torn up highway with the other lane of fresh asphalt about four inches higher than the one we were in. The road had some deep grooves dug in it. I slowed down some for the conditions but noticed all the other bikes slowing way down with a bit of weaving back and forth. I was amazed at how rock solid the CityX felt even when turning and braking on the grooves. | ||
| Oddbawl |
Amazing! The exact same thing happened to me on Saturday, in way over my head out of pride, blew the corner and somehow kept it together when I went motocross. I still don't know how I made it unscathed. I was so embarrassed I didn't tell my riding buddies, here's hoping Lornce isn't reading this. Felt like a dick the rest of the day, shoulda known better. Wow! Kinda liberating writing about it. Big lesson learned here too! | ||
| Reepicheep |
Speaking of going faster then our sightlines... here is a really sobering video clip... http://members.home.nl/m.slot/motor.wmv Note the lead rider is a *very* good rider, and well within his limits. Note further, that this did not do him a *lick* of good avoiding the crash. Good argument for good gear if nothing else... going slower would have probably hurt less, but he still would probably have crashed. | ||
| Oddbawl |
Did the guy make out ok? | ||
| Road_thing |
Ouch. Deer strike at 100 or so. Maybe it's KPH, I can't tell, but it looks like a case of too much speed and not enough luck. Hope the rider wasn't hurt badly. rt | ||
| Mutt2jeff |
I dont know if you guys have seen this yet, but here is yet another reason to always wear your gear. http://www.uponone.com/videos.php?id=1720 You never know what might happen. (Message edited by mutt2jeff on October 19, 2004) | ||
| Captainkirk |
Incredible post, Reep! Like you, I have been there. Like you, I marveled at the stupidity of trying to stick with a MUCH better rider thru twisties (on a Buell, no less) and watching helplessly as I overshot the apex on a sharp 90 and went field-hopping into the grass on the far side...only to emerge back onto the tarmac embarrassed, humbled and scared shitless, thanking God that He had the wisdom to pinch me in the ••• instead of whacking me upside the head with a two-by-four. All of you, especially the newbies; YOU WILL CATCH UP, EVENTUALLY! Ride your own ride, whatever that may be. David Hough, in "The Proficient Motorcyclist" cautions that while you need to "push the envelope" to learn, test and further your abilities, the time NOT to do this is when riding with others. Thanks for sharing, maybe we'll all ride a little safer because of it.  | ||
| Rick_a |
Gravity kicked my @ss this morning. I was pullin' into work as I have for the past 4 months that I've been here...anyway, crossing over the white line on the brakes I tucked the front. The speed was about 40 mph. It was apparrently still a little wet from the morning dew. I should've known better. Damage to me is a skinned knee. I was wearing jeans. Buell Puck gloves are basically destroyed but my hands are unscathed. My boots lost some leather off the top. The helmet got a small chip off the front. The bike needs a master cylinder (it was spared by a few thousands of an inch from having a hole in it), a handlebar, I need to repair the header as it got scratched and a crack I've had at the collector is now a break, front and rear brake levers are ruined, S&S aircleaner is scraped up badly but some handiwork and flat black can fix that. It's time to save money for some American Sport Bike sliders! | ||
| Road_thing |
Rick, glad you're not seriously damaged! Now you can add to your "various shades of discoloration!" rt (Message edited by road_thing on October 29, 2004) | ||
| Reepicheep |
Glad you are OK, and thanks for the report on the gloves. I am on my second pair of them (just wore the first pair out) and like them a lot for comfort. It's good to get some real world data on how they do in a crash. | ||
| Bomber |
Rick -- count yer lucky star, bud! good for you for walking away from a bad landing the tuberr sliders from American Sport Bike are aces! you won't regret getting them! | ||
| Jlnance |
Rick - Glad you didn't get hurt. Did you co-workers see you crash?  | ||
| Ingemar |
Glad to hear it turn out fairly well considering 40 mph. Speedy recovery to you and your bike! | ||
| Rick_a |
Thanks guys. I forgot to mention that I was wearing a Technic race jacket (part of a two-piece suit)...I landed on my elbow and the jacket has the slightest of scuffs. I also barely felt the impact. Goes to show what a difference gear makes. Jeans are not enough protection IMO. I'm thinkin' of getting some of the Icon jean-style protective pants. I've got the exhaust fixed...the rest of her still looks a bit ratty but she'll be fixed better than new soon. All in all, an embarrassing episode, but s**t happens  | ||
| Rick_a |
Jlance, one co-worker saw it. He mentioned it was "a good one." I'm sure it was... He is, however, one of those sales guys that doesn't ride. | ||
| Spike |
Yikes. Today I tucked the front end at the top of 3rd gear going into a corner. Luckily, I was on the Z50 and not the XB when this happened. Still, top speed on the little Z is probably around 30mph and I hit the ground hard. We were racing around my buddy's yard and the track used his driveway for the straightaway and the first turn. I locked up the front brake at the end of the straight going into the first turn and bit it pretty hard. I didn't break anything, but I did acquire a large amount of road rash. I rashed up my left knee and shin, my left elbow/forearm, the back of my left hand, quite a few knuckles on my left hand, and got a nice scrape on my right elbow. Thankfully, I have tomorrow off of work so I have a day to heal before trying to explain my condition to my co-workers. Mike L. '04 XB12R '99 Z50R | ||
| Court |
Interesting being in the safety and motorcycle fields. Got this from a fellow safety professional today. The Swedish Police had this vehicle/bike "cleaned out" on Completion of their investigations and put it back together to show what can happen in a motorcycle accident. The Honda rider was traveling at such "very high speed", his reaction time was not sufficient enough to avoid this accident. Swedish Police estimate a speed of ~250 KM/h (155 MPH) before the bike hit the slow moving car side on at an intersection. At that speed, they predicted that the rider’s reaction time once the vehicle came into view wasn't sufficient enough for him to even apply the brakes. The car had two passengers and the bike and rider were found INSIDE the car. The Volkswagen actually flipped over from the force of impact and landed 10 feet from where the collision took place. All three involved (two in car and rider) were killed instantly. This graphic demonstration was placed at the Stockholm Motorcycle Fair by the Swedish Police and Road safety Department. The sign above the display also noted that the rider had only recently obtained his license.     | ||
| Tramp |
court- thank you for posting that. although brutally graphic, we all, (as motorcyclists), need reminders to the gravity of our pastime. these sleds, although fun as all he*l, are not toys. | ||
| Bbstacker |
I had quite the sobering experience today. About two hours ago I was on my way home from work and traffic was very heavy. I got into the diamond lane and after about a quarter mile even that came to a complete stop. I moved over to split the lanes and up ahead, over the tops of the cars I could see emergency flashers. As I got closer I saw the problem was in the diamond lane. There was an ambulance that was closing the rear doors as I passed and there was a fire truck parked across the diamond and #1 lanes. As I got closer I could see some dark shape lying on the pavement just past the fire truck. When I came abreast of it I saw it was a motorcycle. I couldn't tell what kind; just that it wasn't in great shape. It was pretty wadded up. Up ahead from that was a small import car with a dent in the rear bumper and trunk that looked like it probably came from the front wheel of the bike. I didn't see it happen, so I don't know how badly the rider was hurt. I hope not at all, but it's unlikely due to the damage I saw. I spend the majority of my commute watching out for the "stupid cagers" and seeing that reminded me to yes watch out for the cagers, but at the same time don't become a "stupid biker". I apologize for the sermon, but that is the first motorcycle accident I have ever passed while I myself was on a bike. Kind of a reality check Mark. | ||
| Hans |
Mark, no apologize needed. I couldn`t get such a situation from my mind. Ambulance closing behind a covered corps; silent unlookers at greater distance than normal. In a glimps, through the fence, the front wheel of a motorcycle in the air. Specially the brilliant, shining red luster of the lacquer and the sunny day made the contrast so clear: An happy biker can be a dead body next moment. It was a biker of my age, probably leaning over the center line in a left turn, hitting incoming traffic. All without passing the local speed limit of 50 MPH. Let`s keep the rubber down. Hans  | ||
| Jima4media |
Ride in Peace Gordon I'll never forget. Jim (Message edited by jima4media on August 16, 2005) | ||
| Drfuyutsuki |
Its been a while since my get off but figured I should post it up: I decided to do a 5 day 1,300 mile trip over the 4th of July weekend and headed out to Northern California From Utah. The first 2 days were uneventful and the 3rd was shaping up that way. About 20 miles short of my stopping point for the day it changed. I imagine most of you have seen the Geico Commercial where a Squirrel runs into the road in front of a Station Wagon, well Two Squirrels decided that the middle of the turn I was in was a great place to hold fight. About the time I got even with them they decided to call it a draw and head their seperate ways, on of which was right in front of my front tire. I straightened up to avoid the furball figuring if I hit it leaned over as far as I was I would definately eat the pavement. As it happended there was a gravel drive way I could abort into but I quickly learned that my bike doesn't like to stop on gravel going 45. I went about 3 feet into the gravel before reapplying my brakes, but as soon as I did I low sided. The bike slid about 40 feet before coming to rest while I kept going for another 20 or so. As has been said on here time and time again, I am glad I was fully geared up when my time came to lay my bike down. My helmet recieved some small scrapes and there was no visible damage on my leather pants and fieldsheer mesh jacket. The toe peg to my shifter sheered off and the linkage snapped; My bars were bent to hell with the blinker switch borken off and one of the blinkers came off. Like Rick I am amazed that so little was damaged. Luckily the friend I was going to see knew a guy in town with a machine shop and it took us about 6 hours to fix the shifter and bend my bars back into place. The funniest part of it all was that a couple days before the ride a friend of mine in Utah bought me a shirt with two squirrels partying captioned "Squirrels gone Wild" guess I should have taken it as an Omen. My bike made it home alright even managed to get me a speeding ticket (98 in a 75) on the way home. I had the whole sore muscle thing though it was kinda hard to tell what was from the crash and what was from riding for 5 days; I also ended up with a bruise on my right shoulder blade that looked like teeth marks, I guess the gravel really did try to take a bit outta me. Josh | ||
| Rick_a |
Dudes, I had a scary moment last night. I was near my home riding through a twisty section in a residential area at a leisurely pace. Entering a tight left hander I notice a Buick piloted by an elderly fellow with his companion hogging the center of the road in the opposite direction, intruding into my lane. I drifted towards the edge of my lane hoping he would see me and move to his proper position. I was halfway leaned over so my upper body was still in his path. He did not budge. I ended up having to use the last 6 inches of road which was unfortunately fine sand. Both ends started drifting and I hung off on the throttle with my left foot hanging off to attempt to keep things in control. By the time I hit pavement again I was a little out of shape. My back end swung back into line at the same time gravity was trying to toss me off the bike. My leg stopped me from flying off. My knee hit the frame, my foot hit the footpeg (which fortunately pivoted up easily) and my shin nailed my frame slider. It hit so hard my entire lower leg went painfully numb. Not knowing the extent of my injury I rode slowly home...until anger set in, my leg went totally numb, and I did some wheelies to vent (maybe not the most logical thing but it worked!). I came home to see the biggest contusion I've ever seen...covering about 1/2 of my shin, and a deep gouge that is still bleeding as I speak. There is a 1/2"x2" piece of flesh torn off. I'm glad I saved it, but damn that hurt. I may have to take that left frame slider off. This is the second time I've been injured by it. I've been proud of not having any excursions involving other vehicles in my 4 years of street riding. This puts an end to that. | ||
| Captainkirk |
Rick; It's unfortunate that your streak had to end, but fortunate that you were able to keep the rubber side down. People can, and will, do incredibly stupid things. My personal favotite was a tractor with full haywagon half on, half off the road, which I followed patiently for more than a mile at 20MPH waiting for dotted yellow and clear of traffic; when I finally got it, I signalled, flashed my bright, and swung out way wide and rolled on the power. At this precise moment, Old McDonald cut left across both lanes of traffic to the far left side of the road, without looking OR signalling. I had to lay on the binders and locked up the rear, had to come to a complete stop to prevent a high-side. Old McDonald never even looked up. Totally clueless in his air conditioned cab with the radio on. Go figure. Anyway, glad you're OK. Ride each ride like a combat mission and never let your guard down. There's a reason most accidents happen less than 5 miles from home. | ||
| Rick_a |
That's good advice. | ||
| Al_lighton |
Dropped my new Ulysses today... Not a crash, more of an amusing 0 MPH mishap. I've been trying different handlebars on the Uly for the past week. The stock ones are OK, but they're a bit tall and wide for my liking. See badweb thread here I found some promising Renthals that I was going to mount this evening. I took the old handlebars off, and then went to sit on the bike with the new bars held in the bar saddles but not clamped in so I could see how they felt. This is where it got ugly... I happened to have some kinda baggy pants on, I was wearing sandals wtih smooth bottoms, the bike was on the painted shop floor with a kinda slick surface on it from a little bit of oil film from an oil change the other day. And as you know, the Uly is pretty tall. It was the perfect recipe for disaster. After I straddled the bike, I lifted it off the kickstand to my tip toes on both sides, and held the bars in place on the top triple clamp. My right foot slipped a little and the bike started to tip that way. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal, you'd move the bars the other way and it would go right back. But I had no bars attached, so it started going right more and there was nothing for me to push on to provide a counter force. And my hands were full with loose handlebars in both hands. So I lifted my left leg to more firmly plant my right foot on the ground. But my baggy pants snagged on the foot peg feeler and it wouldn't let me shift my butt right, and in fact ended up accelerating the bike more to the right. At that angle I should have been able to put my right foot to the ground, and I did. But smooth bottom sandals on a painted floor could get no purchase and my leg just slid out. It was a comedy of errors. The bike crashed to the ground with me partially underneath it. I slowed it down a little as I fell into my pile of handlebars on the floor to the right of the bike. I'll have some bruises tomorrow. It's fine, broke the right front turn signal and the dangling front master cylinder put a tiny scratch on the frame. Other than that, nothing happened. Except I couldn't pick it up. It had no handlebars on it, which are sort of key to picking up a bike. I had to get a neighbor to help me...most embarrassing  I'm such a dork...... The good news is that the bars are pretty cool, I think they're going to work out nicely. I'll post some pictures in the other thread tomorrow. Al | ||
| Steveshakeshaft |
Too bad no body was filming at the time Al! Steve. | ||
| Reepicheep |
LOL! Good story. Just last week, I had a 9sx without a rear wheel balanced and pivoting only on a single floor jack, reaching around to try and get a jackstand under each part of the swingarm while keeping the thing balanced. It worked out fine, but I don't know *what* I was thinking. | ||
| Spike |
No way to put it softly- I hit a pedestrian today. I wish I had a better explanation of what happened. It was 9:15am. I was downtown in the far left lane of a 3-lane one-way street. I had just accelerated away from a light, right after I passed the crosswalk on the far side of the street there was a pedestrian in front of me. I have no idea where he came from. I clamped on the front brake and the rear wheel started to lift as I hit him. He bounced off the front fairing and to my left. I stopped the bike just a few feet past him. I put the kickstand down and got of the bike as quickly as possible. I was in total shock at this point. Where did he come from? Did I really just hit someone? How could I have not seen him? I was pulling my gloves off somewhat frantically in a hurry to get to my phone, he was laying on his back and not moving. People were staring, someone asked if he was ok. I pulled my helmet off and started dialing 9-1-1 on my cell phone. More people started to gather around. I tried to remain calm while giving the 911 operator information. The guy started to move, at one point he even sat up. Some of the bystanders told him to lay still. One woman was particularly helpful, she tried to comfort him and told him the ambulance was on the way. She later tried to comfort me and told me it would be ok. I didn't catch her name, I wish I did. A firetruck arrived, followed shortly by an ambulance and two police cars. The EMTs took to the pedestrian, I tried my best to answer all their questions, but mostly just tried to stay out of their way. One of the police officers asked for my license and began to ask me questions, I tried to tell him everything as it happened. The EMT guys carried the pedestrian into the ambulance on a stretcher. The ambulance and the firetruck left, along with one of the police officers. The remaining officer stayed and filled out some paperwork in his car. After a while he returned my license and gave me a card with a case number on it. He said he didn't have the pedestrian's information and would have to go to the hospital to get it. He sent me on my way and he drove off. I got back on the bike headed in to work. Now I'm at work and still a bit shook up about it. I've been riding on the street for ~9 years. My riding ability is something I take pride in. I practice panic stops and constantly work on being more aware of my surroundings when I'm on the bike. How did this happen? Why didn't I see him? Did he walk out from behind a parked car? Am I at fault? I couldn't have not seen someone walk across two lanes before coming into my path, could I? At this point I'm just not sure. | ||
| Dustyjacket |
Wow. No witnesses, eh? Tough luck. Hope it comes out OK. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Sorry to hear that spike, I will be praying for the guy that got hit. Let us know how it goes. | ||
| Bbstacker |
OMG Reep. I thought I was the only who did the whole circus act with the floor jack and jack stands. | ||
| Spike |
Update: I stopped by the police station after work today. As it turns out the report hadn't been filed yet but the officer who was at the scene had just pulled up to pick up some paperwork. The officer said that he stopped by the hospital and the pedestrian was alright, he just had a good bump on his head. I was quite relieved to hear that he was ok. Another thing I found out, the pedestrian confirmed to the officer that he was not in the crosswalk and the officer gave him a ticket. I didn't catch what exactly the ticket is for, possibly jaywalking or obstruction of traffic. I certainly bear no ill will towards the pedestrian, but him getting a ticket means it's that much harder for him to get a greedy lawyer and take me to court over this. | ||
| Jlnance |
Spike - Wow! Glad you're both OK. That must be scary. | ||
| Jlnance |
Al - Look at the bright side. You may be the very first person to drop their Uly. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Good news spike! Glad everyone is OK. | ||
| Blue02m2 |
Spike, I am glad that you are ok and the pedestrian is ok. The laws of physics dictate that there is very little you can do no matter how skilled or attentive you are to protect yourself from a jay walking pedestrian hell bent on causing an accident. This is going to sound racist, but when I was in college at the beginning of each fall semester there would be a rash of accidents with new international students. Folks from geographic locations where they were more accustomed to bicycle and pedestrian traffic who just had no concept that there was very little a driver/rider could do to make a car stop from 30 or 40 mph with no warning. It was in the news and in the papers. They would cause accidents by running stop signs, red lights on bicycles or simply stepping off of the curb in front of a car. It was always a tragedy and it was rarely the driver's fault. My wife hit a gentleman of the international variety who rode his bicycle out from between 2 parked pickup trucks in front of her moped when she was doing 30 on a 30 mph road. He was in good enough shape to flee the scene and leave her laying in the road injured with other traffic coming. The local law enforcement really wanted to find that guy and it was not because they were concerned about his well being. Don't beat yourself up. |
