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2016 R1200RT Accident Recap -- Helite Turtle2

Boxflyer

Active member
Hello All,
On 8/7/21, I was doing a 5 day ride with the ChromeHeads Group up in So. VT. (https://tinyurl.com/29zajxzs)
It was a Sat afternoon, clear skies, roads dry, nothing unusual, single lane opposing traffic. Heading SW on VT 11 from Springfield, VT towards Chester, VT my single riding buddy and I came upon a line up of about 20 cars parked on the right-hand shoulder of the road before a driveway to a house hosting a birthday party, then another 20 cars parked past the driveway on the shoulder of the road.
IMG_6760-M.jpg


Ahead of us, beyond the row of parked cars (about 500ft long), a car was pulling off the right side of the road in order to park . Two cars traveling in the same direction as we were had stopped in the travel lane so that the car parking on the side of the road could get off past the white line. Our 2 bikes were at the end of this 4 vehicle string of stopped traffic. Every car in front of us had brake lights on, and the 2 of us riders had either bright yellow or white helmets as well as we both had HiViz Yellow jackets or vests on. My bike has the latest model of Skene P3 lights and the bottom of my 49L top case has a pattern of white reflective tape to make it more visible both day and night. None of this would have made a difference in our case, inasmuch as the driver was distracted and never slowed down from highway speeds for the whole distance of the cars parked at the side of the road. The driver went into a panic stop/full skidding of tires up until impact. I later paced off 30 normal strides to the beginning of the skid marks on the pavement from the impact point.

After hearing screeching tires for what seemed like more than just a few seconds, the impact took me by surprise. I hadn't tensed up, and had not processed what was about to happen, so maybe that's a good thing.
A Toyota Rav4 hit my bike as I sat with both feet on the ground and the bike in 1st gear, holding the front hand brake. The point of impact on the front of the car was only a few inches to the left of center.
The bike lurched forward from underneath me and I obviously lost my grip on both sides of the handle bars. The engine must have stalled from dropping the clutch while stopped, because it was not running at any point that I can remember from then on. (It subsequently started right up when I tried that a couple of days later)

IMG_6752-M.jpg


My riding gear: (prices of new gear)
Sidi Road boots-$365
MotoPort Mesh Kevlar 2 piece suit with Quad Armor-$2100
Cortech Impulse ST gloves-$59
Shoei Neotec2 helmet-$700
Helite Turtle2 Airbag vest size LL-$679 (100cc CO2 cylinder) https://helitemoto.com/helite-turtle-2-airbag-vest-hi-viz-yellow/
Total---$3903


Earlier in the day, we had been riding on some hard packed gravel roads. I decided to ride "GS style" and stood on the pegs for awhile, mostly to see if I had the Helite vest tether adjustment cleat still correctly positioned. I could feel about 2 inches of elastic slack still in the tether, so it was just as I had installed it when new about 3 months prior. When the bike moved forward, my relative motion was backwards towards my 49L top case. The actuating tether of the vest pulled out the ball that holds the piercing pin cocked and ready, initiating inflation, just before my back or head made contact with ANYTHING!

At this point, I heard LOTS of noise...whether that was impact crunching of the front of the Rav4, the back of my bike, or the sound of the inflating air vest, or a combination of all 3...it was pretty loud!
The Helite Turtle2 Airbag Vest has 2 parallel vertical tubes that filled with CO2 so rapidly that my body had NO contact with the top case at all. It completely inflates in a fraction of a second and that was what was needed to keep my already backward tilted body from taking a potentially spine injuring smack on the front top edge of the 49L case. The Turtle2 also has 2 collar inflating rings around the top neck opening of the vest that TOTALLY stabilize and protect your neck inside your helmet. I most certainly would have had some degree of whiplash to my neck without these stabilizing collar rings. The upward stabilizing neck rings, did cause my chin strap to pull tight on my lower jaw, but that's what is needed to keep it on your head, and why it's there.

The RT spun around to the left and almost flipped on its top as scratches to the top of my LH pannier showed lots of road rash. It was also evidence that my body had dislodged the top case earlier and now the pannier was the point of contact with the road. There were scratches on the top LH edge of the windshield and LH mirror.
IMG_6753-M.jpg

When all the motion had stopped, I was about 15ft in front of the Rav4 and my left boot was slightly wedged under the left side of the tank/seat junction. I was flat on my back, but my helmet never made contact with the pavement. I think my riding buddy and a couple of other pedestrians lifted the bike up and off my boot and I was able to stand up easily and to my surprise, with no pain or discomfort anywhere on my body!

One of the fortunate findings of this set of riding gear that I have is that my preference for modular helmets allowed me to easily raise the chin bar on the Shoei Neotec2. I had upgraded to the Neotech2 for a couple of reasons, like sound reduction, and especially the bayonet style chin strap fitting vs. the conventional DD, (double d), ring type of chin strap attachment. This allowed me to pull on the release lanyard on the bayonet fitting and the helmet was easily removed.

The 3 clips that hold the Turtle2 together on the front of the vest were pretty tight when the vest was fully inflated, but could be unclipped and the vest was easy to slip off my shoulders and I just laid it on the ground on the side of the road. I observed that the inflated vest was fully deflated in about 15 minutes.

This collision occurred along the row of parked cars and there were 3 or 4 people standing right beside the point of impact. They were excellent witnesses to what had happened and also provided statements to the police. In addition, the bystanders were wonderfully helpful to me and the folks in the car.

As I said, with all the protective gear I ALWAYS wear, and the perfect alignment of the stars, I was not injured...not a scratch, bump, bruise,...ANYTHING...even after several days. I'm sure there are plenty of lawyers ready for me to claim an injury, but that's not my way of life.

It was a VERY traumatic event for the 72yr old driver of the car. He was not on the phone or doing anything else that I could observe which might have caused his distraction...maybe the flags, banners, and balloons at the driveway of the birthday party in the middle of the 500ft of cars off the side of the road. I was able to talk to him and console him but he got more and more distraught to the point that the EMT's at the scene transported him to the hospital. Meanwhile I was up walking around, cleaning up the debris from the wreck and helping load my bike on the flatbed wrecker.
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I have had plenty of time to think about this event, and considered lots of options for my future, including hanging up riding altogether.

Ultimately, this accident was not something that was a result of my diminished skills or capabilities, nor due to an error on my part. The "6 P's" (Prior Planning Prevents Pi$$ Poor Performance) have come up over and over in various aspects of my life, but especially with respect to the choice of my riding equipment. As a result, I have decided to get another bike and keep on enjoying what I do...and that is lots of riding both solo and with my many friends and continuing to wrench and try to share my experiences via BMW forums like this and on my YouTube Channel.

I hope this recap of my experience will help you as you re-evaluate your riding safety gear.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Helite Turtle2 Airbag Vest and have talked to the principals there about my accident.
The are offering a 10% DISCOUNT CODE at checkout when purchasing one of these vests.

UBSAFE is the code to enter during checkout.

Sizing is broken into 2 groups.
XS/S/M/L/XL are one basic group that use the 60cc CO2 cylinder, and LL/XLL are LONG sizes that use the 100cc CO2 cylinder.

Anything worth doing, is worth over-doing, and safety is at the top of that list.

Image%208-23-21%20at%204.30%20PM-M.jpg


If you want to see this Helite Turtle2 AirBag Vest in action FortNine has an excellent review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2jZryt607U
Boxflyer
 
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My riding gear: (prices of new gear)
Sidi Road boots-$365
MotoPort Mesh Kevlar 2 piece suit with Quad Armor-$2100
Cortech Impulse ST gloves-$59
Shoei Neotec2 helmet-$700
Helite Turtle2 Airbag vest size LL-$679 (100cc CO2 cylinder) https://helitemoto.com/helite-turtle-2-airbag-vest-hi-viz-yellow/
Total---$̶3̶9̶0̶3̶ PRICELESS

Fixed it for ya, Brad.

Thanks for sharing that incident. Pretty scary. Glad everyone was okay. Stay safe.

Shift Cam Power, Baby!! :burnout



Cheers,
William
 
I am glad the vest protected you and that you have been able to replace your bike.
Looking forward to riding with you again in the future.
Please continue making great maintenance videos, they are very helpful.
 
Wow! That was some story! I'm very glad you made it out unscathed. Clearly, your choice in safety gear made all the difference. Good on you! And a great recap of events. Sufficient to spark an interest in the airbag vest.
 
Nice write-up on a very scary situation. Thanks for sharing! Great lesson for buying safe gear AND USING IT!
 
Definitely sold on vests. Got both me and my wife the hitair vests that look and work just like yours. Hoping to never need it but wearing it just in case.
 
VERY glad to hear you’re okay! As above, this gear has no MSRP. You’re still with us and walked away. That gear is priceless!
 
Brad,
Really glad to hear you are okay and that you are continuing doing what you love. I look forward to seeing your '19. Thanks for sharing such a scary incident.

Dave
 
This is the car that almost took my friend out. I can't account for the crunched hood. For what it's worth, I was Brad's riding buddy that entire day, and for days prior. We had some spirited riding on several hundred miles of Vermont's most technical roads (including the Appalachian Gap), and many, many other physically demanding twisty back roads throughout our travels; all without incident. Brad is a safe, experienced, accomplished rider and it was a pleasure following his lines on all the roads we traversed. I mistakenly thought inflatable vests and safety gear were most needed in a high speed get-off (and that's after almost 39 accident-free riding years myself). Boy was I mistaken! All I saw in my rearview mirror was Brad's bike getting lifted off the ground, spinning around backwards and then going down. I heard the crunch as well. After pulling over safely, running back to make sure Brad was OK, and getting some folks assistance to lift the bike off Brad and drag it to the side of the road, I remembered what many more knowledgeable folks had taught me. Secure the scene. There was nothing more I could do to help Brad, even though he looked fine, so I spent a while directing traffic to insure nobody else crashed into the accident scene. That's all I could think of doing at the moment. Once the local police showed up and relieved me, I spent the rest of the time there with Brad. I had not really been that close to a serious motorcycle accident before (maybe 3-4 feet ahead of Brad; not 100% sure), and just kept thinking "that could have been me". I know that sounds selfish, but I don't mean it that way. A lot went through my mind in a short time. Brad and I switched leading positions several times that day. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a very long, lonely ride home after the accident, repeating the scene over and over in my head, but I know for sure bikes can always be replaced, but friends are irreplaceable. I am eternally grateful that my friend walked away uninjured, and pleased that he has decided to continue the pursuit of riding which he enjoys so much. I'm looking forward to many more safe, enjoyable trips with my friend.
Brad.jpg
 
Thank you for the very (to put it mildly) description of your unfortunate event. Your prior planning led to the best result possible under the circumstances. I have a Hit-Air vest, and it's wrapped around me every time I ride. I hope to never test its capabilities.

I do feel badly for the Rav4 driver. Your description made it seem he'll not handle this well.

JG
 
Glad you are OK, it could have been much, much worse. I'm sure you are thinking about that.

After totaling my '07 RT in the rain down in Texas 10 years ago I had PTSD afterward thinking about what COULD have happened and how lucky I was that a tractor trailer wasn't coming in the opposite direction to run me over while I was sliding down the highway. Couldn't stop thinking about that.

I was also lucky and my gear saved me, I had no injuries to speak of. The PTSD subsided after a while but I am now even more hyper vigilant and paranoid about street surface conditions and what cars around me *might* do. I assume everyone is out to kill me, and I keep lots of space between me and everyone else whenever possible. :hide
 
Yikes! Very glad you came out OK, Brad. Very sorry about the loss of the bike; I know you had it set up just the way you wanted it. Good luck with the new one.

A technical question: Where on the bike did you attach the tether?

Wishing you many more safe and happy miles!
 
Hi Bob,
There are 2 parts that come with the Helite vest that make up the tether.

The first, and most important, is the bitter end of the actuation tether, which I looped thru the rigid black molded plastic that holds the front vertical seat adjuster. This end has a tri-glide style strap adjuster so you can adjust the overall length of the tether. This is important for consideration whether you want to stand up on your bike, or if you plan to connect/disconnect the tether while standing beside your bike before getting on the seat.
I adjusted mine so that it would have about 2in of elastic stretch left when standing up on the pegs and I had the routine of connecting the clip end of the tether when I had already taken a seat on the bike.
This part of the strap now comes out of the gap between the front of the seat and the LH tank faring.

The second end of the tether has the flat side release clip. This clip is what is attached to the actuating mechanism for discharging the CO2 from the cylinder on the vest.
The vest also comes with a matching female clip that is intended to be used when you are not on the bike and keep the tether from just hanging down from the frame mounted, permanent end of the strap.
This clip is on a small loop of material that allows you to go around something and then back thru itself to hold fast. I chose to put this "free end" female clip as close to the LH handle bar as possible so that I wouldn't forget to clip on the tether before riding off.

At the time of purchase, I bought a second tether as well as a second clip end so that if I ever had the chance to ride on a second bike I could easily put on a new tether vs having to remove the first setup.
Hope this helps.
 
Boxflyer, I sure appreciate you posting this under Wetheads and understand your connection to this subforum. However, the incident you experienced, your 'airbag' vest, and the happy outcome (for you, not your bike), warrant posting under Motorrad as well if that's allowed. It would be of significant value to anyone on the fence given your stature in the community. You did everything right, and yet due to circumstances beyond your control...
[Aside: Is the pressurized cylinder actually CO2, or Argon or other gas? In my experience, CO2 being stored as a liquid only has so much potential energy. When it changes from a liquid to a gas the temperature drops dramatically, slowing down the phase change. This layman's guess is that CO2 may not be the gas of choice.]
 
The link provided has FAQs and states that CO2 is used for inflation. If you anymore questions, feel free to contact them.
 
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