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Crash Chronicles (Crashes and Near Misses)

My only crash (so far) was in college. Riding home from class one day on my Yamaha RZ350. I pull out from the parking lot to the back road I take home. There is a tight S curve going around a building. I'm leaned in the turn going about 15mph when a pickup truck comes around the other corner almost completely in my lane.
I try to adjust my lean angle to get out of the way, but at that moment my front wheel was over a manhole cover... Front end washout. Slid a bit and was uninjured but pissed! scratched up my new bike and the guy never stopped or even noticed he took me out!

Best near miss was leaving work one day about a year ago. Four lane road with median. Just took off from a red light in the left lane behind one other car.
As we accelerate, a convertible Cadillac from the opposite direction dives into a turnaround gap in the median and almost pulls right into the car in front of me. We're doing about 40-45. The car swerves to miss, but I'm right on top of the guys rear bumper. Not sure exactly how I did it, but I think I locked both wheels and slid around the back end of the car. Fortunately no one was in the right lane or I would have been a sandwich!
Needless to say I had some choice words for the senior driver who was yakking on his cell phone when he decided he needed to pull the U-turn. I was livid! We pulled up to a light and he tried to apologize. I just remember yelling something about hanging up the damn cell phone and pay attention to your driving since you almost made my wife a widow!
I was shaking so hard I had to pull off the road and get myself together!
 
Turkey Vulture Encounter

Was Riding yesterday on the Loess Hills Scenic Hiway in Iowa, just south of Pisgah Iowa when I had a close encounter with a turkey vulture. It apparently was taking off from the ditch on my left side and thanks to some quick reflexes on my and the vulture's part we avoided each other but I literally could have reached my left hand out and grabbed it. Thankfully I didn't because they apparently pee on their legs in order to cool themselves. GROSS. I'm not sure who of us was more startled by the encounter mainly because turkey vultures aren't very emotive creatures.

Had a good laugh after and was glad for that motorcycle saftey class this summer.
 
It's happened twice in the last few weeks. I'm in the left lane on a four lane road and the car to my right just comes over like I'm not there. Thank goodness I was alert enough to hit the brakes. The horn on an 08 RT is hard to get to, I have half a left thumb. If I had a loud Harley this never woulf have happened.......no I'm not ready to get the loud Harley.
 
speed vs. sweeper

In the end the sweeper wins! A couple years ago I was enjoying a pleasant ride through the loess hills of Iowa. I live in Nebraska, Iowa does not have a helmet law,now I knew my helmet would go into the left hardcase I tried three different ways but it wouldn't close so back on my head I want to ride. About 1/2 hour later I get blown by some crotch rocket, it's sunday morning no other traffic. So I grab a gear and set off to keep up, never been on the road before going through some twistys and into a big left hand sweeper, when I noticed a gravel road intersection right on the appex and no view of oncoming traffic. From that point the only thing I remember was the rear tire breaking loose.Then I woke up in the ditch, a broken rib on each side from the tank and a shattered coller bone from the helmet smashing into the tach housing. From the looks of the helmet I'm sure glad it wasn't my face! After I got out of the hospital we went to the sight, I was on two wheels when I nearly took out a road sign ,the tracks were about 6 inches from the pole base ( must of still been a hard left lean) then the front wheel dropped into a rut which sent the bike into a end over landing on the left rear and ended up resting on it's left side with my left leg under it , between the frt. wheel and the radiater (85 k100rs)

moral : unknown road,to high of gear, to fast period!!!!!
helmets do save lives!!!!!
 
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Just to be a devil's advocate - squirting through the parking garage at the beginning of the video illustrates only the beginning of questionable decision making in the OP's riding style.
 
Watch the road, eh?

I about came to grief by violating a cardinal rule when operating a motorcycle (any vehicle actually). Coming into Jemez Springs,NM, I was gawking at the beautiful scenery, and not watching the road, failed to notice that the road turned right...and I kept going straight. When I looked up, I was right in the middle of the oncoming lane...Had there been a car there, I would have nailed it square on...OOOPS
 
Close Call November 2010

I was riding home from work at 6 PM. It was dark with a steady rainfall. I was travelling my usual route, a 4 lane city arterial with curbs and sidewalks on each side; no shoulders or bike lanes.

I passed a city fire station and noticed the paramedics running out to their ambulance. The roadway has stoplights every 3-4 blocks. The ambulance pulled out behind me with visibar lights and traffic light strobe activated.

It was amazing, the traffic lights that always snared me now turned green in front of me as I stayed about 300 feet in front of the ambulance. Speed limit is 35 MPH but with the rainy conditions the ambulance was travelling between 40-45 MPH gradually closing the gap between us. I accelerated a little to maintain the gap and kept enjoying the traffic lights turning green in front of me as I sped along.

There was no traffic around me, but I could see some congestion about a 1/2 mile ahead. The urge to keep moving due to the rain and the sheer enjoyment of every traffic light "magically" turning green for me, thanks to the ambulance, overcame the smart move of pulling over, stopping, and allowing the ambulance to pass by.

As I approached the traffic traveling my direction, driver's were already showing the "jitters" of an emergency vehicle approaching them from the rear. Some brake lights were coming on, some turn signals were being activated, and some like me kept rolling along hoping the ambulance would turn off and not interrupt our cruise.

I was in the right lane and began passing a car on the right who was in the left lane. I saw his right turn signal activate,reflecting off his chrome bumper,and he began to slowly enter my lane with me still in it. He was attempting to pull to the right and stop to allow the ambulance to pass. With a curb immediately to my right, I accelerated to pull ahead. I was just entering an intersection where the road slopes down on the other side creating a partial blind spot. I was travelling about 40 MPH with a car merging into my lane from the left and lo and behold, about 50 feet in from of me is a stopped blue minivan, who had travelled through the instersection and then immediately stopped in the right lane to allow the ambulance to pass.

With only curb on my right, I instinctively tapped the brakes on my 91 K75RT and the rear wheel immediately locked and began to skid on the wet pavement. I released the brakes and knew the only way out of this mess, was to steer out of it. I was back on the throttle to finally clear the car to my left and swerved to the left and back to the right, missing the car on my left by several feet and the left rear corner of the stopped blue minivan by about a foot.

Nothing like the thrill of raw adrenelin rushing through your veins.

Epilog: Yes, I should have pulled over when I observed the ambulance behind me with emergency lights activated. I especially should have pulled over before entering traffic in front of me. They were like chickens with their heads cut off all trying to decide if, when, and where to stop to allow the ambulance to pass.

The good thing was remembering my defensive driving training and the skill of steering out of trouble rather than locking the brakes, or worse, laying the bike down.
 
I was riding home from work at 6 PM. It was dark with a steady rainfall. I was travelling my usual route, a 4 lane city arterial with curbs and sidewalks on each side; no shoulders or bike lanes.

I passed a city fire station and noticed the paramedics running out to their ambulance. The roadway has stoplights every 3-4 blocks. The ambulance pulled out behind me with visibar lights and traffic light strobe activated.

It was amazing, the traffic lights that always snared me now turned green in front of me as I stayed about 300 feet in front of the ambulance. Speed limit is 35 MPH but with the rainy conditions the ambulance was travelling between 40-45 MPH gradually closing the gap between us. I accelerated a little to maintain the gap and kept enjoying the traffic lights turning green in front of me as I sped along.

There was no traffic around me, but I could see some congestion about a 1/2 mile ahead. The urge to keep moving due to the rain and the sheer enjoyment of every traffic light "magically" turning green for me, thanks to the ambulance, overcame the smart move of pulling over, stopping, and allowing the ambulance to pass by.

As I approached the traffic traveling my direction, driver's were already showing the "jitters" of an emergency vehicle approaching them from the rear. Some brake lights were coming on, some turn signals were being activated, and some like me kept rolling along hoping the ambulance would turn off and not interrupt our cruise.

I was in the right lane and began passing a car on the right who was in the left lane. I saw his right turn signal activate,reflecting off his chrome bumper,and he began to slowly enter my lane with me still in it. He was attempting to pull to the right and stop to allow the ambulance to pass. With a curb immediately to my right, I accelerated to pull ahead. I was just entering an intersection where the road slopes down on the other side creating a partial blind spot. I was travelling about 40 MPH with a car merging into my lane from the left and lo and behold, about 50 feet in from of me is a stopped blue minivan, who had travelled through the instersection and then immediately stopped in the right lane to allow the ambulance to pass.

With only curb on my right, I instinctively tapped the brakes on my 91 K75RT and the rear wheel immediately locked and began to skid on the wet pavement. I released the brakes and knew the only way out of this mess, was to steer out of it. I was back on the throttle to finally clear the car to my left and swerved to the left and back to the right, missing the car on my left by several feet and the left rear corner of the stopped blue minivan by about a foot.

Nothing like the thrill of raw adrenelin rushing through your veins.

Epilog: Yes, I should have pulled over when I observed the ambulance behind me with emergency lights activated. I especially should have pulled over before entering traffic in front of me. WE were like chickens with our heads cut off all trying to decide if, when, and where to stop to allow the ambulance to pass.

The good thing was remembering my defensive driving training and the skill of steering out of trouble rather than locking the brakes, or worse, laying the bike down.

fify.

i think we need to come back to some of the original intent of this thread, which was not just sharing what happened, but analyzing why the crash happened, and what could have been done to prevent it. As AndyVH has posited in another Riding thread- a crash is (nearly) always OUR fault, regardless of what the other idiots(s) did.

in this case, attempting to pass cars on their wrong (right) side with the added distraction of an emergency vehicle rapidly approaching from behind was a foolish choice. best would have probably been to continue "leading" the ambulance until you reached the stopped/stopping traffic, and then pulling over and waiting for the entire mess to straighten itself out.
legal would have been pulling over as soon as you realized that the ambulance was coming up behind you.
 
My dumb chain of events....

What Happened......

I stopped over at a buddies house who lives in a residential neighborhood. I decided to practice a low speed (I was around 5mph or less) counterweighted turn in order to park my bike the direction it needed to be. While I was dragging my rear brake in the turn, I applied a little to much pressure, the bike stopped and over I went. I put my foot out to try and hold bike up. Not able too, laid bike on side. Luckily I remembered and read in the motorcycle excellence manual about how to properly lift a bike up using your backside. Worked like a charm. My buddy was not home. I got back on my bike and rode home in some pain. At home I parked my bike, took off my riding gear, and then put my helmet away. I then called my buddy who's house I had stopped by to tell him my leg was sore and that I had dropped my bike in front of his house. He did not answer, I left a message. NEXT -I woke up in the Emergency Room.

What really Happened.....
When I put my foot out I tore my hamstring. After I got home, I took my helmet off and was standing in my garage, I fainted (body telling me to lay down after injuring hamstring), fell and hit my head on the garage floor. My buddy who I called got my message and came over. He saw me on the garage floor and called 911. I came home from the hospital the next day with a good bump on the head and a very sore hamstring. I was lucky, no permanent damage on my head or leg. A bonus was no damage to my bike other than a scratch on my valve cover -which I am leaving there for a while as a reminder. The road I had been riding on was just paved smooth blacktop.

Dumb decisions to never make again.....:banghead
-
-Never put my foot out to try and stop a bike from tipping over. Bike is gonna win!
-Never ride home if your hurt. Could have been a lot worse.


What I learned.....:thumb

- Practice, Practice, and more Practice
- Integrated brakes handle differently than conventional. Know your braking system and how it effects low speed counter weight turning. (I was aware that I have integrated brakes, I did not think I had to use a different technique with them. They are touchy. I wish there was more written technique published on this. The "Motorcycle Excellence" manual does not go into integrated brake riding techniques besides mentioning that these type of brakes exist.) - I have been waiting to take the experienced riders course, so far the two I have been registered for got cancelled due to lack of students...:confused: I believe one of the instructors rides an RT. But I will get there one way or another.
- Sit or Lay down after injuring yourself or your body might just do it for you.
 
Riding to work Tuesday morning on Interstate 25, in the far left lane at about 75-80 mph with other traffic - vehicles on 3 sides and a concrete barrier on my left.
Tire fragments from a semi got my attention, but I wasn't ready for the whole tire that shot into my lane like a Peterbuilt hockey puck...It probably had been struck repeatedly by other traffic. I had nowhere to go and no time to brake. I might have moved a foot or two to the left before impact.
I nailed the tire and to my surprise, the bike glanced off of it - (I don't know which glanced off of which, but I didn't stop dead in my tracks or get flipped into oncoming traffic).
The bike started to do the freeway-speed wobble but quickly recovered, and I got over to the right shoulder as fast as I could.
Expecting bent forks, trashed tire & rim, torn-off brake lines, exhaust leaks and other damage, I found a cracked horn, some smouldering rubber on the pipe and a little paint missing from the right valve cover. And a new button hole sewn into the seat.
I rode it another 20 hiccup-free miles to work and looked for more damage. Found none. Rode the 50 miles home this morning and the bike seems to be as happy to be alive as I am.
Those discarded tire fragments mean something totally new to me now.
 
Riding to work Tuesday morning on Interstate 25, in the far left lane at about 75-80 mph with other traffic - vehicles on 3 sides and a concrete barrier on my left.
Tire fragments from a semi got my attention, but I wasn't ready for the whole tire that shot into my lane like a Peterbuilt hockey puck...It probably had been struck repeatedly by other traffic. I had nowhere to go and no time to brake. I might have moved a foot or two to the left before impact.
I nailed the tire and to my surprise, the bike glanced off of it - (I don't know which glanced off of which, but I didn't stop dead in my tracks or get flipped into oncoming traffic).
The bike started to do the freeway-speed wobble but quickly recovered, and I got over to the right shoulder as fast as I could.
Expecting bent forks, trashed tire & rim, torn-off brake lines, exhaust leaks and other damage, I found a cracked horn, some smouldering rubber on the pipe and a little paint missing from the right valve cover. And a new button hole sewn into the seat.
I rode it another 20 hiccup-free miles to work and looked for more damage. Found none. Rode the 50 miles home this morning and the bike seems to be as happy to be alive as I am.
Those discarded tire fragments mean something totally new to me now.

That's why, when I'm on the slab, (or on any road for that matter) I NEVER EVER ride so close to the vehicle in front of me that I can't see the road in front of it. I've read too many horror stories about people getting struck by flying road debris.
I do what I can to avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once, while on the multi-laned 401, my Toyota truck was struck with a piece of re-tread that was hurled up at me by a truck that I was following too closely behind. The steel bumper was bent. If I had have been on my bike at the time the damages both to the bike and to my body would have been significantly worse.
 
Alls Well BUT...

Riding to town on my R12RT approaching a bling S curve. Car approaching in the on coming lane with a large pickup following very closely behind. The pickup was towing an empty race car trailer with the obligatory tire rack just be hind the hitch. No racer on trailer but a full set of slicks were on the rack. Since they were NOT tied down one escaped in to my lane. Damn those things can bounce. Since there was no way to know where the thing was going next I stayed in my line to round the curve combination safely. Good choice given the the escaped tire made it to the shoulder just before I got to it.

Lessons: Some things just happen. Appropriate speed and a clear head help. Also, as it relates to the truck driver aka race crew, you just can't fix stupid. I verified that when I did a U turn at the next intersection and went back to express my concern for his errant tire and see if he had any idea the impact that fugitive would have had on me or any other oncoming vehicle. His response (F... Y..), can only be abbreviated according to forum rules.

Most important lesson learned by me? Should never made that U turn. Nothing to be gained from it.

LL
 
Routine 4AM commute, only wet roads this morning with showers around. Normal null traffic. Approaching an intersection where I change directions with a left turn, 2 through lanes, 2 left turn lanes, no medians. Turn light is red but can see from other lights it will go green momentarily. Two work trucks are in the right (outside) turn lane, light is just about to change to left arrow when I'm rolling up. *Routinely I get to the inside turn lane to be more visible to all and to increase my own visibility by not hiding behind vehicles. This time I hung back, didn't want to surprise the trucks at the moment the light changes. Hanging back a few feet off the 2nd truck, I drifted left into the inside turn lane, but still behind the last truck. Ahead of me, a vehicle is approaching, he still has the through light or it's yellow. SL is 40, car is doing at least that, maybe trying to beat the light? With the wet road and streetlights I can't see the centerline ahead, only the shadow/reflection, but something tells me this vehicle is over that line. As I tap the rear brake, I'm at wobble speed now, I realize the car is indeed going to blow through the inside turn lane, so just a second or two to duck back right, but close to the truck's rear and no speed anyway. My profile is halfway behind the stopped trucks rear and the car blasts through, apparently no slowing, it was close, but strangely not a panic, I think I was occupied trying to size things up. I always felt a bit vulnerable at that intersection, in that turn lane, even in daylight, but man this makes me think twice about it. See how I feel about it tomorrow. Lesson: 1) Alertness to changing conditions (car approaching, light changing), 2) leave wiggle room, escape route. Glad I was awake and looking ahead. That one was no joke, without my slight course correction he would have had me.
 
Lessons: Some things just happen. Appropriate speed and a clear head help. Also, as it relates to the truck driver aka race crew, you just can't fix stupid. I verified that when I did a U turn at the next intersection and went back to express my concern for his errant tire and see if he had any idea the impact that fugitive would have had on me or any other oncoming vehicle. His response (F... Y..), can only be abbreviated according to forum rules.

Most important lesson learned by me? Should never made that U turn. Nothing to be gained from it.

LL

Another option would have been to stop at the tire and inspect it with a 6" serrated blade. You do always carry a knife?
 
A lesson i never learned

Lessons: His response (F... Y..), can only be abbreviated according to forum rules.

Most important lesson learned by me? Should never made that U turn. Nothing to be gained from it.

LL
And those two words would have been the last he said with a fulls set of teeth. And yes, I have pulled more than one moron out of his vehicle and adjusted his attitude.
 
Tore hamstring early summer on wet concrete- jabbed a leg out trying to stop it. Man that sucked. Never took a day off. Took 2 months off from running, couldn't walk at normal speed for the first month. Was prescribed vicodin and a couch. Instead, I rode the bike home same-day. And was back riding in a week, but it was excruciating. I would have to take 2 or 3 tries to get on the bike, commute to work, then stop a block short and get off gingerly to limber up then get back on for the final block so I wouldn't fall over in the parking lot at work. Genius, I tell you.
What Happened......

I stopped over at a buddies house who lives in a residential neighborhood. I decided to practice a low speed (I was around 5mph or less) counterweighted turn in order to park my bike the direction it needed to be. While I was dragging my rear brake in the turn, I applied a little to much pressure, the bike stopped and over I went. I put my foot out to try and hold bike up. Not able too, laid bike on side. Luckily I remembered and read in the motorcycle excellence manual about how to properly lift a bike up using your backside. Worked like a charm. My buddy was not home. I got back on my bike and rode home in some pain. At home I parked my bike, took off my riding gear, and then put my helmet away. I then called my buddy who's house I had stopped by to tell him my leg was sore and that I had dropped my bike in front of his house. He did not answer, I left a message. NEXT -I woke up in the Emergency Room.

What really Happened.....
When I put my foot out I tore my hamstring. After I got home, I took my helmet off and was standing in my garage, I fainted (body telling me to lay down after injuring hamstring), fell and hit my head on the garage floor. My buddy who I called got my message and came over. He saw me on the garage floor and called 911. I came home from the hospital the next day with a good bump on the head and a very sore hamstring. I was lucky, no permanent damage on my head or leg. A bonus was no damage to my bike other than a scratch on my valve cover -which I am leaving there for a while as a reminder. The road I had been riding on was just paved smooth blacktop.

Dumb decisions to never make again.....:banghead
-
-Never put my foot out to try and stop a bike from tipping over. Bike is gonna win!
-Never ride home if your hurt. Could have been a lot worse.


What I learned.....:thumb

- Practice, Practice, and more Practice
- Integrated brakes handle differently than conventional. Know your braking system and how it effects low speed counter weight turning. (I was aware that I have integrated brakes, I did not think I had to use a different technique with them. They are touchy. I wish there was more written technique published on this. The "Motorcycle Excellence" manual does not go into integrated brake riding techniques besides mentioning that these type of brakes exist.) - I have been waiting to take the experienced riders course, so far the two I have been registered for got cancelled due to lack of students...:confused: I believe one of the instructors rides an RT. But I will get there one way or another.
- Sit or Lay down after injuring yourself or your body might just do it for you.
 
Today's near miss



Had one of those moments today...a deer encounter.
It ended way better than the one a few years back that put me in a ditch.

12:30 PM on a two lane state road with paved shoulders leaving a small town near Canyon Lake,TX...traveling at posted 65MPH. Weather was low clouds and rain in area ( I had just gone thru a shower a few minutes before, but roads were dry at this spot)
Anyways, I was scanning as usual and as I move to my 11 o'clock I see something coming quickly at an angle right at me. I rolled off the throttle,squeezed the front lever and had just enough time to veer to the left as we intersected...It was one of the largest Hill country white tail bucks I have seen lately.:eek I put him near 170 lbs...sorry, didn't count the points! He couldn't have gotten any closer to my windscreen...pretty surreal to say the least!


I clipped his right rear hoove with the front wheel...felt the bump! I was maybe at 40MPH as this happened.
I maintained lane position and rolled back on the throttle...looked in mirror to see him still running in stride and off the road towards the tree line.To say the least, my heart rate was jacked up!
Of course he had two does trailing him that went right behind me and almost got tagged by the truck behind me.
Had several folks come by me later when road widened to 4 lanes and gave me a big thumbs up and a head shake. I continued with the ride...my senses definitely on a high level buzz.

It's that time of year...be careful out there!

I wonder if the deer had a similar discussion afterwards?
 
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This happened two years ago and I haven't ridden since for reasons completely unrelated to riding itself...thinking about getting back on in the not-too-distant future...anyway...

It was a VERY hot and humid Sunday afternoon in August and I was riding home to Atlanta from South Carolina. I knew I needed to get some water in me soon, but I had two problems:

1. I was in a small southern town where hardly any business was open on Sunday, and

2. I missed a turn. I was riding through places I'd never been to before and was getting home by reversing the directions on a route-sheet I'd been given the previous morning before heading up to SC.

Missing the turn distracted me from remembering water. After a little bit of back-and-forth I found the right road and made the turn- and a few moments later woke up on my bike, which was still upright and pointed the right direction, but a pickup truck in front of me had slowed to make a turn.

I got most of my speed scrubbed off, but my front wheel still contacted the truck's bumper. Not by much, as revealed by the lack of a mark on the plastic bumper afterward, but enough to de-stabilise things. The front end rose, the bars went into a hard wobble, and the next thing I knew I was sliding along on my left side watching the bike bounce along on its left side and cursing mightily inside my helmet.

Short version of the aftermath: My right radius was broken, probably due to the handlebar smacking my hand during the wobble, and the insurance company totaled the bike. I had to call a friend to drop everything and drive a 180-mile round trip getting home after midnight to get me home from the hospital. I required surgery to implant a titanium plate (still in there), and I missed five weeks of work because I was was a field-service guy and there was no way I could work with one hand. No medical leave either, because there was no paid leave of any kind at my company. Thank goodness the insurance company paid me $3K more than I owed on the bike; I lived on that for a few weeks.

The morals of the story:

1. STAY HYDRATED!
2. Don't get hooked into 'get-there-itis.' When you know you need water, or rest, or food, or whatever...don't put it off because you want to make 'just one more' point along the way first.
3. Make sure your insurance is up to task. My health insurance was an 80/20 policy, basically a 'catastrophic' plan. To this day I don't want to add up all the stuff I wound up having to self-pay, and pay I did.
4. Did I mention to STAY HYDRATED? If you live in a hot and/or dry climate, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to keep an emergency bottle of water stashed on the bike in case you're far from civilisation.
 
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