Crash Chronicles (Crashes and Near Misses)

[GlobalRider]

Are you really as good a driver as you think you are? Most people way overrate their driving safety abilities.

I keep telling myself I'm not that good despite having plenty of time on pavement, in the dirt and on ice.

Forty-six years later I'm still accident free and insurance claim free on two and four wheels and in the cockpit.

[AKsuited]

I keep telling myself I'm not that good despite having plenty of time on pavement, in the dirt and on ice.

Forty-six years later I'm still accident free and insurance claim free on two and four wheels and in the cockpit.

You appear to illustrate the point of the video very well, that very competent people tend not to over-estimate their abilities.

[AjaxTheDog]

I crashed my 07 RT down in Texas in 2011 or 2012, can't recall exactly, but I do remember the details vividly. There was a wicked rainstorm and they closed the main north south road when we were about 30 miles from our destination in Amarillo. We decided to make a roundabout detour onto a very rutted road, with troughs worn into it from heavy vehicles. There was rain water in those troughs and I suspect a lot of built up oil drips since it hadn't rained in months. I tried to stay on the crown of the road but slipped into the troughs occasionally, doing about 65 mph which was too fast for the conditions. Tires were Bridgestone BT20's (not exactly sure of the number), not a great rain tire. At some point I spilled off the center crown of the road into a water filled trough and the bike started hydroplaning and going sideways. I remember thinking "this isn't going to end well", time to eject and get away from the out of control vehicle. So I slid off the back side and did a slip and slide on my back for about 100ft or so, all the time watching the bike strangely continuing upright sans rider toward the left side of the road. For a moment I thought maybe it'll just fall in the grass on the side of the road and everything will be OK. Not likely but I did have that thought for a moment. Then it occurred to me that my buddy behind me might run me over so I flipped over while sliding and saw him coming to a stop, far back. Whew. Luckily there was no traffic coming the other way or I might have been a goner. I had all my leather clothes on and also a rain jacket. Most of the zippers on my clothing opened but when I came to a stop I just got up and to my amazement I was OK. My only injury was a very small few scratches on my hip where a zipper opened and the road wore through my underwear and a very little skin. Lots of adrenaline though, and I had my buddy take a picture when we went over to the bike, which you can see on my avatar.

The bike skidded on the left head and wore though the valve cover, then contacted the grassy side of the road and packed it full of mud. It ended up upside down, like when you put a bicycle upside down on it's handlebars, very strange. I pushed it over and they my buddy took the picture. Cops and ambulance came, and my friend somehow talked the cop out of giving me a ticket. He said I'd already had a bad enough day! Went to the hospital to get checked out and all was well.

Next day I rented a pickup and took the bike home to my local dealer, who pronounced it totaled, probably because it had about 70,000 miles on it by then. The insurance company Foremost (via AARP) asked me several very telling questions right away: Do you have a valid license? Is your bike properly registered? Did you get a ticket? All I think designed to deny my claim if they could. Luckily I was all legit, and they covered most of my costs and I got a little over $10K for the bike, which was probably more than it was worth by then.

So I walked away unharmed but had a little PTSD in the following couple of months mostly thinking about how lucky I was that there was any traffic coming the other way. I got over that and a few months later got into a K1300GT, which was just too buzzy for my tastes, so I went back to RT's and have had them ever since.

Nowadays I avoid rain whenever I can. It doesn't rain much here so that isn't hard locally. But when I go on a trip I watch the weather carefully and will ride a few hundred miles out of my way or just have a down day at the motel to avoid rain. The MyRadar app on my phone is my best buddy!

The name of the town I crashed in was Dumas, TX, forever to be called Dumb-ass by my friend and I in memory of my bad judgement that caused the accident.

[90725]

Not sure if ya'll have seen the videos of Cruisman's accident on his Goldwing but it's worth a view and lesson learned.

Initial video talking about the accident:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbukdVturag

Update:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbLLe1zP1ts

[kbasa]

Not sure if ya'll have seen the videos of Cruisman's accident on his Goldwing but it's worth a view and lesson learned.

Initial video talking about the accident:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbukdVturag

Update:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbLLe1zP1ts

He pulled up behind a vehicle and didn't ensure he was visible in their mirrors.

He was also perfectly positioned to be blocked from visibility by oncoming vehicles and if someone was in a hurry and turned quickly once the truck went past them, he was right in that spot and perfectly positioned to get Tboned by the oncoming left turner.

DUMB.

If you can't see their mirrors they can't see you.