Is it still considered a crash

If you were not on the bike at the time?

No good deed goes unpunished. I was in the #1 lane going north on I-45 in The Woodlands when I saw everybody dancing and weaving in front of me. They were avoiding the giant tread strip lying in the middle of the lane. I narrowly avoided it. Thinking of our helmetless Harley brethren, I decided to stop and see if I could pull the strip out of the road. Big mistake. I pulled off about 100 yards down the road (10eaX30' Jersey barriers), parked right next to the barriers, and walked back to do the good deed. The width of the emergency lane is for future HOV lanes so it's pretty wide. About half way back I saw/heard Durango Man come skidding by me, heading towards my bike. Definitely a sinking feeling as he whizzed by. And then the crunch! I figured the damage was done so I continued on to get the strip, knowing we would soon have a chain of cars following us into the berm otherwise. And it was huge, must have weighed 50+ pounds. Anyway, Durango Man was all apologetic, insured, no problems getting the bike fixed. To the tune of $7000. Dan at Cycle Shack North in Conroe did a fine job of re-assembling it.



The LEO that showed up said the guy could have recovered if only he had released the brakes about halfway thru the skid. I suspect Durango Man was on his phone at the time and didn't know what was happening. (This shot was after we had picked the bike up and were waiting for a tow truck.) He must have hit the left rear of the bike to break the exhaust and then somehow the bike fell on it's right side. He couldn't have been going much more than 20 MPH at the time.



You can see where I pulled the tire strip over next to the Jersey barriers







You get the picture. I mentioned the event to my instructor from the Advanced MSF course and he indeed agreed that I had made a big mistake. He had done something similar and had been hit himself, standing on the side of the road, getting thrown 150'. He said to just pull off and call 911, let the LEO's handle the task. I got mixed reviews form my motorcycle buddies, some saying I made a mistake, some saying good kharma will come back to help me someday. I just know I'm not going to do anything like that ever again!

It was extremely un-nerving standing on the side of the road with traffic going by at 70-80 MPH, only a few feet away. I can't believe people stop to change tires there! Drive on the rims to a safe place if you have to but don't spend any time in the emergency lane.

Cheese on rice!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn, I think Durango man has a hate on for FJR's :angry2: :angry2: That's one long skid mark!

Must have had that "FJR in the headlights" look on his face :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink:

Scary stuff, glad your Ok.

Can we assume that traffic was lighter after the incident, 'cause there is a lot of room there? My vote is that next time you leave the debris where it is and let somebody with flares clear it out.

Yes most important that YOU weren't struck. Glad the damage was repaired & at least he stuck around after the collision. Got mixed feeling as you do whether stopping was the right thing to do. Boy Scout in me says yes but cynical side says drive on.

That sucks. With skidmarks that long, Durango man must have been moving fast.

I tend to agree that it's not safe to be on the side of the highway. With Cell phones, target fixation, drivers under the influence, there's just too much to go wrong. Or maybe I've seen too many of those real-life police television shows.

Still, I tend to believe good karma will come round your way. Be glad you weren't still on the bike.

BwanaDik said:

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Based on the above image, what on earth was Durango Man doing swerving where he swerved?

He was already well past the tire carcass when he swerved into the emergency lane with brakes locked up.

Traffic was pretty light before and after the incident. The picture of the tire was after I had already pulled it to the side. It was in the middle of #1 lane originally.

BwanaDik said:

Traffic was pretty light before and after the incident. The picture of the tire was after I had already pulled it to the side. It was in the middle of #1 lane originally.

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Yes, that's what I figured. So moving it over into the lane in my mind, it still appears he swerved after passing the tire chunk.

I think you're right. Near as I can figure, he hit the tire strip, got suprised (probably a pretty big "whump", considering it's size), dropped his phone and locked up all four wheels, white knuckle gripping the steering wheel. The Durango just drifted to the left without him having any clue as to how to control it.

Similar situation I witnessed first hand in B'ham couple years ago. Wife and I were in her cage on 459 bypass, cars up ahead of us started swerving, about 4-5 in a row, each traveling to close for the speed which they were traveling, then all of a sudden car 5 or 6 in a Jeep Grand Cherokee lost control after her swerve and crossed all 3 lanes almost hitting a Harley rider, then swerved back again across the lanes and into the grass median flipping some 3-4 times. We were the first to stop and call 911. The lady did have on her seat belt but appeared not to be in very good shape. We stayed there and tried to comfort her until trained dedicated help arrived, gave the police our names and a statement and headed home.

All in a effort to avoid the alligator laying in the travel lane. None of this would have happened if those cars were not following each other so closely and I advised the officer of that opinion, FWIW. We were behind the lady that wrecked, but there was more than sufficient space between us had her that I had no problem avoiding the hazard and pulling safely off to assist.

What can you do some people

On a related subject, I wish they would stop selling those crappy recaps. I actually saw one of those things let go. Luckily there was nothing next to the truck/wheel. However, had there been, I can assure you there would have been a collision. As you all know, how many times do you see chunks of tire sitting right in the middle of the road? That's a hazard for everyone, especially us two wheeled guys.

Rick

donaldb said:

All in a effort to avoid the alligator laying in the travel lane. None of this would have happened if those cars were not following each other so closely and I advised the officer of that opinion, FWIW. We were behind the lady that wrecked, but there was more than sufficient space between us had her that I had no problem avoiding the hazard and pulling safely off to assist.

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Bingo! You said a mouthful there...

Sucks that Durango-Man didn't have ABS. I'm thankful both our 4-wheel vehicles and the feejer have them. Harley doesn't so it's going away.

rickysnickers said:

On a related subject, I wish they would stop selling those crappy recaps. I actually saw one of those things let go. Luckily there was nothing next to the truck/wheel. However, had there been, I can assure you there would have been a collision. As you all know, how many times do you see chunks of tire sitting right in the middle of the road? That's a hazard for everyone, especially us two wheeled guys.
Rick

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Saw this on Mythbusters. Probably one of the most violent examples of what can happen I've ever seen. Same relative motion as if the car ahead of you kicks one up and you travel into it at 60+MPH. Something to consider

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD4hB51HRuo

BwanaDik said:

rickysnickers said:

On a related subject, I wish they would stop selling those crappy recaps. I actually saw one of those things let go. Luckily there was nothing next to the truck/wheel. However, had there been, I can assure you there would have been a collision. As you all know, how many times do you see chunks of tire sitting right in the middle of the road? That's a hazard for everyone, especially us two wheeled guys.
Rick

Click to expand...

Saw this on Mythbusters. Probably one of the most violent examples of what can happen I've ever seen. Same relative motion as if the car ahead of you kicks one up and you travel into it at 60+MPH. Something to consider

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD4hB51HRuo

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Whoops! Sorry, it doesn't work anymore. I'll try to find it someplace else. It was the one where they put a retread into the spinning rear tires of a pickup truck on jacks and shoot it into a dummy sitting in a car.

FZ/FJR Mike said:

Yes most important that YOU weren't struck. Glad the damage was repaired & at least he stuck around after the collision. Got mixed feeling as you do whether stopping was the right thing to do. Boy Scout in me says yes but cynical side says drive on.

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ita

A moving vehicle hits your parked bike? Hmmm, let's get a ruling from the judges on this one.

Is it a crash?

I vote that your insurance company [the opinion that counts the most here] will rule that you were in an accident, albeit entirely the other party's fault.

Good karma for your intentions, however. I've pulled over and clear sickle-hazardous debris myself, though never on a freeway.

good on ya, bwana. it's one of those things that you shouldn't do, but good for you for doing it.

i did the same thing, only it wasn't as busy a highway, and the object was a 2.5' wide snapping turtle. i didn't realize it was a snapper 'til i got to it, and i'd already committed, so oh well.

good job, you sacrificed a bit of your bike but may have saved someone's skin.

dean

cincinnati