Close calls happen.. Even when you are doing everythng right!!

[wfooshee]

Lemming. He went because the guy in front went, and had no idea where he was. Would have followed him off a cliff.

Had it happen yesterday morning at a 4-way stop, guy to my right went, it was my turn, guy behind the guy to my right just went on through without even looking.

 

[radman]

Hair on my neck raised sometime in 1967. Never have been able to get it slicked back down. Glad we weren't reading this in forum #34....................

 

[lnewlf]

Yesterday [first aniversity of FJR ownership] I'M sitting in traffic waiting for an opening to make a left, signal on, lots of room on my right for cars to pass, and watching my 6 like a hawk as I always do..I see a small SUV coming up behind me-it slows and left signal comes on to make the same turn that I'm waiting for and I feel safe back there and look foward.. Then the sound of squealing tires and the FJR gets rammed in the arse and punted foward about 4 feet. Dumb dizzy blond chick with a phone still stuck in her ear, says she has no idea why that just happened. Guess what-absolutly no damage to the bike-the tire took the shock, the front facia of the SUV is laying in pieces on the street. What bugs me is that I don't know what I could have done to prevent that except to watch until she was completly stopped..?

 

[wheatonFJR]

Yesterday [first aniversity of FJR ownership] I'M sitting in traffic waiting for an opening to make a left, signal on, lots of room on my right for cars to pass, and watching my 6 like a hawk as I always do..I see a small SUV coming up behind me-it slows and left signal comes on to make the same turn that I'm waiting for and I feel safe back there and look foward.. Then the sound of squealing tires and the FJR gets rammed in the arse and punted foward about 4 feet. Dumb dizzy blond chick with a phone still stuck in her ear, says she has no idea why that just happened. Guess what-absolutly no damage to the bike-the tire took the shock, the front facia of the SUV is laying in pieces on the street. What bugs me is that I don't know what I could have done to prevent that except to watch until she was completly stopped..?

I would have dealer look at bike more closely... 4 feet is quite a ways.

...and if you had the bike in gear and had an out by splitting between lanes...move forward between lanes to avoid the rear ender. You don't have to just take whatever they dish out.

 

[Gizmo]

Cdog...Thanks for sharing. It never fails to amaze me how many so called licensed drivers do not pay any attention to what's happening around them. Lately, I've noticed several of the Scion Boxes being driven by young drivers, chatting on the cell phones, texting (which is just fricking stoopid!) and other craziness.

I took the MSF course a little over a year ago and one of the the first things they teach you is SEE: SEARCH, EVALUATE, EXECUTE. Your story could not be a more perfect example. Glad your safe dude! :clapping:

 

[Mitch_Sowden]

Read an interesting article today about city planning. There's a school of thought that traffic may be safer with LESS controls (stop signs, etc.) than the opposite. Hi Sacra Mike. Ever been to Lagos, Cario / Nairobi (prob south America 2?) Mate, Okes in cages are clueless - EVERYONE is a threat... Take NOTHING for granted... In some parts of our world, controls / rules are VERY necessary but as a biker - TRUST nobody...

 

[zzzzip]

Spydie sense.... if you don't use it to save your ***, nobody else will.

B)

 

[Last Chance]

Yup, although you kept your head, did everything "right". it almost got you.

Like I've always said....There is something called a "non-preventable" accident!

Rare it is...but it does exist. All we can do is play the odds. I was involved with an accident years ago in my car. Absolutely nothing I could have done more to avoid the collision. I actually made a last second swerve directly into the guard rail to avoid a head-on. I was in a little Toyota something vs a Pontiac Bonneville doing 130 mph (drunk) at night. He hit me a grazing blow impacting just behind my left front headlight. The impact, while blowing the drivers window out and reshaping the left side of the car, actually straightened out my path to one running parallel to the guard rail and about 2" away from it. If he had hit me one inch further toward my right he would have cut through that little car like a hot knife through butter! I sometime think about that and realize if I live long enough...my number will come up. Life's like that I guess.

Glad they missed you this time.

LC

 

[painman]

Cdogman, glad you were'nt the blunt end on the hood ornament of that bad scene! And good thing as well it wasn't your time yet!

I drive around town all day in a delivery van and I see more red light runners than ever and all the other cell/text crazies, cutting off, etc., mentioned cloging up the roadways. Even with the new law against using the cell while driving in Ca.

It really is scary out there and one good thing we have on our side too is just the fact we ride bikes, no matter what we're riding/driving we have that second sense/awareness we learn from riding the bike and plus the man up stairs is a plus too looking out for us.

PM. <><

 

[Scythian]

Glad you came out of it OK.Brings to mind,a habit I picked up in Denver(retired Fedex courier),and that is to stay back about a car length from the intersection until everything is clear to go,and make my move from that point.

That's what I do. I'd rather miss a stop light cycle than get in the mix. Anyone in back of me can enjoy getting the Gloved Middle Finger of Doom if they think I'm not aggressive enough....

I'm glad you're OK, too.

You're a better man than I hanging around like that. I leave stuff like at a high rate of speed. I don't like talking to cops and I don't need to get named in a lawsuit or called as a witness.

 

[dcarver]

Mr. R,

Whad da phuck over? You know better than to sit and watch the world as it spins by.

Very glad this one spun to the right by 20 and not on the 0.

JFC dude, a close call.

Glad you escaped, can't imagine.

Actually surprised you didn't educate the ******** with a real lesson of life. :angry:

 

[Ari Rankum]

Hella story, Robin. I'm really glad you were paying attention to your total environment.

By coincidence, I was following a Scion-sized vehicle on the way home from EOM yesterday. I saw her grab for something behind her seat (yes, she was the only one in the vehicle) and then under her seat, each time veering WAY over the double yellow. All I could think of was the trajectory of her vehicle when she got smacked by something big coming the other way, or the death of an innocent if she got smacked by something small coming the other way. I hit the high beams and backed way off until I had an opportunity to get WAY clear ahead.

Thanks for the write-up.

 

[Cdogman]

Spydie sense.... if you don't use it to save your ***, nobody else will.
B)

You know that is almost true too.. I dont hear it all the time but when I am on my bike I DO pay attention to it.. I definatly saw this one coming and it was all in slow motion.. I really dont think, even tho I was prepared to jump off the bike, let it drop, and run, that I would have moved fast enough.. It was the hanging back from the crosswalk that saved my ***.. That litte car spun right into where I should have been had I pulled up the the little white line

Mr. R,
Whad da phuck over? You know better than to sit and watch the world as it spins by.

Very glad this one spun to the right by 20 and not on the 0.

JFC dude, a close call.

Glad you escaped, can't imagine.

Actually surprised you didn't educate the ******** with a real lesson of life. :angry:

That little 17-18-19 Y/O kid was so scared shitless it would have been like stomping on a puppies broken leg.. The dude in the truck and his kid were alright and that little ******* kid got more of a lesson than I could have metted out. I imagein an aribag punches pretty hard.. Now had he flipped me attitude I may have felt different...

I bet he is a bit smarter ******** now.. and his cute little car is a total loss. So no more cruising for chicks for him until mommy buys him a new car (if they can afford the insurance now that he has an "At fault" accident) I made sure the LEO knew the light was green for the truck that hit him.. It was green as hell!!

 

[wfooshee]

You're a better man than I hanging around like that. I leave stuff like at a high rate of speed. I don't like talking to cops and I don't need to get named in a lawsuit or called as a witness.

If something happens to me at an intersection somewhere, I certainly hope someone besides you is there so that I can count on the facts getting to the authorities. Where would a rider be if somebody clipped him and drove away, and the only witness also left because he doesn't "like talking to cops?" There's absolutely no reason for that attitude, and it's frankly disappointing to see. :angry:

 

[ShawnKing]

I imagein an aribag punches pretty hard..

Having boxed semi-professionally I can tell you, the airbag packs a good wallop over your *entire* face. My brain had been telling me all those years "it must be like landing in a pillow!" but when it (unfortunately) happened, I found it was like being punched in the face with a pillow made out of concrete...

 

[Scythian]

You're a better man than I hanging around like that. I leave stuff like at a high rate of speed. I don't like talking to cops and I don't need to get named in a lawsuit or called as a witness.

If something happens to me at an intersection somewhere, I certainly hope someone besides you is there so that I can count on the facts getting to the authorities. Where would a rider be if somebody clipped him and drove away, and the only witness also left because he doesn't "like talking to cops?" There's absolutely no reason for that attitude, and it's frankly disappointing to see. :angry:

Whoa right there....

Where did the rider 'get clipped' in this story? Where did someone drive away who was involved in the accident? Where did Cdogman say he was "the only witness"?

I see you left out the part, for your own amusement, where I said "I don't need a lawsuit either."

There is a reason for that attitude: common sense and experience.

 

[Cdogman]

If we keep this in perspective, I was NOT involved in the accident at all. They missed me because I saw it coming and was lucky enough to have some wiggle room.. There were several dozen witnesses.. I bet that I had the very best clarity but I was not involved.. Had I been.. I would probably be dead right now.. I did not even have time to say "By the power of Isus" and turn into the green hulk... errr something

Others left for their own reasons... Many probably did not consider it a really bad wreck, no one was hurt.

the only reason it "could have been much worse for me" was a matter of situational awareness, and a TON of luck, and my wittle bike is no match for a cage spinning through my current location..

And "most" Utah drivers are pretty selfish... I do gotta admit that..

As someone above said.. and I agree.. I am a far better cage driver now that I ride bikes... I find myself going out of my way to make sure a bike pilot knows damn well i see him.. and i give him room... with eye contact.. Almost like Cali drivers do... I am trying to start a trend here abouts...

 

[double_entendre]

The guy in the truck that hit the little car shares the fault here, because he didn't anticipate the possibility that somebody would make a bonehead move 'cause after all, Hell, he had the right of way, right? So when he sees somebody making a left in front of him, oh well, too late. Going too fast, nowhere to go. But YOU saw this situation developing, so did some others. Why not him? It's a good thing you and some of the other drivers who stopped short had your heads NOT up your *****. The view's much better that way, isn't it?

I think the OP had it right: Got a little bit lucky. Nothing wrong with luck if nothing else will go your way, eh? Granny always said, "If you have a choice between being born smart and born lucky, pick lucky every time."

Regarding the truck driver having fault, I asked my wife who is a bodily injury claims adjuster. Unless there are some exceptions not mentioned in the OP, the truck doesn't have fault. Possible exceptions could include: 1) He was substantially speeding; 2) The guy in the Scion box managed to get across 2 lanes of oncoming traffic and then the guy hits him. Especially if it's a quarter panel hit. Then yeah, the guy should have seen him coming. But even in case #2 he's only minimally at fault. 15% maybe. Otherwise he's free & clear. Well. Other than the wrecked truck and some mental trauma.

Which makes sense. Would you argue the counter if it'd been the truck making a left turn in front of an FJR?

Rancho

 

[EXPDSGT]

There are several ways to get in an accident that is not in any way your fault. Back a few months, a motor rider was on the freeway and two cages hit each other and went out of control and slammed into him and knocked him under a truck. End of story.

I always worry about tailgaters -- I hate cages that follow too close at lower speeds. At higher speeds they stay back pretty good but many creep up on you at lower speeds. I speed up or change lanes when that happens.

Glad you got missed--very good idea to be aware of all traffic that can "get" you. If I see a cage at a side street or making a left turn, from the other way, I move over and slow down till I know I can get by them, even if they gun it out in front of me. But; I don't even listen to a radio or I-Pod when I ride. On the freway some bikes drive way to fast and close when "lane sharing". Many drivers pay way more attention to their cell phones, than they do to their driving. You may only get to have "one" accident. If I have an accident I don't want it to be my "last" possible accident!!!!!

 

[SacramentoMike]

Hi Sacra Mike. Ever been to Lagos, Cario / Nairobi (prob south America 2?) Mate, Okes in cages are clueless - EVERYONE is a threat... Take NOTHING for granted... In some parts of our world, controls / rules are VERY necessary but as a biker - TRUST nobody...

18 months in Izmir, Turkey, where you're at risk not just from the cars and trucks, but from the pedestrians as well. They just walk out into the road without a care in the world, sure that if Allah hasn't determined that it's their day to die, they'll be fine. If he has, nothing they can do will prevent it. Did NOT ride a m/c there! And by the way, rules are great--when folks follow them. That's why we talk about driving defensively. Sometimes folks don't.

I drive around town all day in a delivery van and I see more red light runners than ever and all the other cell/text crazies, cutting off, etc., mentioned cloging up the roadways. Even with the new law against using the cell while driving in Ca.

I've noticed a slight decline in the number of idiots with a cell phone in their face here in Cali since it became illegal. Damn slight.

As someone above said.. and I agree.. I am a far better cage driver now that I ride bikes... I find myself going out of my way to make sure a bike pilot knows damn well i see him.. and i give him room... with eye contact.. Almost like Cali drivers do...

Good God, Robin, Utah is hurting if you're saying the drivers here are the ones to emulate. Jeez, scary.

Regarding the truck driver having fault, I asked my wife who is a bodily injury claims adjuster. Unless there are some exceptions not mentioned in the OP, the truck doesn't have fault. Possible exceptions could include . . .
Which makes sense. Would you argue the counter if it'd been the truck making a left turn in front of an FJR?

Rancho

Dude, you missed my point. I'm not worrying about who gets charged for this accident, but I'm saying if you hit somebody with your truck, you're involved, period, and if you could have avoided it, it would be a smart thing to do. Dogman saw this situation developing. Others did too. The truck driver could have if he'd been driving with attention and anticipation. If he'd been riding a bike instead of driving a truck, I sure hope he would have been watching for possible idiots turning in front of him--after all, the stakes go up when your *** is really on the line, don't they?