I Got Rear Ended At A Yield Sign

[garauld]

I too am glad you are fine. FWIW, I have a set of hyperlites tied into my braking circuit and mounted just below the tail light like this:

Which looks like this:

I will never own another bike without putting them on especially with the idiots playing with their cellphones out there...

 

[Toecutter]

I will never own another bike without putting them on especially with the idiots playing with their cellphones...

If they're playing with a phone they aren't even looking. Just pretend you're invisible and act accordingly....

 

[FJRayJ]

I will never own another bike without putting them on especially with the idiots playing with their cellphones...

If they're playing with a phone they aren't even looking. Just pretend you're invisible and act accordingly....

Was there room to leave some space between you and the cross street?

 

[painman]

Sorry to hear about your get-off. There are pleanty of wanna-be's around my area also that should not be behind a wheel like the one that hit you. I'm sure your martial arts training helped in your not getting hurt too bad and quick recovery. It's good to get back in the dojo a.s.a.p. just like it's good to get back in the saddle. Take care, Painman. ><>

 

[rogdeb]

[
https://www.customdynamics.com/signal_dynam...t_modulator.htm

Amen on the Custon Dynamics - very noticeable.

Glad you're ok

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Did I miss what you said about lane position? Where were you...could you have positioned yourself so that he could steer around you?

 

[Cdogman]

I dont know all that could have been done and hind sight is indeed 20/20. I have been "Caught" in place before and had an ass pucker on a car coming up to me.

There have been times when I had "nowhere" to go. At those times as paranoid as it may sound, I have thought about jumping off the bike either to the side, or most likely onto the colliding vehicle to go over the top. But who is to say that if I jumped to the side and left the bike they would not swerve at the last second to avoid the bike and run my dumb ass over??

I am glad you are OK, Bikes can be fixed or replaced.

 

[James Burleigh]

Thanks for the sympathy and encouragement everyone.
I would like some more input on the watch your six advice some have mentioned. Is there something else I could have done? I always watch my six. In fact, sometimes I think I watch what's behind me too much. Most accidents happen from the front not the back.

As always I glanced behind me as I came to a stop. The guy was about one and a half car lengths behind me and he appeared to be slowing. I knew he was there.

The yield sign is at the end of an exit ramp off an interstate highway coming into the small town of Jefferson, MD. There is no merge lane to escape forward to. There is no shoulder to the right to escape to just a curb. If I had continued through the yield sign I would have been run over by two trucks. I try to always look for an escape. Sometimes there just isn't one.

Is there something else I could have done? If there is I want to know so I can avoid this if there is a next time.

Sorry about your accident, and glad you're okay. To respond to your question about is there something else you could have done, I'm not about to presume to know something you don't, or that that would not have happened to me.

I will say that one thing to be mindful of, and which is something I do because my first car accident as a teenager was because of this (I rear-ended a car in a right-turn situation), is to be careful when stopped for a right-hand yield, stop sign, or signal, that you do not come off the brake, inch forward, and hit the brake again. A car may think you are going, and look left--bang! If you can, hit the brake and stay on it till you can go.

Your accident has made me a lot more skeptical that that car I see slowing behind me will not hit me. We tend to think that if they're slowing, they're slowing because they see us! There goes that presumption. (Question to self: how many presumptions have to go out the window before I permanently hang up my helmet?)

Jb

 

[fjrchik]

I have this Priority Plus thingy installed into my tail lights and when i hit the brakes, these puppies go off! They are ridiculously visible because they use the signal lights, which are already pretty large. I guess I would go with this before the little row of LED lights. Having rode behind both, big, yellow, flashing tail lights caught my attention way more than an extra row of little red lights. That's why I went with this. So far, they've been great. No squealing tires behind me yet and 99.9% of my riding is major city commuting.

Knock on wood! Watch, tonight on the way home from work, I'll get blasted!

 

[c0emgen]

Update: After a read on the MRI yesterday I found out I do not have any permanent damage to my knee. There is just some fluid under the knee cap that will absorb over time. Very thankful I made it throught this accident with minor injuries that will completely heal.

A few have asked if there was any room in the yield lane I could have positioned myself to allow the car that rear ended me to steer around me. The answer is no. It is a small, narrow, single lane at the end of the exit ramp. There is no shoulder to the right. There is no room to the left or right for a car to steer around someone stopped at the yield sign.

I have returned to the scene of the accident and it is my final opinion that there is nothing I could have done to avoid it.

I have decided to go with a tailight modulator and two brighter bulbs in the headlight instead of a headlight modulator.

Thank you everyone for reading the post, offering your sympathy, encouragement, and opinions about modulators and what I might have done to avoid the accident. Good, fun, and safe riding to all.