Motorcycle crashes

[vadasz1]

Tha last one really hurts......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9IVKqJSQac

[Kid Jedi]

the one at 30 seconds really freaks me out, That could happen to any one!

I remember the article about the one at 2:15 it was in SF, & that guy died.

[Extent]

That must have been a different crash.  That clip was lifted from here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD6jruSIELA

[inanecathode]

the one at 30 seconds really freaks me out, That could happen to any one!

I remember the article about the one at 2:15 it was in SF, & that guy died.

Er, sure it could happen to anyone, if you're doing wheelies at high speed  ???
He set it down with the wheel pointed off to the right, thats why it tank slappered.

The one with the piston coming out of the engine, you can hear it knocking horribly before he even takes off. I wonder if anyone noticed that o_O

[Kid Jedi]

Inane-
:30 sec in on the first video. he was just riding and the car in the fast lane lost a tie rod end!

[h2olawyer]

I figured the driver was just answering the damn cell phone!   >:(

H₂O

If you have an accident on a motorcycle, it's always your fault. Tough call, but it has to be that way. You're in the right, and dead -on a bike. The principle is not to have any accident. If you're involved in an an accident, it's because you did not anticipate. Then, by default, you failed.

[Kid Jedi]

worse, he was neglecting his car! Also, I COMPLETELY agree with your philosophy on motorcycle crashes. my father beat that in to me at a YOUNG age.

I just hope that I would have acted correctly in that situation to avoid the crash.

now that i think of it, I don't think he braked.  ???

Thank god for motorcycle gear!

[Rick G]

If you think your never going to have a crash , your kidding your self. It doesn't need to be your fault, cage drivers will help in that regard.
I warned my daughter that see would probably crash in the first year. A following rider on a HD ran into her and the 12 year old  girl on the back of Sam's bike, flew over her head. Neither was badly hurt and Sam's V star only had a dented tank. The HD rider was in hospital for 3 months.The HD  was totaled.

[h2olawyer]

Rick - It is the attitude every rider needs to have.  No matter what the cause, the wreck IS the rider's fault.  Maybe not legally, but in the failure of the rider to anticipate and react to a given situation.  This is the attitude the Colorado MSF courses try to instill in their students.  It does not mean you will never have a crash, it just means that when you do, it is your own fault.  That attitude keeps the rider riding in such a way that they recognize where the likely danger points are and can minimize the risks at all times.

That attitude manifests itself by looking at a situation and instead of thinking "If driver X makes stupid move Y" the rider thinks "When driver X makes stupid move Y".  It makes for quicker reactions because you have anticipated the left turn or similar stupid move.  You cannot protect against everything, but you can greatly reduce the chances that some idiot will take you out.

The attitude is an aspect of personal responsibility (a quality sorely lacking these days) that is important in keeping one's self from becoming a statistic.  It is why we don't spend any time next to a big truck on the highway, why we move at a pace a little faster than the surrounding traffic, why we keep a 'protective zone' around us, and why I don't ride much in town.  It is why I make a slight swerve when I see a vehicle waiting to turn onto the road I'm on and why I am a little slower than many around blind curves (I always seem to meet someone who wants their half of the road from my side).  Like Inspector Harry Callahan recommends, I know my limitations.  I can think of at least a dozen times in the last 5 or 6 years that if I'd been riding a little faster in the corners, I'd have been a splat on the grille of an oncoming driver who was cutting the corner on a blind curve.

Not meant as a rant, just an explanation of the philosophy.  ;)

H₂O

[inanecathode]

I dig the attitude aspect, but there are some accidents that are unavoidable.
There's no way any human being could avoid the accident at 0:30 (i thought you meant 3, jedi) unless they had forrwarning that years of metal fatigue were about to come to a climactic finish.
Sure you can avoid people pulling out by paying attention, people merging by paying attention, keeping your speeds down when theres animal hazards, but you can't predict unpredictable events and human behavior when they're well inside your stopping and reaction distance.

[Brian Moffet]

So basically you won't beat yourself up if the accident was unavoidable, where h2olawyer will :-)

Brian (been down this road before...)

[h2olawyer]

Just about ALL accidents are avoidable.  That's why you spend as little time as possible in those situations.  I won't ride in a lane where I don't have an escape route - except for the short time I need to be there, getting from the inside or outside lane to the other.  Makes avoiding the unexpected much easier.  I don't even like being in that situation in a cage!  That's anticipatory riding - not getting yourself in such a situation in the first place.  There's always an option to give you better chances for a positive outcome.  I choose not to ride in heavy traffic if at all possible - just had too many close calls in cars & trucks.  I don't trust anyone out on the road.  There are two types of drivers on the roads - those who don't see you & those who are aiming for you.

Won't 'beat myself up' but will replay the situation to see where I screwed up & learn from the experience.  Again, nearly all accidents ARE avoidable.

H₂O

[Kid Jedi]

+1 h2o I completely agree with ya. and i do beat my self up over it, plenty of people depend on me, and if i wanna ride i gotta avoid all of those accidents. i think that accident at 30 sec was avoidable if he would have say braked and merged.  He had the wrong panic reaction.

But I am really hard on my self about riding. D:

[inanecathode]

+1 h2o I completely agree with ya. and i do beat my self up over it, plenty of people depend on me, and if i wanna ride i gotta avoid all of those accidents. i think that accident at 30 sec was avoidable if he would have say braked and merged.  He had the wrong panic reaction.

But I am really hard on my self about riding. D:

He did brake and merge, there was a car there o_o

[rhpaw]

I remember reading the blogs on this when it happened.. that civic video is pretty well known.

"Somewhere in the U.S., Friday, February 10, 2006.

Ironically, the victim in the accident is a professional female bike rider filming a documentary about safe riding.

A blown tire forces the Honda Civic on the left lane [dark vehicle] to accelerate uncontrollably. Realizing he was going to rear-end the white vehicle in front of him, the driver of the Civic instinctively steps hard on the b More..rakes which causes the car to swirve to the right, blocking the biker and consequently causing the crash.

The driver of the Civic can be seen and heard in the footage. He's the big guy wearing a white shirt. The biker can also be heard talking in the video. She couldn't lie down when asked because she says he back hurts.

On the bright side of things, it's nice to see that a lot of people actually stopped and rushed to help the woman."
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e18_1185734663

She was a racer... I doubt we could have reacted faster.

[h2olawyer]

My argument isn't with the reaction time - it is with the rider putting herself in a bad situation initially.  The avoidance of that crash was eliminated when she put herself in a lane between lanes of moving traffic - no escape route.  Granted, the blowout is a rare occurrence, but it could have just as easily been a distracted driver.  In her situation, she doubled her chance of bad things happening by the decision to ride in a lane between two other lanes.  That was her error.  Not saying it was necessarily a wrong decision, but it sure turned out that way this time.

In many crashes, timing is critical and there are times when you must be in a potentially dangerous situation.  The object is to recognize the danger & make those times as short as necessary.  Choosing to ride in a lane with no escape route is not generally the proper choice.  I hope that made it into the safety video.

Good to hear the rider was coherent & aware of things after the crash.  Also good that many folks stopped to help.

H₂O

[inanecathode]

My argument isn't with the reaction time - it is with the rider putting herself in a bad situation initially.  The avoidance of that crash was eliminated when she put herself in a lane between lanes of moving traffic - no escape route.  Granted, the blowout is a rare occurrence, but it could have just as easily been a distracted driver.  In her situation, she doubled her chance of bad things happening by the decision to ride in a lane between two other lanes.  That was her error.  Not saying it was necessarily a wrong decision, but it sure turned out that way this time.

In many crashes, timing is critical and there are times when you must be in a potentially dangerous situation.  The object is to recognize the danger & make those times as short as necessary.  Choosing to ride in a lane with no escape route is not generally the proper choice.  I hope that made it into the safety video.

Good to hear the rider was coherent & aware of things after the crash.  Also good that many folks stopped to help.

H₂O

I'm happy to say i've got a good sense about that stuff. I always feel 'funny' when i come upon places in traffic like that where i can be trapped. Generally i'll either stay back, or switch out of the lane.
That and going next to a line of stopped traffic, i get far far far away from them if i have to pass them the next lane over anyway.

[h2olawyer]

Those are good instincts.  Like I said, this is an attitude you must have when riding.  It is also why I don't have any tunes playing when I ride - it takes full concentration on your surroundings.  I can see listening to tunes out in the middle of nowhere with light traffic and just fast sweepers or long straights - need something to keep from getting bored.

H₂O

[vadasz1]

Robert, you actually get bored on a V?

[h2olawyer]

Long straights & wide sweepers are boring on anything - especially something that likes to turn!   ;D

H₂O