Some drivers just suck!

[ken_cinder]

Well my motorcycle riding season ended abruptly this morning at 6:45am.

I was only a few hundred yards from work, when some guy in a green neon decides to make a left hand turn infront of me, with a nice "I'll signal right as I go to make my turn".

 

I was less than 100 feet from him, doing 50kph (The speed limit) when he attempts the turn and realizes I'm coming and he changes his mind.......stopping a few feet over the center line.

 

I have 2 choices, swerve to the right and go around him or hit the brakes. Either way, I am going to need to do it FAST and I've got a 50/50 chance of going down as I have little room and it's raining pretty good at this point.

All this running through my mind as he is still moving. I instantly decide "brakes", because if he doesn't stop moving and I try to head towards the shoulder and go around, I risk t-boning him.

Well, it was raining and the road itself sucks (2-3 years of ongoing construction, has deteriorated the road infront of my work), so I wasn't overly angry at him. In dry conditions I would not have crashed, but regardless........he caused me to with his poor judgement. That center line is the point of no return! Once you're so far across it, you better keep going! If he had, I KNOW I could have made it around behind him with ease just by letting off the throttle.

 

I managed to get slowed to I think about 30 when the bike came out from under me. I had barely grabbed any brake, but it was enough in the rain and crap road to do me in even though I was headed straight.

It was a matter of a second or two and I was sliding face first down the road behind my bike, limp like a ragdoll.

 

I laid on the ground for a minute, with some people around me asking if I was ok and if I needed an ambulance, before getting my wits back and getting up. I was fine, not a flocking scratch! My hands hurt, cause I think my right hand got trapped between the ground and the brake lever for a second as it hit the pavement. I managed to push myself away from the bike in that split second, keeping it from falling on me.

After getting up and taking my helmet off, I realized I was in 1 piece and my gear was pretty messed up but had held up ok overall. Helmet did it's job, my head smacked the pavement pretty good and the right side of my visor is nothing but a blur of scratches.

 

The police got there, and after talking to us (The driver had 2 passengers that confirmed out loud, he cut me off) and I filed my report, charged the driver with "Unsafe left turn" ($110 fine and 2 demerit points). I learned his insurance he had on him was expired, though I have yet to learn if it is just that he has not gotten a new slip yet or not. Either way, I'm covered entirely, but it sucks for him if he's uninsured as it's a $5000 fine!

 

After pushing the bike down the road to my work, I parked it in the lot and that is where it sits until the claims adjuster gets to it.

 

The front fairing and cover around the instrument cluster has a huge chunk out of the adjoining corner. My right signal is busted, my rear brake lever was bent under the exhaust pipe (I bent this back by hand just to get the bike to roll), my right pegs are totalled (Passenger was up, but still got smashed) and my exhaust has a nice 1" wide gouge all the way down it. The impact was so hard I think, it also popped the crash peg on the left handlebar right out. Other than that, it looks like minor paint/cosmetic damage, but I'm sure to want to know what shape the frame was in before I even think of getting on it once it's repaired.

 

I went to the hospital a few hours later, after my entire right arm and shoulder started causing me serious pain. I can now barely move it, but nothing is broken. I landed right on my right arm/shoulder and rolled onto my front. Beyond that I escaped without a single scratch! Even my pants didn't have a rip in them, though I could have swore I had road-rash because they had actually gotten very hot and burned my skin above my knees. Next year, some protective pants........cargo pants don't quite do it.

 

Hooray for gear! I pity the idiot that crashes in a t-shirt!

My season may be done this year, but I'm not letting this keep me from getting back on the very first day I can next year!

And I'm going to start fearing small cars as much as I do SUVs.......

I constantly thought, I'm never going to crash because I don't ride like a moron. But sometimes things are entirely out of your control, and someone else does something to make you crash.

Oh well, I learned something I think, I just don't know what it is yet because I was doing absolutely nothing wrong. The only thing I can think I could have done better, was braking, but with such a short distance between us and a soaking wet road........I don't think anything would have helped me.

 

Here's pics of my helmet and jacket, none of the bike yet as it's sitting in the parking lot at my work. My boots are surprisingly still in great shape, with no sign of even having hit the ground.

 

[Lucandrake]

Dude that's epic! You make me want to get my own bike !

 

Why did your arm hurt though? Other then that, glad it didn't strike fear into you like a scared bunny.

[Fatal Rose]

Glad you are ok.

[Ryuken]

wow that's a big wall of text and i actually read all of it.

 

Glad ur gears saved ur life. u should take pictures of the bike later so we can all see how bad the crash was. So r u going to buy a new bike, or is ur bike repairable ?

[Rawrthness]

Glad you're ok I had a friend who got in the same situation as you ... but unlucky him he got a broken leg and arm but nothing to serious you got really lucky bro

[ken_cinder]

wow that's a big wall of text and i actually read all of it.

 

Glad ur gears saved ur life. u should take pictures of the bike later so we can all see how bad the crash was. So r u going to buy a new bike, or is ur bike repairable ?

 

Can't take pics of bike unless they bring it to my house or take pics for me. It's parked infront of my work.

 

I have to wait for the insurance claims adjuster to get to it, to tell me if it's repairable. If theres any frame damage it will be a write off. I think it's repairable though, and they'll take care of that.

[vice86]

dang...glad you're ok man! Exactly one of the reasons I WON'T get a bike...moron cagers who don't pay attention to cycle riders!!! I rode my bro's bike the one time...minivan almost pulled out in front of me....morons!!

[Skythe]

This one time I was on a bike and hit a ramp on the back of a truck and shot The Pope with a boom-stick. Or was that a dream? I can't remember.

[solidius23]

great u r ok dude.

[ken_cinder]

Thanks guys. Virtually unscathed being a touch of an understatement though. I think I'm out of commission for the rest of the week at least.

 

Appear to have injured my right arm worse than I thought, I can barely move it today. Grabbing my coffee off the table infront of me is a challenge. I'll heal, but I'll have to take it easy for awhile so I don't injurn my shoulder further.

 

My mother is such a tard though. She called today, after I told her what happened last night. To tell me a friend of hers has a '94 ZX-6R for sale. I told her last night this wasn't going to stop me from riding again ASAP.

 

I haven't even found out if my bike is a write-off yet! Nor would I EVER buy a Kawasaki after coming to the realization they're still 10+ years behind everyone else in tech. WTF is with their reluctance to electronic fuel injection? Carbs suck.......

[XtecuterX73]

people are so friggin stupid! i am glad to hear you are ok, it seems for some people the standards are way to low to get a license.

 

Some people dont look, and shoot in and out of traffic, it pisses me off the worst.

 

HF-