Topic: Scare tactics//Statistics//New Rider//

[Retro Rocket]

A cousin of a mate of mine was on a ride  this weekend gone, he was preparing to overtake a car so he was sitting slightly higher than normal but still well in his lane.  A car coming the other way (department of fisheries), towing a boat drifted over the centreline and cleaned him up with the guard of the trailer.  He is currently in hospital with a broken left leg, dislocated left knee, broken right foot and two broken toes. He is bloody lucky to be alive as they were both traveling at 100kph when they hit.

Lucky boy.....

[trueblue]

You can say that again Mick.  He is currently in Nambour hospital awaiting a knee reconstruction and there was some other surgery he needed but I can't remember what. 

[petercb750]

Mmmm, lucky boy. Hope he has a full recovery, but sounds like it's gonna be a long haul.
 

[trueblue]

The docs reckon he will likely have to use a walking stick from now on, once he is back on his feet that is.  Thankfully the other fella admitted fault, so that makes it a bit easier from an insurance perspective.

[Vicman]

So to sum up and get back on point. After reading all of these, as a Newbie.........would you begin riding?

Oh hell yeah....   {its easier than being married, and safer most of the time}   

Would I?
Yes. For the same reasons. Do I recommend it? Heck no!!!
 But like getting married, there is no talking some guys out of it.

Riding a skoot is the MOST enjoyable thing I do followed by flying little airplanes. Then the wife of 27 years comes into play

[billingstitan]

Jesus - the picture of that boot makes me shudder 

[greenjeans]

Jeees....    The front tire completely blown off the rim ?    Thank goodness he survived.

[BobbyR]

I am sure the potential new rider feels even better now. 

[vfourfreak]

Jesus - the picture of that boot makes me shudder 

Yup ! I felt the same way. And when I look around here and see "cool" dudes taking their R1s down the beach wearing shorts and sandals, I just shake my head in dismay.

Wear the best gear you can, always, even if the day is fcukin hot. Even if is to go 2km to the shops.

I hope the rider from this mishap is going to be OK.

Kev

[Vicman]

Wear the best gear you can, always, even if the day is fcukin hot. Even if is to go 2km to the shops.

That's what I say and do. Nobody plans for the crash.

[billingstitan]

Yeah, it's funny - I've been so lucky. There was a time when I was hit and miss with wearing gear - Always wear it now.

I've had a couple bad and a couple not so bad accidents, but was lucky enough to have been wearing proper gear each time.

One was a low speed crash - going maybe 15 mph - when my front wheel caught in a rut and the bike threw me head first into a boulder. If I hadn't been wearing a helmet I would have probably been dead, or at least severely injured.

The other time, I was on a long road trip and hit a deer. There was a girl on the back of the bike, and I had told her before we left that she needed to ditch the chaps and wear proper leathers. "Anything that's not covered by leather will turn into hamburger if we get into an accident."

Welp, hit a deer going 80 mph - dragged it for almost a mile before losing control (that's a whole 'nother tale) but long story short - although I suffered some broken bones, all in all I was fine. She came out okay too - except for the two huge patches of road rash right across her ass cheeks 

[vfourfreak]

She came out okay too - except for the two huge patches of road rash right across her ass cheeks 

I hope you were a Gentleman and kissed them better 

Kev

[dave500]

photos or it didn't happen!before and after!

[billingstitan]

Ha ha! I've got photos of the bike, but not of the bum!

[vfourfreak]

Ha ha! I've got photos of the bike, but not of the bum!

Luckily I have a few.

Kev

[billingstitan]

 

[BobbyR]

Here, use one of these:

[grcamna2]

They can ride in front 

[trueblue]

Jesus - the picture of that boot makes me shudder 

Yup ! I felt the same way. And when I look around here and see "cool" dudes taking their R1s down the beach wearing shorts and sandals, I just shake my head in dismay.

Wear the best gear you can, always, even if the day is fcukin hot. Even if is to go 2km to the shops.

I hope the rider from this mishap is going to be OK.

Kev

Other than a couple of smashed up legs he should be fine, but it is going to be a long road.  No head injuries or anything of that sort, well none that weren't present before hand anyway

[BeSeeingYou]

Close calls....I can recall some...none this year so far.....none last year...two the year before that.....certainly not 100's like some people claim.  That almost seems like a scare tactic in itself.  If I felt it was that bad I would have given it up long ago. 

Steve, I am telling you 100's of near misses, I am talking about the people that don't stop at the marked lines at the end of a street and look like they are coming straight out in front of you causing you to take evasive action, then the ones that do, I 'm talking about pot holes, people on phones changing lanes without looking, and people in general, changing lanes without looking even when i NEVER ride in their blind spot, i am talking about people that cut corners as they enter streets, i'm talking about cars not letting you in simply because they are bigger, Diesel spills, that is a real doozy, i can tell you, Items falling off trucks, most of my riding has been done in heavily populated area's and it was my main transport for over 20 years, doing motorcycle courier work in Sydney was a "take your life in your hands" experience every day, keeps you on your toes though and also teaches great bike control and awareness... My wife constantly comments that she can't believe what i see when driving the car, I thank riding bikes for that...

I just think we have a different view of what a close call is.  To me it would involve hard braking or extreme maneuvering.  Weaving around a pothole, debris in the road, or even someone pulling out in front of you...as long as you have time and space to avoid the situation without hard braking or maneuvering I don't see it as a close call.  In 35 years of riding I can recall one time I hit any sizable debris on the road.  Never have slipped on a diesel or oil spill.  Sure I have people who pull out in front of me and stuff like that but the vast majority of the time I have the time and space to avoid it without to much effort because I was paying attention and had my eye on them.  Maybe if I commuted in heavy traffic my numbers would go up...but I don't care to ride in that situation for any length of time.  I purposely travel at times and places when and were traffic volume is low.

[BobbyR]

+1

[Retro Rocket]

Close calls....I can recall some...none this year so far.....none last year...two the year before that.....certainly not 100's like some people claim.  That almost seems like a scare tactic in itself.  If I felt it was that bad I would have given it up long ago. 

Steve, I am telling you 100's of near misses, I am talking about the people that don't stop at the marked lines at the end of a street and look like they are coming straight out in front of you causing you to take evasive action, then the ones that do, I 'm talking about pot holes, people on phones changing lanes without looking, and people in general, changing lanes without looking even when i NEVER ride in their blind spot, i am talking about people that cut corners as they enter streets, i'm talking about cars not letting you in simply because they are bigger, Diesel spills, that is a real doozy, i can tell you, Items falling off trucks, most of my riding has been done in heavily populated area's and it was my main transport for over 20 years, doing motorcycle courier work in Sydney was a "take your life in your hands" experience every day, keeps you on your toes though and also teaches great bike control and awareness... My wife constantly comments that she can't believe what i see when driving the car, I thank riding bikes for that...

I just think we have a different view of what a close call is.  To me it would involve hard braking or extreme maneuvering.  Weaving around a pothole, debris in the road, or even someone pulling out in front of you...as long as you have time and space to avoid the situation without hard braking or maneuvering I don't see it as a close call.  In 35 years of riding I can recall one time I hit any sizable debris on the road.  Never have slipped on a diesel or oil spill.  Sure I have people who pull out in front of me and stuff like that but the vast majority of the time I have the time and space to avoid it without to much effort because I was paying attention and had my eye on them.  Maybe if I commuted in heavy traffic my numbers would go up...but I don't care to ride in that situation for any length of time.  I purposely travel at times and places when and were traffic volume is low.

I'll still call most of them close calls Steve, if i hadn't had 100% of my concentration being used I would have worn a quite few cars as a headlight ornament, I hit a pot hole once that was about 5 meters across,  it launched me onto the other side of the road in front of a greyhound bus, I shut my eyes for a split second as i thought it was my last, it was p1ssing down rain and  about midnight half way between Sydney and Brisbane on a 2000 mile round trip, i ended up upright and stopped in a cane field. Ride your bike every day in a major city and you'll soon find out what i'm talking about, the fact that i was able to take evasive action is what made these situations less "severe", I've seen plenty of accidents on bikes that i could have avoided myself that still weren't the riders fault. I trust NO ONE when i ride, i've told that to other riders that just laughed and called me paranoid, I'm still alive and thats all that counts. Last week i was in my car, its a big red 4X4 twincab, i had a guy on my left turn into the street i was in,  in my lane..!!, thats on my side of the road and head on, there's a friggin traffic island at the end of the street separating lanes and this idiot still ended up just missing me on MY SIDE OF THE ROAD, if i'd have been on a smaller target like a bike i may not be here to tell the story, it just blew me away...

[BobbyR]

If you are talking a mixture of driving and riding that is another story. My life on a bike has been less eventful than in a car. I drive to client sites all over the Boroughs of NYC. Swerving and slamming on the brakes and or being cut off is almost a daily occurrence. I really only think about the events on the bike.

[Retro Rocket]

If you are talking a mixture of driving and riding that is another story. My life on a bike has been less eventful than in a car. I drive to client sites all over the Boroughs of NYC. Swerving and slamming on the brakes and or being cut off is almost a daily occurrence. I really only think about the events on the bike.

yes, doesn't matter if you are on a bike or car, idiots are everywhere, you are no where near as vulnerable in a car though so the bike ones tend to have more of a "pucker' response than in the car...

[fendersrule]

I just think we have a different view of what a close call is.  To me it would involve hard braking or extreme maneuvering.  Weaving around a pothole, debris in the road, or even someone pulling out in front of you...as long as you have time and space to avoid the situation without hard braking or maneuvering I don't see it as a close call.  In 35 years of riding I can recall one time I hit any sizable debris on the road.  Never have slipped on a diesel or oil spill.  Sure I have people who pull out in front of me and stuff like that but the vast majority of the time I have the time and space to avoid it without to much effort because I was paying attention and had my eye on them.  Maybe if I commuted in heavy traffic my numbers would go up...but I don't care to ride in that situation for any length of time.  I purposely travel at times and places when and were traffic volume is low.

I agree. A close call that I had to use my skills? NONE so far. Shouldn't be hard to believe. Good proper riding is mental skills first, physical skills second.

Had a F*#@ing left-turner occurrence 2 days ago. But I saw it coming 80 yards away and by the time I was pulled out in front of, I was doing 10MPH because I knew she couldn't see me. Mental skills first.

Scan 20 seconds ahead. Use the SIPDE process.