Topic: Rider Down

[bluezboy]

 Sad news, a rider was killed here in Atlanta last night at around 10:30 p.m.while merging on to the downtown freeway. No other cars were involved, but that version of the story could change later. we've had a lot of hit and runs here over the past 6 months. If not, it looks like it was rider error and he took on that entrance ramp too fast. The ramps to enter on the freeway through downtown Atlanta are short, sharp and have limited margin for error. I've never used them on a bike , just my car, and they can be scary if you're not watching the road ahead of you.
   How does news like this touch you guys? Do you take a day off from riding? Or promise yourself to ease back on attacking those curves.   Being  a new rider, I'm taking the day off from riding and will just stay inside my subdivision to do a few laps.  Let em know your opinions.

[the technological J]

accidents happen everywhere... when people get killed in cars i dont stop driving.... i just try to think of what they did wrong...... i laid down my bike last week in some gravel and im super cautious but it was on a bend and i couldnt corner and skidded thru the gravel into the shoulder gravel and when down( im ok just scraped my arm)... i rethink what i did and what i'll do but... one of the risks of riding a little less protected on a vehicle that takes more skill  means you have to never lose full attn.... learn from their mistake

[bobjohnson]

I try to not let it bother me. If i did, i would second guess myself all the time. The only times ive ever crashed (not on the street, yet, thankfully), were times when i second guessed myself.

[Inigo Montoya]

Gravel sucks to ride on. It is bad enough with off road tires but these on road things just have nothing! might as well be on wet leaves.

[Nikkisixx]

A local teacher was killed when an SUV ran over him from behind, and the story was on the local news the night before my weekend road trip.  I could tell it bothered my wife but she said nothing. 

[xenoscr]

I'm not going to let it stop me. You've got to be alert at all times. I went down in a set of 90 degree opposite turns at the end of last season. Made it through the first OK and caught some dirt in the second. Didn't get scrapped up to bad, crushed my foot pretty good though, no bones broke but they where crushed so badly I had a limp for most of the winter. I would have been fine if the bike hadn't landed on my foot, I think it got pinched between the peg and the frame as I went down. I was quite nervous in corners when spring came back around, it took a few rides to regain my confidence. Since then I've nearly been hit several times, mostly by morons that don't stop at stops signs and lights like they should. We've also got a lot of round-abouts in my area... those suck, I've had cars and trucks cut me off several times, you do not want to have to nail the brakes going around one of those, so far I've managed to stay upright.

XeNoSCR

[swedishfish]

The very first week that I worked at a HD dealership we had a new customer bite the dust along with his wife. It was a bad way to be introduced to the reality of riding.

[larryblevinson]

Also, yesterday, an NJ rider died in a crash with an ambulance. ..

More at
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/motorcycle_rider_dies_in_colli.html

[wdhewson]

Good thread guys.  I try my best to learn from other peoples mistakes.  That seems selfish, but it is usually OK with everyone, even the hurt.  In fact, dangerous industries insist that accidents be analyzed, reported, and learned from.

Hanging in my garage, right next to my bike, is a large photo of a guy being loaded into an ambulance with the bent Harley in the foreground.  I look at it before every ride, and say to myself, "Not me".  Then try to be as safe and smart as possible during the ride.  Don

[Magpie]

In the past few days there has been a sport biker rider killed in a head on with another bike (don't know the condition of the other rider) and a scooter rider found in a ditch, seriously injured, early in the morning. My son had a friend die in another late night sport bike accident Friday night and my friend is in the hospital with a brain tumour, unresponsive and in a coma, she never rode a bike in her life.
I'll continue to ride. It's part of my life.
Cliff.

[Ved]

Like my father always says.. "There are two types of riders, those that have gone down, and those that haven't gone down yet"
That thought is always running through my mind every time I head out on my bike, and I think I am more cautious for it. (thanks dad)

He has a similar one he likes to spout when he see's people not wearing a helmet... Do you wear a seat-belt in your car? Then why the hell wouldn't you wear a helmet on a bike.

[MickeyX]

I work at a level 1 trauma hospital and see bike accidents on a daily basis. Sometimes 3-4 on my shift alone. I've also personally been a level 1 trauma patient from getting hit. It took me 17 yrs to get back on a bike, mostly because the first 2.5yrs I was still in a cast and there were a lot of years of learning to walk, recover financially and emotionally. I had been riding my whole life till I got hit. I took the riders course before I finally got back on the road again a few years back. I keep alert, I never go when the light turns green because everyone around here runs the red light the other way, I assume every car out there is going to swerve and hit me, blow through their sign/signal or run me over from the back and I wear all the gear all the time. I'm much more alert these days and take nothing for granted.

Sorry to hear about those who have gone down. Learn from what happened and stay alert. Take a class every few years, no matter how long you've been riding. It will help you get rid of your bad habits and teach you some stuff too. 

[Hush]

Good thread to start the riding season off for you guys in the Northern Hemisphere.
I too wear "all" the gear, armour/helmet/gloves/boots around town...too bloody right, that's where most bike accidents happen.
There is a spot in our local cemetery that I visit occasionally when I start to feel bullet proof on my bike, I cannot step in any one direction without standing on the grave of an old riding mate!
Sure it was when I was a teenager and we all thought we were invincible but it reminds me that my friends never grew old enough to get married, have kids, see their grand kids.
I think we all need a reality check like that occasionally.
I no longer ride everywhere at the top speed my bike will go nor take risks that a 52 year old body will take a long time to heal over.
I well remember my older brother's first rule he gave me when he taught me as a 14 year old how to ride.."TREAT EVERY OTHER ROAD USER AS AN IDIOT" It has served me well for 38 years....thanks brother Jeff.

[dave500]

just do what you feel bluezboy,being new perhaps not rush into it,just take care,have you ever been in a car with a bad driver?there are bad riders out there aswell!who take risks/dont pay attention,i never ride at night(bit night blind).

[dhall57]

Two friends of my wife, a husband and another ones son were killed this year. The State Patrol said excessive speed caused both fatal crashes. SLOW DOWN. You only have one life and when its gone it's gone. Stuff like this makes you think, but I like riding to much to stop. I just try to stay alert and ride like I've got some sense. Ride within your means, and don't show off or get over confident. Be Safe!!!

[faux fiddy]

I heard of one locally a couple years ago where a ladder came off a truck in hiway traffic.

I guess that  could be another general heads up. Keep  an eye  way up the road, or for things that pass you, especially  vehicles that  have a load of stuff that could come loose.

[dave500]

umm,the close calls thread is a good one,i dont know how to link it here.

[midnightrider]

When I was 18 I was the first person to get to a guy that went down going 85 mph on I-10 in Florida with no helmet on.  I was about 50 yards behind him with no one in between us when it happened.  He was being stupid. 

Although I wanted to get a bike, after witnessing that I wouldn't allow myself to ride until I felt sure that I would be able to keep myself from giving in to the urge to do risky things. 
Last year I decided that I was at that point and it's been a great, safe ride since then.

Slow down and watch out for all those people out there that are trying to kill you!

[bluezboy]

 Great responses from you guys, I 'm glad I put this out there. wdhewson,  that's a great ideal with the photo in your garage, I look at videos of bikes crashes sometimes to remind me of the risk/hazards of riding. Like one of you said, assume everyone else not on a bike is a moron out to get you, and ride that way. I'm taking my sweet time with my first bike and I don't care if driver behind me does not like the fact that I refuse to go over the posted speed limit. Thanks guys, keep 'em coming!

[madmtnmotors]

I like to quote something I read in Motorcyclist magazine. Don't remember who the author was, so I can't give due credit... seems to me the author was quoting someone else and went something like this:

"If you ride motorcycles long enough you will be killed doing so. The object is, through due diligence and attentiveness, to die of old age first."

That advice, along with my "Invisibilty cloak" (no one can see me) have taken me a long way.

I could stick with 4 wheels and still get hit by a bus, so I choose to live a little. Nothing like a near death experience to make you feel alive.

[bluezboy]

 Well said madmtnmotors, driving a car all of the time can be so boring. Besides, these days you can get your head blown off by some nut while you're squeezing the melons in the store, so why not live a little. I'm going to ride my bike until they pry the throttle form my cold, dead hand.

[mgbgt89]

I've been told there are 3 types of riders. Those who get back on after a crash, Those who don't, and those who can't. Maybe i'm just stupid but after both of my crashes i was back on as soon as the bike was fixed. I attribute that to wearing full gear. Had i not, I probably would not have walked away from one of them, at least not in serious pain. I was on my feet before the bike even stopped sliding down the road.

What eats at me sometimes is the huge number of friends i have that ride. Damn near every friend i have rides a motorcycle. I hate to say it but odds are at least one of us won't make it to see old age. I do my best to protect myself, ride like every car i see is a time bomb waiting to go off, and try not to do dumb stuff when the roads are empty. You only live once and I would hate to go my whole life behind a dashboard and steering wheel.

[cgancos]

My brother had a good friend that was big into four-wheeling. He had a Jeep that he claimed he sunk 20 grand into. Axle swaps, custom suspension and a full exo-cage built around the truck.

http://www.wyff4.com/news/23867841/detail.html

I know it's not a motorcycle, but I had to post it as it happened just last Thursday. He rolled the vehicle and wasn't wearing his seat belt and was killed because of it. He could have flipped the vehicle 20 times, wore his seat belt and probably would have been ok. It's ironic.

I think the lesson is to not overlook the small stuff, whether it be checking the air in your tire, checking your brakes or, most obviously, wearing your helmet.

[joerizzo0]

I'm not going to let it stop me. You've got to be alert at all times. I went down in a set of 90 degree opposite turns at the end of last season. Made it through the first OK and caught some dirt in the second. Didn't get scrapped up to bad, crushed my foot pretty good though, no bones broke but they where crushed so badly I had a limp for most of the winter. I would have been fine if the bike hadn't landed on my foot, I think it got pinched between the peg and the frame as I went down. I was quite nervous in corners when spring came back around, it took a few rides to regain my confidence. Since then I've nearly been hit several times, mostly by morons that don't stop at stops signs and lights like they should. We've also got a lot of round-abouts in my area... those suck, I've had cars and trucks cut me off several times, you do not want to have to nail the brakes going around one of those, so far I've managed to stay upright.

XeNoSCR

It does seem like roundabouts are popping up everywhere!
i almost got smoked on Ronald Reagan parkway last fall by some guy that didnt feel like the stop sign was of much importance.  It was a brakes or throttle decision.. i chose throttle and it saved me. 

[mgbgt89]

I love roundabouts when there are no cars! I hate them when there are. Drivers in this area are way to freaking dumb to figure out how you are supposed to use them, i just take them really slow and dodge the cars that try and run me over.