Statistically it was overdue, having ridden for over thirty years with one major "off" back in 1981 - my second came today on the way to work. Hardly a last minute decision, I pondered it last night, the final decision to be made at 7.00am this morning, dry pleasant a little icy. The scooter was the chosen steed for the 15 mile commute to work. Half leathers - trousers and BMW Rallye Suit jacket for warmth and protection and a pair of my much loved, much travelled Triumph summer boots. The temp. display fluctuated between +2 and -1, traffic was light. Full daylight, hard wired headlamp and an ex-Police yellow jacket confirmed visibility to other drivers.
A 7.5 tonne truck pulled out in front of me on a roundabout, I moved to his offside and clipped a kerb and the whole plot slid down the road to crunchying plastic. Amazingly how the mind was processing data all through the experience, hanging onto the bars to prevent flaying arms, I landed on my right shoulder and elbows, I was even figuring which bones were going to go pop. Mind in overdrive now - internal injuries were the big fear but I could see that there was no road furniture to cause a sudden death inducing stop. Keep head upright !! Bike stopped as I neatly flicked the kill switch, but I was trapped underneath by my left boot. Cars had stopped behind me and I ended up facing them - all I could see whas ashen faces looking at me. An artisan of some sort stopped in the other carriageway and was my knight lifting the bike upright releasing me from a the death trap I faced. I managed to get up - testing limbs looking for poking bones and blood - nothing. Bike is badly scarred rear wheel chewed up puncturing the tyre, missed that on the first visual check. Rode to the Office AA brought me home. Aching body tonight. Could have been a lot worse - excellently designed body armour saved my shoulder and elbow - sufficient protection from my boots prevented foot injury. Nice to see kit work as advertised. Need some new boots now though.....I have no doubt that the hideously expensive Scuberth S1 Pro helmet I was wearing contributed to only very slight whiplash like pain....undamaged, had it been otherwise the maker's excellent Mobility package would have seen a new one couriered to me tomorrow at 1/3 RRP.
the truck dorve off - there is no way he could have missed what happened....
Last edited by: R.P. on Mon 18 Feb 13 at 23:16
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Sorry to hear that and glad you are ok considering what the consequences could have been.
Coincidentally, after my recent thread on in car cameras, I was playing about with an app that I downloaded to my phone today which acts as a camera for this purpose. Quality is probably not good enough to recognise a number plate at a distance but it did make me think of the benefit in such a system in the event of an accident.
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Glad you're ok Rob, apart from a few aches and pains.
I take it no witnesses got any details about the lorry?
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Hard luck. Pleased you are in one piece. Any idea how fast you were going and how far you slid?
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Must have been around 15 to 20 mph....lucky to be alive even at those speeds. No witnesses came forward. Looking back I found the meaning of being winded ! What still amazing to me is the multi layered approach to tasking that the brain undertakes in those circumstances - felt very alive for those brief few seconds
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That me ole mate was
a: the inevitable result of buying a scooter.
and
b: not really a serious accident, you never hit anything. Merely a wee slip off.
Your right about the brain tho, I remember being 8 feet int he air, traveling at 40 mph, contemplating a landing zone some 15 yards away thinking " SH this is going to hurt"
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You must be like me then Pugley, and have a guardian angel.
GET YOUR MOTOR RUNNING
HEAD OUT ON THE HIGHWAY
LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE
AND WHAT EVER COMES OUR WAY.
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Bad luck.
With hindsight, is there anything you might reasonably have done to avoid it, that might make you less vulnerable in future?
What finished me with motorcycles, after being forced off the road by somebody pulling out to overtake, was the conclusion that there often isn't much you can do.
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Bad luck Rob, glad it turned out to be a relatively minor prang. Such things do make you think about protective gear though, I've got an armoured jacket but the heavyweight leather trousers doesn't have any. I've been thinking about upgrading and your experience has spurred me on to start looking, as well as investing in a back protector which the jacket lacks despite having a pocket for one.
Like most bikers I used to ride in jeans years ago, but the damage done to a pair of trousers and my knee after merely tripping over while walking the dog a couple of decades back cured me of that. It amazes me how often you see someone on a big bike riding in street clothes and trainers, and I still shudder when I think of the female pillion I once saw riding across Chelsea Bridge one summer evening.
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Glad you're ok Rob. Stick to grown up bikes !
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You'r ok Rob that is the main,wearing the right gear can be a live saver.
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I've not fallen off a motorbike since my early 20s and I wouldn't want to these days in my 50s.... not quite so bouncy now.
Re protective clothing... My best pic of Mrs F is from the 70s... she's sitting on her BSA 650 ready to ride off. Wearing jeans, trainers, shirt with sleeves rolled up, denim waistcoat, no gloves, open face helmet!
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It's amazing how quickly you can analyse what's happening in an accident.
The last time I came off (topsided by a Mobylette of all things) when I found a bit of grippy road between the frost patches. I was able to remember my training and got onto my back. I've a vivid memory of the driver in the Sprinter van turning his wheel hopelessly, jaw agape, eyes staring as he followed me down the road as I looked around to see where the moped and I were going and what we were likely to hit.
The van driver joined me, sitting on the kerb, having a fag, in a very shaky hand.
Glad you weren't hurt.
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Glad you're okay Rob. Sounds like you were fortunate there. But it helps that you were properly kitted out for riding a motorbike.
I hope you're feeling better today.
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Good to hear you survived.
Those Schuberth's are excellent pieces of kit, I find them much lighter than other helmets.
Typical response from other road users these days, p-off before anyone notices and hope no one has recorded the plate. Deny everything if there is no visible damage to your own vehicle.
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There but for the grace of God etc....
Glad it ended up a minor one.
Any CCTV nearby?
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Glad that you are OK, RP!
Not surprised that the plonker who caused the accident seems to have callously driven off.
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Glad you got away OK Rob.
When you say the 7.5 ton van pulled out do you mean in the SMIDSY sense?
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Tue 19 Feb 13 at 19:01
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No CCTV in the area - more or less rural but a busy interchange. I obviously drove back that way today - I felt I could have done more to avoid the accident in the inevitable self examination. Checked the visibility points today, I was hardly speeding, riding quite gingerly in fact because of the potential for ice. He screwed me good and proper.
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>>He screwed me good and proper<<
That's what happens when you ride Gingerly.
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That's what happens when you ride Gingerly.
And I reckon there lies the nub. Having looked at this from many angles (including sideways) On the GS I would have been riding a lot more aggressively, using the bikes presence to dominate my bit of road, maybe he'd have waited - more acceleration and critically, quicker steering I think I wouldn't have ended up on the tarmac.....or it would have been a more spectacular crash.
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Any chance of a street-view of where it happened Rob, or would that be giving too much away, like.
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>> Having looked at this from many angles (including
>> sideways) On the GS I would have been riding a lot more aggressively, using the
>> bikes presence to dominate my bit of road, maybe he'd have waited - more acceleration
>> and critically, quicker steering I think I wouldn't have ended up on the tarmac.
You're probably right. People tend to read what's approaching them, or 'sum up', whether rightly or wrongly, just the same as if you had been driving a Fiat Panda or Yaris or something low powered and sweet looking. They think it's going to hold them up, so they pull out.
The bloke was a prize plonker for not stopping though.
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Glad to hear you're not too bad Rob.
That sounds as if it was far too close for comfort.
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Phew. I too am glad you're OK. I have the ability to 'photograph' number plates in an instance. this is heightened when the impending situation looks serious. Sneer those who must.
Is there ANY chance that you may have a snippet of a 'picture' of sign writing etc., because as sure as eggs there would have been a tracker fitted to the lorry.
M.
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Not the best of days! I'm pleased to hear you have come out of it relatively unscathed. Only goes to reinforce that everyone is doing their utmost to take bikers out.
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goo.gl/maps/B30PI
I was riding down the A487 (steep hill exit at 1200 as looking at the roundabout) driver was emerging from the A4087 around 1500 on the rdbt. My first view of him was at the exit as I joined the roundabout, he emerged from the junction as I was just before the exit and went to the same exit as I was going, he blocked me out I ended up colliding with the traffic island on the 4087...nowhere else to go and unable to reduce speed enough to stop.
Last edited by: R.P. on Wed 20 Feb 13 at 15:56
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Rob, I know next to nothing about motorcycles and I'm also acutely aware that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing but, what I do recall from youthful excursions on hired motor bikes and scooters in far off places is that bikes with big wheels stop and handle better than ones with little wheels.
Do you still feel as ready to use the scooter again in the future or will you revert to your bigger machines?
Not necessarily suggesting it'd have made any difference in this instance but might it reduce the odds of an unplanned dismount in the future?
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Oh yes, I know it well, a large often quite fast roundabout, locals will cut across quickly through familiarity.
Glad you're ok, you need to get back on your other bike now and go for a long ride to get rid of any mental monsters that will be lurking.
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Mental monsters aren't to bad - my sleep strategies have worked, just a lot of dreams last night. Beemer or the Kwaker will probably be out on Sunday. It's funny how a little trauma focuses the mind. Will need some new boots - already have a pair in mind.
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I reckon you need to have your bumps felt Pugley, you're not a youngster, you're not short of a few Pfennigs, you've got 3 cars (inc. swmbo's) you've also got a proper bike, and then you go and ride a silly scooter to work - Carrrrrrazy!
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Took the GS out today - first ride since the bump. Bike's been garaged since September - I was a little nervous of the beast and the whole idea. Should't have - it turned into what I always knew it was a big soft pussy cat of a bike, goes exactly where its pointed, stops when you ask it,,,,unlike a scoot. Nice 60 mile ride with the wife on her Kwaker,,,,coffee and tea amongst biking friends....glad to be back on two wheels....the Kwaker may be this week's commute as it's set fair.
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So glad you're OK Pug. All my ' offs ' have been at slow speed or stationary. The worst being one Winter's evening on the Velocette when I rounded a gentle left hander and found it covered in black ice. The bike decided to do a quick spin and face the way we'd just come with me under it. Noisy sods those old bikes when they interface with tarmac.......still carries it's scratches today.
A week last Saturday, in hospital licking my wounds, a trolley arrived at the next bed and a guy was unloaded. Listening through the curtain, I found he was a trail biker and had been brought in from somewhere on the High Peak by 'copter.
I found out he'd done a wheely and the front wheel didn't quite land where he aimed it, throwing him over the front.
3 broken ribs, a broken collar bone and a punctured lung...what finer way of ending a good days biking..........................not !
Ted
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There was a bad accident today on the A5 near Betws today - Air Ambulance et al. Hope the biker is ok....80 year old van driver pulled out in front of him according to a couple of flashes on FB from other bikers.
Hope you're OK Ted.
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Anatomy of a bike accident.... - BobbyG
