Showtime 1-1 Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Hey guys, just thought I'd share what happened to me today with you. It may be kind of irrelevant, but it's an interesting story (at least from my perspective) and it has a proper lesson.It's finally spring up here in the Great White North, and I have been taking my beloved motorbike in to school for the last couple months. Today was the first day in months that we didn't get any homework (because of exams tomorrow), so I decided to celebrate by riding over to EB Games and buying a new game. It also happens that I have a motorcycle road test booked for Thursday, so I figured getting some practice driving in heavy traffic would be good.I was approaching the big shopping center where EB Games lies, flanked by Wal-Mart and a bunch of other big stores. The traffic was a little on the heavy side, but I was holding my own. I just had one more intersection to go. It was a very stale green light, and there was a car going the other way, waiting to make a left turn across my lane (Think "right turn" for you brits). I figured he wouldn't turn in front of me, there wasn't enough space. However, as I passed the "point of no return" for stopping at the light, it turned yellow and the car pulled out in front of me.There wasn't enough room to go left of it, and there was a car in the way on the right. I didn't fancy stopping in the middle of an intersection or slamming into this bozo, so I braked hard. I came to a stop midway through the crosswalk on my side of the intersection as the left-turn artist passed in front of me. Out of habit/instinct, I checked my mirrors, and I didn't like what I saw.There was a large white minivan (actually, there was nothing "mini" about it...) bearing down on me from behind, breaks screaming. I twisted the throttle and dumped the clutch in an attempt to get out of the way, but before I could, the van had hit me with a crunch. With both feet still planted on the ground, I pretty much jumped off as my bike shot out from under me, propelled by the van. I fell back onto the hood of the van, which thankfully had now stopped. I have an image burned into my head of my bike (which i had rebuilt myself) crashing to the ground in the middle of the intersection. I almost cried.As soon as I got my balance back, I ran over to my bike and pulled it upright. Everything seemed to be in slow motion, I guess I had a massive adrenaline rush. I pushed it off the road and stood it on it's sidestand on the sidewalk, then ran over to the van, which was still stopped in the middle of the road. I was in full gear, ie armor jacket and gloves, helmet and goggles, and I'm nothing short of 6'2, so I must have looked pretty intimidating going up to the van driver. Predictably, she didn't protest when I told her to pull off the road so we could "talk things over". I'm not hurt at all, which is a miracle. Not even whiplash. The license plate bracket broke off my bike in the crash, so I had to fabricate a new one, and I had to bend the handlebars back into shape. Other then that, no damage. I love that bike.My exhaust pipe scraped the van's hood pretty well, but aside from that there was no damage there. Fortunately, the woman who hit me was very cooperative, and we have settled things without going to Insurance Hell.Anyway, I'd like to pass on what I've learned from this... ordeal. First, all of those who are driving, please take special care to watch for motorcyclists. I'd like to track down the guy who turned in front of me and give him a piece of my mind...Second, to all of you who ride motorcycles, it's up to you to be very careful of other drivers to keep yourself safe. Even in the best situations, a motorcyclist can disappear into a blind spot in a split second.Finally, anybody who dares ply the roads of doom these days, take no green light for granted! If I had slowed down a bit and given the driver behind me a bit more time to react, Maybe none of this would have happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FoXXX Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Damn, I'm glad you're ok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showtime 1-1 Posted April 13, 2010 Author Share Posted April 13, 2010 Damn, I'm glad you're okI did a barrel roll. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FoXXX Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 I did a barrel roll. Works all the time :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DRL Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Glad that you made it alive.I have tried to do the school-hometrip on a bike, but since the dayI was allmost "steamrolled" by a carI... take the bus.I guess I am too much of a coward,eh? -...But good to know that you are fine. PLUS, you did not have to go to thelawyers/insurance company... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showtime 1-1 Posted April 13, 2010 Author Share Posted April 13, 2010 I guess I am too much of a coward,eh? -..."Discretion is the better part of Valor." I wouldn't hold it against you. It's pretty scary. I just love riding too much to stop.PLUS, you did not have to go to thelawyers/insurance company... NOBODY is more glad about that then I am! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DRL Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 "Discretion is the better part of Valor." I wouldn't hold it against you. It's pretty scary. I just love riding too much to stop.NOBODY is more glad about that then I am!This is off-topic, by my brotherwants to be a lawyer.... I told him:"Going to the dark side, uh?" ...Also, good that you still ride.You must love your bike too much, Ithink?Also:I did a barrel roll. It never fails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showtime 1-1 Posted April 13, 2010 Author Share Posted April 13, 2010 You must love your bike too much, Ithink?Maybe. I have a real bond with it, as we've spent so much time together. I was meaning to replace that ugly old license plate bracket anyways... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asper Sarnoff Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Nice to hear both you and the bike came away from it with such little damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Kammback Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Glad your OK man. Some people just suckthere is a guy on a website I'm on who has all too much experience with stuff like that, had a bad accident, doctors couldn't believe he survived since he wasn't wearing his helmet, he does all the time now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-Gamer Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Whoa. That is a close call. Glad you're alright though. Who paid for the damage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Julius Quasar Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Holy crap, Showtime1-1, I'm glad you're okay! Sorry you got into something like that. If it were me, I'd be too tempted to lay on my back, howling like a sissy, and pretending to be more badly hurt than I really am. "Owwww! My neck!" Then again, maybe not, since that sorta stuff's against the law, the cops say you shouldn't even joke like that anymore, and I can see their point.This is off-topic, by my brotherwants to be a lawyer.... I told him:"Going to the dark side, uh?" Tell him not to be a lawyer, my dad's a lawyer, it could really ruin your life.I'll bet that stupid prick who turned in front of you didn't even signal. What an asshole. We got people in SoCal pulling that crap all the time, that's partly why road rage incidents are going up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showtime 1-1 Posted April 13, 2010 Author Share Posted April 13, 2010 Thanks for your kind words, guys. Here's another interesting bit. I rode the bike home fine, albeit with no license plate because it had been broken off, and with crooked handlebars. As soon as I got home, I bent the bars back straight again, and found a piece of nice thick aluminum which I bent into a new license plate bracket. Therefore, the "bodywork" repairs (aside from a dent and a few scratches in the gas tank) cost nothing at all. The person who hit me agreed to pay for a new rear tire, since the one mounted had been damaged, and I had it installed today. I have some pictures here of the bike as it is now, all repaired, as good as (or better then) new. The funny thing is, even though motorcycles are generally perceived as being more dangerous then cars, I'm sure that if I were in a car, there would be hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of damage done, and I would probably have whiplash. Not so here, I'm feeling as good as ever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Macdowel Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 wow your lucky. Glad your ok! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showtime 1-1 Posted April 13, 2010 Author Share Posted April 13, 2010 Here, I have pictures now. I just want to show off my bike, actually. This is the new license plate bracket I rigged up. Beautiful, no? The circled area is where the old one was before the crash.Here's the old bracket beside the new set-up. See, the old one is ugly. This is the paint from the van on the underside of the exhaust pipe. Most of it has come off, but there is still some left. The pic was taken from the back of the bike looking up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrypticQuery Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 I'm glad your doing ok! I was recently in an accident in the parking lot to a grocery store. Backed out of the parking space and was about to shift into drive when a Toyota Sequioa, while reversing, slammed into the left-driver side door of our Honda Civic. He sped off after that, and I'm happy my first instinct was to get his license plate number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FoXXX Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 I'm glad your doing ok! I was recently in an accident in the parking lot to a grocery store. Backed out of the parking space and was about to shift into drive when a Toyota Sequioa, while reversing, slammed into the left-driver side door of our Honda Civic. He sped off after that, and I'm happy my first instinct was to get his license plate number.What an ass :S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Julius Quasar Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 I'm glad your doing ok! I was recently in an accident in the parking lot to a grocery store. Backed out of the parking space and was about to shift into drive when a Toyota Sequioa, while reversing, slammed into the left-driver side door of our Honda Civic. He sped off after that, and I'm happy my first instinct was to get his license plate number.Oh no! Sorry to hear that.What an ass :SMore like: "What an asshole"! :S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DRL Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 Tell him not to be a lawyer, my dad's a lawyer, it could really ruin your life.I'll bet that stupid prick who turned in front of you didn't even signal. What an asshole. We got people in SoCal pulling that crap all the time, that's partly why road rage incidents are going up.This is again off-topic, but yet embarrasing for me...You know what? My brother says he [uGH!] enjoyslawsuits, trials, ect... Unfortunately, he is too much corrupted already. Here, I have pictures now. I just want to show off my bike, actually. This is the new license plate bracket I rigged up. Beautiful, no? The circled area is where the old one was before the crash.[image]Here's the old bracket beside the new set-up. See, the old one is ugly. [image]He, he... Adding new stuff is allways cool, I think . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FoXXX Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 More like: "What an asshole"! :SThat too :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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