Dumped the bike this morning :-(

I was driving my 2003 Swing this morning, on my way to a 6:30 OT shift when a car pulled out of a Target parking lot directly ahead of my path of travel. I was doing about 40mph at the time and was perhaps 50 feet away. The driver kept coming and I sounded my horn as I started my braking maneuver, hoping the driver would notice me and stop her advance. Unfortunately that didn't happen. At about 30 feet away I had nowhere to go, as she was blocking both lanes entirely and I had to choose in a split second to hit her door, move into the oncoming traffic lane, or drop the bike. I decided the safest thing to do would be to drop the bike. I slid the remaining feet on the right side of the bike and came to a full stop right in front of her front fender. She proceeded down the road like nothing happened and stopped at a stop light 50 feet away. I peeled myself off the the pavement, my adrenaline pumping, and ran after the car. I banged on her driver's side window and insisted she stop and pull over. The driver kept saying "I'm sorry!, I'm sorry!". Then the passenger got out from her side, walked over the driver's side and told her to get out. I figured they were going to stop to wait for the police. I was wrong. The driver got out, switched positions with the passenger, and they drove away. There were 2 eyewitnesses, one called 911. The other was an off-duty MP whom I'm thankful for. I had read the plate and quickly told the eyewitness who was on the phone with the dispatcher the plate number, and the dispatcher said there would be a police cruiser there in 5 minutes. I let the witness in the car drive away, and the other witness helped me pick up the bike and wait for the cruiser on the center divider. I didn't feel to be on bad shape at the time. I was wearing a full face helmet, mesh jacket, overpants over jeans, tall cruiser boots and gloves. My right knee on my overpants were worn, and my right forearm on my mesh jacket was trashed, but aside from some soreness on my left wrist/palm and some abrasion my right knee I was uninjured.
45 minutes later, after the off-duty MP had called 911 3 times the cruiser finally arrived. He indicated the license plate was coming up in the system as stolen...
(I will continue this later on, I have to run)
To continue- The plate didn't match the car it was on.
So I was able to ride the bike the 1 mile back home. I am not carrying any insurance other than liability on my bike (it is over 10 years old). I'm going to need to replace the front cover, gauge bezel, floor pan, and pretty much all the plastics on the right side of the bike, probably to the tune of $800. I have my Reflex as a backup (as well as 2 cars, but who wants to drive a car to work in the summer?) so I can delay fixing Big Red for a few weeks until I can dissect the bike to review the full extent of the damage, order parts, and put her all back together.

Jesse in Atlanta
2003 Swing "Big Red"
2002 Reflex "Goldie"

I had a similar situation 4 or 5 years ago when and older lady did a left turn in front of me when I was returning to work from my lunch break. I put the bike down and slid under her bumper just missing it by mere fractions of an inch. A witness chased her down and had her return to the site of the incident. Information was exchanged and when the LEO showed up I seem to recall she was cited for improper turn, failure to yield or blocking traffic or some such. Anyway, when I tried to file a claim I find that it's a no go. It was not an actual collision and Michigan no-fault law does not recognize motorcycles the same way as cars.... I was on my own as far as getting the bike fixed. So I called the old gal up and told her the estimate for new parts and that to make it easy on her, I would do the repairs myself. At the time of the incident she told me in front of witnesses that she would help me get it fixed. I reminded her I would hold her to that..... Week later a check shows up for half the amount of the replacements parts. Not bad really..... she could have just told me "see ya in court."
I figure I did OK under the circumstances. Fixed the bike with some ebay parts. My insurance did pay
for the hospital visit because when I was sliding across the pavement, everything was just fine til I hit a section of the pavement that was raised a little.... caught my shoulder and flipped me over several times. At first I was OK, but after about an hour it felt like I had been beaten with a baseball bat. So to the ER for X-Rays I went. Badly bruised, but nothing broken. I now carry full coverage on my bikes so if something like that happens again, insurance will pay to repair or replace my bike.

It would be interesting for you to know when the car was reported stolen. It might be possible for somebody to get involved in an accident, leave the scene, park the car somewhere, walk away then call to say their car was stolen. That would be false reporting of course. It would be highly suspect if it was reported stolen after that first 911 call was made. I would ask about that. All 911 calls are recorded with date, time and indexing as part of the call data. You should ask for the Date and time of both calls; the stolen vehicle call and the first 911 accident call. That would go a long way to either clearing the owner or pointing some suspicion their way. just my 2 cents.

That's terrible !Sometimes we have to thank lucky stars we walked away ..

Jesse, I hope you heal quickly and your scooter can be fixed without to much cash output.
I have always been a horn blower until the last time someone made a u-turn in front of me. When I blew the horn the driver slowed down looking around to see who blew there horn leaving even less time for me to miss them.

When I read these types of horror stories, I am thankful we have no fault mandatory insurance where I live. The car that was stolen could have been driven by a monkey or a remote controlled robot, and I'd still be fully covered.

That stinks. In California, that's called "hit and run" and I also think an argument could be made that the car's occupants were tampering with eyewitness testimony by switching positions. There is good news:

1. You're OK
2. The bike can be repaired or replaced
3. These yahoos will be caught and they will be prosecuted...hopefully.

Glad you're in one piece and up and running...

[quote="bandito2"] I now carry full coverage on my bikes so if something like that happens again, insurance will pay to repair or replace my bike.

If the damage is severe enough, insurance companies will total our your bike and only give you the low Blue Book price even if the bike is not is repairable.  IMHO, full coverage is only worth when the vehicle is fairly new. What the insurance companies pay you may not enough to replace what you lost.

Toolboxjesse: Get healed and get your ride repaired/replaced. Good luck to you. I hope all turns out good for you.

Sounds like braking needs some work. Never/never lay a a bike down---it just slides----reduction in in speed best with bike up right, brakes full on. Even hitting something straight on best as bike structure absorbs some of the force. People drive cars like idiots in the US.

Glad you are not hurt too badly. Chalk it up to experience, and learn to not repeat the same mistake again. Stuff will happen, and that's why we have to ride as defensively as we can. However, even in perfect worlds, you cannot account for other peoples' stupidities.

John Grinsel, Mate you are so wrong in your post. People drive cars like idiots everywhere!!!


TBJ, I am glad you are still up and walking.

Thank you all for your support & input.
I don't know what I might have done to prevent this accident in this case (other than driving well below the speed limit) or to have avoided greater injury or damage. I suppose that I could have slammed in to the car, but I think I probably would have been injured more and the frame would have been damaged. This may have prevented the driver of the car from fleeing the scene, but who knows?- if it was indeed a stolen plate or a drunk driver who knows what lengths she would have gone to to get away. The end result is that I'm a little banged up and sore (which will heal on its own), I'll need to invest in some new riding gear (yay, shopping ;-) ), and if there's no frame damage I'll end up with a fresh-looking bike for about $800 and Big Red will be back on the road in a few weeks.

Jesse

john grinsel wrote:

People drive cars  like idiots in the US.

Believe me, John, the US does not have the monopoly on idiot drivers.

I would have to say that Atlanta has it's fair share of idiots, between the drivers calling & texting while driving, inability to figure out how to effectively use turn signals, and lack of understanding how to make a left turn at a green light.

Jesse

We (US) do have a fair amount of inattentive/crazy drivers. Our northern neighbors does also.
But as I've traveled around, I find Asian countries have no logic or reason to their erratic behavior.
It is like a competition to see who can be worse driver and remain alive with total disregard for the competitors life, be they in a motor
vehicle or pedestrian.

Having lived and ridden 40 years outside of the US---I stand buy bad bad drivers in US and think those on Canada maybe better------At least in Asia you have to expect anything----here thee idiots do not know how to pass....most seem to prefer cruise control.

Much probably has to do with poor training/ little vehicle control practice. Where I live in TN, use of directional lights seems to be an option......Rude or stupid?

Glad that your incident left you only more angry than physically injured,tbj.

On signal lights ... it seems to me that the more expensive the vehicle, the less likely that it came with or has working signal lights.  In Nova Scotia the government is wrapping every one in bubble wrap but maybe legislating frequent mandatory refresher driving courses/tests might be a better use of their time and resources. It would be a pain ... but "no pain - no gain"?  Or better still ... huge tickets for failing to use signal lights.

Jesse,
Sorry to hear this happened.
Your best friend in situations like this is your cell phone camera.
Take picture or video of the people involved.
Especially if the person is in the driver's seat.
Video of the driver and passenger and of the car leaving the scene of the accident with the license plate clearly visible.

Dan

I'm saddened to hear about your accident with the lower scum level of the population but glad to know you weren't injured any worse that you were. It really stinks the number of people who think hit and run is a proper response to an accident, even folks who haven't stolen a car. We all need to watch out there because they really are out to get us out there.

TBJ, I'm so sorry to hear about your accident. I'm truly glad you were able to walk away with minimal injury. Heal quickly.

It is a rotten deal, riding and all is well then presto, you're a victim. I've been down and it isn't  much fun. I was "dressed to crash" so I walked away. I hope you recover and get your bike fixed promptly.

Here in Tucson we also have our fair share of those that think the heaviest vehicle takes the right- away. It isn't that 4 wheelers don't see. It is that 4 wheelers don't bother to look.

Dress out for every ride.

Thank you all for your support!


After 3 days of commuting by car, this morning I rode my backup bike, my 2002 Honda Reflex to work after taking a few days off to reflect on the incident. I hope this incident will make me a better driver overall.
BTW, I'm not a noob rider. I'm 41 years old and started riding at 12. I took the MSF course 10 years ago, which broke me of a few bad habits I never realized I had. I have owned a dozen bikes and have racked up around 100,000 miles on my own and others. My longest ride was 600 miles each way from Northern NJ to North Carolina and back. I think my biggest accomplishment was to drive a 100 mile round trip commute for 3 years, mostly on my Swing. I have thankfully found work closer to home recently but will always look fondly on the capability of this wonderful bike.

Jesse in Atlanta

Hey Jesse,

Hope you are doing better by now and back to riding (if not the Swing, your Reflex)

I just want to express some thoughts about the situation that you found yourself in a few weeks ago (dropping the bike to avoid running into a car), perhaps making others think twice about doing the same in the future.

First thought - if the car pulled out in front of you and you are going to wreck your scoot laying it down, why not stay upright and run into the car and f**k up their car a little too? This would make it harder for them to drive away from the accident/collision and raising the odds the police can get their identification and insurance info.

Second thought - I've read similar stories elsewhere and a common ending seems to be that the car driver is not faulted if the bike rider lays it down and succeeds in not hitting the car. The bike rider is just told they had a one person accident and that they are at fault, not the car driver. Then it's tougher to get insurance coverage, either because you don't have comprehensive/collision coverage or the car driver's company won't pay because their customer was not faulted.

Third and final thought - rubber has more friction against the road than metal and plastic and should stop you faster than metal and plastic. If metal and plastic had more friction on the road, our tires wouldn't be made of rubber. I agree with John G - keep it upright and brake as best as you can. I'm no expert on this, but laying it down to avoid an accident seems to fall into the same category as "loud pipes save lives".

Not picking on you, not criticizing you, just using your post to voice a few thoughts appropriate to the situation in the hope someone else may benefit from it in the future.

Thanks for your input Philip. My instinct told me not to T-bone car at 40-ish MPH. I was more certain that the plastics of the bike would protect me, which they mostly did.

Since the license plate turned out to be stolen/car unregistered, and the driver possible DUI, who knows what might have happened if I had hit them- They may have fled anyway.

Swing is sitting in my garage until I have time to take her apart and check for frame damage. I'm currently riding my Reflex.

Jesse