How I contributed to the crash of my Venture

[MiCarl]

Last night, on my way home from work, a young lady on a cell phone pulled out beside me and sideswiped my 89 Royale. Fortunately the gear all worked flawlessly and I got away with some aches and pains.

Here is the part I want to share with you all:

I was on a boulevard (center divider) with 2 lanes both directions. I was in the left lane and the young lady was coming from the left on a merge across the boulevard. She was at a stop sign, lost, on the cell phone trying to get directions and decided to go just as I came beside her. We were the only cars in the vicinity.

Now, why would I be in the left lane with a car merging from the left with the right lane wide open? Because I was distracted. My head was elsewhere.

Now, she shouldn't have pulled out into me like that but if I'd been in the right lane (where a smart biker would have been in that situation) this wreck would not have happened. I wouldn't have the bruises, the Venture wouldn't be significantly damaged and the young lady's prom night would not have been spoiled.

I hope I never forget the lesson and I wanted to post it to remind all my friends here to stay sharp!

[ddoggma]

Glad your allright. Hope the bike makes it... They ALL are out to kill you! Watch em.

[Carbon_One]

Carl sorry to hear you had a accident but glad you're here to tell us about it too. This post also reaffirms that we ourselves must always remain diligent when out riding. Sometimes we've all been out enjoying that ride and the scenery and then have a rude awakening such as what you've had or perhaps nothing more then soiled underwear.
Either way it's certainly a wake up call to pay attention, cause the cagers don't always watch out for us.
Anyhow glad to hear you've nothing more than aches and pains.
Larry

[whanna]

Glad you're at home all in one piece. Thank you for sharing your story; as others have said we must always be vigilant and visible, ready to react at a nanosecond's notice.

[MiCarl]

... perhaps nothing more then soiled underwear.

For the record, I did not soil my underwear.

[saddlebum]

Sorry about the bike but happy your ok. Your are right every once in awhile we need a reminder to be constantly alert. Regardless of riding experience and skill it is all to easy to suddenly not pay attention or get side tracked and it only takes a second or less for something to go wrong.

[Yammer Dan]

Glad you can motivate this morning Carl.

[tx2sturgis]

What he's trying to say is that he 'center punched' a prom queen.

:stickpoke:


LUV YA MAN...get well soon!

[bohunk]

Glad you're ok Carl.Good thing you had your gear on.With the warm temps,some folks tend to ride with minimal protection.

[loehring]

Glad you're ok Carl and really glad that you're learning from this. I think that's what make a really good rider. We all make mistakes but the ones who always want to blame someone else don't live long. Analyzing a crash and taking something from it even though you weren't technically at fault means you'll be with us for a long time.

Thanks for sharing the information. I hope we all take it to heart.

[Rottdoglover]

Glad you escaped serious injury. We all have 20/20 hindsight but who's to say if you were in the right lane it wouldn't have happened. You may have taken a hit T-bone style. You know the old saying woulda, coulda, shoulda don't really help when the other driver screws up. Hopefully she will remember this for a LONG time and be a better driver for it. Sad to see all your restoration work gone in a heartbeat. Guess you'll just have to cage it to MD.
:178:

[wes0778]

Carl,
Glad the good news(you're OK) :Avatars_Gee_George:out weighs the bad news(you fall down go boom):bawling:!!!
Maybe if you had been in the right lane she would have had a running start at you and the outcome not been as good!:yikes:
Don't try to second guess yourself.
Just take it easy and get better. I hear you old folks:stickpoke: don't get over it quickly!!!

Walter

[Skid]

Glad you're OK Carl. I had a woman pull over and crowded me into the center turn lane today on a busy five lane. Just glad I was paying attention and saw her coming over, and that I had some place to go. The next light turned red and I got a chance to pull up and discuss it with her..... :cool10:

[utadventure]

Sorry to hear about your accident. I'm praying that you and your ride will be back soon.

Dave

[LLonearth]

That's just the kind of situation that prompted me to replace the stock horns on my 87 Royale with two Bolo air horns. They have alerted one absent minded driver so far that they need to pay attention to me! Glad you weren't injured seriously.

[Yama Mama]

I am so glad that you told your experience to every one here. I think you also need the tell more about how your full face helmet worked for you.

Glad you are ok Carl.

[sarges46]

Well at the least you are not hurt to bad. Dang that is too bad and sure reminds us to be ever mindful of our position and how fast things can change.

Heal well.

[MikeM8560]

Godd to hear you ok so how bad is the bike Carl?

[MiCarl]

That's just the kind of situation that prompted me to replace the stock horns on my 87 Royale with two Bolo air horns. .....

Me too. This time I didn't have enough time to use them.

Godd to hear you ok so how bad is the bike Carl?

Being as I'm a bit like tenderized meat I haven't gone over it closely. All damage is left side:

Fork lower and EAND, Stator cover (broke the part the shift linkage goes through with my foot), turn signal,case guard, chin piece and windshield for sure. My repairs to the fairing held up well so can probably fix again (fairing stay is clearly bent). Of course half my fog/driving lights, air horns and highway pegs are destroyed.

When the aches settle down a bit I'll check to make sure the frame isn't bent. Maybe (fingers crossed) be on the road by MD.

[papa smurf]

Wow Carl. That sure does blow man. But so glad you're upright and able to tell us about it. I found it pretty interesting the way you analyzed it with a view on what you could have done differently. Cause ya know, the cager was in the wrong.

I'll take your hard learned lesson to heart for sure.


Take er easy and get yourself better.

[IH Truck Guy]

What he's trying to say is that he 'center punched' a prom queen.

:stickpoke:


LUV YA MAN...get well soon!

:sign funny post::sign funny post:

Glad your going to be alright....It's a shame about the bike..We can rebuild it. We have the technology.:):)
I liked the way you analyzed the accident. Like I tell our soon to be teenage driver,You have to keep your head in the game at all times..

[campfire12]

:scared:Just a reminder to everyone that prom night is here and everywhere... That means a lot of young drivers with there minds elsewhere. Lets all be extra carefull and keep our eyes open for these young drivers.

[Dano]

Glad to hear you're OK, Carl. I've had the same happen to me with better results, as I happened to see the gentleman start to come over on me. I barely had time to announce with my air horn that I was there and take some action to avoid him. I even let him know I was displeased with a right boot kick to his front fender as I got away from him. I know, shouldn't have done that, but he was only a foot away and I mistakenly thought I could scoot him over!

Good luck in getting her back together, hope you can ride to MD!

Dan

[Zfrebird4]

... I still commend you for sharing the details. In this category look for and read 'What would you do differently in cycle wreck?' Lots of learning there.

I too have electric air horns. I ride with my left thumb between the air horn and the bright light switch.

I hit my Meeeeep Meeeeep horn that came with my 86 VR and the lady still commanded my left lane and I LET her run me into the curb. MY MISTAKE> I should have dropped back and hoped for the best.

Love my air horns now. And so far, a slight BLAAA BLAAA does it all, without causing road rage.

Glad you have healed by now and I hope your ins has taken good care of your Bike. State Farm has rebuilt my first VR about 4 times and my current one, once with slight damaged after I hit the curb and went down on the wood chips. I was GLAD there were wood chips in that center divider, and not concrete, as in the next block! As well, I stoped 1 foot short of one of the 'decoration trees' that should not be there in the first place.

God blessed me, and you. May such continue for both of us.

JackZ

PS

What I'll be riding when I am 90 follows. I will insert my photograph via Adobe Photoshop! LOL:

:mytruck1:

[Zfrebird4]

... about a rainy dark night, 6 blocks from home! LOL.

However, as a courtesy, I'll wait until someone else posts before me. I have both enjoyed and benefited from this posts. Thanks to the first POSTER> LOL

JackZ

[ddoggma]

Glad your allright. Hope you can get her back on the road soon.

[dynodon]

Carl, Glad you are OK, good to hear you have great body control and kept the undies clean!:crackup:

As for being better off in the right lane, you might have been, but it is my experience that 99% of drivers don't know that when you make a turn into a multi-lane road from either the right OR left, you should stay to that side of the road till you confirm that the other lane is empty. IN other words, your distracted lady driver probably would have just pulled directly into your right hand lane and gotten up even MORE speed!

I would like to say I have never driven or ridden distracted or just been not paying attention, but hey, it happens to the best of us. Every time I screw up or almost get screwed by another driver, I try to file that away and learn from it.

[Zfrebird4]

... I headed home ... in the rain, full rain suit on my first of two 86 VR's; (On my second now compliment of Squidley with Lonna's permission).

Ahhhh, I was within 1 miles of home ... saw those rail road tracks, and rode over them as instructed. They were at a lower left to upper right angle, so I hit the right of the lane (2 lane road) and drove straight across.

Mistake? Nope, just a freek of the rail road ties. It had been raining all night (this was about 11 PM) and most of the day according to my then wife. Blip, front tire went right, I went down, rolled three times in my full dress wet suite and came up walking, watching my beautiful 86 VR Ursula Black on Gold bounce down the road.

Why? I had hit a knot hole on one of the ties, ... where naturally all the rail road and vehicle traffice had dropped losts of oil. There was no way I could have seen it, it just leaped up there and bit me and Zfrebird1 in the but!

I had help from two young teenage girls in picking her up and getting the kickstand down. I picked up as many parts as I could find, threw them in the back truck.

As I was about to leave, a little old lady drove up, and said, we just called 911 for you. Fearing a ticket for now reason, ... I was off, got home, garage door down, and whew. I was ok. $450 in parts from the insurance and self installed.

Lesson Learned: On crossing rail road tracks, wait till not traffice if possible, barely raid over with both feet on the pavement.

Advice appreciated.

JackZ

[Zfrebird4]

... as it was still light. 3 lanes, in lane #2, signled to go left, BIG black boxes to left drops back (probably just distracted), ... sees me coming in to his lane thinking he was giving me a break, and he floors it. I flip the 1st Gen to the right just in time, and missed him, then in behind him to the stop waiting for the turn light. I just waived at him (or her; you know those dark windows). .. and let him go on, as I proceeded slowly in the out lane. I did not want to deal with road rage.

And, oh, yes, said a prayer of thanksgivng to the Lord, and Frebird2, ... that she handled like a dirt bike. I was also thankful the road was beautiful CO dry!

JackZ
Ft Collins, CO

:thumbsup::2133:

[Sonnyboy]

My dad who rode for over 50 years always told me "when you see a car near you, he WILL do exactly what you are positive he couldn't possibly do". Except for an ocassion when a Hummer decided to use the same exit as me with out leaving enough room for the both of us, I have been lucky enough to stay out of the way.
But what I have seen on two ocassions has stayed with me always. Coming back from Rolling Thunder a few years ago about 30 of us were in the middle lane of 95 heading south when a BMW came up on the right of us....the driver looked us up and down over his left shoulder...beeped his horn and when Joe looked over at him he came over and pushed about 5 of us out of the lane and took off for parts unknown. Last nite as we were driving behind a GW, pulling into a shopping center I saw a women come out of a fast food place in front of him, looking at him the whole way over in front of him. I now wish my RSV had antilocks available, that's the only thing that kept him on two wheels.

I am very glad that you are okay and have given us another lesson on staying focused