[!redbird!]

Well, it happened. I went down yesterday. It was raining and I was doing about 45 in a 55 area. I had about 6 car lengths between me and the van in front of me. Then a truck that was whipping in and out of traffic pulled into my lane and rear ended the van in front of me. It hit pretty hard, I am pretty sure I saw it's rear tires come off the ground. Well I got on the brakes and it started to fishtail a little bit, not bad though I could have rode it out if there was more room. I realized that I wasn't going to get it stopped before I got to the truck, so I decided just to lay it down on it's side. I managed to slow down to about 20-25mph before I put it down. At first I was questioning my decision, but one of the witnesses said I did the only thing I could have other than eating the back of the truck.

Of course, the officer on scene said by law I should have left enough space to stop no matter what the circumstance. But this happened on the busiest highway in the area and as soon as you slow down someone pulls in. He totally understood and didn't ticket me. I was lucky that I had a good witness that saw the whole thing and told the officer about the trucking cruising through traffic. They wrote it up as separate incidents, since I managed not to eat a tailgate.

I'm banged up, but nothing is broke. I landed on my hip and elbow, which jammed my shoulder upwards. Overall, pretty lucky.

The scoot isn't too bad. I got a big dent on the tank and my custom paint is ruined. My headlight got scratched up pretty good. My dublin controls got bent, jacked up my brand new pegs and Arlen Ness mirror. And a few other things got scratched up. Also looks like my triple trees may have been knocked out of whack a little. Doesn't appear to be any mechanical or frame damage. I guess I'll find out how good Progressive insurance is.

 

[RARVTX]

Sorry to hear about this. Things happen so fast in situations like that. Will you be able to go after the truck's insurance since it was caused by his actions? Or do they just consider it your fault since you were behind and didn't actually crash into the Truck... Just wondering how all that works in such a situation.

Hope you get better and the bike can get fixed right.

 

[Brew]

Glad you're okay, bummer about the damage to your scoot.

The guy in the truck was obviously a complete arsehole. I had a guy the other day crossing a double yellow passing multiple cars (including me). Then, when we get to the light where you can either turn left or right (one lane for each), he pulls up in the left turn lane, slows to a near stop at the red light, makes a right turn in front of the car that was in the right turn lane, and zooms off to endanger more people! People like this drive me F***ING INSANE! They're the ones that are making this world more dangerous for the rest of us.

 

[kathymc7719]

Well, it happened. I went down yesterday. It was raining and I was doing about 45 in a 55 area. I had about 6 car lengths between me and the van in front of me. Then a truck that was whipping in and out of traffic pulled into my lane and rear ended the van in front of me. It hit pretty hard, I am pretty sure I saw it's rear tires come off the ground. Well I got on the brakes and it started to fishtail a little bit, not bad though I could have rode it out if there was more room. I realized that I wasn't going to get it stopped before I got to the truck, so I decided just to lay it down on it's side. I managed to slow down to about 20-25mph before I put it down. At first I was questioning my decision, but one of the witnesses said I did the only thing I could have other than eating the back of the truck.

Of course, the officer on scene said by law I should have left enough space to stop no matter what the circumstance. But this happened on the busiest highway in the area and as soon as you slow down someone pulls in. He totally understood and didn't ticket me. I was lucky that I had a good witness that saw the whole thing and told the officer about the trucking cruising through traffic. They wrote it up as separate incidents, since I managed not to eat a tailgate.

I'm banged up, but nothing is broke. I landed on my hip and elbow, which jammed my shoulder upwards. Overall, pretty lucky.

The scoot isn't too bad. I got a big dent on the tank and my custom paint is ruined. My headlight got scratched up pretty good. My dublin controls got bent, jacked up my brand new pegs and Arlen Ness mirror. And a few other things got scratched up. Also looks like my triple trees may have been knocked out of whack a little. Doesn't appear to be any mechanical or frame damage. I guess I'll find out how good Progressive insurance is.

Glad you are OK - let me know how Progressive handles this. I have them for coverage too buy have never finled a claim. Heard different takes on their claim process . . . .

 

[Mem-X]

Glad you're not in any worse shape than what you are. I am continually amazed and angered at the way people put others in danger without a thought - or subsequent remorse. Part of the risk I suppose.

Heal up - God has obviously left you here for a reason. :wink:

 

[lincdoc]

Glad to hear you're ok, sorry about the scoot. Glad you still had time to make decisions and at least plan how you went down. Get well soon.

 

[UberSkippy]

Glad you're okay, bummer about the damage to your scoot.

The guy in the truck was obviously a complete arsehole. I had a guy the other day crossing a double yellow passing multiple cars (including me). Then, when we get to the light where you can either turn left or right (one lane for each), he pulls up in the left turn lane, slows to a near stop at the red light, makes a right turn in front of the car that was in the right turn lane, and zooms off to endanger more people! People like this drive me F***ING INSANE! They're the ones that are making this world more dangerous for the rest of us.

Dude, get his plate number and call it in. In Idaho at least as long as you're willing to sign the complaint they'll ticket the guy anyway.

 

[michael7276]

Dude, glad you're relatively ok!

I didnt' fare as well as you when a similar thing happened to me. 3 days in the hospital for me with broken clavicle, punctured lung, bruised pancreas and 3 cracked ribs.

 

[ponyz101]

hey buddy.....same thing i said on our board.....glad yer here talkin about it....rite down the road if ya need sumpin bro

 

[ponyz101]

hey mikey....glad yer here bitchin and fussin too !!!!!!

 

[michael7276]

hey mikey....glad yer here bitchin and fussin too !!!!!!

Me bitch and fuss?
NFW dude!

 

[MNDVTX]

Well, it happened. I went down yesterday. It was raining and I was doing about 45 in a 55 area. I had about 6 car lengths between me and the van in front of me. Then a truck that was whipping in and out of traffic pulled into my lane and rear ended the van in front of me. It hit pretty hard, I am pretty sure I saw it's rear tires come off the ground. Well I got on the brakes and it started to fishtail a little bit, not bad though I could have rode it out if there was more room. I realized that I wasn't going to get it stopped before I got to the truck, so I decided just to lay it down on it's side. I managed to slow down to about 20-25mph before I put it down. At first I was questioning my decision, but one of the witnesses said I did the only thing I could have other than eating the back of the truck.

Of course, the officer on scene said by law I should have left enough space to stop no matter what the circumstance. But this happened on the busiest highway in the area and as soon as you slow down someone pulls in. He totally understood and didn't ticket me. I was lucky that I had a good witness that saw the whole thing and told the officer about the trucking cruising through traffic. They wrote it up as separate incidents, since I managed not to eat a tailgate.

I'm banged up, but nothing is broke. I landed on my hip and elbow, which jammed my shoulder upwards. Overall, pretty lucky.

The scoot isn't too bad. I got a big dent on the tank and my custom paint is ruined. My headlight got scratched up pretty good. My dublin controls got bent, jacked up my brand new pegs and Arlen Ness mirror. And a few other things got scratched up. Also looks like my triple trees may have been knocked out of whack a little. Doesn't appear to be any mechanical or frame damage. I guess I'll find out how good Progressive insurance is.

I think you done good, given the circumstances.

I have 2 kids ready to drive this year and I lose sleep over drivers like this...

 

[!redbird!]

Sorry to hear about this. Things happen so fast in situations like that. Will you be able to go after the truck's insurance since it was caused by his actions? Or do they just consider it your fault since you were behind and didn't actually crash into the Truck... Just wondering how all that works in such a situation.

Hope you get better and the bike can get fixed right.

They wrote it up totally separate. Which is probably best, in Florida if you hit someone from behind 9 times out of 10 they will ticket you. Even if the other person was being reckless. At least that's what I have been told. They didn't ticket me at all though, just wrote up an incident report. As for the others involved I am not sure what came about it. They actually pulled over about 1/4 mile down the road. I never talked with them and it was separate officers handling them.

Thanks for all the kind words. Hopefully I can have the bike fixed up in the next few weeks.

 

[motorcyclereb]

Glad to heqar you are generaly ok. Try to get the guy's insurance to cover the repairs to your bike. I let a friend borrow my goldwing and He had some guys pull in front of him and hit the brakes to make a right turn and he went down to keep from hitting them. Thier insurance pated for everything my bike his hospital stay the works. So check it out it might be worth it to you.

 

[topspin43]

What can you teach us from this?

What could you have done differently?

Most accidents have multiple causes... rain, traffic, speed, following distance, tires, beers (kidding). :beer3:


Oh... like everyone said and those who didn't say, feel... very glad you're ok. Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[!redbird!]

What can you teach us from this?

What could you have done differently?

Most accidents have multiple causes... rain, traffic, speed, following distance, tires, beers (kidding). :beer3:


Oh... like everyone said and those who didn't say, feel... very glad you're ok. Thanks in advance for the advice!

I can only think of a few things that I could have done differently. First I could have given more space between me and the van in front of me. But, like I said before the road that it occurred on is the busiest one around here and as soon as you slow down to leave space someone else will pull in there. That's what the truck did. I mean you would think that 6 car lengths would be plenty of space. Not to mention that I was already doing about 10 under the posted speed limit.

Second, besides my decision to put it down, which may have saved my life, I was also wearing my helmet. I didn't realize that my head head the ground, but my helmet had a scratch on it and a chip of paint taken out of it. It was one of these http://www.carbonfiberhelmets.com/. I am glad I spent the extra money on it, if I was wearing one of my other half helmets, they may not have stood up so well.

And last, I highly recommend that everyone take a MSF course. The things I learned in that course enabled me to make a split second decision.

I hope that this helps someone.

I am going to be looking for parts soon. So if anyone has spares that they are willing to sell please keep an eye out on the wanted board. The insurance adjuster is supposed to come by tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll get a check soon and be able to start the rebuild. With any luck I'll have my X up and running in a couple of weeks.

Also, I'll be posting some things for sale soon. Like a 2up Switchblade (with mounts), stock shocks and mirrors. None of these were on when I went down, I have just been slow selling them. Looks like I'll need the extra cash now to go towards covering my deductible.

You know what sucks though? I just ordered a Brake Pedal Extension, Headlight Extension and Clutch Tension Reducer from Glen.

Sorry this is so long winded, but I don't have much else to do right now other than sit and heal. Thanks for taking the time to read this and keep 2 wheels on the ground. They are better suited for it than your hips and shoulders.

Mike

 

[singlepin]

Sorry to read about your get-off, but glad you're basicly OK. Just a guess - you were on 98, right? I hate riding down that road west of Fort Walton (or east of it during tourist season). It's just grown up too much, way too much traffic in the summertime, and too many idiots sharing the same road space. Sounds like you were doing what you needed to be doing. Sometimes you can do everything right and still get taken out. Heal up and saddle up again as soon as you can.

 

[kb9ylu]

wow i would be thankin someone

 

[lowflyingowl]

Glad you're OK. the bike is easier to fix anyway..

I got great service from Progressive. Of coures, my ride wa sitting in the garage when it got hit. The adjuster was a rider, and I got plenty of new chrome and a new paint job out of it -- just had to be careful they didn't total it.

Good luck!

 

[topspin43]

What can you teach us from this?

What could you have done differently?

Most accidents have multiple causes... rain, traffic, speed, following distance, tires, beers (kidding). :beer3:


Oh... like everyone said and those who didn't say, feel... very glad you're ok. Thanks in advance for the advice!

I can only think of a few things that I could have done differently. First I could have given more space between me and the van in front of me. But, like I said before the road that it occurred on is the busiest one around here and as soon as you slow down to leave space someone else will pull in there. That's what the truck did. I mean you would think that 6 car lengths would be plenty of space. Not to mention that I was already doing about 10 under the posted speed limit.

Second, besides my decision to put it down, which may have saved my life, I was also wearing my helmet. I didn't realize that my head head the ground, but my helmet had a scratch on it and a chip of paint taken out of it. It was one of these http://www.carbonfiberhelmets.com/. I am glad I spent the extra money on it, if I was wearing one of my other half helmets, they may not have stood up so well.

And last, I highly recommend that everyone take a MSF course. The things I learned in that course enabled me to make a split second decision.

I hope that this helps someone.

I am going to be looking for parts soon. So if anyone has spares that they are willing to sell please keep an eye out on the wanted board. The insurance adjuster is supposed to come by tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll get a check soon and be able to start the rebuild. With any luck I'll have my X up and running in a couple of weeks.

Also, I'll be posting some things for sale soon. Like a 2up Switchblade (with mounts), stock shocks and mirrors. None of these were on when I went down, I have just been slow selling them. Looks like I'll need the extra cash now to go towards covering my deductible.

You know what sucks though? I just ordered a Brake Pedal Extension, Headlight Extension and Clutch Tension Reducer from Glen.

Sorry this is so long winded, but I don't have much else to do right now other than sit and heal. Thanks for taking the time to read this and keep 2 wheels on the ground. They are better suited for it than your hips and shoulders.

Mike

Thanks for the info!

I took both the beginners and experienced courses but personal experiences like your also teach us alot.

Get well soon and back up.