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Your worst crash

Started by Greaser Greg, January 05, 2022, 10:16:51 PM

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dgorms

  "what's the stupidest thing that driver can do right now" awareness, has saved my arse on many occasion!........................D
rz,r5,ds7,srx,fzr400rr,vfr,cl77,s90, F-7,CL 77, CA-77,ad infinitum

Greaser Greg

Quote from: SoCal250 on January 06, 2022, 10:23:11 PM
Greg, sounds like you're lucky to be with us. That was a bad accident! Glad you've recovered reasonably well and hope you continue to see improvement.  :thumbs: 
Thank you.

Out of curiousity, what gear were you wearing besides a helmet?
I wore the Dr marten steel toes, perforated chaps, gloves, and a mesh padded Joe rocket jacket. Jacket zipped to pants would been great.

And...we've had distracted drivers here for years. Everytime I go out on a ride I assume everyone else on the road is out to kill me. (most are). I've seen it all while commuting on the freeway in SoCal -- about 1/3 of drivers are usually looking at their phone, and Ive seen people reading books, working on laptops, and even a guy totally asleep behind the wheel of his Tesla in the fast lane while northbound on the 405 doing about 50mph. Nothing surprises me anymore. People are F-ing stupid!
I always look at any cars/trucks nearby and think to myself "what's the stupidest thing that driver could do right now?, and then I plan for it.
That was also my strategy. Only took a split second of forgetting that at just the right moment to f up.
Every day above ground is a good one.
'71 R5B "Rusty"  '71 R5B "Decaf"   '99 KZ 250
'97 XL1200S "The Vibrator"   '08 XL1200N  "Greenie" (totalled)
'78 CB750F "The Skunk"   '74 CB550 "Blackie"    '78 Honda Hobbit

irk_miller

I got run down from behind by a guy reading his electric bill while driving a truck.  We passed the power company pay site on the left, but the branch was closed, so you had to cross town to get to the other branch.  My guess is he was about to miss closing time or something and his power was getting turned off if he didn't pay.  This was downtown Columbia, SC.  We went through one traffic light on the corner at the pay office, then in the middle of the next block I signaled and moved into the left lane because I was turning left at the next light.  I started braking, which allowed the traffic that was behind me in the right lane start to pass.  In my rear view, I saw the guy in a truck coming through the light at the corner of the power company block and he seemed to be accelerating.  We reached halfway across the block and I'm in the left lane braking and see the accelerating truck behind still accelerating.  There is passing traffic on my right side, so I tried to move left as far as I could go, but still avoid oncoming traffic, basically splitting the double line.  I got about to his driver side headlight when his bumper met by back wheel.  My bike got sucked under his truck like vacuum.  I shot forward and fortunately stay horizontal so I landed hands first and was able to roll through the right lane and into the curb.  Had I not shot forward like that, I was probably getting run over by the truck or another car in the right lane.  The truck was still accelerating for about 50 more feet with my bike jammed under his engine cradle before he finally started to brake.  Amazingly, I walked away with nothing more than bruised palms, though they took almost 3 years to totally heal.  I was young and in my 20s.

RustyRD

Wade you are correct. I have always pretended I was invisible while riding my motorcycle. People look straight at you and do what you are hoping they don't do. I have been riding on the street since 1978 and the dumba&* are always out there. I now prefer to ride local backroads and some in town.  :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

m in sc

@ irk, Columbia is a hazard to drive in on any day, its about an hour south. I have spent more time there than I wished I had.

tony27

Quote from: m in sc on January 06, 2022, 02:43:56 PM
I only had 2. this was the 1st one in 2015.

I got lucky.




No better advertisement for full face helmets than that, I shudder to think of the damage if you'd been wearing a open face helmet or none at all

rd400canuck

Wow some bad wipe outs here!

The worst thing that happened to me was 10 years ago at my local motocross track. I wipe out all the time there but one time... the track comes over a massive hill and for some reason i was going fast enoigh to turn it into a jump. The bike ended up pointing straight up in the air and all i could think was to seperate myself from it before landing. I pushed the bike away and felt like i was flying. Hit the groumd so hard my buddy told me later that i bounced off the dirt. Was in utter pain.. certain id broken everything that could break. They shut the track down as usual when some one grenades themself.. orange helicopter shows up 30 minutes later and takes me to hospital for xrays and amazingly nothing was broken. I remember not beleivng them.. everything hurt so bad.

Other than that one burned into my memory all i can say is ive managed to avoid getting takern out by countless cars on my street bikes. Im convinced all my time on motocross bikes have honed my skills and allow me to stay in control no matter what crazy things i have to do to avoid cars etc.

2 Stroke Jamoke

I've only hit the street twice (countless motox crashes) once was a small crash where I was following a novice rider to closely and when he crashed I ran him over. The other crash was way worse, collided with a turning car going about 50mph on my xs650. Crushed my ankle and got some gnarly road rash. 6 months healing time but it was a full year before my ankle was 100%. I learned some valuable lessons on that one. Dress for the slide not the ride!

sav0r

I count all my motorcycle crashes against my crash total, street or not. The vast majority are MX/trail based. I have done a serious amount of trail and off
trail riding over the years. Dumping the bike over a fallen tree is like a daily occurrence when riding off trail. I see that as a crash.

Probably the worst on street crashes for me are on this Geely (Chinese state owned) scooter I own. It's a 50cc 2t that is particularly gutless. To ride it around town you basically scream it to no end just to keep up with traffic. One time I was on campus (in grad school at this point) and there was some construction for new housing. The dump trucks tracked dirt on the road. Meanwhile I am dragging this piece of shit out as hard as it would take. I turn the bend on the mud soaked street and lowside. Right in front of me an Escalade takes evasive action to avoid me and plows over a stop sign. I get up, my knees are bleeding. Out of the Escalade gets a real hot sorority girl, she asks me if I am okay. I am stunned, tell her I'm cool. She reverses and carries on. I get the scooter up and go get a slice of pizza. By the time I get home my pants are dried to to my legs. The blood has straight up bonded my jeans to my legs. I hop in the shower and soften the blood, the jeans come off. The road rash is way worse than I realized, but I am alive. This was like 1 out of 20 Geely scooter crashes. I rode that piece of junk year around, ice, snow, you name it. I got pretty comfortable crashing that thing. I still own the scooter, but now that I am 36 I don't have much ambition on crashing like that.
www.chrislivengood.net - for my projects and musings.

IR8D8R

I went down on a friend's '79 CB750F in 1984 when I was 19. Quick trip to the store.

Coming up to a gentle right-hander at about 45-50 mph, I downshifted and the bike went into 1st gear apparently. I let out the clutch and it felt like someone snatched the road out from under me. My friend told me later that it had done that before and he thought maybe there was a transmission problem. I dunno. I wasn't prepared.
The brake lever went through the side of my shoe between the sole and my foot and pinned my right leg under the bike. The bike being partially on top of me I dragged my face on the pavement. I was not wearing a helmet because we just didn't then. I didn't own one. It tore out the corner of my eye and ground down to the bone at the outside of my orbit. Ankle down to the bone also through my jeans. I was wearing a leather jacket. ~250 stitches in my face, forehead and ankle, concussion, bruises. A little reconstruction of my lower eyelid which was hanging down. I got back on the bike and rode it back to my friend's house. I thought I was OK until I looked at my face in a mirror. It looked like Tony27's helmet. I was young enough that the scars healed well. I still have a little gravel in my face. Lucky I didn't hit anything.

It was a bad time for my young riding community. 3 of my friends died on motorcycles and 2 more were seriously injured in an 18 month period around my crash. 1 R5, an RD 400, KH400, and a GT 550 (The only 4T was a GS1100 Suzuki). Everyone said 2 strokes were dangerous. The guy on the R5 had his girlfriend on the back when he went head-on with a station wagon on hwy 1 near Pacifica. They were both killed.

We were really just kids looking for thrills in the hills around the East Bay in Northern CA. While I was recuperating I loaned my RD 400 to a friend so he could get to work and he let the oil tank run out and seized it solid on the SF Bay bridge at about 70 mph. Fortunately he wasn't hurt. I didn't own another bike for 32 years. I didn't avoid it really. It wasn't like that. I just had other things going on. Now I love my Shoei RS1200.

IR8D8R

1976RD400C

  I had one that surprising turned out ok. It was the second to last session at a track day with my SV650. There was a short chute leading to a 30mph hairpin right turn. I had it down to, just as the SV would hit the rev limiter in 4th (100mph), snap the throttle shut and slam on the brakes. That was right where the proper brake marker was. I was on the edge of the left side of the track (1-2') to set up for the right turn. Just as I shut the throttle this idiot on his $35K custom Ducati scoots by me on the right and as he is trying to stay to the left as much as possible, to be set up for the right turn ahead, his rear wheel clips my front wheel. In a split second, my bike is off the track and on the grass right where I should be on the brakes as hard as possible to get the speed down for 30mph turn. Up ahead is a tire barrier that is on the outside of the hairpin. "OK, do something to reduce speed because you're going to hit the tires". I touched the rear brakes and gently grabbed the front brake. Instantly I'm on the ground and sliding in the grass at 90-95mph. Thank God I stopped just as I came to the tires. Staff member picked my bike up and it looked ok. Went back to the pits and the director came over and said a witness told him what happened. I didn't even know what bike he was riding. They all confront him and he denies everything. Says I must have moved over if my wheel hit him. Anyway, I check my bike and nothing is wrong with it except a 2" scuff on the fairing. It slid on the rigid foot peg and clip-on along the grass perfectly. As for me, nothing, no strains, no aches the next day, nothing. My leathers were not damaged at all. I attribute all the hard plastic in the forearms, elbows, shoulders, knees to protecting me so well. So, I came off my bike at about 90 and didn't get hurt and my bike was barely damaged. Man, I felt lucky. BTW, I think after this guy's girlfriend ragged at him so much, he finally came over and apologized.    :toot:
'76 RD400 green  '76 RD400 red   '84 RZ350

2 Stroke Jamoke


Ws76133

My worst crash was my only.  I have a food allergy to sesame seeds and sesame oil.  It used to just cause itching.  July 31, 2003 I took a frozen entree for lunch that has less than 2% sesame oil.  Started itching, didn't have any benadryl, so I rode home for some.  The reaction went anaphylactic and my vision went from 20/15 to gone on the interstate.  I brailled my way to the shoulder but didn't see the abandoned car that I hit at 60 mph per the witnesses.  I totalled the bike and the car I hit; I was treated, released from hospital and back to work in three hours.  Injuries were a skinned knee, scraped shoulder and sprained thumb.  God wasn't done with me yet...

irk_miller

I just wrecked this past Sunday. HAHA.  1970 Honda CB350.  Front drum brake.  Going about 35, then went to brake as I approached my driveway.  Next thing I know, I ended up in a high side and shoulder to curb.  The craziest thing. 

747drvr

Quote from: irk_miller on January 12, 2022, 04:48:41 PM
I just wrecked this past Sunday. HAHA.  1970 Honda CB350.  Front drum brake.  Going about 35, then went to brake as I approached my driveway.  Next thing I know, I ended up in a high side and shoulder to curb.  The craziest thing.
same thing happened to my brother years ago on a cb175. bolt rattled out of front brake stay and over the handlebars he went along with his passenger. had several surgeries to reconstruct his cheek and nose. still runs the piss out of my bikes though!!!! lol