I will not deny that she wasmostly responsible for the accident. I am just accepting that if I was not HUA, I may have reacted better to her stupid move. I furthered my injuries by not wearing the appropriate clothing. I am definitely not beating myself up and I do not hate the dumb broad that pulled in front of me (anymore...) Insurance fixed my bike as good as new and I had a reminder that, while not painless, could have been worse. I think she still feels bad though. She still wont look at me. I am kinda ugly, though...

 

A woman driver pulled out from a side road with a stop sign, on my right, about three car lengths in front of me.

A DHL truck was in the opposite direction on my road, waiting to pull into the woman's road, so I did not have the left option.

I stood on the mid mount pegs, and jammed both brakes on as I knew that I was going to hit her and wanted to scrub off the most speed. The rear end came around to my left,when the bike was 45 degrees to the woman, I let off both brakes and headed to my right.

My options at that timewere veer rightandhit the fencing or stop signat the entrance to the housing, plan, veer hard left and whack into the big pothole at the roadside, or ride up the little bank straight ahead and avoid the cut off telephone pole, the hillside to my left, and pine trees to my right. I chose this path andavoidedall of the obstacles mentioned and was slowing nicely till the big telephone pole loomed straight ahead. I picked the widest opening between the row of pine trees on my right and just touched the bars to veer right. The grass was wet from a morning rain and the bike went straight down when thefronttire slid out under me. The bike hit the ground on it's right side, jamming my right ankle between the bike and ground. Unfortunately, my right foot had turned to the leftas thebike and I fell, and the weight of the bike pushed my foot deeply into the ground and rippedthe tendon on the right side of my right ankle, in half.

Due to the wet, loose ground, the bike absorbed relatively little damage, mostly a bent handlebar.

I attribute my accident avoidance to the fact that I horribly abuse a Honda XR650L dirt bike in the woods. I ride mud and loose dirt all the time and am always crossd up in a turn with that heavy bike. I firmly believe that my dirt riding experience allowed me to feather the brakes as the rear end came around on the Harley, and enabled me to straighten her out and stand on the pegs like Steve McQueen in the "Great Escape", and play dirt bike with a Harley FXD.

I have to admit that I considered "laying it down", prior to ramming the car. I then decided that if I did so, in addition to broken bones from hitting the car, I would have severe road rash also, so why not justhit the car with the bike up,and get away with just broken bones? It is amazing the thought processes that went through my head during that extremely quick series of events.

I would like to add that I had the nerve, while slamming on the brakes initially, to swear at the top of mylungs extreme obscenities at the idiot woman driver.

I am alsosuiing the idiot. The woman said that since I did not hit her vehicle withthe bike, she was not responsible for the aftermath!!! I was ready to let the incident go with just a new handlebar and my medical paid. After many terse comments from the woman, her husband, and Insurance Agencyto me and my insurance claims representative, I became so pissed, I hired a good lawyer. Evidently, the husband and Insurance Agency did not realize that the woman driver admitted her fault in causing the accident in the Police Report.

You can see in the pictures the skid mark from the bike, and in the next picture, if you look closely, you can see the trail left by the bikes tires in the grass as I rode the bank.

I was wearing a t-shirt, levi's,leather gloves, ankle length boots, riding glasses, but no helmet.


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I didn't read every response to this but I've never understood the logic in avoiding a wreck by having a wreck. Once a motorcycle is down on its side you have lost all ability to control it.

I hate it when I hear some say they had to lay it down. BS!

 

You ever been in sucha situationyet?

It is easy to say what you have, but life might make the decision more complicated.

Just a thought,

 

BM1000, Ya beat me to the punch.....probably still don't know the difference between sh*t and shinola..JMHO

 

Hell yes I have, have you? You keep on thinking that way an your family will have a place to visit and leave flowers on Fathers Day.

 

U could haveanswered ur own question if u would have read the thread before u opened ur cake-hole.

 

I would also like to add I've had several wrecks in my riding time but the worst was in August of 2002. Riding all stretched out on the highway in the far left lane in of a multi lane highway topping an overpass in rush hour traffic when I hear tires skidding. My first thought was I was about to get hit from the rear. After a quick scan of the rear view mirrors my attention went back to what was in front of me. Unknown to me on the other side of the overpass construction had created a bottle neck and traffic was quickly coming to a complete stop while right lane tried to merge left.

Long story short at 60 mph with a guardrail to the left and cars to my right with my feet out on the highway pegs I hit the front brake. Bad mistake as the next thing I know is both me and my motorcycle are down sliding on the asphalt aimed right at the rear of a stopped Blazer.

I was sure this was the day I would check out of this world. The motorcycle hit first and bounced back into me and cold cocked the hell out of me. I don't know how long I was out but when I opened my eyes I was staring up at the sky and twoguys were looking down at me asking me if I was okay. Yeah I could have jumped up and said, "I had to lay it down", and tried to play all cool like but that was not the case.

I managed to walk away from it that day but by the end of the day, a trip to the emergency room, massive road rash and aa trashed motorcycle (add a ticket on top of that) I'm here to tell you that once that motorcycle is down it's a bad situation made even worse. You may go down, you may have a wreck but at all cost you need to try to bring it to a stop with the rubber down.

Oncea motorcycle goesdown god only knows where it's going to stop or who it will take out, you just gave up all control. What's worse is once you go down with you're motorcycle you are just alongfor the ride.

One important thing I learned that day, never ride in city traffic with you feet on the highwaypegs. Be prepared to stop quickly with both brakes. I heard this when I took the motorcycle safety class but until you run up on a situation like this you will never know what's going to happen. ALWAYS BE PREPARED!

My wreck was bad, cost me dearly and hurt like hell. One thing I never want to see or hear again in my motorcycle on its side sliding across the asphalt.

 

You unfortunately confirmed what we have been saying,

You cannot predict every situation that may occurr,

it is arrogant to say that laying down your bike is BS,

 

Laying the bike down is not BS. I don't think anyone is trying to say that. What is BS is implying that laying it down was a tactical thing done by the rider cause it was the thing to do. That is BS. No one teaches "laying it down" as a way to avoid an accident. Do bikes get layed down, for sure, but call it like it is, a wreck or part of a wreck. Stuff your pride in your pocket after you have had to lay a bike down and figure out what it might have taken to keep the shinny side up and the rubber down. The phrase "Laying a bike down" is almost as bad as the term "Accidental discharge of a fire arm". You shouldn't be laying it down on purpose, just like you shouldn't be discharging your weapon on accident.