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Post by aa8vl on May 10, 2007 1:32:58 GMT -5
Thought we all can learn from History. So post your mishaps so us noobs dont end up on some cagers bug deflector.
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Post by aa8vl on May 10, 2007 1:39:55 GMT -5
Well found out the hard way the dangers of riding a motorcycle today.
Cruising in town at dark while I was driving 35mph a a car was stopped at an intersection while I had no stop sign. I was only a few feet from the intersection and the car just jumped out right at me!!! What the #$%@.
It was rather amazing that this car that made a complete stop, did not see me just seconds away from a potential impact decided to lurch right out in front of me. I am not kidding when I said I was only a few feet from the intersection where I had the right away.
I've thought about this situation for about the past 6 hours now...and decided there was nothing I could have done to avoid an impact. No time to swerve, brake or anything.
By Gods grace I am still here talking about this. After the car turned in my lane from the 4 way intersection...they immediately seen me and swerved their car hard into oncoming traffic in the other lane. Lucky they did or else they would have a life on their hands.
I have only 250 miles on my scoot and one near accident that I really don't know how I made it through...and 2 vehicles at an intersection jump partially out into my right away before seeing me. All of the incidences were in town.
When riding I always make sure I ride in the part of the lane where I can be seen easiest and as much as possible scan up the road for hazards.
Will I keep riding my scoot = YES. Do I think I'm going to be as excited to ride it anymore = NO. This was an eye opener for me.
Sorry for the scoot BUZZ kill...but all accidents cant be avoided...and if your on a motorcycle we all know the risks...or at least I do now!
PS: I will always remember what the rear bumper of a silver Pontiac Sunfire looks like.
PSS: Afterthought (250 miles since near miss) = If I would have flashed my lights or honked my horn approaching the intersection I could have prevented this. I am now not afraid to honk or flash anyone. After you have honked your horn at 100 people or so...it becomes easier to do so in the future (becomes a habit). I may seem like an arse to the cagers honking / flashing at them...but they know that I'm there and I feel safer. Also slow down at every intersection and look both ways...even if you have the right away. You have to have the attitude that EVERY EVERY EVERY EVERY EVERY EVERY EVERY EVERY EVERY EVERY EVERY EVERY cager is out to pull in front of you. My wife and I took a road trip in our car this past weekend and she commented on why I was looking around all the time = I carry the skills from riding a bike and it is habit now.
Moral of the story is: Honk and Flash often
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Post by aa8vl on May 10, 2007 1:47:22 GMT -5
My neighbor killed himself on his bike about 7 years ago. Cyclist was an experienced rider of over 20 years. He had been drinking and came up to a stop sign at 60mph and tried to stop and skid the bike into a telephone pole head first. Killed instantly.
Moral of the story is: Drink while riding if you want to OWN yourself!
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Post by aa8vl on May 10, 2007 2:00:33 GMT -5
Another one of my friends had a cager pull out in front of him doing 35 MPH when he was a new rider. He accidentally forgot to turn off his turn signal and a car pulled out in front of him.
He flipped over the handlebars...over the car and broke a couple of ribs with some road rash.
My friend told me forgetting to turn your turn signals off is one of the most frequent things us noobs can get in an accident from.
He always tells me that if you are going to use turn signals to make sure you turn them off after the turn. If you forget you need to mentally remind yourself every time that you could have killed yourself.
My friend doesn't use turn signals anymore. He uses hand signals cause he feels that drivers see it easier and you wont forget to turn them off...lol. He also told me that a lot of the older experienced riders only use hand signals as well. After paying attention on the road I noticed a lot of Harley guys using hand signals only...even when their bikes are equipped.
My friend said he was lucky that it was a car that pulled in front of him. If it was a SUV or van the quick impact would have probably killed him...instead of just flying over the car.
Moral of the story is: REMEMBER TO TURN YOUR TURN SIGNALS OFF AFTER THE TURN.
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Post by johnml on May 10, 2007 10:32:02 GMT -5
My Vento Phantom beeps when the turn signals are on, at first I thought it was annoying but after reading that post i guess its good.
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Post by demon on May 10, 2007 20:19:43 GMT -5
aa8vl
Unfortunately, strada signal make no noise... there are buzzers you can add though..
I ride with my brights on all the time, crappy 18/18 bulbs. Brights project farther ahead and may catch the attention of cagers... also, when ever i approach an intersection like your situation i ALWAYS expect some idiot not to see me.. i usually move my left had to the rear brake (im used to driving clutch bikes) and prepare to have to slow or panic stop. If there is a car waiting there i judge whether i need to decelerate and hold both hands over the brakes to lessen my response time.
Truth is you NEVER know when some one will do something stupid and the best advise is to expect someone to not see you, always have an escape route, an easy exit from a possibly bad situation... scoots and bikes have a smaller profile then cars and can easily be over looked on the road
I also feel in you incident there you are right, you really had no options but to squeeze the life out of you brake and pray... I am glad you made it through unscathed
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Post by demon on May 15, 2007 21:35:29 GMT -5
i did something dumb... total noob move... I was cruising down the road at about 50mph on a 2 lane road, i had 2 cars infront of me , 1 in the left lane, 1 in the right lane in front of me. As we approached the light the car in the left moved to the left turn lane, and the car in front of me moved to the right turn lane.... As i approached the intersection the light turned yellow... since i was already near top speed accelerating to beat the light was not an option (nor smart) so i breaked heavily. the intersection was not one you'd want to pass though on a yellow or worse RED... its a 3 lane secondary road w/ a 60MPH limit!!! So, i am heavy on the breaks squeezing hard and steady gradually incresing pressure as i am trying to stop before the crosswalk when for some stupid reason i migrate to the center of the lane....... Just as i am about down to 5 MPH or so the front wheel locks (so much for ABS.. lies!!)... Luckily, the bike was slow enough that a foot on the ground was enough to keep from landing the bike on its side.. After i stopped and rolled it back a few feet i was looking at the gound and the tar was just saturated with residual oil from cars that had stopped at that light... it was pretty scarry how you can go from full contol to no control in the blink of an eye. What saved me from incident was i instinctively released the front brake, put the foot down and then reapplied in at 1/2 the pressure i had when it locked... needless to say i stopped just a few feet into the cross walk, no big deal... but a scary situation now i am not an expert rider on the street, i rode a lot off road, but stopping in the middle of the lane was such a dumb place to brake hard... and i know this.. just not sure why i did that... i know better..
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Post by Dennis D on May 15, 2007 21:56:39 GMT -5
Good reminder! I sometimes find myself riding in the middle of my lane when I have to be on a multi-lane road and have cars on both sides... when I'm not near intersections where the cars lay brake for, I forget to move over to one side or another to avoid the oil slicks at the intersection. Gotta stop doing that! I possibly could be picking up enough oil to affect braking somewhere down the road. And I've heard of people just plain losing it because what they rode through ended up being more than the typical intersection oil slick. I don't want to find out the hard way! We all do things sometimes, even though we know better. We just need to keep reminding ourselves... and each other!
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Post by Aaron on May 15, 2007 22:06:08 GMT -5
Ok this is a repost from way back but it's a funny and relavant story at my expense. I was a sophomore at Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire. Since I was paying for college myself I was working 2 work study jobs security and maintenace. I was also a resident assistant for one of the dorms which got me free room and board. I was on duty one Sat. night and a call came over the radio "10-13 RA needs assistance Lincoln Hall" all other RA's have to respond usually a fight or something. Lincoln hall was all the way across campus. So to respond in a timely manner I jumped on the bike...my first bike(1980 Yamaha 650 Special)....2 months riding...and sped off to be the hero! Now I'm holding the radio in my right hand, no helmet, shorts on. I speed across campus, though the central courtyard, down the paved walkway and aproaching my destination.......onto the wet grass I'm going about 25mph at this point and go to stop. Mind you now I have the radio in my right hand and this has been fine for twisting the throttle but I soon found that it really sucked for using the front brake. I think the bike actually accelerated when I applied the rear brake. Now the dormitory, completely frozen in fear, totally failed to get out of the way. (Mr. Dinsmore do you know how much damage this dormitory will suffer if I was to allow you to roll staight into it?...."No how much?"....None at all.) I on the other hand failed to stop as readily as the the bike. I actually caved in the top of the gas tank with my family jewels, carved not one but three 4 inch gashes in my naked leg. Drove a tooth through my lip, broke my glasses, and got a 2nd degree burn on my arm when the bike finally decided the best course of action was to land on me out of vengence for the suffering I had caused it. Testicular dent in the tank, forks bent back to the frame, bent handle bars, broken headlight and mirror. At this point I become irrelavant to the story because I am just a little unconsious. Just as well since the entire rest of the school was there to see it. It is still talked about today. And oh yeah the fight had stopped before I got there. I did however beat everyone else to the scene of the accident. I have since improved. That bike served me well for 8000 more miles till I upgraded. Learn from my mistakes people, I'll make more. Aaron
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Post by demon on May 15, 2007 22:25:06 GMT -5
Aron, that was nothing short of comical.. i got tears in my eyes thinking about the visual..I am glad we can laugh about it taday as i am sure on that faithful day there was noting funny about it...
I have done some dumb things myself and when you look back there is always that lingering unanswed question.......... "WTF was i thinking??"
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Post by Charlie on May 15, 2007 22:32:05 GMT -5
As long as we are confessing. I have had two major accidents. One I decline to discuss. The other was stupidity out of control. Back in the day I had a Honda CB160. It was my baby. I polished the engine with aluminum polish to a bright sheen, I repainted all of the paintable pieces to "Candy Green Apple with Gold flecks", anything that could be chromed was chrome including the frame.
I spent close to $2500 bucks on this bike in 1966..a lot of money back then, and a lot of hours working in the local carwash to pay for it.
So, the week my bike was completed I took it to the local "Steak and Shake" to an early version of bike night. I met a few friends and we agreed to take out bikes to the local Catholic church and do "jumps" off a particularly steep paved terrace on the parking lot there.
The idea was that we were gonna measure the longest jump. The problem with the entire idea was that the steepest point of the "ramp" was immediately adjacent to the Priests quarters and specifically a 100' from their garage.
So, the fun began. We each in turn took jumps while we had someone walk off the steps to the landing points. Well, I am kind of competitive so ...I was not going to be outdone.
I took my trusty 160 as far back as the fence allowed and popped a wheely and off I went. Well as the terrace started getting closer I realized ...Hey..I might be going too fast to stop before the garage....well...you guessed it..I WAS!
The next thing I remember was a loud crash, burning pain and landing on the roof of the parish van..with parts of a wooden garage door surrounding me, the bike imbedded into the back of the van, a wooden spike 3" in diameter about two feet long in my left shoulder. By this time my "buddies" were no where to be found but the priests were there (go figure). The first person I saw was the Monsigner. Before he asked how I was he called was my Dad. A bad evening all in all. The bike was totaled. And I had to wear a hard cast on my shoulder for 4 months...Dumb...just stupid...but hey..I won the jumping contest.
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Post by airnerd on May 15, 2007 22:49:22 GMT -5
I tried to go up a few stairs inbetween some doors and busted down my lanlords door!
the third day i got my scoot.
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Post by Dennis D on May 16, 2007 7:05:34 GMT -5
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Post by airnerd on May 16, 2007 8:31:47 GMT -5
OMG LMAO...thanks man....cant stop chuclin LOLOLOLOLOOLOOLOLOLOL
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Post by pdaddy on May 31, 2007 14:42:36 GMT -5
well when i was in my crazy "moped age" i did a nice off roader Im still here so you know i didnt get to brused up, burnt my legg, bleeding knees and disslocated pinky and ring finger *LOL* Here go's I was out terrorizing with the boys, we were a gang of 6 mopedists out on the dayly/weekend drive about. One of the roads we rode on had freshly made tarmac and one huge diffrence between asfalt and ground (like 15cm). I was riding at the edge on the side of the road when i came to close, but i couldent turn or do anything, i was like hypnotized (that sh!t happens, you might feelt this to). I couldent move just leen over or stuff like that, so it finally made me go offroad down the didge hitting a log and making some nice ninja summersolts befor landing a couple of meters downrange. So lesson learnd, dont drive to close to a straight curb or obsticle on the side of the road, you might fock up and crash M
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Post by earlwb on Jun 7, 2007 10:58:32 GMT -5
Well my near misses so far have been inattentive or just plain obnoxious drivers. One driver refused to yeild the right of way at a four way stop intersection. I almost hit him, but I was still going slow enough to be able to stop in time. Yesterday on my ride home, a really old guy in a big huge Chevy Tahoe simply pulled right on out in front of me, he didn't even look or slow down or anything. Just pulled out into oncoming traffic from a parking lot onto the road. I saw it coming in time enough to prepare before he entered the roadway. yesterday as well, i had someone in a big Lexus SUV pass me in a no passing zone when all he had to do was wait 1 or 2 more seconds until we got to the double lane divided highway section. He had to pass me and cut me off in order to avoid hitting the island dividing the road there.
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Post by scooterlizard on Jun 23, 2007 17:34:35 GMT -5
Watch out for pedestrians, they don't look both ways when they cross either. Just about put two in my lap on the beach today. Was able swerve and not go down in the process. The tourist population is blind to anything that has two wheels and a motor. Vacationers are in another world, so when driving in tourist areas, put your radar to the max. Look ahead down the road, anticipate vehicle movement(watch the tires, that moves first)because most of the time the driver is looking elsewhere. Same goes for pedestrians. just another thought for the noobs.
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Post by surfborg on Jul 4, 2007 11:44:00 GMT -5
I had my first close call yesterday morning. It really wasn't that close, but it would have been if I hadn't been paying attention. There is an intersection that I drive that had 2 left turn lanes. The problem stems from the east bound on ramp for I-74 is right after you complete the left turn. I was in the right most of the 2 turn lanes because I had a right turn to make just after crossing over I-74. There were several cars in the left most left turn lane. Normally these vehicles are heading for the west bound on ramp for I-74 and thus making a left turn shortly after the intersection. Unfortunately for me the second car in line to my left wanted to make that right turn to go eastbound I-74. He didn't seem to mind that I was between him and the exit lane. I was able to slow down in the midst of the left turn so he crossed in front of me instead of in TO me. I blared my horn and waved at him shouting "Hello!! Don't worry about the guy on the cycle or any of the other vehicles with the left turn signals on!" He smiled and waved back just before his light changed and he moved on down the on ramp. GRRRRRRRRR!
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Post by sk8rman412005 on Sept 5, 2007 19:43:38 GMT -5
OK heres my 4 cents one for each time =X
First, this was back in the day of my 50CC Geely and it was only 2 DAYS old and i was minding my business going down a road to pick up lunch for everyone when i put turn signals on and turned into the parking lot, and what i thought was a little bit of water was a lake of grease from pizza hut, well long story short....CRASH. I layed it down got nice scars from it and threatened to sue, got LOTSA free pizza. End of story.
Story two. Same beat up 50CC but several months later coming home from college light just turned green up ahead so im crusin 35 or so when some dumb Beeyotch ran the red light cut me off and my wheels locked and i went down from 35. This time i was in jeans boots leather jacket and full helmet, so no personal scars but the bike was even worse. SO i get up to the car that cut me off got their plate and got off my scoot told them they ran the light made me lay my bike down and everything and this spanish guy laughs splashed me with his soda and drove off. I WAS FURIOUS cops got him and he got a nice BIG fine and pts on his license. Karma sucks lol.
Third offence...my only fault was not putting my 150CC on its center stand and i work at walmart so these kids were screwing with it, acording to fellow assoicates and knocked the bike over, minor body wounds and a couple broken plastic clips no biggie, but the bike was only 2 months new so that was depressing
4th just plain stupidity I was trying to back my bike out of my apartment patio and backed it into grass, well it started and i turned to go, gased it and I turned it, bike slid around 180 in the grass and i was thrown off about 10 ft. Lucky nobody was there to see it but it was embarasing for me to lose control like that.
Moral of this post: always be careful of your surroundings. Wear protection too!
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Post by slowscootin07 on Sept 13, 2007 15:26:28 GMT -5
There once was this guy called "Jeff." Now this Jeff guy did this all the time on his daily commute in Chicago. Every day he woke up, started his trusty 1983 Honda Aero 50 with over 45K named, "Bitch.", dodged the evil garbage trucks, swerved around the empty pits of death called potholes around here, jumped off and hit the crosswalk buttons to change many lights, hit a local newsstand to get a paper and a "dew", and proceeded along his merry way. Sounds normal right? Here's where it all goes wrong.
One day at the newsstand, B....h decided to throttle up, kick off the stand and proceed to go across the street and plow into a garbage can at probably 10-20mph. It was barely missed by several cars and luckily no one was hurt. BTW ask the City of Chicago how much one of their garbage cans costs. I'll tell you, 500.00, a ticket for leaving an unattended motor vehicle running and a mandated remidial course, not to mention an insurance hike. OOPS. I'm just glad that no one was hurt. Scooters can be replaced, people can't.
B....h was never the same after and would shake at 35+. It died not even 3000k later with a thrown rod.
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Post by demon on Nov 29, 2007 22:19:51 GMT -5
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Post by "Big Guy" on Dec 9, 2007 18:13:05 GMT -5
Well guys and gals, today I had great day on about a 75 mile run around New Orleans with a local scooter club... On my back, I was going through town very slow, 35mph or so, when I came to an intersection where the oncoming traffic had the stop sign. The cars both left and right were coming to a stop, when the one on the right decided to floor it. I guess she thought I had a stop sign too. Well, I had 2 choices, either hit her, or let the scoot go and let it hit her, I chose the latter, so I braked, skidded, found I wouldn't stop in time and laid it down... so much for the ABS. Funny, it stopped almost immediately once down and missed her by about 4". She took off as fast as possible... Here is the damage: And the scooter: Amazing that the scooter really suffered no damage at all. The center stand sticks out so far, it protected the scoot. I think I may have a torn muscle in my shoulder, but other than that, I was really lucky. If I hadn't had 30 years of riding experience, I might not be here right now telling the story. Braking alone would have resulted in a t-bone crash, so I'm glad I have experience laying a bike down. Oh well, until this muscle heals in my shoulder, I guess the scoot's laid up again... grr.
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Post by kitcarguy on Dec 10, 2007 8:56:28 GMT -5
I had a near miss Sunday. I was traveling down Kirkman Road in Orlando (for those who know it) I was in the left lane and a city bus was in the right . I was right at the drivers window, and he even looked right at me as he proceeded to get into my lane, with me still next to him. Then all of the sudden he had a brain fart and realized I was still there and quickly got back in his lane. What did I do? Well pretty simple. I let him get in front of me and followed him until he made his next stop then got right in front of his buss with my scooter, put the kickstand down, got off and proceeded to tell him he was a jackass and should have his CDL revoked. Then went along my scootin merry way.
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Post by Dennis D on Dec 10, 2007 15:11:08 GMT -5
Rich, you're not the first to find out that isn't real ABS on the chinese scoots. Sorry to hear about your accident, but very glad it wasn't worse. Hope you mend quickly.
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Post by KsBPztWUQKV on Dec 11, 2007 1:17:12 GMT -5
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Post by KLrkQ2lXUjk on Dec 11, 2007 1:17:45 GMT -5
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Post by KfkF2mKRzhQ on Dec 11, 2007 1:18:13 GMT -5
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Post by sunshinecma on Dec 11, 2007 1:29:26 GMT -5
we have spam die you pig scum.
as for near misses every day i work at a truck stop at the on/off ramp of I 65
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Post by "Big Guy" on Dec 11, 2007 7:53:18 GMT -5
Hi Dennis,
Yeah, I've locked them up before and sort of expect it, but I wonder what ABS stands for... Asian B**l S**t?
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Post by wildbill84 on Dec 12, 2007 5:55:04 GMT -5
Hey Rich, that's pretty F'd up the that SOB pulled out in front of you. I wish you a speedy recovery. btw Did you get a liscense plate #? My near/miss 2 days ago I was going over an interstate overpass and was going downhill in the Right lane and the car in front of me was going slow so i got in the left lane about 15' or so behind a new tall toyota truck, the light at the foot of the overpass turned yellow then red and the truck had little problem slowing but I had to hit the brakes very hard. I ended up stopping less than 5 feet from his bumper, the whole time I kept hearing the tires almost about to lock up. Lesson to be Learned- Don't try to pass another vehicle on the downside of any overpass, When traveling over an overpass maintain a safe distance between U and the vehicle in front of you, especially if it's a tall moving truck or BUS (they obstruct your view of the traffic signal) Be Safe Ya'll and keep scootin' -wildbill
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