380-101S Mercedes Airborne! hit-n-run

[etxxz]

Of all the days where i ride slow and casual this had to happen.

Traveling east on 380 around 12:45pm today(8/19), 600+yards into the 101 South divider / exit when all of a sudden a white Mercedes sedan literally jumps the median at 37.633619, -122.408285 (+/-) which first goes up and then down, drives down the 5-6" step / curb, nearly t-bones the car ahead of me. We're both on the brakes as hard as we could. He's a good 60-80ft ahead of me but still, at the very end i am on his trunk and rolling over his rear glass. I shove myself out to the side onto-the ground.

OK i crashed. Next thing i hear is the Mercedes running for it, possibly modified or AMG from the sound of the engine at WOT.. He didn't hit anyone though.. I thought i was totally fine so I'm dialing 911 as i'm getting up from the ground.

Oddly enough there was an ambulance like 4 cars behind all this that saw everything. They light up and blocked traffic by the time i had stood up. They were very nice and told the whole story to CHP when they showed up to take our info/insurance/statements.

IF ANYONE HERE SAW ANYTHING OR HAS ANY INFO ON THE MERCEDES PLEEEEEASE LET ME KNOW.

More Crash Details
So this Mercedes, a newer baby blue porsche and a grey SUV were probably street racing because i noticed them driving erratically together so i just got as far away from them as possible. They all seemed to be going 101 North too.

Porsche probably newer 911, possible turbo. Baby blue, no tints.
Mercedes probably 2012 ish C-Class, possible AMG, tins, good stance, tints.
SUV 2010 ish Dark Brown / Gray Nissan Pathfinder. Very dark tints.

Car i rolled onto was a 2007 ish 2dr Civic, black. Thank you guys for being so nice. Police did not let me talk to them. The time before they arrived i was being checked by the EMT's.

I'm on a 2008 R6 that i would run A-group on, in that current state, tires and all.

Aja so CHP arrives. Like 15min later a 90s Civic hatchback, guy who also rides motorcycles, stops at the scene saying he'd chased down the white mercedes, but couldn't get any plates because he didn't have any!! At this point i'm like wtf, great! (thinking insurance) Thanked the guy. 911 had told him not to pursue further, i can understand why. Apparently he got off around Milbrae exit and i'm sure he hid.

So, Crash Analysis.
Maybe 60-65mph at the moment of surprise. Traffic was maybe 10mph slower. Rate approach was slow. My reaction was !BRAKE! I run A-ground at the track. Ride dirt. MTB. I'm pretty comfortable on 2-wheels. I got on that front brake HARD. Speed at impact was probably 5-10mph - ultimately i believe that's the reason i'm without injury. I thought somehow to stay in my lane and hit the car dead-on was better than running into the mercedes if i'd swerved (i was right, that merc did ended up in the right most lane after crossing from the right most lane on the Northbound lane! There were a few cars on my left too.

I do not feel i was following closely by any means, or approaching slower traffic at a high rate of speed.. slowly but surely approaching. Heck i wasn't even lane splitting. I'd just come from a nice lunch with my wife. I was full and lazy to ride like i usually do. Bam. What a desert i'd gotten.

Bike is in my garage, if the forks check out then all she'll need are new plastics. F.Tire and rim are totally fine. My wrist is a bit sore and so is my left heel. Also my NUTS f* hurt from riding up the tank at impact. My wife, who is about to give birth, is less than thrilled... atleast i did my job already :rofl

ATGATT. Not a scratch on me.

I'm actually hoping more for info on evil canival. I hope he wrecked the bottom of his car -.- wrong place at the wrong time...

 

[Sea Gull]

Wow!

What an afternoon! :wow You are a far better rider than I, can't think of anything done wrong, all your decisions seem to be spot on to eliminate or reduce impact forces and injury. Glad you made it through unscathed! Hope your bike checks out okay, and that they somehow catch the driver.

 

[danate]

Glad you're alright. I work in San Mateo County and heard that whole ordeal going down on the radio. According to that ambulance crew, you went airborne and did a bit of a cartwheel onto the car.

All I can say is that is a nasty intersection. Anytime I am in an area with multiple merges and on-ramps, I make sure I pay extra attention to my surroundings and am prepared for anything.

Sounds like you may have been a little too relaxed and let your situational awareness slip a bit. I know it's hard on a sportbike to know what's behind you (hence why I ride an upright tourer), but if you see craziness happening in your rearview, then you will be prepared for the possibility of it coming after you.

From how you describe, I don't feel like there was much else you could have done after the situation was already unfolding. I'd prefer to go into the car in front of me at a known lower speed then to take my chances rapidly swerving into a lane that could potentially have a car or truck coming at 80mph.

Like so many things in motorcycling, this comes down to vision and awareness. Sounds like your skills are well kept, but that won't save you from the wrong situation.

I've had two recent car accidents unfold in front of me recently, both while I was taking it easy. One was a driver who fell asleep and swerved across the entire freeway, crashing into the median about 100 yards in front of me and another was a road rager trying to rip around several cars on the right, one of which tried to make a lane change right in front of him and collided. Both times I had seen these things unfolding well in advance and was already getting myself to a safe place before it happened.

Oh yeah, last thing. Get a helmet camera! This will not only save your ass if things go to court, but can also be youtube gold.

 

[etxxz]

haha, crazy how you heard all that go down. The EMT's told me i'd gone head over heels. I honestly barely recall the black trunk and them i'm on the floor counting my lucky stars.

Maybe i did let my defense down a bit. I thought i was being "nice" for a change lol. I can see perfectly behind me though, and do check often. Kind of why i have so many details on the three punk cars and made some efforts to be away from all that, but damn that white Mercedes just came at us like a heat seeking missile! Probably a few too many beers at lunch time.

Have the GoPro and have a few mounts on the bike, i stopped using it after getting comfortable commuting 40mi/day in rush hour traffic up and down 101 for 3.5yrs. Should get back into the habit. I see many crazy things. All these hwy exchanges are crazy in general. 380 is probably the most mellow of all the other ones around too :x


thanks for the thoughts Fer and Sea Gull :thumbup



(not actual footage)

 

[clutchslip]

I am trying to get what you are looking for here. You have indicated that you are some expert on the track, doing like 1:52s at THill or something. There is a lot about a Merc, (which is a Mercury. A Benz is a Mercedes.). And obviously there were a lot of shenanigans going on around you.

All I can say is always look for escape routes. I have a hard time agreeing with your assessment that hitting the back of a car was your best option. We have covered this before in this section. Brakes are not always your best choice, especially when you have the small size and maneuverability of a sportbike.

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

I am trying to get what you are looking for here. You have indicated that you are some expert on the track, doing like 1:52s at THill or something. There is a lot about a Merc, (which is a Mercury. A Benz is a Mercedes.). And obviously there were a lot of shenanigans going on around you.

All I can say is always look for escape routes. I have a hard time agreeing with your assessment that hitting the back of a car was your best option. We have covered this before in this section. Brakes are not always your best choice, especially when you have the small size and maneuverability of a sportbike.

Haha~.. I guess you didn't get the part about the colliding with a Honda. I barely got that part too.

to the OP: so you were "being nice after a big lunch". What would you do differently next time, for situational awareness? I am wondering..

to the OP too: that's a crazy story indeed.
Basically I could only digest that as if 3 vehicles were running fast going towards 101N to the left side and then the Merc C-class abruptly went to the 101-S split on the right side and you were in it.

 

[etxxz]

differently? maybe a double shot of espresso after lunch to do wheelies at 120mph down the freeway while simultaneously being chased by planes like i usually ride dunno :ride

All I can say is always look for escape routes. I have a hard time agreeing with your assessment that hitting the back of a car was your best option. We have covered this before in this section. Brakes are not always your best choice, especially when you have the small size and maneuverability of a sportbike.

so i think that time i took to evaluate whether to dodge, change or split lanes was what gave the car ahead of me a head start on the brakes at the rate of 90ft per second of indecision. who knows if i could have filtered through or not, but that seemed like the more risky thing to do so i put my money on still being able to out brake that honda. I didn't expect the outcome.

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

I like the idea about the espresso. Definitely might help but of course don't rely on it.

Riding as if chased by planes might help even more. Sucks but that's how it is.

Fixing the braking: how do we fix that? How about following distance? So..do we know now if Honda CBR brakes better (not?) than Honda civic??

 

[clutchslip]

differently? maybe a double shot of espresso after lunch to do wheelies at 120mph down the freeway while simultaneously being chased by planes like i usually ride dunno :ride

so i think that time i took to evaluate whether to dodge, change or split lanes was what gave the car ahead of me a head start on the brakes at the rate of 90ft per second of indecision. who knows if i could have filtered through or not, but that seemed like the more risky thing to do so i put my money on still being able to out brake that honda. I didn't expect the outcome.

I was actually thinking about looking much sooner, so when the Honda started braking, you already had an alternative plan. Let us also remember that a vehicle behind you may not stop as fast as you, either. So, where does that leave you? As the bacon in a moto BLT sandwich. Which is not a nice lunch to be part of.

 

[SFSV650]

Sorry, I'm confused / slow.
The Benz *spectacularly) cut off the Honda and you hit the Honda, nothing touched the Benz?

 

[etxxz]

pretty much...

man i'm reading over my post again, it reminds of duck dodgers describing his plan to get to planet X. Sorry for the puzzle. I was a little worked up that night.

for reference...
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RxwQzIJ4o00/TtKy12-YmrI/AAAAAAAAB3c/XK0GDv_F1qg/s1600/Map+6.jpg

 

[OldFatGuy]

I do not feel i was following closely by any means

Is this still your opinion after rear-ending a Honda Civic because you couldn't stop in time? Do you think a little extra following distance (or quicker decision/reaction) might have helped you avoid the crash?

 

[etxxz]

Is this still your opinion after rear-ending a Honda Civic because you couldn't stop in time? Do you think a little extra following distance (or quicker decision/reaction) might have helped you avoid the crash?

my opinion was never any different than that, more even.. it was a combination of following distance (which was decent), speed differential (i was closing up on traffic, but not fast), and reaction.. time is what affected me the most - that time i took to decide whether to go for the open space to my right or to hit the brakes. I figured that mercedes would end up in the "open space" and take me out, but maybe i could have hit my brakes from the very beginning as back-up plan and then think about the dodging strategy.

also learned them civics can stop on dime just as well. something to keep in mind is what vehicle you're following. I commute so damn much that i've also had a google bus full of people lock up tires right as i was passing them (on a empty lane to the right).. even at the 20-30mi we were going that thing took forever to slow down. Smokey though.

All in all i think it was a tough situation to avoid. Avoided injury at least. I should be finishing up the bike tonight. I'm pretty exited about that. Body work took a month to arrive (knock-off fairings)