Little mishap in Dublin

[geoff2k]

Took a little spill on the way home from work the other day, thought I'd post.

I'm a recent transplant from the DC area, and I've been in California for about a month, but only last week started to get serious about commuting into SF from Dublin on my DL650.

After a regular day at the office, I made it back to Dublin after work with no troubles, actually a bit ahead of schedule (as I'm acclimatizing quite nicely to lane splitting), but you know that saying that most accidents happen close to home?

A group of us (me + 6-7 cars) were waiting for a green arrow at the left turn into my neighborhood. We get the arrow, and proceed, several cars make it through the intersection ahead of us, but suddenly the minivan in front of me decides to go from 25 MPH to 0 MPH instantly with no warning, to let a jogger go by in front of her (even though he had a big red DO NOT WALK hand). I was committed to the turn at that point, and combo swerved/panic braked to avoid hitting the minivan, lost traction (or maybe stalled), and had the bike land on my leg. I then heard a bunch of people honking, and I initially thought they were honking at me to get out of the way, but they were actually honking at the minivan who either was oblivious to what she had done or wanted to get out of there as fast as possible as she sped away. Good samaritans helped me get the bike out of the intersection and made sure I was OK before heading home.

I had two witnesses (the jogger that the lady was motioning to and the person who was next behind me at the light) willing to give statements, and both agreed that there was no reason for her to stop so suddenly, but were I to report it, I'd probably get cited for following too closely as it is probably not a crime to stop suddenly when you have a green light, and I guess I should be prepared for Dublin drivers to do so at any moment

The bike started and I was able to ride it home, but it will need some parts and TLC:

Right after the crash my lower leg hurt like hell, but the gear did its job and some X-rays confirmed there was no fracture.

I think this is probably just a case of end-of-day fatigue and complacency due to being in familiar surroundings. I should not have been so close to that minivan that I would be unable to swerve around it or come to a stop.

New turn signal's ordered, I've started bending the light bracket back into place, I now just need to find a M6x1x140mm bolt to replace the one in my handlebars that got bent out of shape...

 

[Surj]

...I've been in California for about a month, but only last week started to get serious about commuting into SF from Dublin on my DL650.

...as I'm acclimatizing quite nicely to lane splitting

...to let a jogger go by in front of her (even though he had a big red DO NOT WALK hand). I was committed to the turn at that point, and combo swerved/panic braked to avoid hitting the minivan, lost traction (or maybe stalled), and had the bike land on my leg.

I rarely post in crash analysis, so I'll probably get the format wrong. But I noticed a few things in your post that I wanted to call out as potentially contributory to this incident.

First, you specifically mentioned being new to CA and lane splitting, new as in one month and actually commuting for about a week. That's a very short period. Lots of folks new to lane splitting (hell, even those who've been doing it forever) end up following way too close way too much of the time. So don't let the awesomeness of lane splitting lead you reducing your space cushion too much when you're not splitting.

Second, it's not clear if the jogger was actually in the street or not or if you saw her before the car stopped. If she was, then stopping was the right thing to do, regardless of the status of the walk/don't walk sign. It sucks when peds do this sort of thing, but most drivers—rightfully—don't want to hit them anyway. :teeth Keep an eye out for wayward peds and other things that may cause drivers to stop suddenly or otherwise act in unexpected ways. This is part of the whole 360 degree awareness thing.

Third, sounds like some emergency braking and avoiding practice is in order. There are lots of ways to go about this, but I'm a particularly big fan of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office civilian moto courses for this sort of thing. They're right near you—check 'em out.

 

[Ironbutt]

Think back.. where were you looking when you were rounding the corner? Could you see past the mini van?

Put together the chain of events that lead up to the crash. Only you really know what happened.

Don't blame the other drivers though.. it was all you. You have the HP to weight ratio advantage.

 

[rodr]

Weird, thought I posted in this thread.

Anyway, glad you're OK and +1 on more training. Losing control like that is entirely avoidable.

Check powersportsplus.com and ronayers.com for replacement side covers. And get some crash bars.

 

[Enchanter]

Weird, thought I posted in this thread.

You did, but this is Crash Analysis. Posts that don't have analysis of the crash get removed. While 'get more training' is always a good idea, it's free of specific pointers related to analysis of the crash.

 

[Archimedes]

Aside from where you focus was, what was your speed? When I'm in a turn lane like that, I'm never going fast enough to have any trouble stopping rapidly and safely. Did you accelerate a bit quickly?

 

[geoff2k]

Thanks for all the comments folks!

The bike is road-worthy again (just had it at MotoShop this weekend for a workshop).

I'm giving myself more cushion, def watching my speed at intersections, and am trying to get into one of the ACSO classes.

I've also started scouting around for a parking lot to keep up with my emergency braking/swerving practice -- there was a community college near our house in DC I would practice in, will look for something equivalent out here.

 

[sanjuro]

Sorry to jump in late on this one, but in the Bay Area, drivers are very respectful to pedestrians in the crosswalks.

While I believe it is the law almost everywhere in the US to yield to pedestrians, some places you are taking your life in your own hands if you walk into the street, and most drivers react by not yielding.

Specifically in the Bay Area, I have noticed that in Berkeley, pedestrians will stroll into the road regardless of oncoming traffic or visibility, and drivers better stop on a dime.

So most drivers here will stop for any pedestrian without regard to their own speed or what is behind them. This is not always the case but I am sure you are keeping this in mind.