sckego
doesn't like crashing
Aw man, another sckego contribution to this forum. Dammit.
This is the first time I've ever been in a crash involving another vehicle (over 14 years of riding). Last street crash of any kind was 6 years ago.
I was riding my Honda CB500f westbound on Penitencia Creek Road, having just left my house for the morning commute. This section of road winds lazily along the creek path, passing a bunch of blind driveways, then an intersection with Noble Ave (a narrow bridge across the creek), then a 3-way stop at Toyon, about 200' past Noble. There are two elementary schools within half a mile, and at just past 8am, this area is crowded with people heading to work or to drop off kids. Not a place to rail through, even on a nice, sunny, dry morning.
I was doing about 30 mph as I rounded the left curve, and I could see several hundred feet ahead, down to the intersection with Noble. There was an oncoming SUV (eastbound on Pen Crk) that had slowed down with their left-turn blinker on. There were a few cars stacked up behind them, and as I got closer, I could see a car on the Noble bridge waiting to turn out as well. I was expecting the SUV to turn onto the bridge, as I was still pretty far away (6+ seconds), but she just stopped there, waiting.
My view as I rounded the corner - the bridge to the right is still obscured by the turn, but oncoming traffic is perfectly visible. The stop sign on the right is for bicycle traffic on the creek trail, not for road traffic.
As I approached, I realized she wasn't going, and assumed that she was waiting for me to pass before turning. I've had many encounters where cars waited to yield to me, even though they lots of time to go. She was just waiting a stop with her blinker on, not creeping forward, no indication at all of any movement.
I was less than 40' away, maybe 1 second from passing through the intersection, when she accelerated through the left turn, directly in front of me. I *think* I was already covering the brake in anticipation of the upcoming stop sign, but I'm not certain. In any case, I instinctually grabbed the front brake lever as hard as I could. There was no gradual squeeze or any attempt at modulation - it was 100% pure reaction panic braking that locked the front wheel instantly. The road was gently bending to the right at this point, and I lowsided to the right immediately.
My skid mark (circled) starts about halfway along the white curbing, maybe 20' from the intersection. White marks are where the bike hit the ground. The further away tire marks are from something else.
I slid/tumbled to a stop in the middle of the road, and my bike slid on it's right side down to her car and bumped her rear wheel. She had come to a stop in the middle of the road as well - I think she saw me partway through the turn and did a panic brake herself. I was still lying there, cursing loudly and making sure all my parts still moved without pain, when she hopped out, came running over, and said those magic words: "OMG, where did you come from? I didn't even see you!" :nchantr
To shorten the rest of the story, I was fine except for some minor bruising on my right leg; bike had a bent handlebar and cosmetic scrapes on plastics and exhaust; gear (Rev-It Commuter pants and Outback jacket) has minor tears on right knee and elbow. Lady was very apologetic and took full responsibility, and cut me a check for repairs, rather than go through insurance.
Analysis...
Man, this is a tough one. When it comes to "what could I have done differently?", the thing that comes to mind immediately is "buy a bike with ABS." It was something like a $500 option when I bought my bike, but I told myself that I'm a very experienced rider, I know what it's like to do threshold braking into a hairpin corner during an AFM race, I've daily commuted for over a decade and have lots of experience emergency braking and swerving when someone pulls in front of me, I can handle whatever comes up. Well, not this time. I had precisely *zero* time to think, only react, and my instinctual reaction put me on the ground. Would ABS have kept me upright? It would have given me a better chance, that's for sure.
Could I have used better judgement? I have a hard time faulting myself there. I was traveling at a perfectly reasonable speed, and she had all the time in the world to see me, and behaved as if she had, right up until the last instant. After all, if she didn't see me, why was she waiting there for 6+ seconds? Still don't know the answer to that one. Could I have gone slower? Sure, and she still could have turned and hit me. Am I really going to slow down to 15mph every time I pass a car waiting to turn? Realistically, no.
Other ways out? Swerving? There were cars to both sides (oncoming traffic waiting behind her, and a stopped car coming out of the bridge). I don't think there was room to go anywhere, even if I had the time to process the situation. MAYBE if I'd gone into a full left-hand swerve I could have cleared both her and the oncoming cars and ended up on the paved runoff to the left... not sure if that would have been correct choice though, as a misjudgment there would have put me into a head-on collision with the oncoming traffic.
Anyways, there you go, have at it...
This is the first time I've ever been in a crash involving another vehicle (over 14 years of riding). Last street crash of any kind was 6 years ago.
I was riding my Honda CB500f westbound on Penitencia Creek Road, having just left my house for the morning commute. This section of road winds lazily along the creek path, passing a bunch of blind driveways, then an intersection with Noble Ave (a narrow bridge across the creek), then a 3-way stop at Toyon, about 200' past Noble. There are two elementary schools within half a mile, and at just past 8am, this area is crowded with people heading to work or to drop off kids. Not a place to rail through, even on a nice, sunny, dry morning.
I was doing about 30 mph as I rounded the left curve, and I could see several hundred feet ahead, down to the intersection with Noble. There was an oncoming SUV (eastbound on Pen Crk) that had slowed down with their left-turn blinker on. There were a few cars stacked up behind them, and as I got closer, I could see a car on the Noble bridge waiting to turn out as well. I was expecting the SUV to turn onto the bridge, as I was still pretty far away (6+ seconds), but she just stopped there, waiting.
My view as I rounded the corner - the bridge to the right is still obscured by the turn, but oncoming traffic is perfectly visible. The stop sign on the right is for bicycle traffic on the creek trail, not for road traffic.
As I approached, I realized she wasn't going, and assumed that she was waiting for me to pass before turning. I've had many encounters where cars waited to yield to me, even though they lots of time to go. She was just waiting a stop with her blinker on, not creeping forward, no indication at all of any movement.
I was less than 40' away, maybe 1 second from passing through the intersection, when she accelerated through the left turn, directly in front of me. I *think* I was already covering the brake in anticipation of the upcoming stop sign, but I'm not certain. In any case, I instinctually grabbed the front brake lever as hard as I could. There was no gradual squeeze or any attempt at modulation - it was 100% pure reaction panic braking that locked the front wheel instantly. The road was gently bending to the right at this point, and I lowsided to the right immediately.
My skid mark (circled) starts about halfway along the white curbing, maybe 20' from the intersection. White marks are where the bike hit the ground. The further away tire marks are from something else.
I slid/tumbled to a stop in the middle of the road, and my bike slid on it's right side down to her car and bumped her rear wheel. She had come to a stop in the middle of the road as well - I think she saw me partway through the turn and did a panic brake herself. I was still lying there, cursing loudly and making sure all my parts still moved without pain, when she hopped out, came running over, and said those magic words: "OMG, where did you come from? I didn't even see you!" :nchantr
To shorten the rest of the story, I was fine except for some minor bruising on my right leg; bike had a bent handlebar and cosmetic scrapes on plastics and exhaust; gear (Rev-It Commuter pants and Outback jacket) has minor tears on right knee and elbow. Lady was very apologetic and took full responsibility, and cut me a check for repairs, rather than go through insurance.
Analysis...
Man, this is a tough one. When it comes to "what could I have done differently?", the thing that comes to mind immediately is "buy a bike with ABS." It was something like a $500 option when I bought my bike, but I told myself that I'm a very experienced rider, I know what it's like to do threshold braking into a hairpin corner during an AFM race, I've daily commuted for over a decade and have lots of experience emergency braking and swerving when someone pulls in front of me, I can handle whatever comes up. Well, not this time. I had precisely *zero* time to think, only react, and my instinctual reaction put me on the ground. Would ABS have kept me upright? It would have given me a better chance, that's for sure.
Could I have used better judgement? I have a hard time faulting myself there. I was traveling at a perfectly reasonable speed, and she had all the time in the world to see me, and behaved as if she had, right up until the last instant. After all, if she didn't see me, why was she waiting there for 6+ seconds? Still don't know the answer to that one. Could I have gone slower? Sure, and she still could have turned and hit me. Am I really going to slow down to 15mph every time I pass a car waiting to turn? Realistically, no.
Other ways out? Swerving? There were cars to both sides (oncoming traffic waiting behind her, and a stopped car coming out of the bridge). I don't think there was room to go anywhere, even if I had the time to process the situation. MAYBE if I'd gone into a full left-hand swerve I could have cleared both her and the oncoming cars and ended up on the paved runoff to the left... not sure if that would have been correct choice though, as a misjudgment there would have put me into a head-on collision with the oncoming traffic.
Anyways, there you go, have at it...
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