New to board

Hello,

I have been riding since I was in my teens. I got my first road bike at 21 years old and rode a motorcycle for a number of years for my Agency. I have been in Law Enforcement for over 28 years. I am married with tow kids and my son and I love riding our ATVs. I was originally drawn to BMWs about 10 years ago and had interest in the GS bikes but never pulled the trigger due to height. On June 30th of this year I purchased my first BMW; a brand new 2018 R1200RT and sold off my Kawasaki. I love this bike more than any other bike I have ever owned. I commuted 130 mile round trip to DC on it several days a week and enjoyed every minute on it.

Friday, August 24th I was heading home from the local BMW dealer after work and I was traveling in the left lane of four lane road with a wide V shaped median, when the car to my immediate right changed lanes into me and bounced me into the median. I kept the bike up but since the median sloped downward my right hard case dug in and I went down. I was traveling at about 50mph in a 55mph zone when struck. I was thrown from the bike and slid and tumbled over 60 feet. upon the completion of my slide I stood up and assessed my condition. I had a sore left hand and wrist and a bruise on my sternum form hitting the gas tank is my guess. I am extremely lucky to have such minor injuries let alone to be alive after suck a violent crash. I attest this to good riding gear. Jacket with protection, Held gloves and my Shoei Neotec II helmet, which I think is done as it took an impact and on the front of the helmet enough to remove the paint from sliding in a small area above my left eye.

My bike sustained impacts to the forks, front right of the bike and the tale end. The widescreen was ripped off, the right faring ripped off along with the rest of the plastic cracked or ripped off on the right side. antifreeze was everywhere and a lot of electric components were hanging out of the right side. Both mirrors were crushed. The left handlebar struck the tank and the plastic on both sides of the tank are popped loose. I don't know if the bike rolled or not because I was busy sliding and thinking "So this is what the MotoGP guy must feel like." I walked to the ambulance and was taken to the hospital and walked into the Hospital and bike towed.

Now I am just waiting on what this insurance company will say on whether the bike is totaled or not. It kills ne because this bike was brand new only just under 3000 miles on it and I had just had Illium BarBacks installed two weeks before, I had installed a front fender extender and a set Wunderlich motor and case guards the previous Saturday. The bike was just the way I wanted it and I was loving it and now who knows.

I will say I believe that the Wunderlich Case guards saved my legs when the bike slid out.

Well that's my introduction along with a bit of whining.

Jay

What a story, glad you're able to tell us about it! Hope they total it for you so you can start fresh. Sounds like a lot of damage.

Good luck & welcome here!

Pat

What Pat said! Best going forward.

PS, what a first post.

Welcome. Sorry to hear about the accident, glad you are ok. There are several members in your area also. Good luck with the insurance folks. Be well.

Terry

Wow -- scary story to start your Forum intro! And I would hardly call it whining. Very happy that you're ok. Bikes often can be fixed but unfortunately if there's damage front and rear and if the bike tumbled end over end the frame may be toast.

I'm curious... was your bike actually struck and did the driver stop to help or just boogie on out of there and leave you tumbling?

And a hello from the DC area.

Welcome to the forum!

I'm glad you're ok, and I'm hoping your bike is fully covered and totalled so you can get a new new bike!

WOW, welcome to the board.

Glad you're still around to join us! Welcome to the board! I hope your insurance company does right by you.

Glad you're still around to join us! Welcome to the board! I hope your insurance company does right by you.

Sure hope, as others have said, that the bike is either totaled or can be repaired to "as new" and that you will soon be back riding. I live in DC and look forward to meeting you.

Wow, the best first post EVER!!!!!! Not a bit of whining involved. Once again you validate the wisdom of protection when riding.

With your description of the damage, I don't know how it could not be totaled.

Glad to have you here as our newest member and looking forward to how it all turns out.

Wow -- scary story to start your Forum intro! And I would hardly call it whining. Very happy that you're ok. Bikes often can be fixed but unfortunately if there's damage front and rear and if the bike tumbled end over end the frame may be toast.

 

I'm curious... was your bike actually struck and did the driver stop to help or just boogie on out of there and leave you tumbling?

 

And a hello from the DC area.

Yes the other driver struck my bike broadside. My bike made contact with her front and rear driver's side doors. She pulled over about 200 years down the road and walked back.

Wow.... ditto to what others have already said. Glad you had minimal injuries. I hate the DC traffic.

Good to hear your OK and hope the insurance stuff works out.

Hi Jay, welcome to the board. I have to take some amusement on your calm nonchalant description of your mishap. So LEO of you! Very glad you came out of the incident mostly OK and my best wishes on getting your ride back on the road or replaced.

Thanks for all the well wishies. I will find out on Wednesday what the insurance company says. If they don't total my bike it will be heading to Morton's BMW for their opinion or repair.

Not having my bike is killing me even though I can't ride right now. So I'm just sitting back and waiting and looking at a big empty spot in my garage.

Isn't is odd that everyone (mostly) sees you on a work bike and no one seems to when not. Glad you survived that shunt and Welcome.

Isn't is odd that everyone (mostly) sees you on a work bike and no one seems to when not. Glad you survived that shunt and Welcome.

I guess because the work bikes have loud pipes. Thanks for the welcome.

Jay

Hi Jay.

Welcome to the board. So glad you're okay. I too live in the DC area and look forward to meeting you perhaps at a rally when you get your bike back/new bike.

It sounds like it was completely the driver's fault and I'm glad to hear she stopped and did the right thing.

Looking back, though, was there anything you would/could have done differently to avoid the collision? For example, were you staying in her blind spot too long? Were you speeding? Where in the lane were you--right, left or middle? Were you distracted? Again, the accident was clearly her fault. I'd just like to learn something from it to avoid the same fate.

Thanks.

Peter

Hi Jay - Sounds like quite a ride! So glad the bike go the worst of it instead of you. Welcome, we'll all be keeping on eye on the thread to see how things work out. As has been mentioned, plenty of folks in your area from the board.

Be Well!

Hi Jay.

Welcome to the board. So glad you're okay. I too live in the DC area and look forward to meeting you perhaps at a rally when you get your bike back/new bike.

It sounds like it was completely the driver's fault and I'm glad to hear she stopped and did the right thing.

Looking back, though, was there anything you would/could have done differently to avoid the collision? For example, were you staying in her blind spot too long? Were you speeding? Where in the lane were you--right, left or middle? Were you distracted? Again, the accident was clearly her fault. I'd just like to learn something from it to avoid the same fate.

Thanks.

Peter

Peter,

I will answer your questions first. I was overtaking the striking vehicle and was not in the blind spot too long. As a general rule, I avoid staying in blind spots as much as possible. I was not speeding, but I was traveling faster then the striking vehicle. I was in the middle of my lane. I was not distracted. As a mater of fact my Sena Bluetooth battery had died on my 1.5 hour commute home because I had forgot to turn it off while I was at work.

I was originally traveling behind the vehicle that struck me. The striking vehicle was traveling west in the right lane. The striking vehicle, according to the police report, was traveling 42mph behind another vehicle. In the left lane was a lifted pickup with large tires. there was over 2 car lengths between the striking vehicle in the right lane and the lifted pickup in the left lane. I put on my directional changed lanes in front of the lifted pickup in the left lane. I accelerated and began to pass the striking vehicle. I was doing between 45mph and 50mph as began to overtake the striking vehicle and I was in the middle of the left lane. As my body reached the seam between the front and rear drivers side doors the striking vehicle began to move into my lane. I never noticed the operator look over her shoulder or look into he side view mirror. Once I noticed the striking vehicle coming into my lane, the way I see it I had 3 choices to make. 1st option, I could apply emergency braking. My concern with this option was, would the lifted pickup truck stop before rear ending me? If I did apply emergency braking would it be enough or would the striking vehicle take out my front end and I go down in the lane on pavement with a vehicle approaching from the rear? I don't think this would have been the wisest choice. 2nd option was I could have opened up the throttle wide open, in hopes of not being next to the striking vehicle as it entered my lane, but would I have gotten far enough a head so as not to get clipped on the rear end by the front end of the striking vehicle and again causing me to go down on the pavement with vehicles behind me. Probably not. My 3rd option was to try to continue accelerating and move as far left in my lane as possible in hopes that the driver of the striking vehicle sees me. It happened so quickly that I never even got to actuate my bike's horn. In retrospect the safest option would have been to continue driving in the right lane at a speed of 13mph under the posted speed limit and not attempt to pass the striking vehicle. this is all hind site. At the moment it was happening you have limited knowledge and can only make decisions based on the perceived information your brain is taking in.

I don't know if I made the best decision, but I do know that if I had went down on asphalt my injuries would have been markedly worse. If I were to find myself in the same situation again what would I do differently? If I did decide to pass, I would stay to the far left of the left lane in hopes to be seen as easily as possible. I would also probably have my thumb on the bike's horn button. Other than that I am not really sure what I could have done differently.

With all the above stated, I certainly encourage anyone with comments, suggestions and or advice to proffer them here as I am always open to constructive criticism and don't have thin skin.

Jay

Isn't is odd that everyone (mostly) sees you on a work bike and no one seems to when not. Glad you survived that shunt and Welcome.

 

I guess because the work bikes have loud pipes. Thanks for the welcome.

 

Jay

First, I'm glad you aren't in worse shape from that get-off. Second, welcome to the best On-line, On-road motorcycling community......period.

As for the work bike, though I am not and never have been an LEO, I understand where you are coming from. One of the bikes I am privileged to have in my stable is this......

First, I'm glad you aren't in worse shape from that get-off. Second, welcome to the best On-line, On-road motorcycling community......period.

 

As for the work bike, though I am not and never have been an LEO, I understand where you are coming from. One of the bikes I am privileged to have in my stable is this......

 

Very nice.

Jay

Sounds like there was nothing you could do. Thanks so much for sharing. In those situations the only thing in our control is the choice to wear proper gear. So glad you did. Look forward to meeting you. If you ever want to meet up and ride in VA/WV, PM me.

Sounds like there was nothing you could do. Thanks so much for sharing. In those situations the only thing in our control is the choice to wear proper gear. So glad you did. Look forward to meeting you. If you ever want to meet up and ride in VA/WV, PM me.

I will.

Jay

For updated information on my wreck see my new post title “Update on my Wreck”.

Jay

...I will answer your questions first. I was overtaking the striking vehicle and was not in the blind spot too long. As a general rule, I avoid staying in blind spots as much as possible. I was not speeding, but I was traveling faster then the striking vehicle. I was in the middle of my lane. I was not distracted. As a mater of fact my Sena Bluetooth battery had died on my 1.5 hour commute home because I had forgot to turn it off while I was at work.

 

I was originally traveling behind the vehicle that struck me. The striking vehicle was traveling west in the right lane. The striking vehicle, according to the police report, was traveling 42mph behind another vehicle. In the left lane was a lifted pickup with large tires. there was over 2 car lengths between the striking vehicle in the right lane and the lifted pickup in the left lane. I put on my directional changed lanes in front of the lifted pickup in the left lane. I accelerated and began to pass the striking vehicle. I was doing between 45mph and 50mph as began to overtake the striking vehicle and I was in the middle of the left lane. As my body reached the seam between the front and rear drivers side doors the striking vehicle began to move into my lane. I never noticed the operator look over her shoulder or look into he side view mirror. Once I noticed the striking vehicle coming into my lane, the way I see it I had 3 choices to make. 1st option, I could apply emergency braking. My concern with this option was, would the lifted pickup truck stop before rear ending me? If I did apply emergency braking would it be enough or would the striking vehicle take out my front end and I go down in the lane on pavement with a vehicle approaching from the rear? I don't think this would have been the wisest choice. 2nd option was I could have opened up the throttle wide open, in hopes of not being next to the striking vehicle as it entered my lane, but would I have gotten far enough a head so as not to get clipped on the rear end by the front end of the striking vehicle and again causing me to go down on the pavement with vehicles behind me. Probably not. My 3rd option was to try to continue accelerating and move as far left in my lane as possible in hopes that the driver of the striking vehicle sees me. It happened so quickly that I never even got to actuate my bike's horn. In retrospect the safest option would have been to continue driving in the right lane at a speed of 13mph under the posted speed limit and not attempt to pass the striking vehicle. this is all hind site. At the moment it was happening you have limited knowledge and can only make decisions based on the perceived information your brain is taking in.

Jay

Hi Jay, awesome you're essentially OK! Thank you for the details on your crash this is my favorite topic to explore and I cherish stories like yours to see what I/we can learn from them.

For traffic-related strategies for survival I try my level best to follow this simple principle: stay as far away from adjacent traffic as possible! This translates into the following practical suggestions:

1. During passes on any kind of road configuration the goal is to reduce risk exposure time by staying in the section of the lane you are passing on that is the farthest away from the vehicle you are passing, and accelerate hard to get past the vehicle so as to reduce exposure time for collision into that vehicle. If you're on a 4 lane divided road, two lanes each direction, and you're about to pass a vehicle in the right lane, move all the way over to just inside the white line defining the left side of the left lane. Accelerate hard to get past that vehicle. We have no idea if that driver is about to have a stroke and suddenly swerve left into us, and if you are all the way left AND only there for a second or so your exposure risk has been reduced as much as possible. If you have a loud horn keep your finger on it, ready to hit it as needed. Any time I'm in a situation anywhere near other traffic the finger is always poised. So for your specific scenario I would likely have moved into the left lane as you did in front of the pickup but once I decided to pass the strike vehicle I would have first moved into the far left side of the left lane before catching up to the strike vehicle, and once committed to passing would have accelerated hard to get by the strike vehicle very quickly. One of our greatest assets to exploit is using the entire roadway as needed to keep spacing maximized. I'm always surprised to see how many bikers stay in the middle of their lane. There is another very important reason to stay in a tire track as it were (i.e., the right or left side of your lane, versus the middle section): you have a chance of avoiding road debris if you can see around the cager in front of you and also the cager may swerve to avoid running into road debris as well, so you'll have a little clue versus being in the middle of your lane, having a cager 3-4 seconds in front of you drive over a piece of spilled firewood other keeping it between his wheels and you don't see it until it's too late.

Here's a great illustration of what happened to one poor biker when he decided to pass on a double yellow line around a nasty bastard who decided to intentionally swerve into him. Had he followed the above advise the guy very likely could not have swerved all the way over to nail him. The rider was just right of the middle section of the oncoming lane. In a nutshell this bring Murphy's Law into play--it becomes possible to swerve into this rider w/ this small clearance to work with, whereas all the way left to just inside the oncoming lane's white line the cager may well have not even been able to see him let alone know when to time his vicious swerve action, if indeed it was intentional:

I guess you'll have to copy/paste this into your browser to see since I don't see how to link a video.

2. Always choose a route that has the least traffic or other risk factors if you have the opportunity. Avoid high risk commute times if that's an issue for you. When I was working I had a 30m commute, and needed to be at work at 8am, but I would start my commute at 6:45 just to avoid the highest traffic density hours where I live and traffic is drastically reduced at that hour versus at 7:30.

3. Always swing WIDE around parked cars in parking lots, alley ingress/egress, etc. If you're passing parked cars on a roadway avoid the middle of you lane once again because you have less time to react if a car door opens, or car suddenly pulls into traffic, etc. Once again the idea is keep maximum distance between you and looming disaster. Obviously if you have traffic coming at you on a 2 lane undivided road you have to decide where in the lane gives you the best chance of crash avoidance, etc. One caution: on the freeway you have to be careful not to unintentionally telegraph to someone you're opening up lane access by moving to an extreme side of your lane, so you have to use good judgement, etc.

4. Think real hard about lane splitting: it is the antithesis of the basic principle of keeping maximum spacing. I'll never lane split per se because of this. You're bringing disaster much closer into play and you'll get away with until you don't.

5. When approaching a stop of any kind in traffic, where possible slow quicker than traffic might expect well before your intended stop point while observing the cager behind you so you can assess if they're adjusting for your slow down and if not you have time to adjust.

Best wishes for a continued recovery. My biggest fear is deer where I live and ride, and I employ various tactics to reduce risk, but in the end, it's something very difficult to work with beyond staying off the roads we love to ride on.

NoelCP,

You have posted all good advice above. I never split lanes. I just don't do it. after 28 years of commuting from Fredericksburg VA to Washington DC, I have seen the unfortunate results of lane splitting. My commute to DC is 1.5 to 3 hours depending on which day of the week it is, what time of the day it is and of course traffic due to sheer volume or construction. I wish there were ways to avoid traffic in my area but it is just a reality I have to live with. My accident occurred on a road with little traffic within a few miles of home, so I probably had let my guard down a little.

Here is an interesting side not on my accident. I have been saying that the accident had happened so quickly that I never had time to hit my horn.Well, I met with my adjuster and I we looked at my bike. The left handle bar was undamaged except for the the fact that the Wonder Wheel was jammed to the right and the turn signal switch was broken off. My assumption was that I was unconsciously reaching for the horn button when I was struck and broke the turn signal switch with my thumb when I was struck. This makes sense since my left thumb is sprained.

Jay

When I passing in that situation a stay close to car until entering the dark zone. Then I side over, usually the middle is far enough because Im not there long. Being on the right side puts me he his mirrors and more importantly gives me a direct shot of the drivers face in the driver mirror. I go with the theory if I'm on the back half of the car I can out maneuver any sane movement. With that said every rule is made to be broken but if I'm the the fast lane thats generally how I do it. I also could care less about the speed limit in traffic . I just want to be in the top 20 percent or so of flow on average and if I'm over that for a few seconds to stay out of blindspots so be it.

That is opposite of noel and thats ok. Really its more about being aware witch is sounds like you where. Sometimes there is more than even the best strategy can compensate for.

After reading some posts.

Just don't sit in "blind spots".

They don't see you even if you aren't in a blind spot.

If there is a blind spot their mirrors are set up wrong.

It is easier to move a mc than a cage, in many, not all circumstances.

But, a cage always has more protection.

Any thoughts about bike positioning should include the physics of massm not just acceleration.

I've been hit and run on a motorcycle, bicycle, and as a pedestrian.

If they want to get you, they can.

There is nothing a mc can do if a car is intent on hitting you.

Wear the right gear, be conspicuous, do your part.

But also set a good example because each cage driver we piss off is one more potential aggressor on the road.