LOL. Thank you - Thank you. It's obvious you and the rest of us have a different opinion on what beauty is !!!!!!!!

 

It doesn't hurt to remind. Heathy paranoia.

 

Never rearended a cage but in 67, I tried to slide under one from the t-bone position.Too late to go anywhere but down off the back brake. (We didn't use the front brake much back then). No hospital for me. My scooter ate it tho.

 

Yea, and I guess there was something I could have done to avoid hitting the semi truck drive shaft that fell off the truck somewhere way in front of me, on a dark stretch of I-5 (no highway lights), going 70 mph, that I never saw, eventhough I was looking at straight ahead, wide awake. etc... NOT! The only way to avoid certain "accidents" is just to not ride at all. Yes, I could have avoided it by not riding at 6:15 pm in the evening, in the winter, on that trip.... I'll take my chances.

 

How you drive your truck and how you ride your bike should not be the same, if you want to live that is. When stopping at a light on your bike, you should always have an escape route planned and have your bike in gear. In your example, there was probably not enough room with your truck, but you probably could have moved your bike in front of one of the cars on either side and not so far out you got in the way of the semi. If not, you made a mistake by pulling up between those cars to begin with. Not a legal mistake of course, but a defensive driving mistake.

Can we anticipate every possible scenario, not likely. But we can forsee some of them and thus enhance our chances of living to ride again. The point of the original statement was not who is at fault in a legal sense, but rather are you doing everything you can to prevent the accident to start with. His viewpoint is that in the majority of motorcycle acidents, the rider has options he/she can choose from at that time, or just previously, that could have prevented the accident.

For example somebody changing lanes into you (as mentioned in an earlier post):

Are you riding in the cage's blind spot?
Did you notice the common waggle prior to the lane change?
Did you forsee the cage approaching a slower car and anticipate they would change lanes?
If riding next to the cage, did you leave yourself an out if they do change lanes?
What is taffic like behind you in case you need to use full brakes?
Is the cage driver distracted? (Cell phone, eating, appears to have been drinking,etc)

I"m not saying you don't practice all the various defensive driving procedures, I think most of us do even if subconsciously. But we can all do it better and be more aware. Your skills may be a little rusty if you haven't been riding over the winter.

Depending on your evaluation of all these things plus some others, you should be able to avoid most accidents. If they change lanes into you it is thier fault, but that doesn't help much when your sliding down a freeway on your back. It just means they have to pay damages, if you live that is.

 

Motorcycle safety classes in Europe are telling students this: If a T-bone is inevitable (and yes, some are!), stand up on the pegs, so that when you hit, you will be thrown up and over the cage, which is far better than crashing into it.

Interesting concept. One I hope to never have to try out.

 

It's like this.

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

Or

Whatcha gonna do about who's fault it is when you are laying under the tires.

Watch your six 'cause ain't no one watching it for you (hot girls excluded)

 

Wow, there are some people here who really need to get a reality check and a book or two on DEFENSIVE MOTORCYCLE SKILLS. I've worked many motorcycle crashes and I can't think of any that couldn't have been avoided if a motorcyclist practiced defensive riding and actually LOOKED OUT FOR THE CAGERS the same way we EXPECT them to look out for us! Of course, that's based on the crashes where the rider actually LIVED and I was able to talk to him afterwards. It doesn't matter if the accident could have been avoided for the rest of my patients, they don't get the chance to argue who was at fault.

PLEASE REMEMBER PEOPLE: THE CAGE ALWAYS WINS

---Chris

 

I will add to that, utilize good threshold combination braking to scrub of as much speed as possible. Brake right up to impact. The slower you are going when you hit, the less amount of impact energy there is. I'd rather get his by a 30mph pitch, than a 60mph pitch.