So he is okay .. this happened 3 weeks ago today. Basically he was going down a road, but one block from his house, when a 17 year old girl coming from the opposite direction decided to turn left and cut across his lane. His bike smacked the rear passenger quarter panel on her Scion tC and he went flying forward over the bike & car onto the road. He was going about 35MPH (30 MPH Speed limit) and broke his right arm in 2 places.

While I've badgered him to get gear as I've shown him road rash pictures, he never was a believer and would take his chances. He did at least get gloves, and of course wears a helmet.

Well .. This bastard is lucky. Only had a T-Shirt on and very thin work pants, he suffered no road rash. His gloves saved his hands as he planted his right hand down on the road as he flew over the bike (Which the force must've broke his arm), and then rolled on the road. Guess the cast is coming off in a week or so and he should be good to go. He was in surgery for 5 hours that night, I didn't get home till 4AM.

Here was his GSXR 600:


It was a piece of crap. Was dropped before, but he didn't care since it was his first bike. Thing needed work, and it didn't last long enough to see any work. lol. Now he's looking at getting a 636 next Spring. Said he doesn't fear getting back on the bike.

 

Thats a lucky man, i know that feeling, no matter what you always want to get back to your bike. From now on, he must use gear ALWAYS...

I hope he's ok...

 

Very luck. I really hope he decides to get gear now. For some reason I hear stories like this a lot. Its almost like they get a free pass for not wearing gear. Like someone is trying to teach them a lesson. Some of those people dont learn their lesson and get hit again without gear and its all over. Please encourage him to get some.

 

Not so much as a free pass. Just not time to get their ticket punched. Or like I say "Someone has to win the lottery eventually. But what about the rest of them that didn't?".

Only problem is that because he escaped a good rashing, he may see it as reinforcement that he doesn't need gear. Make sure he doesn't fall for it

 

Once u get many accident on the road, u get more aggressive to ride..

 

kinda pissed cuz i loved that SRAD. get better soon.

 

I have heard about this situation a few times. Someone turning left in front of the bike. Glad your friend didn't get hurt too bad.

So in this sort of situation, when you know you will not be able to stop in time and swerving wouldn't help, should you hit the car straight on and maybe fly over or try to slide into it going sideways? I'm new at riding and want to know ahead of time the safest and best way if this ever happens.

Thanks!

 

I'm also new to riding on the street (in mx I race in 450 pro class, so I do know how to ride off-road motorycles), and I would like to hear others' input on this question, because it is my biggest fear on the road. First, it is unclear whether swerving might help or not, I think it depends on where the car is at, etc, but my gut instinct is that the correct response is very hard braking. Out of 20+ years racing experience, I always have 1 finger on the clutch and brake, and I think that by using SIPDE, along with proper emergency braking, that at speeds under 40mph one should usually be able to get a sportbike slowed down dramatically in a very short distance. As I see it, (but I'm definitely asking for more experienced views here), I'd prefer to get the bike slowed down to, say, 10 mph and hit the car, rather than hitting it straight on and planning to fly over the top at 40 (arbitrary speed, I know), or swerving and potentially still hitting the car at 40.

I think sliding sideways is a big mistake, because you can stop one of these bikes much faster with the brakes than you can sliding, even if the bike is sliding on the ground. Then you risk both hitting and going underneath the car. So, my gut reaction would be to perform emergency braking (which, of course, assumes that one has acquired this skill, and most noobs have not), and then hit the car at a much lower speed, at which point you might be able to jump/roll over the car as necessary.

Having been in literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of mx crashes, and zero street crashes, I assure you that crashing 'properly' is a skill (i.e.-minimizing injury while the crash is happening), although I definitely think the learning curve on the street is brutally unforgiving.

Further, yesterday I was reading a study done by some students on braking vs swerving, but they only used one rider and one bike (RC51), I will try to find it and post a link. Anyway, it seemed like emergency braking, when executed properly, could be the thing to do in cars-turning-left crashes.

**EDIT:** I cannot make the link work for some reason, but google:

brake vs swerve RC51

and pdf of the study is the first link that comes up.**

Sorry if this is kind of a hijack, and please correct me if my thinking is way off.

 

Always brake n try to ride it out. 'Dumping it to avoid a accident' is a cop out of not knowing how to ride. Which comes back to the practicing in empty parking lots. Practice emergency braking, panic stops, etc. If you travel at 60+ most of the time then practice braking from that speed.

All too many riders blame drivers for turning in front of them, pulling out in front of them, stopping in front of them, etc. But when it gets right down to it YOU the rider is responsible, as a rider you should always expect the unexpected, see a car on a side road, plan on them to pull out in front of you etc.

Ride like everyone/thing else is out to kill you!!!

 

I'm glad he made out ok and will recover! I wonder if that girl was on a phone or something.