MOTORCYCLE RIDERS HAVE ALL HAD CLOSE CALLS
Every motorcycle rider has had close calls. Which of yours were so close that you were in disbelief that a tragedy simply failed to materialize when it should have? (Write your experience below).
The events that have really been on the edge of life and death for me, are some of my most vivid recollections.
Yesterday I was riding home from some meetings in Los Angeles and got cut off on the highway. Of course this happens regularly to motorcycle riders. It’s happened to me so many times over the years that I don’t consider them worthy of comment. (If you ride every day – stuff happens).
Very few of these past experiences have been remarkably close calls – the ones I consider truly life threatening. At least for me, an event that requires a slight swerve, or minor unplanned braking, is typically not close enough to have really been life threatening. These are the kind of incidents where simple alertness prevented the majority of potential mishaps from ever becoming anything more than an inconvenience.
Much rarer still is biting the pavement, which I’ve done a few times, too, resulting in motorcycles crashed beyond repair and various personal (and painful) injuries. Although, in two of my street-riding crashes, they were not a result of someone cutting me off: they were classic rider errors on my part – more than 20 years apart – which were the kinds of experiences I needed to really establish a much greater respect for very defensive, safe-riding practices. (In my view, off-road minor mishaps are another matter altogether and simply part of the adventure).
BUT SOME CLOSE CALLS ARE DIFFERENT
But yesterday afternoon was one of those experiences that was so unique, that I felt inspired to mark the occasion with a few words and to see if others might have similar experiences.
To be as brief as possible, I was riding home on an 8-lane divided highway that has rain grooves, which are common in California. The temperature was mild in the late afternoon. The sky was overcast, so there was no bright sun in anyone’s eyes. Traffic was moving along at 65 mph, which was as fast as anyone could go, since the quantity of vehicles filled all lanes. Hence, I had cars relatively close on my left, right, behind me and in front of me.
The car on my left jumped into my lane so fast that it was only a result of some instinctive reaction that had me jam on the front and rear brakes so hard that I was partially launched out of my seat.
Traffic was moderately congested. The lane I was in was moving a little faster than the lane on my immediate left, and the guy did a sharp swerve into my lane to get in front of the car behind me. Unfortunately, I was in that same spot, and he did not see me. I was instantly aware that I was in his blindspot as he jumped into my lane without recognizing that he was going to sideswipe my motorcycle and turn me into a hood ornament for the car that was just behind me, on my right.
Instinctively, I swerved as far right in my lane as possible, without actually crossing into the next lane, but I could see there was not enough space to avoid getting hit.
Furthermore, as I was mid-launched off my seat with the heavy braking force, and with the right-rear-fender of the encroaching car actually underneath my fairing, while my front tire was tucked within his wheel well, my handlebars started shaking violently as I was simultaneously attempting to mentally plan my personal trajectory in hopes of controlling the ensuing damage right there in the middle of the highway. Amidst everything that was flashing through my mind as supersonic speed, oddly enough, the violent shaking of the handlebars seemed to capture my imagination as the most unusual element in this situation, while I muscled the bars to maintain some semblance of cooperation. But with all that happening instantly, there was no collision. In another split second my braking force allowed the offending vehicle to pull in front of me and I let off the brakes to avoid getting run over by the car behind me and the handlebars returned to their normal steady position. I pulled back into the center of the lane to give myself more space away from the car I was dangerously close to, on my right.
Realize that it takes longer to read these words than it did for this event to unfold from an immediate crisis to a mere “close call.”
SOME CLOSE CALLS ARE REMARKABLE
Part of what was remarkable about the event, for me, was how I was able to manage the moment with acute clarity and control, without any sense of panic. Heck, I’ve gotten more perturbed at folks who cut me off and made me swerve, but knowing that it was simply an inconvenience. In other words, in most cases I’m so confident about what is unfolding that I don’t even recognize a real threat, any emotion is simply a result of being irritated.
In this case I was quite aware that I had just survived something – something impressive – at least to me.
The uniqueness of this close call was such that I was left incredulous that a crash did not happen.
I did not have a sense of annoyance that sometimes might accompany my reaction to something that I was confident would not have turned bad. In this case, I had no such confidence. From my perspective, the crash appeared as a foregone conclusion and the real question was “Would I survive?”
In fact, I felt no frustration. Conversely, I felt a renewed regard for simply being alive. I was not pleased with this guy’s action, but I held no ill will towards him. Don’t get me wrong, my thinking towards such drivers is not always so high-spirited!
RIDING ON THE RAZOR EDGE OF LIFE AND DEATH
The point of all this, is that it appeared to me I was riding on the very razor edge of life and death, and I came away from it more respectful of life and living, rather than harboring an annoyance at the offending driver. That is what marks the occasion, to me, as something notable.
Traffic all around me continued on its way, and I don’t believe the vehicle that nearly toppled me had any awareness of what he just caused.
I just continued as if nothing happened and passed him a few seconds later.
Anytime some potential motorcycle mishap occurs, I mentally take stock of the moment and derive some lesson that often boils down to “What could I do in the future to avoid such a circumstance again?” And usually I come up with a plausible mental note for myself and chalk it up as gaining more rider experience.
In this case, there was not much of anything different I could say I’d do if this were to repeat. Obviously, we all do our best to stay out of the blindspots of other vehicles. However, when a rider is surrounded by this amount of traffic, one is likely to be moving through someone’s blind spot, on the left and/or right, at any time.
LESSONS LEARNED – HOW ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES?
Hence, my takeaway lesson from the experience was the recognition that periodically practicing emergency braking was what saved the day. In other words, the instinctive and instantaneous reaction to this life-threatening situation was a result of some years of preparing for the moment something this close might occur.
In all probability, you are likely to have had a number of close calls, too. But have you had any that were so close that you were in disbelief that a tragedy simply failed to materialize when it should have? Leave your comment below.
100RT BMW in Tellluride, Colorado in October and caught in late snow. I had been riding for about 12 years at the time and about 50 yrs. old.
Ice and motorcycles dont’ mix no matter how slow and up and straight you are. Down I went – no injury. Left bike on mountain pass out of Ridgeway, Co. Snowing stopped and plows cleared the roads. Once out of the snow, I RELAXED MY GUARD and I WAS TIRED. I was making a normal curve in the road (beautiful twisties – Wiley Coyote country) and I found my bike and myself going off the curve onto the gravel shoulder and a huge red rock face to slam into going about 60 mph! Instinct took over not to front brake and I gradually made it back onto the road after my bike was swerving from the gravel on a turn! I finally got back on the road and my heart was pounding out of my chest. I think I overdosed on my lifetime allowance of adrenaline in that 5 seconds! I thanked God for not being seriously hurt slamming into that big red rock going about 55 mph and being alone. It was in a rather desolate part of the country heading west out of Dove Creek, Co.
LESSON: Don’t ride super tired. Pull of the road and sleep anywhere. Don’t get overly relaxed just because you are out of “danger” (snow, in my case). Listen to the fellow on a Honda Silverwing 500 from Las Vegas who advised I get out of the mountain passes because snow was predicted in the new few days. Hind sight is 20/20.
The road I was riding on came to a T intersection, where I was fully stopped, signalling to turn left. As I waited for an opening in traffic, a car coming from my right started to make a left turn, but he was coming fast and cutting the turn short. He was coming straight at me at about 35 mph and I was sitting there watching him. There was no time to move and nowhere I could go anyway. He saw me at the last possible microsecond, swerved and almost lost control. But he missed me (barely) and managed to make the turn. I just sat there pissed off and regaining my composure when I noticed he had turned around and was pulling up behind me. I was pretty steamed, but I have to give him credit for apologizing. It really sucks to be on a Hayabusa and still be in a situation where you can’t move fast enough to get out of harm’s way!!
Talking about crashing and dying and being hurt on this site is a bad idea and no fun. It’s bad Karma and you all should stop. Car drivers don’t do that.
I have had a couple of close calls in the past couple of years involving “distracted” drivers., on cell phones. One was a classic. Three women in the front seat of a pick-up and all three were talking on cell phones.
I was riding on a 2 lane paved road doing the posted speed limit of 55 mph and it had just started raining making for a very slick surface. It was daylight and my lights were on, high beam. There was a restaunt on my left and as I approached I saw the truck pulling toward the driveway. The truck didn’t slow or stop when it got to the road, they just pulled right out in front of me. When I hit the brakes the bike started sliding and I knew I was going to go down under the truck. I let off the brakes and recovered enough to go by them on the right shoulder. I let them pass and they looked at me like I was an idiot, all three had a phone up to their ear. I followed them for about a mile till they stopped at a light and pulled up beside them and forgot I was a gentleman, I think I got their attention.
I am so glad the fereral government has finally started the wheels turning to ban cell phones while driving. I truly beleive they are as dangerous as drunk drivers.
This was my own negligence, I was on my way through Germany, and it had been raining most of the way from Calais . I was soaked and tired I know now it was the start of hyperthermia, I was on a twisty road riding through the mountains and rain clouds , visibility was really bad, I was shivering but must push on. At a curve I went straight on , the quick thinking mercedes driver stopped thank god, and I squeezed between him and the embankment on the wrong side of the road . It realy shook me up, when I found a hotel for the night in the middle of nowhere, it took me a long time to warm up in the shower , I slept in my sleeping bag in the hotel bed . I don’t want that again.
Side stand Down. I like my Suzuki that shuts off the moter when you let out the clutch with the stand down.
I wsas travelling through some twisties leading up to the mountain pass, exellerating to pass a truck with an SUV behind it. When I got close the SUV decides to pass the truck as well, not noticing me behind him. Due to oncoming traffic I could not go right and had to do some emergency braking, pulling to the left of the SUV but right behind the truck. The front wheel of the Busa went beneath the truck before my speed was low enough and the gap between me and the truck increased. This should have been sufficient warning that something bad is on the way. I passed the SUV and urther down the mountain some cars before a right hand turn. I had to exellerate hard in order to pass the all as there was not enough distance between them for me to fit in. I know my speed was too high and applied brakes but there was not much slowing down. Had to really throw the bike into the right hand corner not to go over the barrier and down the side of the mountain.
Lesson learned: Normal brake pipes does not handle heat well and tend to expand thus pushing less breakfluid to the calipers.
Actions taken: Installed waved racing discs and braided brake hoses.
It is twice that I should have gone down within 10 minutes from each other. I will attribute this to my Gardion Angel and not to riding skills.
I am now more aware not to allow the heat to build up to much and rather slow down if I have to hard breaking often.
This was of course my own fault. I was on my 1200 Goldwing and had pulled off the road to fix something. I fixed it, jumped back on the bike and hit the road. When I had stopped, I was positioned at about 45 * angle facing the edge of the blacktop. It was about a 3 inch jump back onto the road. I started the bike, put it in gear, drove onto the pavement and leaned to the right to head down the road. The road curved to the right and it wasn’t until I was going about 60 mph before the road curved to the left. I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that I forgot to raise the kickstand. When I leaned to the left, for the curve, the sidestand dug into the blacktop. The rear of the bike jumped about 6 inches off the ground and came back down about 18 inches to the right of its original track. I instinctively (turn into the skid?) turned the handlebars to the right and when the bike came back down, the handlebars wrenched back to the left to keep me going down the road. It amazes me to this day that I did NOT go down.