Author Topic: specticals  (Read 3176 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline coxy

  • coxy
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Master Registered Bridgestone Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1108
specticals
« on: October 20, 2011, 03:02:06 PM »
g day all i have been doing some huge hours at work and yesterday i was that tired that i didn't even let the triumph warm up for the ride home anyway going past the local super market a car drove straight out forcing me into the gutter i accelerated and nearly scraped my bars on the car it was close i looked back and screamed obscenity's as this was happening i was passing a intersection where another car pulled out in front of me this one took me by real surprise as i was still yelling at the last one   another swerve and a miss nearly taking out the mirror of the car and my tyres scraping the gutter  any closer i would have ended up in the river . a couple of turns and i was home my heart was still pounding . i checked my head light it was fine and i was still wearing my high vis work cloths .this got me thinking the sun was setting behind me so maybe i was just a silhouette but that doesn't explain the second car as the first car was only a few meters behind me and  nearly arse ended  it . maybe people need to go to the optometrist more often and get there specs checked    .i will be taking a different route home at that time of day and maybe put the antisocial  megaphone pipes back on so they can hear me coming    .take care out there.

Online OldSwartout

  • Global Moderator
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • *******
  • Posts: 1314
Re: specticals
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2011, 09:25:51 AM »
Whew!! Glad you're still here posting. 

Driving/riding at sunrise/sunset can be pretty risky, but we all have to do it, it seems.
Karl Swartout
Mooresville, IN
BS175 Roadracer. BS200RS, BS350 GTR

Offline coxy

  • coxy
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Master Registered Bridgestone Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1108
Re: specticals
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2011, 02:40:08 PM »
some times you just cant avoid riding at that time of day .i think i also was complacent as well i haven't had a  mishap in  years but if i let my bike warm up i usually ride a lot  harder . i would have hit if i was riding at normal speed

BridgeBrit

  • Guest
  • Trade Count: (0)
Re: specticals
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2011, 04:25:57 AM »
Glad to hear you lived to recount the tale, Coxy! There have been a few close shaves on the forum recently, as posted by Old Smokey and Oldswartout. It makes you think. I'm probably one of the few people who have come to motorbiking later on because I think it's actually safer than my transport before, which was mountain and roadbiking. In 30 plus years of roadbiking I have been hit twice, once in low winter sun (when I went through their windscreen 'cos they just didn't see me) and once after dark. Interestingly both were side impact. So, obviously that kind of visibility issue is key to all. But I'm curious, is survivability about luck, experience or an almost Darwinian level of natural selection that enables a brain to process information in a particular way? Coxy, you spoke of accelerating out of danger in your first near miss. At any speed that was extraordinary processing. In nano seconds you had to have first, realised you were in trouble, second, thought about your options to get out of it, and third, physically do what you intended. That is quite something. Is that experience, luck or the presence of guardian angels? (Maybe all of them.)

Don't know if anyone else has experienced this but when I wenrt through the windscreen it was as if it happened in slow motion. I can clearly remember swearing in that instant I realised the car driver hadn't seen me and knowing I hadn't a chance in hell to stop started preparing. I wasn't wearing a helmet so knew I needed to protect my head. I took my hands off the handle bars, put my hands on my head with my elbows forward and waited for launch. And it seemed to take ages. I was flipped over by impact and went through the windscreen shoulders and back first and finished up landing on top of the driver and his passenger. After the explosion of shattering glass I remember the silence. There was absolutely nothing. I was riding a busy road with lots of traffic and pedestrians with lots of background noise. The silence made me think I was dead but I think it was just the locality taking a sharp intake of breath. I climbed out of the car to a round of stunned applause from the onlookers. My tracksuit was completely shredded in an Incredible Hulk kind of way but apart from some minor abrasions on my shoulder I was completely fine. The driver and passenger were pretty lucky too. Despite having a 130 lb missile land on their laps the passenger was physically unhurt and the driver just had a few cuts to his hand from the breaking glass. I've seen many more innocuous looking accidents result in tragedy. It has made me very curious over the years as to why an accident that potentially should have killed me didn't even injure me.

So are we all leading charmed lives given our chosen methods of transport? Or is it that the power upstairs is the ultimate dictator of when we leave and it doesn't matter how careful or astute we are? Maybe that's a whole other question. I guess the bottom line is that it doesn't really matter how bad a day anyone has had - if at the end of it you are able to go home to your spouse, partner or dog it has to actually be a good day 'cos you are still in it! Glad to hear that you and Old Smokey are still in it, too.

Offline coxy

  • coxy
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Master Registered Bridgestone Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1108
Re: specticals
« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2011, 01:49:30 PM »
you are very lucky not to be hurt and i was talking with a work mate yesterday about the things you think about when you have a near miss or a stack usually i swear .once on a big off at stupid speed i was sliding down the road just thinking when is this going to stop. the other day a passing thought was i cant afford this.you might be right about guardian angels etc but i think its boils down to pure luck be it good or bad.i think that 99.9% of any sort of riders have had at least a close shave.
i had a funny push bike crash when i was a kid well funny now. my brother was a push bike mechanic and into racing he bought a helium filled race bike for $1000 this was a lot 30+years ago he never would let me ride it so one night a friend and i decided it would be a good idea to borrow it ,anyway this bike was great we were riding down this hill i was in 24th gear peddling my guts out . i must have been doing 60-70km when all of a sudden i hit a half a brick on the road which sent me air born and slammed me and the bike into a telegraph pole totally destroying the bike and breaking my arm and collar bone .we dragged the bike home  mum screamed when she saw me blood from head to toe and my bone poking out of my skin .going to hospital was the only thing that stopped my brother from kicking the crap out of me .it took a year of washing cars to pay for the damages to the bike and to this day if the crash ever gets bought up my brother snarls and walks off .he has no sense of humor    !
« Last Edit: October 22, 2011, 03:06:08 PM by coxy »

Offline old smokey

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Master Registered Bridgestone Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 709
Re: specticals
« Reply #5 on: October 23, 2011, 12:34:37 PM »
Right now everyday as I sit at work I'm thinking "this is my reward for surviving a deer collision nearly uninjured???"
A lot of luck, fate or angels (and riding safety gear) had to be the deciding factor in the outcome.

Just this morning we were following a mini-van that hit a wild turkey. The turkey was holding a wing out as it stood up and ran off the road after the collision. From my point of view the van driver should have seen it running from the opposite side of the road, but no brake lights came on before, during or after the impact.

Maybe just a day for good karma in our part of the universe??
'67 350 GTR undergoing repairs with a '75 Yamaha TX500 front end

 


Gallery


Views:219
Comments (0)
By: Jon West

Views:1360
Comments (0)
By: rwgibbon

Views:1690
Comments (0)
By: Perry L Anderson

Views:1755
Comments (0)
By: Perry L Anderson

Classifieds

Gto
Date: 03/02/2024 06:49 am
Time Left:
Looking for a BS90 used or new luggage Carrier assembly

Date: 02/01/2024 04:19 pm
Time Left:
Gto
Date: 10/19/2023 01:08 pm
Time Left:
Urgent - l/end roller bearing & piston pins needed
Date: 10/08/2023 03:25 am
Time Left:

Recent Downloads added

Chibi, Chibi Deluxe, Tora Service Manual
Rating: (None)
Filesize: 20383.27KB
Date: May 01, 2023, 08:35:39 PM
Chibi_Tora_Parts_Manual
Rating: (None)
Filesize: 14301.44KB
Date: May 01, 2023, 08:25:53 PM
BS200 Mk II RS & MK II SS Exclusive Parts
Rating: (None)
Filesize: 358.29KB
Date: March 07, 2021, 07:30:10 PM
1970 sales brochure
Rating: *****
Filesize: 6753.33KB
Date: July 16, 2020, 10:01:18 PM

Powered by EzPortal