The Queen Of The World and I rode the bike up to Gettysburg yesterday with some friends. The weather was perfect - sunny and 74° and we were all itching for a ride. On the way back we were reminded that life is sometimes defined by moments and inches.
A truck pulling a flatbed trailer was stopped on the side of the road. The trailer's ramp was down, and a couple of older guys had just unloaded some sort of farm equipment. I was fairly far back from a line of cars, because I like to ride *very* defensively. The pickup truck at the back of the line drifted to the right, its passenger side wheel went up the ramp, and it was launched across the road. It almost - almost - flipped, but ran on the two driver's side wheels until it pitched into a ditch. A fair amount of debris scattered across the road.
Being pretty far back I was pretty easily able to avoid the wreck and the debris. We pulled over and parked, as did everyone going in both directions. One of the guys who had unloaded the gear off the trailer and I ran over to the truck. A young guy who seemed pretty dazed got out. We told him to kill the engine since there was some smoke coming from under the hood, although it might have been steam from the cooling system.
The older guy was calmer than I would have been in his place. If the truck had been a foot or two more to the right it would have killed him and his friend. It didn't seem like anyone was hurt which seems a bit of a minor miracle - the truck was completely smashed up. I'd never seen a wheel twisted 90° but the axel was snapped off.
We think that the kid was looking at his phone (maybe texting) because there was no last minute jerk to the left or sudden brake lights to avoid the trailer. He just ran on autopilot into what was almost his last moment on this good earth.
Moments and inches.
Which is exactly why I ride so cautiously. Giving room between me and whoever is in front of me gives me more inches and moments. Fortunately most people are not as moronic as yesterday's kid, but you can't tell when you run across them.
And I should have taken a picture. The wreck was pretty spectacular.
14 comments:
I had 15 bikes, mostly on the street and mostly consecutively. That was before everyone and their dog had a damn cell phone, and we had a flood of visitors who may not know or care about our customs. I'm over it.
I drive the same way, and it's saved my bacon more times than I care to remember.....
I'm glad you ride defensively. Around here, most cyclists seem to think they're Evel Knievel and then blame the four-wheelers when they do something stupid and have to over-compensate. Of course you STILL can't do anything about the A-hole on your rear fender, except pull over.
Yep, spacing works... Those extra seconds/feet DO make a difference!
I'm just glad that you and the QOTW are okay.
Driving like that is the only reason I commuted on I-65 through Indiana and Illinois every weekend for 5 years without an accident.
Kid I knew when I was in college was riding his bike down a secondary street. Driver coming the other way made a left-hand turn either right into him or immediately in front of him (I've forgotten which). He was in traction for two months and then up with a hip-to-ankle cast for a goodly time longer.
This, mind you, was when the most distracting thing in a car was an AM radio.
That convinced me that bikes are best used where larger vehicles aren't permitted.
"And I should have taken a picture. The wreck was pretty spectacular."
Consider adding a video system to catch that sort of thing. It could be useful to have video to refute some idiot's version of a road incident/accident. Most riders tend to mount a camera on their helmet, but a fairing or handlebar mount would still be useful. With a two camera system, you could put one on the rear fender.
You didn't get a picture because you (like me) are from a different era. Our first inclination is to help out, not post a "hey look at me! look what I saw, did, ate"....
Good for you.
I have been considering a dash cam. Just for self protection if nothing else. Lots of maroons out and about....
Glad to hear you are ok. and that you, too, are a Neil Boortz fan.
I'm always pissed off when I see people driving/riding stupid. Seriously 70mph and they need to be not more than 10 feet from the car in front of them or ride in the middle of the street because there are signs ordering drivers to share the road with bikes and yet they make no allowance for heading west into a setting sun on the horizon and how they turn invisible to drivers behind them. Defensive is the only way to 'share' the roads.
I haven't ridden in a couple of years but always a good time remind... http://menrnotspuds.blogspot.com/2011/06/lucky-smokel.html
About anyone that has ridden a motorcycle for for more than a month has a story where someone did something where the biker had to take very evasive action.
On coming with the left turn signal going. The vehicle that is crossing at the intersection in front of you. The left turners at intersections. When you want to make a left turn at a stop sign or light. The oncoming vehicle passing another into your lane. The person blowing grass and leaves out of their yard and into a road (especially at a intersection). And that is not counting animals that are waiting until you are there to cross the road.
Then there are road conditions that a car or truck can ignore, but on a motorcycle are hazardous.
And if things go normally, I will still put another 10 to 15 thousand miles on my motorcycle this summer.
This is why I don't ride. Every single time I got on a bike, something went sideways. Run off the road, idiot turns in front of me, the list is just endless. Finally I decided that someone might be trying to tell me something, and I gave it up.
It isn't the biker. It's the absolute idiots you have to share the road with. I'm in Columbus, Ohio, and every morning we have multiple accidents on the beltway and on I-70. Then in the afternoon rush hour, we have more accidents on the beltway and on I-70. You'd think that after a while attrition would eliminate bad drivers, but it doesn't.
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