A little late: 5/18/2012 on 280N @ 9:15AM DOWN

[nvetro]

I've been riding my 2007 GSXR 750 (blue/white if anyone saw me) for about 2.5 years and I guess it was my time, my first crash. I was riding to work during rush hour at approx. 9:15AM in the carpool lane on 280 North between Saratoga Ave and Lawrence Expressway. In the carpool lane there was a small SUV in front of me and a gold Toyota Camary in front of that person. There was NO ONE in front of the Camary, almost to a point where it was causing some tail gating behind me. I signaled and got into lane 2 cleanly with the intention to pass and return back into lane 1. Traffic in lane 2 was approx. 50-60 mph at this time. As I was coming up on the gold camary (to my left) they decide to B line it into lane 2, they either figured out what they were doing OR they wanted to get off at Lawrence REALLY bad....in addition to coming over into lane 2 in a sudden maneuver they ALSO slowed down. At this point I was going to swerve between lane 2 and 3 to avoid contact...but there wasn't enough time to react because she was not only in close proximity but also on her brakes. I was aiming right for her back right bumper because her car was already in lane 2 committed and taking it up, it was either hit her, try to swerve that wasn't going to work and possibly end up in lane 3 and hitting another car, or lay the bike down. In one last attempt I tried to slow down, used the front brake while in a small lean and ended up washing the front tire out...I was down at this point...the bike was sliding in lane 2 (stayed in the lane) for about 75 feet or so, and I was shoulder tumbling for about 50 feet...I was going approx. 50-55 mph when I went down.

The person in the gold camary knows what he/she did because I saw them tap their brakes several time and a head look in the mirror and they continued to drive off, they didn't stop. I was wearing my Arai Corsair-V helmet, Alpinestars Lether jacket, Alpinestarts boots, jeans, and some short summer AKA STUPID gloves. When I stopped tumbling my ankle was hurting (even though i had my boots on!), my knee was throbbing and rashed up pretty bad, my right wrist had a GOOD rash..and my right forarm had rash where the neopreme stretch panel on my jacket came in contact with the pavement and pretty much disintegrated and melted into my wound. First thing to hit the pavement was the right side of my head (didnt hit to hard, no concussion), Visor was scratched up, leather was ripped on my right shoulder...right and left knee jeans ripped and road rash, right wrist and right forarm road rash, left ankle pain, thats it!!! The medics came and they were surprised I had nothing wrong with me, they cleaned my cuts and sent me on my way. I should have gotten A LOT more hurt, if I didn't have jeans and wasn't wearing my Alpinestar GP gauntlet gloves I would have came out of that clean.

Behind me was a BMW Z4 coupe and it stopped about 8 feet from me, he pulled over to help me out..he said he was on his brakes HARD. He was a rider and witnessed the whole thing and mentioned it was totally that gold cars fault, another guy pulled over also and said he witnessed the whole thing and gave me his card.

The insurance company totaled my 07' GSXR 750, only had 6050 miles. Sucks, just put on my full Yosh exhaust, Power Commander V + auto tune.

Ultimately I didn't know what else I could have done, I'd like to say I went down on purpose, but it was kinda a last ditch effort to slow it down which ended up in a dump. I remembered my training and pushed away from the bike when i went down and stayed limp during the roll, didn't try to fight it or get up to soon.

Touching the front brake i know is a no no in a lean, and to boot i definitely grabbed it.

Thoughts? Feel like I was damed if I did or didn't....maybe if I was a better rider I could have somehow pulled the lane 2-3 spit, but it all happened pretty fast.

 

[kazoo]

From what it sounds like, you didn't have much leeway to respond - even if you had reacted perfectly I'm not sure you could have prevented an accident

My take on this is just not to pass people on the right - especially when it's some asshat taking his/her time in lane 1.
Preventative measures are the most important - keep yourself from even getting into a situation like that, where you're passing a dumb driver on the right side of their car. Just chill out and cruise in lane 1 until the asshat realizes they should move out of lane 1

Glad you had most of the gear and didn't suffer any major injuries - highway speeds are pretty scary to go down at

 

[nvetro]

You're totally right.

It was a hell of a ride going down at those speeds, stayed in lane 2, so did the bike. Had 1 car swerve to avoid me and that BMW stop behind me. Close one for sure. Wish I had the right gloves on though (STUPID).

 

[kazoo]

Wish I had the right gloves on though (STUPID).

Hey, at least you learned this lesson without any serious consequences

 

[nvetro]

I didn't have a back protector, and din't have any upper body or back injuries at all (not sure how exactly). But I am definitely going to get one just in case, and I know it may sound extreme but I am not going out in anything less than full leathers, shin high boots, gauntlets,back protector,etc.. I know most say jeans are fine and ankle boots, but my wounds are still healing on my knees after 3 months.

 

[Paulo666]

Hey glad to see your ok and in good spirits. Too bad your bike got wrecked though but it seems like the camry driver didn't even know you were there at all and probably didn't even check there mirror or look back. Suv driver might have been on his ass and they moved to let them pass.

From my own experiences I try and make the pass as fast as possible and stay to the farthest right of that lane so just incase they move you might have some time to react.


My co-worker did the same thing, traffic was slow so he decided to dive right in the carpool alone in his suv and didn't see the chp moto cop coming fast. Moto cop had to swerve in the shoulder to miss him. He got a ticket for almost causing a wreck and being in the carpool lane alone. Cop was pissed.

 

[Enchanter]

Since this is Crash Analysis, let's focus on what could be done differently that might have helped the OP avoid this in the first place, and stay away from what the car driver could have or should have done since that is out of our control.

I'm glad to hear that you come out of this with relatively few injuries, and a willingness to learn something from the event.

Slightly slower vehicles in our lane are problematic. If they are going VERY slow, then it would be a good tactic to assume that they are looking for an opening in the next lane.

You mentioned grabbing the font brake, and acknowledging that wasn't the correct method to use. I think that you have your next clue here. How will you use the brake if you find yourself in a similar situation in the future?

The area of 280N between Saratoga and Lawrence is sketchy. Have you ever seen abrupt lane changes, or vast speed differences between the lanes there? I go through that area quite frequently and see those things all the time. Recognizing areas of higher risk is the first step in planning ways to lower that risk with skill and strategy.

 

[asthmodeus]

i've found that braking and swerving at fairly high speeds arent an either/or thing especially if you are already on the front brake hard and then decide 'oh shit this isnt gonna work' and start leaning while still on the front brake...i think the trick is not to either snap off or pull harder, but keep the front brake fairly steady or lighten up a little and you already decided to swerve so lean that thing hard.

 

[nvetro]

Thanks for the replies all!

So with regard to grabbing the front brake and then going into a lean...I think what I did wrong first of course was not acknowledging a VERY slower driver i the car pool lane is going to get over....and I should have not been on the left side of lane #2 in anticipation for a maneuver like this I should have really been in lane #2 on the right side. So lane position is one mistake, the next mistake is pretty much grabbing the front brake and panic braking rather than applying steady hard pressure (I also don't think I applied the rear brake as well), and last but not least going into a lean to attempt to get to the right side of lane 2 (where I should have been anyway) while on the brakes...my front tire washed because of my lean angle and being on the brakes hard would you all agree?

So to recap:

1) Stay on right side of lane #2 in this scenario
2) Don't grab the front brake hard or panic brake in this scenario
3) Don't go into a lean to avoid impact and continue pressing the front brake hard in this scenario, I was scared I think to try to go into it without the brake and try to 'flick' the bike right between lane2/3..was to aggressive I thought and may end up into the side of a car in lane 3.

I guess it's good I didn't hit anyone or anything, and no one hit me

Think I got it?

 

[smm]

In traffic, any time you are feeling impatient, odds are other people are too. Impatient people tend to make poor decisions, so whenever you are feeling impatient you are quite probably in a dangerous, unpredictable situation.

A good response to a situation that makes you impatient is simply to chill out for 30 seconds, rebuild your following distance and make sure that you really understand what is going on (is the gold Camry inattentive, looking for an exit, seeing brake lights 10 seconds ahead, ...). Without knowing, you can't really decide that "staying in the right side of lane #2" is the right thing to do. Since the Camry actually went right, and might well have been looking to move right again, that strategy actually seems pretty bad. In actual fact, the good strategy in this situation was simply hanging out in the left lane.

Getting into a situation in which you become impatient amounts to a failure to anticipate on your part; take your time-out and figure out what you missed.

 

[BugMagnet]

In an accident a lot of people fail to react at all. Their brains just see danger and kind of short circuit and then BAM. I see it all the time on youtube videos. The bikers just plow right into the car without slowing down, manouvering or anything else.

In your case, i don't really understand how you can be accelerating into the back of her car, when she is already in your lane. Could the same reaction scenario have happened to you and you saw the danger, but you failed to react until it was too late?

Normally when in tight traffic, you have to keep an eye on all the vehicles around you, and look for exactly this kind of situation.. You should have seen her changing lanes as you were changing lanes yourself, and simply slowed down to let her in. You could have also moved back into the left lane when you saw her moving over.

From your description, it sounds to me like you had a plan and went for it, without paying enough attention to what was going on around you at the time (tired? hung over? high on something?)

One of the benefits of being on a bike is our visibility is improved. Another is we have full attention to traffic as we have limited distractions like you get in a car. We also know how vulnerable we are, so our instinct to protect ourselves in a crash should be much higher. We should be looking for dangers like this and making sure we are in a safe position at all times.

After you laid the bike down, you slid for 75 feet without hitting anything. Maybe you weren't really going to hit her bumper either? Possible?

The bike has much better braking power on rubber then on its side, so if you didn't slide into her car, then i would suspect you should have been ok to slow down without collision.

Of course only you know the answers to all of this. I am just trying to put myself in your position, and trying to imagine how i would have handled it.

Did you get a new bike?

 

[nvetro]

We both didn't enter lane #2 at the same time...I entered lane #2, was riding there for a several seconds...a car had already come up on my left (in lane #1) so there was no way for me to go back into Lane #1, that space was already taken up.

He/She (gold car) cut into my lane (#2) as I was accelerating (not quickly mite I add) to get past that gold car holding up traffic in lane #1. it was a sharp enough entrance into lane #2 that I saw the sides of the doors at an angle (if you can imagine that).

So couldn't go left, it was so close that if I got on the brakes i would have hit the car or even if I managed to avoid I would have gotten smashed by the person behind me. The person behind me was barley able to stop even with me sliding on the pavement (i know one car had to avoid me in lane 2)

Couldn't go left, couldn't stop using the bikes more advanced braking system, couldn't go right and split the 2/3 lane because of the angle and possibly hitting a car in lane #3 OR the gold car continuing to B-line it over to lane 3.

So was my only option to dump the bike? My bike didn't hit the gold car because it was sliding obviously, traffic was still flowing, but that car definitely closed the distance by not only cutting into my lane but also being on the brakes while doing it.

and no I was not high, hungover, or any of that lol....There was nothing that would have effected my reaction time or decision making.

Didn't get a new bike yet, thinking about what model, I am getting one though

 

[guineapig]

Thanks for sharing this story. If you don't mind, could you draw this out on a piece of paper (your motorcycle), car #1 / car #2, lane 1 / 2 / 3 then upload it to the thread? I've been commuting for a few months, and hence would like to understand the situation more clearly.

I've encountered a few examples where things may have gotten dicey, and I sometimes wonder what was the better approach. For example, suddenly coming across stopped / backed-up traffic on the highway, when you are in lane #2, and having to quickly swerve (luckily had decent following distance). Or merging (both on and off) exits = always good to learn right / wrong things to do.

In your case, for lane splitting, I usually position myself between lanes = ready to pass. So when you said "you were in lane 2" were you mostly to left or in middle? If not passing, I try to stay in center of lane (to protect lane space from other cagers). A picture could help show any potential "exits" and danger areas (which cars are braking, which are following to closely) etc... I also sometimes come across fast braking cars (any car that rides their brakes (flashes brakes for no reason) = I mentally classify as an incompetent driver and increase my following distance accordingly) Glad you survived!