Crash Analysis: What did you learn?

[mmoore]

We all like to improve our odds in the game of two wheel transport, and one of the better ways I've found is to learn from the lessons (crashes) of others. So this thread is for those of you who've learned the hard way to share what you learned in the hopes of sparing someone else the pain/expense and inevitable tank ding.

The format I'd suggest is:

-Brief recap of the crash

-What you did right

-What you did wrong

-Thoughts on how it might have been avoided

[mmoore]

I'll start out with my recent mishap.

Brief recap of the crash
I was riding along a small country road at about 40, taking it pretty easy after a long ride. I'd been on this road a couple of times before but didn't know it super well. There is a small-ish hill I go up and then it drops away pretty sharply on the downside, and there, about 40 feet ahead, are a couple of cars stopped to take a left turn. I hit the front brakes pretty hard, but the road surface is washboarded and I'm bouncing around, finally locked up the front wheel and washed it out. Probably doing about 15 at that point, just fast enough to bend stuff on the bike. Hit my right shoulder and head as my first impact and rolled over onto the shoulder. Once I collected myself I saw a big pile of different types of auto glass on the shoulder, so I know I'm not the only one who got bitten by that intersection.

What you did right
Fortunately I had the new X-11, leather pants, back protector, the works. The helmet has big divots and scrapes all the way across the top. Also, I was not going crazy fast on a basically unfamiliar road.

What you did wrong
My mind was wandering a bit since I was going slow, and the left intersection sign right before the hill didn't really register as a potential danger. I didn't have the rear brake covered, but seldom do and don't think it would have helped much, but not sure on that.

Thoughts on how it might have been avoided
It is a bad road design, for sure, but there will always be those out there. I guess keeping focused, no matter what the speed, and thinking about the meaning of each yellow diamond sign I see, and how it might be a danger.

I hopped on my bike, before I even knew how to ride it.

[N2Deep]

Michael,

Thanks for this thread, as I think it may help everyone here. As you stated those yellow intersection signs on the backroads are so important to pay attention to. Sorry to hear about your crash, but most importantly it sounds as if you are okay.

[alex]

recap: riding along with the right-of-way on a side street, only to have a minivan run a stopsign and cross into my path. I fell on my right side after losing traction trying an emergency stop to avoid a crash.

what I did right: Didn't hit the minivan and die!

what I did wrong:
- Rode when I knew my tires were in bad shape.
- Rode without paying the best attention to possible danger (too much trust in the power of the stop-sign. If I had been watching the minivan more carefully, not just assuming he would stop, I'm sure I could have initiated braking sooner).
- Overused the front brake in particular.
- Spent valuable seconds after falling with useless thoughts of 'my bike! nooooooo! my bike!' and 'maybe I can go back in time and fix this?' instead of 'license plate number, look at his license plate number!'

Thoughts: Well... I think watch out for minivans is the most important one... But I do remember that I fell a good 5-10 feet from the minivan. So that means that I might have gotten away with using a little less braking force, and come to a stop slower without falling. I definetly stand by my decision to chose breaks over swerving though, because I couldnt tell if he would stop or keep going, and since he filled the entire intersection in front of me, I would have had to aim for the sidewalk to avoid him.

I plan to practice emergency breaking at varying speeds. Knowing how hard you can break without losing traction at just one speed is not going to help you.

[Stu Pedaso]

recap:
Had the Monster for maybe two weeks- had not ridden in about 10 years. Was on a 4 lane highway and attempting to turn off onto a 2 lane street. It was the type of intersection that has an island dividing the turn lane from the other lanes. I came in at maybe 20 mph saw a bunch of sand- focused on that as I put my brakes on- hit the curb at maybe 5-10 mph.
What I did right:
Fortunately had my helmet on as my head impacted the street pretty hard. My knee came down first and took the majority of the force.
What I did wrong:
Duh- object fixation. You go where you look. Unfortunately I was only wearing jeans, a jean jacket and sneakers. My knee was tore up pretty good. You can see pictures of me at the docs office getting stitched under Misc.- crashes and wrecks in photo gallery.
How it could have been avoided:
Well, I am still paranoid about sand and debris in the road. It just comes down to the old trust your bike mentality. I probably would have made it through without crashing. I now have a lovely scar on my knee, and a dent in the gas tank as momentos of said crash.

recap: riding along with the right-of-way on a side street, only to have a minivan run a stopsign and cross into my path. I fell on my right side after losing traction trying an emergency stop to avoid a crash.

what I did right: Didn't hit the minivan and die!

what I did wrong:
- Rode when I knew my tires were in bad shape.
- Rode without paying the best attention to possible danger (too much trust in the power of the stop-sign. If I had been watching the minivan more carefully, not just assuming he would stop, I'm sure I could have initiated braking sooner).
- Overused the front brake in particular.
- Spent valuable seconds after falling with useless thoughts of 'my bike! nooooooo! my bike!' and 'maybe I can go back in time and fix this?' instead of 'license plate number, look at his license plate number!'

Thoughts: Well... I think watch out for minivans is the most important one... But I do remember that I fell a good 5-10 feet from the minivan. So that means that I might have gotten away with using a little less braking force, and come to a stop slower without falling. I definetly stand by my decision to chose breaks over swerving though, because I couldnt tell if he would stop or keep going, and since he filled the entire intersection in front of me, I would have had to aim for the sidewalk to avoid him.

I plan to practice emergency breaking at varying speeds. Knowing how hard you can break without losing traction at just one speed is not going to help you.

They have advance MSF courses thatyou bring your own bike!

I will add a slow speed crash to the list. This was when I was on my ZX9R about 2 yrs ago.

Brief recap of the crash:
I was leaving work one day bobbing through the parking lot. The parking lot sloped down in the direction I was riding and a as I approached the T-intersection to take a right out of the lot I was looking left up another approach to the intersection (it was a V type intersection leading to a T intersection, if that makes sense). I had seen a car coming down the first approach to the T intersection and wanted to make sure he stopped, because a lot of time they don

recap -- waiting at a stop sign, bike in neutral. hit from behind and did my superman impression for about 25ft onto a sidewalk. got up, fell over, got up again and went over to the bike and shut it off. gas leaking out of carb so picked it up and put on sidestand. cops, ambulance and fire truck (hazmat concern) show up. drove the bike home. injuries resulted in L5/S1 laminectomy (back surgery - fun!)

what I did right: wore all my duds (especially useful when skidding around on hands/chest), was truthful and wrote "back hurts" on accident report, kept a dairy of daily pains, sued his silly a**

what I did wrong: stupidly drove home. really stupid. had a grade or level III concusion (triple vision one day, double vision for a few days, blinding headaches, etc.) had air in the rear tire and headed home. should've had textile/leather/kevlar pants on even tho no injuries there,

avoidance: maybe should've had a pulsing brake light? I don't know. bmw's are tough bikes by the way

[alex]

They have advance MSF courses thatyou bring your own bike!

That sounds great except one thing: They require proof of insurance to take that class!
I um... er... don't technically have insurance...