Riders: how many have you crashed?

Question

Everyone tells me that riding a motorcycle is dangerous. I'm curious how many of you riders have gotten into accidents? How? What happened?

Answer 1

i havent been introduced to the road the hard way........yet. but last season, there were 3 incidents that if i hadnt been paying attention, i would have gone down hard for sure.

1: got left turned on the way to work by some idiot on a cell phone that was pulling into her workplace. missed her by 15', but at the time, i was heading for her at about 35-40 mph.

2: another left turner. this 1 almost turned me into a sandwhich between the idiot, and a cager behind me. detected a car signaling for a left turn, checked mirrors/blind spot, and gave the cager behind me a couple quick flashes of brake lights...to let him know i suspected something was gonna happen. this moron left turned on me at 'danger close'....i had to almost totally lock both brakes up to get her broke down enough to avoid smackin this idiot. i broke right at the last second to evade...the car behind me almost clocked him.

3: i was heading northbound on a 4 lane road; road had 2 lanes each direction with a turning lane. without a signal or warning, some southbounder decided to flip a 180 degree u-turn right in front of me at a range of about 25'. by the time i got it broke down to a slow speed, that distance was cut to a range that i could have smacked him with a ball bat. lucky for me, no one was tailgating at the time, and that road is notorious for tailgating. that idiot almost took me down because they missed the on-ramp for the interstate.

always keep ur head on a swivel, and always expect car drivers to have sub-cranial rectal inversion. never assume they will see u and do the right thing. assume ur completely invisible and prepare to use ur manuverability and braking against them....just check the blind spots first.

Answer 2

There are 2 types of riders.
1-Those who have gone down.
2-Those that will go down.
Just because you have joined type <1> doesn't mean you are no longer a type <2>

Yes motorcycles are inherently more dangerous then cars. You only have to balance and there is not this huge cage surrounding you for protection. Both of those are also reasons why motorcycling is so much fun.

Yes I have gone down at about 40 mph. I was not paying attention and stupidly wearing (over confident) jeans and a t-shirt. I got some bad road rash and bruises. Lesson here was Pay attention to my surroundings and wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). That was over 60,000 motorcycle miles ago.

Ensure you take a safety course like the onse offered by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) http://www.msf-usa.org/ before you get out on the road. While these cost as much as $200 it can mean the fine line between life and death and also reduce your insurance premiums. Some states now require this to issue a license.

I have over 60,000 miles on motorcycles in the last 10 years. For the past 6 years I take the MSF Experienced course every year. It is cheap insurance to help keep me out of trouble and a great way to refresh my skills and meet other riders.

Don't pass up riding because a bunch of non-riders tell you how dangerous it is, or tell you about all the people they heard died in horrific accidents...they are full of BS and jealous that they don't have the testical fortitude to ride!

Good luck and god speed!

Answer 3

Walking down the street is dangerous, eating a steak is dangerous, 9-11 showed that living in New York is dangerous. But guess what? It's all about calculated risk, and you choose what level of risk you're willing to take.

For example, look at any teenager on a sportbike. Chances are high that they do not understand the consequences of riding an 80mph wheelie down the freeway in a T-shirt and shorts, and their ignorance makes them accept a level of risk FAR higher than people that live into their 30's.

Then on the other side you have the anti-motorcycle people that INSIST motorcycles only exist to keep the organ donor program going. Granted, these are people that smoke, eat McDonald's and voted for Bush in the last election, so their judgement still isn't 100% either.

SO...

If you take the time to learn, wear the right gear, take a rider course, and understand that it takes your entire life to learn how to ride (how long that may be is up to you), then motorcycles aren't any more dangerous than waking up in the morning.

I have crashed, only once, and the insurance company totaled my bike. I was wearing full gear, and walked away from the accident. I was caught behind a 2-foot driver who kept resting her foot on the brake pedal, so when she screwed up, slammed her brakes on and rear-ended the guy in front of her I didn't have enough warning. I almost missed her, but almost doesn't count.

It's You vs. Everything on every ride you take, and learning to watch out for oncoming problems is as important as learning the controls. Bottom line: do it right, and you'll be OK. Otherwise, you're road pizza.

Answer 4

First : crashed into a barn while learning to ride at age 11. Bumps and bruises.

Second: racing at night and the road was blocked by a backhoe. Tried to squeeze by the bucket and hit a lip on the black top. Hit a rock wall and was flipped into the reservoir. That's probably the only thing that saved my life.

Third: coming home from a nice ride in the mountains and was rear ended by a car on a four lane highway. His excuse was he didn't see me. This scooter was a full dress with lights and reflectors almost everywhere. Spend time in the hospital, then wheel chair, then crutches, and then almost two years with a cane.

I have had many more bumps and dumps thru the years mostly on dirt bikes. Broken ankles, arms, ribs, etc... you get the idea.

I still ride only now I am more careful and never take for granted that a cager sees me.

Answer 5

I've been riding 40 years, MX, desert ,canyons and now Harleys.
I've done quite a bit of advanced amateur racing MX, desert ,Production class G.P and drag.
Riding dirt and G.P. crashing goes with the territory, so the 100 plus crashes really don't count.
Riding in the street is the real danger and yes I even as an experienced rider have hit the asphalt a half dozen times.
4 serious crashes involved cars left turns and lane changes, one was caused by a passenger who leaned the wrong way and one was totally my fault, I looped it doing a wheelie.
It is a generally accepted rule of thumb, if you ride you will go down, it's just a matter of when and how bad.

Answer 6

Three.

1. Hit a random chunk of cement on a major city road at about 40 mph that broke my oil pan. Fortunately, I kept the bike upright until I could pull over. No injuries to me.

2. Slipped on some gravel at about 20 mph. Since I wasn't going fast enough to get thrown, the bike landed on my leg and tore my ACL, fractured my tibia, and sprained the ankle (and lot's of road rash from the gravel).

3. Victim of hit-and-run at about 30 mph. Broke my shoulder and sprained that ankle.

The injuries of the last two accidents probably would have been much more severe if I had not been wearing a helmet. My head hit the ground hard in both incidents.

Answer 7

I have had two what I would call minor accidents. I have been riding for 39 years. My first was 2 weeks after I bought my first bike. A flat bed truck pulled out in front of me. I honked he stopped and I did a power slide under the truck. Had I known better I would have gotten my leg out from under the bike. 11 stitches to put the skin on my knee back in place.
Second accident was this past summer. Totally my fault even though I tried real hard to avoid it I hit the rear corner of the car bumper in front of me. I was in a rush and was looking left. I saw the car move in my peripheral vision and I thought he went around the corner. I started to accelerate and when I looked forward damn there he was stopped. Hard right turn to avoid but I got him anyway. Minor damage to bike none to me.
There is a motorcycle club for those who have had an accident. Membership is too tell what happened. It is called COBB for Crippled Old Biker BastXXd.
No I haven't joined yet. Don't plan on it either.
I have gotten out of allot of near accident situation from being alert and driving defensively always. When you ride for along time you get what I call the idiot 6th sense. You can pick out the idiots to avoid on the road. Slow down and let them do something stupid in front of you. It is better to have the idiot in front of you where you can watch him instead of behind you where you need to keep checking your mirrors, which you should be doing anyway.

Answer 8

Been riding for over 30 years now. Yes they are very dangerous but so what. If you enjoy it do it. I have had a few blunders in my day so lets see. 550 overstock Suzuki that slipped out from under me on a corner had a few burns and skinned marks on that one, then 1000cc Suzuki touring bike that I let turn over 2 or 3 times until I totaled it. Hit the road running about 55 mph. This one gave me about 6 broken bones, concussion, and about 30 stitches, 4 days in the trauma center and about 11 weeks off work. Then I had a 1400 intruder that a dog ran under me and cause me to flip. Fracture my risk on this one so it wasn't too bad. Bought a Goldwing 1500 in 2000 and so far this one hasn't hit the ground yet. {knock on wood}
Its kind of this way {if you going to ride you going to get thrown}. More than likely it will be a time when you least expect it or a time when you think you can handle the bike.
Since I am older now I watch more closely and I am not in as big of a hurry as I use to be. Use to be a big thrill for me to get out on a two lane road at about 150 mph. Crazy Huh?
If you think it is for you go for it. Just take your time and you might make it with minor injuries. Good luck.

Answer 9

All of us, LOL.
1. My worst was -- I was showing off by riding my motorcycle down some stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, the brick walkway was slick from days of rain. Motorcycle fell over and dragged me, giving me plenty road rash and ruining my clothes. Moral of the story: don't show off.

2. I kick-started it, not noticing that it was in gear. The motorcycle leaped forward, fell over, and the clutch lever impaled my left foot.

3. Fell over in Arcadia California on a freeway onramp. Don't know why. I was okay, but the motorcycle needed repairs costing $$ I didn't have at the time.

4. I was waiting in line at a gas station for the gas pumps in Los Angeles. Idjit at the pumps decided to back up instead of pulling forward! I got knocked flat on my, um, back. I made the idjit pick up my motorcycle and unbend the front fender, where he'd hit it and it was now on the tire. Later I had to remove the clutch lever and pound on it with a hammer to straighten it.

About 125,000 miles over 25 years.

Answer 10

0 so far. I have seen people go down, but these were mostly slow speed things from slipping on road debris, locking the rear brake, etc. I know someone whose friend died after going too wide on an offramp. Wear your gear 0_o

2 weeks ago a guy was riding a 50 mph wheelie, and he dumped it. He was wearing jacket, helmet, and boots and was totally unharmed. He got right back up and started running after his bike which was still sliding down the road. He is hoping ins. is going to total the bike so he can get a gixxer.