Have you taken a spill or had and accident on your motorcycle. Tell me what caused the fall!?

Question

knowing what caused your problem may help prevent...Live in the Texas Hill Country. Thanks

Answer 1

Please look carefully at all the above answers and you will notice a very useful statistic. Of the 9 answers above 7 of them had accidents due to rider error. Not the other driver. I don't know how Git R Done's friend got killed but I'll count that as a cars fault.


That's 77% rider error.

So to answer your question...Most accidents are caused by inexperience or rider error. According the NTSB 45% of rider fatalities are single vehicle accidents. In other words, no cars involved. Additionally, many accidents involving cars can be avoided when you gain experience and know what to look for, how to react quickly and to acticipate potentioal problems, and pay attention!

Answer 2

I'v been riding motorcycles for a while now, started out with the little dirt bikes when I was 10. I'v only had 2 spills to speak of, one I was riding on a road that had some gravel on it and slipped, the only main thing it did was land the motorcycle on my leg as we skidded but I was able to think fast and get it out before i was burned to badly, and my other one was when my gas got stuck and i didn't think to quickly and i ended up going off the road. The only damage that was done here is I was wearing shorts (VERY bad, never wear shorts) and slid off the back cutting a huge hole in my leg which i still have a scar from. Mainly you just have to learn how to think fast, and for ever possible problem that could go wrong have a back up plan in your head. wear a helmet and pants and don't go crazy and you'll have fun and be fine!

Answer 3

Although I have been on a motorcycle before (when someone else was driving it), I have been fortunate enough to have never been in a spill or accident while on one.

There was however, just this Sunday; Sep 23rd, a very tragic accident here in CA involving a motocyclist who had tried to pass by a pick-up truck & did not make it. Apparently (as near as I know) he had collided with the pick-up which cause him to spill off of his bike. When his helmet (& he had the regulation-standard helmet) hit the pavement, it immediately broke in half upon impact. Sadly, he did not disengage from his bike and as his motorcycle continued to roll, he was dragged along the pavement anywhere from 50 to 75 ft.

Traffic was backed-up (with a SIG-Alert) for hours.

Answer 4

Spills:
1st bike, rode through a deep puddle on a dirt road I knew well. Found a large rock under the surface that I didn't remember. Tossed over the bars into the puckerbrush. Broken fork stop, pinch bolt punched a hole in the gas tank.
2nd bike, was in Mom and Dad's barn when I went for a visit. I insisted on taking it and riding it home to my place. Cold night. Started to snow lightly on the way home. Very little on the road, but enough to hide black ice. Slipped and tipped. I should have let it go. I slammed my left foot down and she came up, then went over the other way. Slid down the road on my back, with the bike chasing me and the old lady staring at me through the windshield.(she was following me home). Bent handlebars.
Accident:
A woman sitting about 15-20 feet back from a Stop sign suddenly pulled straight out without stopping at the sign, or even looking. I couldn't stop in time. Took the windshield off the bike with my chest, crunched her fender, smashed her windshield with my head, and wound up in front of the car. Damaged cartilege in both wrists (deathgrip) and totalled bike.

Lessons learned: don't ride through what you can't see.
Watch out for white cars, white hair, glasses, female drivers.

It's amazing how many white cars are piloted by bad drivers.

Answer 5

Numerous spills.

These are the major ones and don't include dirt bike spills (which are way more numerous):
Hit a dog once.
Hit gravel twice.

And I have bit it a few times in my driveway (it's long and is composed of river rock -- like trying to ride over marbles).

And to reiterate what another answerer observed:
Rider error = 90% of motorcycle accidents.
Of the remaining 10%, most are from cagers who don't see the motorcycle --- and there are a few deer strikes and the like.

Answer 6

The first time was with my first street bike, a 1981 Suzuki GS1100EX. It was raining off & on that night and at the time it was not raining but the Hwy was still wet, in a cruv at about 60mph or so I started to hydro-plan and go sideways. I let my bike go and watched the sparks come off the right side, I slid about 60 feet, my helmit never hit the road, my leather jacket came up around my chest and back. The guys I was with helped me back up and I asked about my bike and they told me you could get a new one, how are you ? ok but my bike was now up on the grass. I road it home and they took me to the hospital because of my back, it was like hamber from my jacket slidding up around my upper torso.

Two weeks latter I order a set of turn signals, passenger foot-peg, mirror and handel bars. After my second year of owning this 1100EX I turned it in to a Pro Stock Drag Bike, maybe you remember Team Vance & Hines.

Own a V-Max back in 1988 and now ride a 2000 Vulcan.

Answer 7

I've had two accidents all of them when I was in my teens. The first one was when a lady who was running to catch her bus, just didn't see me. She litrally ran straight into me, I was doing about 30mph. The second well I don't talk about that one. I'd just come out of a pub. Need I say more! My corrective action for both these accidents was.
1. Fitted a headlight modulater, so that I'm easly seen.
2. You guessed it! I don't drink and ride.

Answer 8

A lady went through a stop sign and hit me broadside. Some accidents are not preventable. People do not see cycles as visible as cars.

Answer 9

two lanes turned onto the freeway on ramp, I was in the inside lane, lady in outside lane crossed into my lane and clipped my bike knocking me down, then she stopped with my helmet caught under her front bumper, a few more inches and I'd a been squished.
I was pulling into a parking lot alongside the highway to buy some ciggs, a guy in a mustang came off the highway from the other direction and went head on with me, I chose putting it into the ditch instead of him hitting me head on, broke my leg.

Answer 10

most of my accidents have been all my fault. usually i second guess myself and wham i hit the ground.

my last accident was when I was trying out the pilot powers when they first came out. I put about 3000 miles on them but they still had tread. i usually need tires between 2-3k miles.

At 3k they started to feel slick but the tread was good. Instead of listening to myself I decided i was being a puss and entered the next cor nor and my normal fast speed and the tire slid out before I new it.

Another time - I was in the Hill country a couple years back with a couple friends. I took off into the twisties and left my Friends behind. I looked in my mirror to see a red bike coming up. It was a local who wanted to race so I took it up a notch.

The next corner I went into real hot, got my right knee on the ground and took off. I looked back to see if the local guy was still behind me and he was still going.

The next corner was at race speed, fast into the corner hard brake and out. it was a very sharp corner and I nailed it. Looked back again and the local was gone.

I kept going and stopped about a mile up to wait for my friends who saw a bike on the side of the road. The guy apparently didn't make the corner and was unconscious when we got t him.

he was trying to stay with me, an expeirienced racer, and didn't make the corner. he ended up with some memory loss and alot wiser. He was not that experienced and was riding way way above his head.

1) Ride your ride
2) learn to corner at a race track and take a class
3) leave the ego at home
4) Ride your ride

I have seen many people fly off corners rdung with our group because they push themselves even when we tell them to take it easy.