WARNING, BE CAREFULL OUT THERE GUYS!!!!!!

[streido]

 Just got home from work, still shaking and numb. Was getting my helmet and gloves on at work to ride home, biker guy from work was doing the same, dont know him personally but he gave me a nod as I pulled away. 2 mins later he flew past me up the white line, I was doing 20-30 and he passed me as if I was going backwards. He was easy doing 50-60mph and still accelerating when a parked car pulled out and he hit it side on, classic t-bone.

I saw it unfold right in front of me like slow motion, car pulled out, bike slammed on brakes, skidded and smoke everywhere from his back wheel, then WHAM! Car looked as if it was hit by a truck, whole side caved in, biker somersaulted over the car when he hit it, looked in a bad way.

Needless to say it shook me up, rode home at 30mph, no cutting thro traffic or taking my usual moves to beat the jams. I can still see him nodding at me in the bike park before we left work, very scarey stuff.

Just wanted to share it to get everyones sensible head on when riding. Its a dangerous place out there so everyone just ride safely and dont take too many risks or chances, its not worth it. Im off to sit down, have a smoke and contemplate how lucky ive been so far considering how I sometimes ride. Im sure we all do it for the buzz but just make sure next time you have a blast down the road that its safe to do so.Trust me you dont want an accident like this on a scooter.

[ScooterWolf]

I always make sure never to ride faster than I can think. That was a horrible accident, tragic because it could have been avoided. Was he wearing a helmet, and do you know if he survived?

[streido]

Yeah, horrible, luckily he was wearing a helmet and had leathers on his top half. I know he was alive right after he landed, he was awake, or his eyes were open, but he looked in shock, obviously. I stopped to try help but here were loads of people there who were 1st aiders so better trained than me so I didnt hang around long to just get in the way.

Have since found out that the guy driving the car works near to me. Will probably find out more tomorrow, hopefully the biker is ok and not too badly hurt. Looked like a pretty bad one tho. Think it was a new bike he was riding too, so if he is ok he will be kicking himself for wrecking his bike.

Had a few "what if's" and nearly's myself but nothing like that, and hope I never do.

[sidthesloth]

That would be a horrible thing to see. It can happen any time which is why it pays to wear safety gear.
Hope to hell I never cop it, but, you just never know.

[streido]

I guess you can only control so much and accidents will happen so I also wear as much gear as I have. My new armoured leather bike jacket feels like a good investment now, would never ride without it or a helmet and decent gloves at any speed now that I saw that. I had a few squirmy moments on bends in the rain with my back end twitching when I put the power on but managed to save it so now slow my riding way down in the wet on bends especially.

It was a big stripped down racing bike as well, when he flew past me I got that usual jealous feeling of "man, I wish I was on that rocket", that quickly turned to "no, think im safer on my 50cc scooter". I know I would do the same if I had a powerful bike right now, do fancy one eventually but will build up slowly thro the ranks of 125cc - 250cc - 500cc to get there.

With luck hes got off with a huge fright and a few broken bones, like I say hopefully hear tomorrow how he is. I plan to still enjoy my scooter and take it fast on clear roads in good conditions but will definately be more carefull, for a while at least.

[teknik1200]

That is so scary!   When I was a youngster I got smacked on a little Trail 70 that I had.    I wasn't hurt outside of road rash, but it shook me up big time.

Did this happen in a parking lot?

[streido]

@teknik, no it was on the open road. We had literally just left work, about 800yds along the road it happened.

The biker was to blame really for booting it up the white line to avoid waiting in the traffic queue, like i say he was hammering it at probably 50-70mph in a 30mph zone when the street was busy with everyone rushing out of my work, about 300 people trying to get to their cars and beat the traffic. Saying that the motorist should really have had a better look before pulling out into his way.

I admit i was thinking of doing the same white line trick myself but luckily i looked in my mirror 1st before i pulled out or he would've ran into the back of me maybe He was flying along at a fair rate, was a big powerful bike.

[jprestonian]

The obvious moral to the story: Don't ride like you have a deathwish, as you may just get it.
.

[streido]

Very true JP.

 Fun as it is to go fast, there's a time and a place for everything. On this occasion it was the wrong time and the wrong place, unfortunately for him.

[Agent Bob]

After I bought my scoot, I found a picture in the newspaper of the aftermath of a motorcycle crash with the bike on it's side in front of a banged up SUV and the cops doing their job. I cut it out and it is posted near where i keep the scoot so I see it every time before I go for a ride. I started doing that way back when i first started riding. It gets your head in the right place and I recommend it.

[sidthesloth]

Abov a year ago, there was a story about a bike that hit a kangaroo, then hit a semi going the other way, it was a little south west of us. When I saw the picture it made me think, it was the same bike as mine. A Suzuki Boulevard C50. Needless to say, the bloke died.

[fshfindr]

Keep us updated please.

[macocoy]

I like to weave thru traffic,and feels good to sometimes beat cars and others,from main road to bike lane and vise versa.I like the look on peoples face when I'm beating them doing 50 while on the bike lane and they're on main road.But your story kinda wakes me up ,I wear helmet half the time but will be wearing it everytime now..Hope your coworker's fine..

[streido]

Just update, I got to work today and found out that he was unconscious when he landed but came to after a few minutes and was even sitting up by the time the ambulance arrived. So good news there, he may have escaped with not too bad injuries considering the impact he had, I really thought he was dead when I saw him hit the car.

Hopefully he will be fine once he heals, cant say the same for the bike tho, thats written off for sure.

I will still enjoy myself but maybe just be a bit more aware of potential accidents and slow down more at junctions etc. Also wont be blasting down the inside of queued traffic like I used to, will take it a bit easier for a while.

[CROSSBOLT]

"Those of us who are not afraid of the sea will surely be drowned for we will be going out on a day when we should not. Those of us who are afraid of the sea are drowned only now and then."

Unknown author

Keep your head on a swivel and regard all other vehicle operators as wanting to kill you.

Karl