Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique I wonder WHAT lesson he really learned?

Read this "Street Savvy" article in the lastest(May2010) edition of "Motorcyclist" magazine here...

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/..._way/index.html

...and then reply as to YOUR guess of what lesson you THINK young Mr.Harvey M. Broadway here should have learned, because it's never truly expressed in this article, AND because I have a feeling he didn't learn the REAL lesson he SHOULD have.

I feel this way because, if you click onto the lower picture of his damaged Buell, the "Motorcyclist" editor's caption states: "A caved-in frame from a low-speed accident effectively totaled the author's Buell because he didn't have collision insurance. Even worse, he was blamed for the accident, which wasn't his fault."...and I believe Mr.Broadway WAS somewhat "at fault" here.

You see, after 43 years of riding motorcycles, I have learned that a rider should ALWAYS slow down and approach with caution whenever coming up on a line of slow moving cars in any adjacent lane to them, even if the rider's lane "seems" clear ahead! Because, it's VERY likely that at least one of these cagers WILL pull out and into this cleared lane "of yours" at any time.

In other words, NEVER assume somebody in a car ahead of you is NOT in a hurry to get to where they're going, and that they will not take any opportunity they'll suddenly see before them to "get ahead" too.

(...and, as I stated above, I have a feeling THIS wasn't the lesson the young Mr. Broadway really learned here, because the way I read this article, it unfortunately seems the primary lesson he learned was not to mouth-off to a cop!)

Of course I agree that the accident might of been avoided with a little defensive riding skills. One must NEVER assume what another vehicle operator will do... or go ahead and assume, but assume the stupidest things WILL happen. It's kinda like the ol' Murphy's Law... if sh!t CAN happen, it WILL. That's what this young lad could learn from this situation.

To quote the article's heading... "Motorcycle Lessons Learned-The Hard Way." I sure hope so!!

ya don't argue with a cop. Argue with the judge. oh yeah and something about passing on the right too. Picture the robot flaying his arms about and talking to Will. Given this particular situation, if you don't have an escape lane, no matter what side you pass on, then proceed at extreme caution, slow enough to come to a full stop should a cager pull out from their lane into yours. Better yet, being in California, he should have been splitting the two left lanes...

Geez, you guys are tough on this guy. The mini-van driver was completely at fault if this accident went down as the rider described. Not riding defensively isn't smart, but it doesn't make the rider liable in this case. I've talked myself out of many speeding tickets by talking nice to cops, but in this case I would have been livid! Some a-hole cuts you off, causes you to crash, then lies to the cop, cop takes his side, then threatens to "taze" you. What if this kid had been really hurt or killed?
How many of us are 100% "on" while riding? Maybe it's just me, but I say cut this guy some slack. All JMHO of course!

Well Pete, I had a fellin' somebody would take on the kid's defense, and you sure didn't let me down here.

Yeah, maybe we were a little "tough" on him, AND yeah, was the cager who pulled out in front of him without making sure that somebody wasn't coming up relatively fast(relative to their own slower speed, that is) and was in the wrong and at fault LEGALLY also...sure!

BUT, here's the deal Pete...over the years I've seen first-hand all these sorts of motorcycle and car involved accidents which very possibly COULD HAVE been avoided IF the rider(and of course this also would apply to us when we're inside our "cages" and not on our bikes) would endeavor to keep that "healthy sense of suspicion" about not only how truly competent ALL of the motorists around them are at all times, but also how well their fellow motorists can see other motorists(and especially riders, as we're a fraction the size of most other vehicles out there) if and when a motorist attempts to make that last second decision to change their course on the road in front of us.

THAT, I believe, SHOULD have been the PRIMARY "lesson" Mr. Broadway should have taken away from this incident, as the next time he's "not at fault" in something like this, COULD be the last time that he'll ever have the chance to BE "not at fault" ever again!

Right-O.
Who's at fault is completely irrelevant if you're toast.
The lesson he should have learned is that avoiding crashes is always your (our) responsibility.

'Cause dead is dead. And totaled is totaled.

Dwight and Bill are right, avoidance is the better option, and the guy should have been extra careful when there is a van in the equation as they have really bad blind spots. He was also unfortunate to have what appears to be an anti-bike cop turn up

Here's a couple more stories to show that just because someone is on two wheels doesn't make them innocent little angels

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/...cops/index.html

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/...ider/index.html

Maybe the cop who attended the accident had just delt with a biker like one of these?

Two absolutely PERFECT additional links to this thread, Bryn! Great finds there, Ol' boy!!!

Great finds, because of course, they give us the perspective from other individuals involved in encounters which very much parallel Mr. Broadway's experience on the road that day.

Thanks a bunch there Bryn for your contribution to this thread. Very good reading and strikingly pertinent to this thread.

he learned that cops are little more than gold crested criminals, he should have dealt with witnesses & driver info himself, and that tasers don't penetrate leather.

ride like everyone is out to kill you.

Ride a different bike. When I had the 955 Daytona, police appeared out of thin air. Around here they look for reasons to fault sport bikes (or anything that looks like one). Other than that the ride defensively mumbo jumbo applies. I’m constantly reminded of cars driving with headlights on during the day; your suppose to see them better. I say, if you can’t see a 4 foot wide automobile you shouldn’t be driving. That said, if people can’t see something the size of a car or truck, for sure they won’t see a motorcycle.

there are strob lights on the school busses here so people can see them.

You are only getting one side of the story in that article but if it is all true it's a shame he got the sh!tty end of the stick.

OK, the guy's description was a little confusing, at least to me. In trying to see it in my head, the minivan cut in front of him and took his lane? Or, it also sounded like the minivan was just passing through his lane on their way to another lane?

In any case, he did say he was riding much slower than the posted limit.

Here in MI, even if the twatwaffle in the SUV was putting on makeup whilst texting on her phone as she barreled in front of you and slammed on her brakes in order to turn into the McDonalds, you still generally get the ticket for following too close. Sucks, but that's the way it is.

And as for info, last accident I was in (many moons ago, knock on wood) I got the witness name and phone numbers myself. If they wanted to stick around long enough to talk to the police, even better, but at least I had names and numbers of those folks that had seen what happened.

And quite possibly, if the guy hadn't argued with the cop when he stood back up but clearly explained that he was having some physical issues with his knee, and even went so far as to ask the cop where he could safely stand, he wouldn't have ended up on the potential badge-induced jump-start list.

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B2I...uthkey=CLGCkdgG

"The point of the article was threefold:

• 1) To remind readers that it's in their best interest to carry full insurance, as Harvey lamented;
• 2) to give readers an idea of what to do-and not to do-in the unfortunate event of an accident;
• 3) to generate just the sort of dialogue that's presented here.

We make no apologies
for that.-Ed."

I always get great pleasure out of mad,mental or irresponsible young drivers that decide to drive aggressively and show me the one fingered salute. What I find really works is not to respond in kind but to smile profusely and wave at them as if greeting a friend. I find this winds them up more and I carry on smiling knowing the driver is going to blow a gasket.

I hope he learned that at an impass greater force always prevails,and two solid objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time.
In other words in a conflict between a car, and a motorcycle the car will win even if the car is wrong.
so you got to watch them cooky cagers. There is just no telling what they are up to