They say it's not a matter of if, but a matter of when...
The story:
I was riding on the freeway one morning at normal freeway speeds in the left lane. Traffic was medium-heavy for morning commute. I had plenty of breathing room in front and back. So I round this slight bend, slight hill that makes for a few seconds of blind curve situation. As I crest the hill I see nothing but brake lights - so I grab some brake myself. It wasn't at all a panic stop but it was certainly an aggressive stop if that makes any sense. Next thing I know I am in a front wheel skid at about 50mph and before I even have a chance to react, the bike is buckling under me and I go down.
The outcome:
Tore my ACL and MCL in my knee - my guess is that I planted my foot as I went down, like that would help - lol, but I honestly don't remember much between "Oh S$#%" and "Thank God I'm still intact". Full face helmet somehow avoided the road completely and my fully armored leather jacket took the brunt of the rest. My hands and wrists hurt quite a bit and I'll have to have surgery on the knee.
The bike amazingly is barely damaged. It just slid down the road a bit and didn't hit anything. It looks like someone carefully and gently laid it on its side and then dragged it for a 150 feet or so. There are a lot of scratches but the only thing keeping it off the road is the gear shift lever that is bent pretty bad but I could maybe tweak that back into place.
My take: All things considered, I guess I got lucky. And while this is obviously my fault, I'm still wonder how I managed to end up in a high speed front wheel skid in the first place... physics should be on my side, no? I did run over a puddle of green stuff, probably coolant, less that a 1/4 mile before this happened but I doubt that had an effect.
Anyway, the point of this long story is that at the scene, a cop wanted to see my registration and insurance, which I didn't have on me. So he writes me up for that and Careless Driving (While lying in the ER, leg in a brace, hopped up on dilaudid...nice guy) Since careless driving is more serious than speeding, I have to go to court for it.
Do I have a leg to stand on, no pun intended, regarding any kind of careless driving defense or do I just have to take my lumps and pay the man?
I'd really like to not have to pay this fine since I'll be out thousands of dollars in medical bills anyway.
Is there any legitimate mechanical or environmental reason that could lead to a front wheel skid at that speed... or do I just suck?
I'm not trying to lay blame off myself - I just want a FULL understanding of what did happen or might have influenced the event. I know that no matter what kind of stuff out of my control happens out there, I need to be prepared to react. Just trying to understand and trying to not have to pay any more out of pocket over it.
