Argument for lane splitting

What a shame. I'm sure that bike was a total loss. He's lucky to have landed on his feet and able to walk away unscathed. From the looks of it the car may have easily rammed him in his back which could have been grave for him. I saw him look in his mirrors at one point but not when he slowed down. I definitely would have been in either the left or right lane once I saw the vehicle stopped out in front. I've had that same scenario happen to me on the Bronx River Parkway about two years ago when I first got the FZ1. I fortunately noticed the guy behind me coming at a high rate of speed and quickly moved to the left. Once around the car in front, I could hear the squeal of brakes happening. I'm not sure if the guy that was in front of my got rear ended and didn't wait around to see. After that close call, I always put myself in a position to get around from knuckleheads that tailgate. I'm glad that the guy only damaged his bike and not his spine.
 
WOW!!!! This brings back bad memories for me!!!
I had a lady pull out in front of me and stop dead center in the middle of an intersection. She had a look of pure horror on her face and she froze stiff (with fear I suppose) HAHAHA!!!! I guess that she had never seen a motorcycle before?!?! She stopped her car and stared at me with her mouth wide open. I will never forget that look!!:eek5:
Well I taught her a good lesson by slamming my head into the side of her door and caving in the entire driver's side of her car!! :p As I looked up from the ground - I swear I saw that same stupid look peering down at me from the driver's side window!
After our eyes met for a few seconds this chick starts trying to open her door and screaming "ARE YOU ALRIGHT???" JUST LIKE THE LADY IN THIS VIDEO!!! The crazy thing was that she didn't seem to notice the 400lb pile of twisted metal lodged against her door. LMAO!!! She started RAMMING her door back and forth trying to open it and the whole time she kept screaming "ARE YOU ALRIGHT????" I guess I was kind of dazed because everything was like this weird slow motion dream. LOL Truly terrible!!! So I keep staring up at this 60 something year old lady ramming me and my bike. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse - this chick pulls out her ninja skills and climbs over her front seat (that was quite a sight in and of itself) into the backseat. She then began repeating the above process with the driver's side back door. HAHAHA!!!!
It seemed like 10 people appeared instantly and picked me up off the ground - (smart :tup:) LOL However I was in NO condition to tell them any different. The bystanders did get me out of the road and I'm thankful of that! I was honestly still dazed and all I could hear was that lady yelling "Are you alright?" HAHAHA!!!!
So I understand why the owner of the motorcycle was kind of dazed...or pissed!!!!! LOL or both!!!!
:banghead:
 
Last edited:
thepopularjock said:
WOW!!!! This brings back bad memories for me!!!
I had a lady pull out in front of me and stop dead center in the middle of an intersection. She had a look of pure horror on her face and she froze stiff (with fear I suppose) HAHAHA!!!! I guess that she had never seen a motorcycle before?!?! She stopped her car and stared at me with her mouth wide open. I will never forget that look!!:eek5:
Well I taught her a good lesson by slamming my head into the side of her door and caving in the entire driver's side of her car!! :p As I looked up from the ground - I swear I saw that same stupid look peering down at me from the driver's side window!
After our eyes met for a few seconds this chick starts trying to open her door and screaming "ARE YOU ALRIGHT???" JUST LIKE THE LADY IN THIS VIDEO!!! The crazy thing was that she didn't seem to notice the 400lb pile of twisted metal lodged against her door. LMAO!!! She started RAMMING her door back and forth trying to open it and the whole time she kept screaming "ARE YOU ALRIGHT????" I guess I was kind of dazed because everything was like this weird slow motion dream. LOL Truly terrible!!! So I keep staring up at this 60 something year old lady ramming me and my bike. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse - this chick pulls out her ninja skills and climbs over her front seat (that was quite a sight in and of itself) into the backseat. She then began repeating the above process with the driver's side back door. HAHAHA!!!!
It seemed like 10 people appeared instantly and picked me up off the ground - (smart :tup:) LOL However I was in NO condition to tell them any different. The bystanders did get me out of the road and I'm thankful of that! I was honestly still dazed and all I could hear was that lady yelling "Are you alright?" HAHAHA!!!!
So I understand why the owner of the motorcycle was kind of dazed...or pissed!!!!! LOL or both!!!!
:banghead:
Click to expand...

That is a scary situation. I was lucky with my accident back in July. I was riding home from work one second, and the next second I was staring up at a bunch of doctors with IV's sticking out of my arms! While it felt like a second, it was actually an hour and ten minutes total. I only say I was lucky because being that I have no recollection of the crash, it made it easier for me to get back on the bike without any fears or reluctance. Luckily I'm no worse for wear either.

What was the outcome with your bike?
 
It is sad all the same.
However looking at the video the truck was locking it down quite hard with only one brake light and the bike was also heavy on the binders.
I feel bad for the lady who hit him.
She looked like she was kinda lead to feel as if traffic was on the move about the same time it stopped right in front of her.
She was in the back and is responsable but the bike and the truck gave a differant impression as to the traffic speed then stopped.
I have came close to being in the same situation. I ride in traffic knowing I have a small brake light.
 
I'm glad that wasn't me; definitely glad he was able to walk away...
I think my reaction would've been different - my first reaction to watching the video was a strong desire to run to the offending vehicle and beat the snot out of driver (after seeing the destroyed bike, but before seeing or hearing the driver). Granted, I would hope my wits returned to me before getting that far, cause I'd definitely regret such violence... :doh2:

Did anyone else have a similar knee jerk reaction? (How would you react?)

I would probably sit down and cry, LOL. I don't handle large doses of adrenaline very well.
 
FZ1riderNY said:
That is a scary situation. I was lucky with my accident back in July. I was riding home from work one second, and the next second I was staring up at a bunch of doctors with IV's sticking out of my arms! While it felt like a second, it was actually an hour and ten minutes total. I only say I was lucky because being that I have no recollection of the crash, it made it easier for me to get back on the bike without any fears or reluctance. Luckily I'm no worse for wear either.

What was the outcome with your bike?
Click to expand...


Isn't the mind an amazing thing? Riding effectively is so much more mental than physical. Luckily I was taught just like you probably were or more accurately - in my case - made to redo anything that failed. My grandfather reasoned that would prevent fear and increase skill. Probably sounds familiar??
My bike at that time was a 2001 Suzuki SV650 and amazingly it was not totaled....but I'm sure it was close. LOL I still remember getting a phone call from Farmer's Insurance asking me what happened. The agent went through the accident step by step and offered to pay for every single thing that was damaged - even down to my gloves and jeans. LOL Then the moment of truth: He offered me $500 to sign a waiver and promise not to sue. I was in college at the time so that part sounded great!
Did you have any long term effects from the crash?
 
Last edited:
I am in agreement with Billy. Lane positioning! I had the same thing happen to me as Billy. I was positioned to scoot and always do check the mirrors. Sure enough, traffic came to a halt and I was turned out toward the breakdown lane. I looked in the mirrors and a car was bearing down hard! I gassed it out of there as the car screeched to a halt less than a foot from the car that was in front of me. I'd have been the meat in the sandwich had I not been positioned, alert, aware and ready to react. This is on the same road that I'd already been rear-ended in while driving the Tacoma.
 
Really guys? Come on that was so quick, I don't know if I could have done anything differently, granted, he probably could have been looking further down and saw that the traffic was stopped and maybe moved into the other lane before coming to a full stop but you saw how fast the other car past him on the left as well, I think he checked to see if he could move over too. Hm, I think I'd have gotten hit too. The moron was the lady he was stopped for a full 1-2 seconds and then got rear ended it's not like he just stopped instantly. If that ever happens to me I'm not getting up, there's an ambulance and a damn helicopter coming to pick me up!
 
romr said:
Really guys? Come on that was so quick, I don't know if I could have done anything differently, granted, he probably could have been looking further down and saw that the traffic was stopped and maybe moved into the other lane before coming to a full stop but you saw how fast the other car past him on the left as well, I think he checked to see if he could move over too. Hm, I think I'd have gotten hit too. The moron was the lady he was stopped for a full 1-2 seconds and then got rear ended it's not like he just stopped instantly. If that ever happens to me I'm not getting up, there's an ambulance and a damn helicopter coming to pick me up!
Click to expand...

Believe me when I tell you that I would have been in the left or right lane and not behind that SUV. It was fast, but there was time enough to see everything coming to a halt in the center and not in the other lanes. I'm always looking way ahead of me to see what may potentionally happen. The car didn't pass by in the left lane until the accident unfolded. Even then, the right lane was void of any traffic. Anything can happen to any of us at any time not matter how alert we are. My accident was a perfect example of that. As observant as I thought I was, I was still blindsided by someone and never saw them coming. I guess it's easy to pick apart the video since we weren't there. Let's just hope it never happens to any of us.
 
A little trick I use when stationary at the lights is to hit the brakes multiple times so the cars behind can (hopefully) see my brake lights flashing.
Other than that I usually stay in 1st gear and wait until there is a car stopped behind me.
 
I have not been riding as much this year, but when I do, I usually keep a 4-5 length buffer between me and the car in front. I'm still matching traffic speed, just with a good, safe distance.

I to drive my truck/trailer and RV the same way, so it is not hard to be uniform -- on the bike, to keep me alive -- and in the truck/trailer and RV to keep everyone else alive -- yet the mentality for both is that I can stop on a dime. I can be as light at 700-800 lbs or as heavy as 32K+

So if you do get trapped behind me, enjoy the view. If you zip past me, I'll see you at the next light a car length or two farther than had you stayed put.

I'm glad the rider was minimally unscathed, but we all know that one must factor in a whole other set of variables when riding the bike because it is us, the sound of the exhaust and maybe some earbud music -- and not all the other potential distractions a cager will face as they cruise in their steel formed, air bag protected chariot.
 
Last edited:
FZ1riderNY said:
That is a scary situation. I was lucky with my accident back in July. I was riding home from work one second, and the next second I was staring up at a bunch of doctors with IV's sticking out of my arms! While it felt like a second, it was actually an hour and ten minutes total. I only say I was lucky because being that I have no recollection of the crash, it made it easier for me to get back on the bike without any fears or reluctance. Luckily I'm no worse for wear either.
Click to expand...

I crashed going up a mountain road toward one of the resorts. I went into a corner a little too fast and low sided. I smacked a boulder, crushed my humorous bone, and compound fractured my tibia and broke the fibula, all on the left side. There was no black out, I watched the whole thing unfold before my eyes and even had the pleasure of watching my bike tumble down the road spitting out fiberglass and plastic on every rotation. This was in late 2004 and I still cannot go into corners as fast as I used to. This just pisses me off! :looseit:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
FastRnu2 said:
I crashed going up a mountain road toward one of the resorts. I went into a corner a little too fast and low sided. I smacked a boulder, crushed my humorous bone, and compound fractured my tibia and broke the fibula, all on the left side. There was no black out, I watched the whole thing unfold before my eyes and even had the pleasure of watching my bike tumble down the road spitting out fiberglass and plastic on every rotation. This was in late 2004 and I still cannot go into corners as fast as I used to. This just pisses me off! :looseit:
Click to expand...

While it may "suck", it's probably the mind's way of protecting you or making you more cautious. 2004 was a long time ago! Maybe if you did a couple of track days it would give you back the confidence you lost due to the crash. At least on the track you'd have some sort of a controlled condition, plus a safety crew on scene if you have the misfortune of laying it down. I guess if there was a "good part" of your ordeal is that you have been problem free for 7 years now. Let's keep it that way!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top