I was the meat of a car/truck sandwich!

[Chops]

Stemmons freeway in Dallas at noon.  I saw the car pulled off the right shoulder on the other side of the exit ramp.  The car looked abandoned until it suddenly took off across the exit ramp and into the slow lane where I was driving at 65 or so.  I knew there was a truck in the lane to the left of me, so I applied maximum braking for all the poor Nighthawk was worth, but the car hit me with its left rear quarter panel almost sending me into the truck.  In my effort to keep from getting pasted by the truck, the Nighthawk and I wiped out to the right as we became disengaged from the car.  Somehow, I ended up going face-first into the pavement on my right side.  Thanks to the gear, no road rash to speak of, but three cracked ribs from the impact.  Of course, the gear wouldn't have mattered if everyone behind me wasn't paying attention and managed to avoid turning me into a big hamburger pizza.

After tens of thousands of miles and years of street riding, I pride myself on always looking ahead and giving myself a cushion in traffic.  After years of driving in the DFW area, I'm used to seeing abandoned cars on the side of the road.  I should have slowed down for a second and given myself an escape route behind the truck, but I was complacent and made an assumption about that car.  I'm lucky it didn't eat my lunch!

On another note, is there anyone that would like a nice used left-side Hondaline engine case protector?  :-)

[JB1290]

  to the NHF.

Glad to see that you lived to tell the tale.

What are you riding now, if anything at all?

[chromy]

Glad you made it out of that alive.  There's a lot to look out for on the metro streets.

[frmtexas]

Sometimes it seems dangerous to decelerate when traffic isn't expecting it, so I occasionally find myself between a rock and a hard place (slowing down to anticipate a possible situation and inviting one by doing the same thing) and hoping for the best. It's also not unusual for me to ride faster than I would like, just to keep up with traffic, which seems better than going much slower than everyone else. I don't know if any of this is true, but it seems like riding on the interstate, albeit at higher speeds, is safer than riding in the city because everyone is pretty much doing the same thing.

[Chops]

Thanks for the welcome!  About $200.00 to cheapcycleparts.com and we were back on the road in about two weeks.  Going to have the dent my knee put in the tank pulled out tomorrow.  The picture is as fuzzy as I was feeling when it was taken, but here it is:



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Here, you can see better where the "case protector" punched a hole in the right main bearing cover as it got torn off.  The force yanked that bottom bolt right out of the frame, had to retap it for new bolts.



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I'll post pictures when I get done with the rehab, now that my own rehab is done!  Too bad there's not a cheappeopleparts.com...

[Burgi]

Glad you are OK.
I hate the right hand lane, avoid it as much as possible. 

[edac]

Glad your alright

[luckylindy]

 Dallas traffic sucks.  Glad the drivers behind you were paying attention.

[Option13]

Wow. Did the car do a hit and run, or are they paying for the damages? Glad you're okay.

[fortyhourdays]

Glad you're ok and were wearing the gear.  Any pictures of the damage your gear took?  I'll second the question wondering whether the driver stopped or if he hit and ran.

[hppants]

Glad to hear you are OK - except for the ribs.  Bet that hurts pretty bad.  Chalk another one up for the gear.

I should have slowed down for a second and given myself an escape route behind the truck, but I was complacent and made an assumption about that car. 

Boy does that statement ring a resounding bell with me.  I made the exact same mistake last month and went down as well.

This thread topic is getting way to familiar.  The bike Gods need to leave us alone for a while.

[Chops]

Burgi, you're right about the right lane.  I hadn't yet gotten over since this is an area where one highway merges into another and the traffic was heavy.  Arguably, I might have been better off had I driven more aggressively and darted behind the truck when I merged, and sped up to the 75 or so the traffic in the third lane was going at the time.  This also touches on what frmtexas said about riding in fast-moving traffic.  Ironically, it sometimes seems to be the case that it can be safer to be less cautious.  This brings up a potentially interesting debate:  Is it better to be cautious or confident when riding?

Regarding the gear, the damage doesn't really look that impressive.  There's light damage everywhere that just doesn't photograph well, but I'll post some close-ups when I get a chance, along with the paintless dent repair to the tank that came out really well,  I think!  As to the driver who cut me off--I know this will come as a shock--they fled the scene.

[BabyHawk250]

Glad you're Ok, man.  I can empathize with you because the DC metro area serves up some of the worst drivers you'll find anywhere, too!

Regarding your question of confidence vs caution, in my opinion I think we need a little of both out on the roads.

I think it's important to have the confidence to keep up with traffic flow for instance, but I can see how too much confidence could lead to complacency in some situations and potentially get us into trouble.

On the other hand, I don't think it's possible to be overly cautious given the nature motorcycling.  It's bad enough that we're small and nobody can see us.  I tend to use the horn a lot out on the road; during lane changes especially if I'm surrounded by cars, I'll flip the signal, give cars couple seconds to see the signal then honk right before I pull out to grab further attention.   

Some car drivers just have no respect for bikers though, and those are the ones that I try to clue into whenever I can.  I suspect this is due to some bikers who ride around like they own the roads (crotch rockets weaving in and out of traffic cutting people off, loud ass harley guys, etc..)

Last Columbus day weekend for example, I'm on a two lane road and I'm in the right lane.  I had just started up again from a light and the left lane traffic was flowing faster, but not too fast.  Scanning up ahead, I could see a pickup with a trailer towing lawnmowers closing in.  Immediately I checked my mirror, flipped my signal and checked my blind spot.  Coast clear, as there was a gap in the left lane traffic.  Commence lane change with an eye on the mirror.  All of a sudden, I see an old Grand Am charging up the left lane and lays on the horn...  as I pass the truck/trailer, I signal back into the right lane and the guy Grand Am guy makes a point of pulling parallel to me and giving me the finger.  He had his hand reached over right in front of  his wife's face, who looked completely terrified at the whole situation, and a young boy in the back.  At this point, the guy is holding up the left lane traffic and is beginning to swerve, too.  Northern Va for you.

Anyway, I'm glad you had your gear on out there and only suffered minimal damage.