Bit of an off

[Stingo]

Had an off today. Conditions clear but roads still damp from overnight shower. Bright morning sunshine sunglasses on - time 0730. Hooning through Torpoint as usual with the rest of the traffic after having got off the ferry. Speed around 30 mph (honestly ? we really were!) In front of me was a mini that suddenly decided to stop to allow a third party out of their driveway. Slammed on the anchors trying not to lose control and fully aware that there was a car up my **** with other vehicles behind that?about 3 metres from the back of said mini I knew that I was not going to be able to stop so at two metres I had to ditch the bike. Went down on the RHS and pointed the sliding beast towards the back of the vehicle. A few nano seconds passed and I made gentle contact with the car - bits of my RHS indicator were pinging off in all directions, my LHS wing mirror was snapped off by the underside of the car and disappeared over my shoulder, my head was coming to rest on the central white line. Behind me I was aware of a skid followed by a number of crashing sounds (concertina effect stylee) as the rest of the traffic came to a grinding & screeching halt behind me!! All very exciting. Even the bus managed to miss the scooter gang. Climbing out from under my hog I looked behind and could see that three scooters had come to grief - one of the riders now being located on the opposite side of the road.
I reckon we were all a bit lucky in that nothing was coming from the other direction.

Damage to me? Sore right thumb. RHS indicator in bits and rear brake pedal is in two parts - left hand mirror knackered. Not sure about the rest as I'm in work now and the bike is around the corner on someone's drive - I'll pick it up later. I've got R&G's on so I reckon they took all the impact. I don't recall picking any other bits up from the road so I reckon they'll still be intact. I think it'll be ok though. One of the scooters had its front fairing thing smashed into large portions but was still hanging on the bike. All good fun.

So - two schools of thought then.
School one:- To a man we were all possibly too close to each other given speed and conditions etc. Therefore it was a disaster waiting to happen. Maybe.
School two:- Mini driver did not look into his rear view mirror before stopping for no apparent reason other than to let a random driver out of her drive way who incidentally had not actually commenced moving from the drive and so had still had the pavement between the car and the dropped kerb.

I guess I'll be doing some minor repairs this weekend. Off to fleabay I must go!!

[G]

Bummer at least everyone was ok.

I keep an eye out for random people stopping, letting people out of side roads etc, most common commuters accidents those.

I dont think it was the mini's fault though to be fair, just poor observations really. Was the mini damaged to the point they are claiming off you?

Sorry too hear about this me ol' matey, glad you're ok though

dude, glad to hear your ok....but dont forget the 2 second rule.

ONly a fool!

[Stingo]

Originally Posted by graemepaterson

Bummer at least everyone was ok.

I keep an eye out for random people stopping, letting people out of side roads etc, most common commuters accidents those.

I dont think it was the mini's fault though to be fair, just poor observations really. Was the mini damaged to the point they are claiming off you?

Nope - no damage - perhaps on reflection I should have tossed the bike into his boot!!

Originally Posted by Stingo

Even the bus managed to miss the scooter gang.

That bus driver needs educating in the rules of the road!!

Anyhow, glad you're relatively OK.

My thinking (from your description) is that the person that was allowed out by the mini did not have right of way. Therefore mini driver's responsability is to ensure he doesn't cause a danger to other traffic (eg, stopping to let another car out would stop cars behind the mini).

Depends how quickly the mini decelerated really. But if it was 30mph, then yes, you were all too close (not only you).

Maybe the outcome will be partial, not outright any single party to blame.

Glad to hear your injuries aren't worse than they are - sounds like quite a big crash! Ride safe folks!

Alex

[G]

Originally Posted by Stingo

Nope - no damage - perhaps on reflection I should have tossed the bike into his boot!!

And have your insurance premiums increase and various arguements with insurers over the price of your bike when they try and give you a cheque for 75% of its value sod that

[SoulKiss]

Sorry to hear.

But if you had travelled some distance before the decision to ditch at 3 meters then I think that you were probably far enough back.

Got the Mini's details?

Sounds like time to put a claim in against their insurance

Hope you recover from the hurty-hurties soon

Damn. Glad you're OK. The bike'll fix.