Quasi-poll: Lifesaving equipment

I was on the way home from school, driving along a residential road. Speed limit is 35 MPH, and I'm doing a bit less than that because I'm approaching an intersection. An SUV pulls up to the intersection from my left -- he's got a stop sign, I don't. I look at the driver, who looks my way, but I notice he does not make eye contact with me. I go to yellow alert/DEFCON 3 and ease off the throttle a bit more. He starts to roll, with a pretty heavy foot on the peddle, but I'm too close to stop or drop. I go full off the throttle, full on both brakes, nail the horn button. That horn may not be terribly loud, but it was enough to get his attention. He slams on the brakes and stops just before the centerline of the road.

So, the lifesaving equipment that came into play for me in this instance was (1) eyeballs -- of course, and (2) horn.

Here's the quasi-poll: What equipment has saved your butt (especially from being in an accident)?

kip

 

Eyeballs every time!

My horns don't work so my eyeballs are everything.

Whether your travelling at 20mph or 150mph I always slow down when theres a car near an intersection/driveway etc.

Prevention is better than cure.

I have noticed more people pulling out in front of me since I've been riding the XS instead of the XJ. We quietened the XS down to get it licensed so full noise isn't very loud.

Might be time for another chop. :wink:

 

Your wits and keeping your head on a swivel are your greatest safety tools.

 

I don't think there's any question that being alert and thinking ahead is the best saftey meaure out there. I'm sure we all have stories of incididents just like this. Here's mine.

About 2 months ago I was riding on a street near my home. It's a four lane divided street with a 40 mph speed limit. I noticed that immediately in front of me was a truck that looked like it was straight out of Sanford and Son. I immediately thought, hmm, I better back off a bit. Not 10 seconds later a huge gas grill came tumbling off the back of the truck. I had only backed off two or three more car lengths at that point, but it was enough of a cushion to allow me to stop before hitting it. There was a car immediately to my right and oncoming traffic on my left. Had I not been able to stop, I'd have had no option but to hit the grill and at 40mph, I have to think the results would have been catastrophic. Staying alert and predidicting events around me may well have saved my life.

Greg

 

Only had one incident that I got into .. I was riding my XS 1100 home from work and was riding on Hillside Blvd along the south side of San Bruno Mountain nice 4 lane blacktop, fairly good hills, but round and rolling, not too steep .. anyway I'm cruising about 50 almost no one on the road, there was a car in the fast lane and I was in the slow lane, I was going faster than he was so I just scooted on by him and moved into his lane because I was going to make a left turn at the top of the street I lived on .. turns out it was some hot headed kid in his 'quasi custom' highschool car, and he punches it and runs right up on my butt, I don't trust cagers and I get a little antsy if they get too close to me, so I goosed it a little, and swung into my turn .. I was entering a subdivision which was built around Hillside Blve, which was conceived to fit within a certain 'area' and had a row of houses along Hillside, then a street and another row of houses .. a cross street two houses from the corner I turned into .. and an old gent in a 1940 something ford truck was pulling out into the intersection right in front of me .. I knew I could not stop in that short distance, and he looked over my way - panic'ed and stopped.

I remember working both brakes, don't remember how effective I was at downshifting, but I was trying to keep the bike from going out of control .. I slid the rear end around enough so I was able to allow the bike to move forward and stop the rear end from spinning around, without losing it and I barely missed his tailgate, but I couldn't steer the bike anymore and I couldn't avoid hitting the curb.. it happend so quickly .. I was wearing a leather jacket and levi's ..

When the bike hit the curb I had slowed it enough that the stator case cracked, but the bike just stopped and stood against the curb, didn't even fall down .. I kept going.. off the bike, my knees hit the sidewalk, instantly vaporizing my levi's and gving me nasty road rashes on both knees, there was a chain link fence and I knew I was going to hit it, so I put my head down and my helmet hit the chain link, this literally tore my leather jacket off of me, ruining it, and my helmet had 'bear claw' marks on it.. but I walked away within minutes, that beautiful ol Yamanha XS 1100 still started, even with a busted stator casing, ran real rough, but I rode it on down the hill, about 4 blocks, with the old man out of his truck and a couple of neighbors asking if I was ok .. and parked in the garage. As soon as I felt up to it, I got in my truck drove over to South City Cycle Salvage and picked up a stator case .. took it home and took the electric brush to it, spiffed it up and bolted it on and I was back on the road..

I'm glad it wasn't any more serious, and I learned to be very careful and thoughtful about speed .. it's so easy to start feeling to ZEN with your bike.

Last word: I now have a raw nerve on my right knee, if I touch it with my finger, or bump it or rub it against something it's a nasty shooting pain that's very unpleasant .. Thanks for the reminder Lord, I'll be more careful.

James