Damn Cager!!! I crashed today.

So I was on the 210 freeway in southern California; coming home from a nice couple of hours with my family. Its about 8:00 and traffics a bit congested. I begin my usual lane splitting and after about 2 minutes I see one of those, "I'm waiting in traffic, so you should too." kind of cagers. There brushing the line closest to me as to maybe stop me from passing. I''m cautious and I see them, but its not something so rare that I'm not going to pass him like normal. I wait till he's rolled to the right a bit and begin my pass. Traffic in general was probably going around 20 and I was going 25. Just as I am about to pass him, the BASTARD swerves in front of me, splitting both lanes, and slams on his brakes. I wish I had upgraded my calipers, rotors, and pads beforehand, but oh well. I slammed on my brakes but his were stronger. I hit his back, flipped over the handlebars. and landed hard on my side to have an SUV pin my foot under its tire. I wriggled my foot loose and immediately stood up and pulled my bike to its feet, instantly checking for damage. The person who hit me had already hurried off and was gone. As usual, WEAR YOUR GEAR! I had jeans, boots, my leather jacket, and of course my helmet. If I had been wearing shorts, my leg would have been skinned and I think my boots helped protect my foot underneath the SUV. People asked me if I was alright and I said yes and thanked them. One women even pulled off the road with me and asked if I wanted a lift to a gas station. what a nice women. I rolled my seca off to the side and did a full check.

liquids? no, no leaks. thank god
bent metals? shifter, slightly.
broken metals? clutch lever snapped.
lights? left front blinker cover snapped off.

and lastly, handlebars were pointing towards the sky.

The handlebars I pulled back down and positioned everything where it was. All cables were intact and everything seemed to be connected correctly and in good working order.

I drove it home, used epoxy on my lens cover, thats fixed.
tightened my bars at my desired position, tightened my levers, and straightened out my shifter peg. Amazingly, she held amazingly.

All I can say is, its amazing how some people can be so damn ridiculous in there actions and others can be so caring, all within a matter of minutes of one another. Please be cautious guys, and next time you see one of these types, just change lanes around them don't split.

 

I never really cared for those who "split the lanes" on bikes to begin with. But, I definately never thought of trying to run one of those people over deliberately. I'm just glad you were able to walk away with little to no injuries. Unfortunately, the bike had to take the brunt of the damage.

I guess this one could be chalked up to a lessons learned kind of day. Always wear your safety gear. And don't split lanes.

Yet again, one more reason to ride defensively on our bikes.

 

Glad to hear bike and rider are alright. Thanks for not losing your faith for all of humanity.

There definately are three kinds of people in this world; Active, Passive, and aggressive. You met two of them yesterday.

The Buff

 

I read about being able to do the lane splitting, but I guess I didn't think anyone was dumb enough to practice it on a regular bases. That's just asking for an accident with the way people drive nowadays. If your that impatient you have to drive between vehicles, you should've taken another route or left earlier. I don't know who started this stupid practice and why would they even thought of making it legal is beyond normal comprehension to me. If you continue to practice lane splitting, I guess you will eventually learn the hard way. PD

 

Never understood why I was expected to wait in traffic because 95% of the population uses 2 tonnes of steel and plastic thats 4mtrs long and 2 mtrs wide to transport themselves.Not even counting the resources involved to move that behemoth.
Dont get me wrong I'm not advocating high speed dangerous lane splitting but if traffic is moving at walking pace and I can filter through I do so.
The attitude that I have to wait so everybody should is just garbage.
That the same as riders saying I get wet in the rain so cars should not have roofs.
Sorry to hear about your off and glad it wasn't to painful financially or physically.
Always good to remind ourselves everyone else on the road is blind ,stupid and homicidal.

 

Well, I guess if you had to pass a vehicle in traffic with other cars next to them, I would walk the bike forward, to make sure the car/truck doesn't do as it did to Sanchez and cut you off. I just don't see the point in riding between cars, when most of you know as well as I do that drivers don't sit there looking in their review mirrors to see if they leave enough room along side of them to leave a bike thru. It's just asking to get hit.
What about the guy who opens his door to check his rear tire? I mean really now. It's bad enough just passing a 4 wheeler, not knowing if they are going to stay in their lane or not, but BETWEEN two them is just plain wrong. If I ride so fast that I can't stop for a vehicle in front of me, it's MY fault, that's how the law reads.
I'm sorry, but I have nightmares about lane splitting and someone opening their door as I'm going by!!! YIKES. That would leave a scar. PD

 

It's legal in California to lane split and perfectly safe when exercised with due caution. Sanchez recognized the risk even before he passed this idiot when he saw him driving impatiently in his lane. The correct action would have been what he suggested at the close of his story...

Riding motorcycles has been and always will be a dangerous activity. People have different risk-taking thresholds. Some will lane split, some will not. But, to suggest that no one should be allowed to lane split is ridiculous because some don't find it safe. Besides, all motorists, whether a cager or a motorcyclist, is suppose to check to make sure the way is clear before changing lanes. In this case, it clearly was not.

(If you ask me, that cager could have had attempted murder charges brought against him. He deliberately used his vehicle as a deadly weapon against sanchez in an attempt to prevent him from passing. The intent to harm can be clearly demonstrated.)

 

what about the legal practicallity of this.

the other person was involved in a hit-and-run accident. which in nebraska, will get you arrested, car impounded and license taken away.

of course that's the situration for both parties in the hit and run if it was hit and run then not reported for 24 hours.

i would have left the bike there, and called 911 with a desc / license plate of the car that make you wreck.

maybe in a couple of days your neck and back will start to hurt.. but if that does happen, no one to blame since no incident reports were made.


good thing you're alive though.

 

I never assume anything. Whatever the person was moving over for is not the issue. They have every right to use the full width of their lane. What if they were just inching forward, moving over to see around the vehicle ahead of them, to see why traffic was stopped? I see it done all the time in stop and go traffic.
Anyway, whatever the reason the vehicle moved over does not make them a criminal. If you practice lane splitting, you are NOT riding in a safe manner in my book. PD

 

Yes, I agree. The other driver in the 4 wheeler should have stopped. It was a hit and run for sure and they were in the wrong there. That part was inexcusable. The getting hit-in-their-own-lane part was not their fault. PD

 

Thanks, Sanchez! I was wondering what I was going to blog about, today.

 

well, the lane-splitting is a half and half subject.. the younger inexperienced think it's ok, while the older experienced knows better.

in the end, the lane splitting WAS bad driving, but bad driving was also the ahole trying to KILL the motorcyclist. You pull infront of a bike and apply brakes, that motorcycle will probably hit you.

i hate that about cages, they'll just pull out in front of you regardless of what's going on. cause they are in a cage and don't have any sense of anything.

 

Lane splitting, however legal here in CA, is risky no matter how you split it. Unfortunately, this is an argument that is best avoided even if you are right. Being right isn't worth your well-being. I have encountered similar ilk in a few places and in all cases, just avoid them and give them a wide berth. Hope you cleaned up ok Sanchez, the 210 is lousy most of the day so I'm not surprised you got stuck there. Hope they catch the jerk.

 

That goes without saying, cagers need to learn how to drive better, no doubt. I guess that's the main reason I latched on to the idea of riding like I'm invisible.
I don't know who teaches driver training in your area, but around here, I don't think anyone knows what the signal light lever is used for!! Or they drive down the road with the signal light left on, which is just as bad.
Maybe I was too harsh on the rider who flipped over the bars (Sanchez) and I'm am sorry if I offended him. I hope they catch the guy who left the scene of the accident.
I still wouldn't make a practice of going between vehicles in heavy traffic. I just think it's an unsafe practice and the incident that happened just proved that. I hope that Sanchez is alright and gets his bike back to original condtion. PD

 

Well no matter how you look at it, motorcycle riding requires an entire new sense of reaction and consciousness to maintain yourself while out on the road with other drivers. As stated before, in California lane splitting is legal and while that doesn't make it safe, like Gamuru said, it can be practiced safely and executed safely when you cautiously approach the situation. I'm a commuter who probably drives around 500 miles a week on my bike, so cagers and their "I own the road" type mentality is something I'm well aware of, so when you lane split for as long as I have been doing it, you realize that just like motorcycle riding in general, you can see the hazards in the road and learn to avoid them accordingly with time and practice.

To put off any, "Lane splitting is what got you in an accident." type of banter, remember I said that He pulled in front of me and slammed his brakes. the exact same thing can happen when minding your own business in your own single lane.

To sum it up, whether you believe its safe or not, lane splitting, moreover learning how to avoid hazardous conditions and processing them quickly is something created with experience of riding and no matter how you look at it, various people in their cars will act however they wish to act. We just need to react fast enough.

I just didn't really think road rage would really happen so quickly, but thats my lesson learned and I now take to the roads with that much more of an open eye.

 

Well no matter how you look at it, motorcycle riding requires an entire new sense of reaction and consciousness to maintain yourself while out on the road with other drivers. As stated before, in California lane splitting is legal and while that doesn't make it safe, like Gamuru said, it can be practiced safely and executed safely when you cautiously approach the situation. I'm a commuter who probably drives around 500 miles a week on my bike, so cagers and their "I own the road" type mentality is something I'm well aware of, so when you lane split for as long as I have been doing it, you realize that just like motorcycle riding in general, you can see the hazards in the road and learn to avoid them accordingly with time and practice.

To put off any, "Lane splitting is what got you in an accident." type of banter, remember I said that He pulled in front of me and slammed his brakes. the exact same thing can happen when minding your own business in your own single lane.

To sum it up, whether you believe its safe or not, lane splitting, moreover learning how to avoid hazardous conditions and processing them quickly is something created with experience of riding and no matter how you look at it, various people in their cars will act however they wish to act. We just need to react fast enough.

I just didn't really think road rage would really happen so quickly, but thats my lesson learned and I now take to the roads with that much more of an open eye.

 

I also want to thank you guys for caring. I am indeed fine and my seca's only real problem is a half snapped clutch lever. So with that, THANKS FOR THE LOVE!!!

 

I also want to thank you guys for caring. I am indeed fine and my seca's only real problem is a half snapped clutch lever. So with that, THANKS FOR THE LOVE!!!

 

holy double post batman!!!!

























holy double post batman!!!!