RIP 13 Apr-4 June 2006

[BUCKET]

Good to hear you are ok apart from the bones and bruises.RIP speedy.i know it is hard for cages and trucks to see us but lately i have been thinking they just don't give a f*#@,had a case of attempted murder as far as i'm concerned a while ago.Was riding on Bruce Hwy when a car passed me and sat beside me in the right hand lane whilst all of the feral occupants lent out the window and yelled abuse and gave me the finger as the driver looked at me as he kept getting closer forcing me to get as far left as i could.So i braked as he sped off and i thought that was that until i got to roadworks and he was stopped in front of me,he proceeded to put it in reverse and rev it with his foot on the brake.Scared the f@#* out of me,think they must be jealous of all the fun we're having.Hope you get back on 2 wheels soon.
Bucket :hammer:

[dr_gallup]

On 2006-06-05 16:30, RocketIIInut wrote:
sorry to hear about the accident, but glad you survived it.

looking back, do you think there was anything that you could have done either before the accident occurred or when it was happing?

where you in any way driving in the truck's blind spot?

where you passing at a slower than normal speed?

where you not passing at all - just traveling at same speed when the accident occurred?

again, just curious if you had any reflective thoughts about what you could have done, or will do in the future, to keep you out of harm's way.

please note, this question is not in anyway attempting to put blame at your feet; I know we all reflect after such an incident about what might have been done differently....

glad you're OK!

Believe me, I have been replaying it over and over in my head to see if there was any way to avoid it. I was passing him slowly, just moving with traffic and I'm sure I was in his blind spot when he came over. So the lesson I have taken from it would be to hang back behind him until there was room to speed up and pass him quickly. That would reduce the time in the blind spot and at highest risk.

However, since he was oblivious to me, he still might have cut across. The rate that he made his move was what got me. Nornally most cars & trucks just sort of drift across and there is plenty of time to take evasive action. This guy cranked the wheel hard. I saw his front wheels turn left about 20 degrees and the truck body sway hard right. I grabbed a handfull of brakes and slowed enough that he only took out the front wheel instead of getting run over by his back wheels. That was all the time I had to do anything.

The other thing that has crossed my mind is that a louder pipe might have made a difference. I have never subscribed to the "loud pipes save lives" creedo but in this case where I was just behind his door it might have made a difference. The ***** is that I had ordered the Trident 1/2 pipe system which Wolf has already shipped but is still somewhere in transit!

[LndSpd03]

Sorry about your loss. Good thing that you are relatively ok. Heal well and get back on a brandy new triple!!!

Passing is always a crapshoot, but I definitely do whatever I can to reduce my time in the blind spot (death spot). Making sure there is plenty room to squirt by quickly while always paying attention to the drivers movements...

Best of luck.

-Russ

[dr_gallup]

Well, it's official. On Friday the truck drivers insurance company informed me that their adjuster had declared Speedy a total loss.

I'm feeling better although the collar bone & shoulder are still very painful and my left knee is still stiff & swollen. I go back to the Doc on Tuesday to see how it's progressing. I got a recliner to sleep in which was a huge improvement over sitting up in an armchair all night. Hopefully I will be able to sleep in bed in another week.

[s3hooligan]

Good to hear that you're relatively ok. What part of SC are you in? I'm in Columbia.

[dr_gallup]

On 2006-06-11 07:55, s3hooligan wrote:
Good to hear that you're relatively ok. What part of SC are you in? I'm in Columbia.

I'm in the Greenville area (foothills of the Blue Ridge Mts for those not familiar with the area).

Thanks to everyone for their support. Hope to rejoin the S3 owners ranks, perhaps with an 07!

[TonUp]

Glad you are ok, the bike can always be replaced.





Ton Up!

[mjoolnar]

Enjoy the North Channel! It is absolutely gorgeous there. What a great place to recover, the waters are so clear they must have healing properties.

[abelard]

Sorry to hear about the bad luck. But man are you one lucky bastard if you think about it. Stay safe and I hope you can resurrect the beast!

[dr_gallup]

I've ordered up another white one from Chattanooga! Hopefully pick it up on July 1st. Insurance better come through before then. I'm going to try to keep this one longer!.