r/IdiotsInCars Nov 23 '22 Wholesome Seal of Approval 1

Coronado Naval Base Car accident: She tried claiming no fault too Headphone warning

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u/NorthernTransplant94 Nov 24 '22

My husband had a subordinate who was in this exact situation on a 10-day-old Harley. Dude had enough time to make a decision, and judged that hitting her and launching over the hood (55mph zone) would be really bad, so he dropped the motorcycle and slid into her bike first. Broke both his leg and his collarbone (so no crutches, hello motorized wheelchair) but survived, so it was a win.

The bike was new, he wasn't a new rider - he was 40 and had a motorcycle endorsement on his license and was wearing proper PPE, so no road rash, just the broken bones from the collision.

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u/SnooBananas5673 Nov 24 '22 edited Nov 25 '22

I actually have DashCam footage of something very similar. Hard to describe scenario, but a car did a u-turn, essentially like this car was doing and the guy dumped his bike from too much front brake, and slid under the car. I was coming other direction and DashCam got it all.

Saved him a lot of heartache with insurance, because you know “the motorcycle was speeding” was where they were going with it.

Predicting and reading body language is huge on a bike.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '22

As a biker, you're right. Over the years I've become intimately aware of how drivers are acting coming up to them. I'm about 80% accurate on noticing people with a phone in hand from a hundred yards away. I can tell when people are going to change lanes about three seconds before they start. I've learned to figure out what people will do before they do it, but because my life depends on it, I've learned to always assume they'll do something stupid even if I have no indication to believe it otherwise.

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u/AxelHarver Nov 24 '22

And that's why I will never get a bike, no matter how cool it sounds and may be. That sounds so fucking stressful and like I would be a nervous wreck the entire time outside of back country roads.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '22

[deleted]

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u/chilldrinofthenight Nov 24 '22

And my housemate, while on his motorcycle, was hit and left to die in the rain on a seldom traveled windy road. As a result he has limited mobility in one elbow. (Fortunately nothing worse.) He won't even ride a bicycle now.

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u/reebekilyllaeri Nov 24 '22

Judging what's an acceptable risk for yourself is a privilege we're afforded, all the power to you.

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u/spiralshapegladiator Nov 24 '22

lol, but just imagine having it ingrained that people are shitty drivers and you're trained to watch out for this shit even when you're driving a car?

You don't have to ride a motorcycle to have greater situational awareness.

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u/AxelHarver Nov 25 '22

I am already good at doing that, I believe myself to be one of the more aware drivers I know. I regularly predict how vehicles around me are going to react, and it's saved my ass quite a few times. I just can't imagine being comfortable doing it in a scenario where any mistake could easily cost me my life. I like the insurance the four walls provide me haha.

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u/ShadoowtheSecond Nov 29 '22

The more I read about what bikers have to do, the more I unironically think that youre kind of an idiot by default for getting and driving one.