Stuipidity, Lessons and Appologies

[MoFunthanmost]

well it was an interesting comute to work today.
running late (as usual) so was spliting and passing fairly aggressively through the sluggish traffic.

coming up to an intersection in the distance, traffic is already starting to slow, I'm in te left lane, going slightly faster than the car to my right. Another bike who I have been following at a distance is in the right lane a bit ahead of the car to my right, and has a nice pink thing of a car in front of him.
he moves to split, so I puch the gas a bit to go into right lane, so I'm now in the gap between the pink car and the car that had been on my right.

I read the traffic wrong though. and the slickness of the road.

a car a couple of cars ahead in our lane decides to braked at the same time as I changed lanes, causing all our distances to shorten, also caused the bike ahead to NOT lane split.
Fuck.
Brake, fishtail, ease off, straighten, brake, fishtail, ease off, you're going too fast idiot, cant stop in time, aim for the gap. make it.

No scrapes, hits, or crashes.
But wish that was something to be proud of.

The gap was between the bike and the car, and the between traffic, lane splitting again.

I came very close to taking out another bike and/or praning a car through my stupidity and not properly taking into the consideration the condition of the road, and my distances for braking.

Appologies to both the rider of the other bike, and the cage driver, and the other road users who witnessed said stupidity.

perhaps this isnt the best kind of thing to post here (cops prowling etc)

but learn from my mistakes - slow down in the wet, and make sure you KNOW what the traffic is doing.

cheers,

The now Slow Mo

[pastybee]

I was on the way way Wgtn today and i wasnt the other biker, but learnt my lesson in the wet conditions without crashing but doing a rather large fishtail even going at 100km trying to stop for lights on the Hutt road, so its good to see you and i have learnt we need to drive to the conditions without hurting ourselfs or anyone else.

P

[Bend-it]

Yeah, I've just started to lanesplit, and do have to remind myself that this bike's bigger than the 50cc I used to ride.

Man, the 50cc was the ULTIMATE lanesplitting machine!! And people actually seemed to mind scooters less than bikes! Not sure why... hmmm...

[Squeak the Rat]

Hey Mo,

Well done for avoiding the other vehicles and not hurting yourself or the other rider. Yes your'e right you should have avoided the situation in the first place. However shit does happen, and you can chalk this up to experience and you obviously have the right attitude to learn from this.

Don't be too hard on yourself. :calm:
SRT



without hurting ourselfs or anyone else.

PS - Right on, forget the hardware, this is what counts.

[klingon]

perhaps this isnt the best kind of thing to post here (cops prowling etc)

but learn from my mistakes - slow down in the wet, and make sure you KNOW what the traffic is doing.


I think this is just the right thing to post here. Thanks for the reminder, and thanks for being big enough to admit your mistakes and let the rest of us learn from them.

[MSTRS]

....but learn from my mistakes - slow down in the wet, and make sure you KNOW what the traffic is doing.
A valuable lesson learned, luckily no harm done. But I want to point out that we can NEVER know what the traffic is doing - guesses based on experience, at best.

[kiwifruit]

on ya for learning from it

[Sniper]

Well done on a good lesson learnt and not posting up another accident thread.

[u4ea]

Well done on a good lesson learnt and not posting up another accident thread.
very timely reminder:yeah: with the winter months looming:ride:

[WildBoarMouse]

Just out of curiousity... for my own reference if/when I get into this situation... :) Were you using a combination of the back brake and front brake or just the back?

[MoFunthanmost]

Just out of curiousity... for my own reference if/when I get into this situation... :) Were you using a combination of the back brake and front brake or just the back?

Bit of both I think, Throttled off, downgeared (so I could use the engine to help brake) as i applyed both bit of front then back, once I started to fish tho, I let both brakes off, think i may used the engine/clutch to control/continue to brake a little til I was straight again, then braked again a bit less than before, maybe used a little/no front as didnt want it to slide out, but I fished again, and so brakes came off and I started aiming for the gap.

But it all happened so fast, was more reflex, I cant remember exactly. I think thats what I did :scratch:

Should I have done something else to prevent my fishing??

other than been going slower of course... :slap:

[Nitzer]

I'm no expert but that sounds pretty spot on to me, besides which you avoided crashing, so you must have done something right! :clap:

My previous spill was caused by too much front brake causing the bike to slip from under me on greasy conditions.

Good on yer for starting this thread:yes:

[madboy]

Next time hold your tongue to the left, that'll help.

Takes a big man to admit a mistake like this. Most of us just hope there were no witnesses!

I was practising stoppies on the way in this morning, back end comes up and I can feel it starting to go left... way too many witnesses around to put it down way sideways and risk some action, so put it down real quick and real carefully before it really got sideways. Just proves I should have prepared a little better before I tried something silly like that with pedestrians and traffic everywhere.

[pritch]

was spliting and passing fairly aggressively through the sluggish traffic.

As long as you understand that by doing this you are placing a very high reliance on the good sense and driving skill of the other road users. Almost certainly totally unjustified, of course, and in consequence you have a very slim safety margin.

You have analysed the situation you found yourself in and can see how the problem occurred and what to do about it. That places you ahead of most other road users who don't think about their driving.

[Madness]

I was practising stoppies on the way in this morning, with pedestrians and traffic everywhere.

Tut,tut,tut
:slap:

[Racey Rider]

Had a learning moment on the bike myself today.

Crawling along at 40km/h in a tight line of traffic behind some tractor. look left to see a woman walking towards the P. crossing infront. She wasn't ready to cross yet, but the guy/car in front of me obviously hadn't been getting any lately, and even tho she wasn't that 'Hot', he decided to stop and wait for her to take 6 extra steps to get to the crossing. I look back to see him stopped 2m ahead of me! Emergence Brakes! Phew!! :sweatdrop :o
Didn't lock wheels up, but just pulled it up a nats whisker from his bumper.
Funny how going slow can put you at more risk of a 'Not concentrating' prang sometimes. :Oops:

[imdying]

Don't you mean funny how following too close can make you prang sometimes?

[madboy]

I agree with the "slow is not always best" theory. My concentration levels fall dramatically if I go "slow". Legal following distance of 2 sec (or thereabouts) can mean diddly squat if you're not paying attention to the vehicle in front, for whatever reason. Cellphones, car radios, passengers, hotties, hoes, Liz Shaw can all take your attention away from the car in front.

[Brett]

yeah good lesson to learn, and to avoid learning it the hard way is even better. bikes can let go pretty quickly sometimes! The wet roads make it that much worse.
I may be the only one here like this, but when i get hit with sun glare, it makes me sleepy.