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Thread: Surviving bad crashes

  1. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by Taxythingy View Post
    Key takings were (1) I will be able to parent my kids tonight - ride appropriately, (2) I was the gap the driver was looking for - convoy travel on roads like this at shitty times is a good defense (3) more thinking about my visibility, e.g. light, obstructions, attention level of drivers, (trust but verify) (4) ATGATT helps - don't skimp.
    All good!

    Re attention levels, a tip I appreciate (and should use more!) is to assess the driver as well as the vehicle. Is the driver looking at you or through you? Glancing vaguely your way then staring intently in another direction? Fixated on an obvious hazard (other than the bike)? Is it some old codger with bottle-bottom glasses and a flat cap, a parent with a car full of screaming distractions, or a young inexperienced risk-taker in a hurry? Are they indicating? Stopped at or over the line, or creeping forward? What are they seeing/looking for? Is the traffic heavy enough that they might be getting impatient? Even the time of day is relevant, plus the weather and road conditions, and the balance, speed and inertia of the bike, tyre condition, and your own attentiveness and reaction speed ...

    Oh boy it's complicated and I'm sure I've missed loads!

    Planning ahead, looking for escape routes, anticipating stuff and reacting defensively to it, is something that improves with practice ... and you don't even need to be driving to do it: plenty of safe learning opportunities on YouTube with endless dashcam footage of incidents and near misses.

  2. #47
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    12th August 2013 - 20:01
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    Hey Riffer.

    I too didn't know about your crash as have myself been offline for a good few years now, on and off.

    Thanks for the update, a really good thread to read and I'm really proud of you for the progress it sounds like you have and are making. You are right, life becomes very different but I am thrilled you are alive.

    And that bloody nerve pain and lack of sensation... not sure if one ever gets "used" to it, but time helps one to understand it a little better.

    Take care mate, well done for getting back on a bike after all that.

    Katiepie x

  3. #48
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    25th January 2008 - 17:56
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    Thumbs up

    Quote Originally Posted by Katiepie View Post
    Hey Riffer.

    I too didn't know about your crash as have myself been offline for a good few years now, on and off.

    Thanks for the update, a really good thread to read and I'm really proud of you for the progress it sounds like you have and are making. You are right, life becomes very different but I am thrilled you are alive.

    And that bloody nerve pain and lack of sensation... not sure if one ever gets "used" to it, but time helps one to understand it a little better.

    Take care mate, well done for getting back on a bike after all that.

    Katiepie x
    who's this then?Hello Katiepie, great to see you in the forums, hope all is as good/great as it can be, ol riffer's a worry isn't he!
    Every day above ground is a good day!:

  4. #49
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    Hey Katiepie, I'm not posting so much these days but do pop in from time to time and it's great to see your login. Hope you're OK.
    There are two songs, "Stairway to Heaven" and "Highway to Hell" which I think give an indication of expected traffic flow

  5. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blackbird View Post
    Simon, for an Android, it's Settings > Advanced Features > Send SOS messages. I'd imagine that an iPhone is similar. It's something which every rider hopes not to use but something which might tilt the odds in your favour.

    Although I've been in IAM for a good few years now, it's always good to revisit one's core skills. I guess the most apt phrase is "Use it or lose it". Easier to pick up bad habits than acquire new good ones!

    Well it sounds like you've got plenty of things in your life to keep you occupied so every good wish for all of them mate!
    It works. In Alaska last year my android sent a several texts saying emergency with gps co ordinates to my designated contact. Only way I knew it worked was the barmaid at the Fat Mermaid in Kodiak shouted out my name saying the local search and rescue wanted to speak with me. Turned out I accidently set it off while ordering beers.

  6. #51
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    I had one too

    In 2010 I slammed into the side of a large 4WD that did a U turn over the brow of a hill. Bunch of busted bones and punctured lung that needed surgery.
    Ten years later (and at age 60) I've pretty well healed up. Well maybe so, but between my ears, I'm still a little wary and don't ride as much as I should. I have a couple of bikes in the shed and now the batteries tend to get flat. It's those others that use the road that worry me. Maybe I need to do some sort of defensive riding course or similar to get my confidence back.
    If you love it, let it go. If it comes back to you, you've just high-sided!
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  7. #52
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    The worst part is when you are in hospital for no reason that you can remember and everyone is talking about some poor bugger with the same name as you, and you can't help but feel sorry for this unfortunate dude.

    Don't ask me how I know this.
    Shit doesn't just happen; there's usually an arsehole involved.

  8. #53
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    12th March 2005 - 23:42
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    Well this has been a sobering read. I have been riding since about 2003 and have yet (touch wood) to have a serious off. Several close calls, a bad trail riding crash that broke a femur and left me with permanent knee pain, but nothing properly serious (although several dead friends - most ex-kiwibikers too). It's healthy to be reminded of the risks, particularly when the blood gets up and the riding aggression increases. The consequences of a crash can be bloody catastrophic and life altering. Thanks guys for sharing your stories, a timely reminder for me.
    Nail your colours to the mast that all may look upon them and know who you are.
    It takes a big man to cry...and an even bigger man to laugh at that man.

  9. #54
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    13th July 2008 - 20:48
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    Just a different perspective.

    I've attended hundreds of crashes where drivers and riders have said that they had the choice between this place to go, and that place to go.

    I actually believe that very few people have the cognitive ability to process information quickly enough to make a rational choice as to which way to avoid a crash. These things happen so damn fast that the outcome is normally predetermined, and the driver or rider is powerless to reduce the outcome.

    For this reason, looking a long way ahead and being uber aware is the key to getting information early enough to have prevent someone else's errors turning into our bad outcomes.

    Sorry to hear about all the trauma guys. Sad, whatever the case.

  10. #55
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    Quote Originally Posted by rastuscat View Post
    Just a different perspective.

    I've attended hundreds of crashes where drivers and riders have said that they had the choice between this place to go, and that place to go.

    I actually believe that very few people have the cognitive ability to process information quickly enough to make a rational choice as to which way to avoid a crash. These things happen so damn fast that the outcome is normally predetermined, and the driver or rider is powerless to reduce the outcome.

    For this reason, looking a long way ahead and being uber aware is the key to getting information early enough to have prevent someone else's errors turning into our bad outcomes.

    Sorry to hear about all the trauma guys. Sad, whatever the case.
    The usual result of leaving decisions to the last minute/second is ... the number of options you have are reduced the longer you leave it.

    Making positive actions sooner in the interest of your own health and safety, beats those choices of what you prefer to hit just before crunch time.

    Expect that all other drivers will do something stupid in front (or near) you. When they do you'll not be surprised, but ready. And be aware of your best options.

    Avoiding a crash is sometimes simply not an option, but it pays to know (be looking) where the softest bits are to aim for if the need arises. I'm getting older ... so I usually take more care when the "Run off areas" would be painful, if not actually unsurvivable.
    When life throws you a curve ... Lean into it ...

  11. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by rastuscat View Post
    Just a different perspective.

    I've attended hundreds of crashes where drivers and riders have said that they had the choice between this place to go, and that place to go.

    I actually believe that very few people have the cognitive ability to process information quickly enough to make a rational choice as to which way to avoid a crash. These things happen so damn fast that the outcome is normally predetermined, and the driver or rider is powerless to reduce the outcome.

    For this reason, looking a long way ahead and being uber aware is the key to getting information early enough to have prevent someone else's errors turning into our bad outcomes.

    Sorry to hear about all the trauma guys. Sad, whatever the case.
    This is pretty much what is behind the theory of reducing speed limits isn't it?
    I mentioned vegetables once, but I think I got away with it...........

  12. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by Woodman View Post
    This is pretty much what is behind the theory of reducing speed limits isn't it?
    Pretty much, yes. If crashes didnt happen, there would be no need to reduce the kinetic energy involved in the motion of mass that vehicles possess.

    But collectively we consistently let ourselves down.

  13. #58
    Quote Originally Posted by rastuscat View Post
    I actually believe that very few people have the cognitive ability to process information quickly enough to make a rational choice as to which way to avoid a crash. These things happen so damn fast that the outcome is normally predetermined, and the driver or rider is powerless to reduce the outcome..
    Experience - unfortunately to gain experience in these situations...you need to experience these situations. The goody goody two shoes who have never crashed don't have the experience to cope with a crash situation. Catch 22. I've always like the Kenny Roberts ''package on the wall'' example - you experience a situation on your bike, you learn from that...you put it in a neat package and put it on the wall. Ooops, oh shit !!!! - grab it...apply it...job done.
    In and out of jobs, running free
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  14. #59
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    Quote Originally Posted by Motu View Post
    The goody goody two shoes who have never crashed don't have the experience to cope with a crash situation.
    That's a bit of a sweeping statement isn't it?

    While on the track you might find a bikes limits by riding beyond them to do that on the road marks you as a twat. I have seen plenty of examples of people doing that in my job but once you are off the bike and sliding it is simply the luck of the draw as to whether you come to a graceful stop with some busted stitching and a few trophy bruises or you catch your helmet on a strainer post and snap your neck before cartwheeling in to an early grave. Trees, kerbs, guardrails, walls, cars, power poles etc etc, the list is long and pretty fucking solid.

    Ooh, got to stop typing there, someone has just gone up Saddle Hill at full tit on a big four stroke. Which is nice on a night like this.

    Anyroad, I don't see how someone who has crashed on the road suddenly has the experience to cope with a crash situation. To make a sweeping generalisation myself, and certainly not pointed at anyone who has posted in this thread, it seems as if those who have crashed on the road don't always use that experience because they often crash again and bump up the ACC for the goody goody two shoes who ride defensively because they don't want to end up in traction or finally prove their Mum was right all along.

    If my Mum knew how I rode she would shit herself. I would certainly have never thought of myself as goody goody two shoes on two wheels just because I have never binned it.

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