When we create a FUBAR, who has the nads to own up?

[slofox]

You fool! That's almost as stupid as some of the things I have done....

We all do dumb things - not repeating them is the best remedy.

Glad nobody was hurt.

[Clockwork]

Dude... I was 4 cars behind you and saw that!!!

You did well not getting clipped and were I you I would have been furious.
I was still thinking what a close call YOU had when I fubar'd up ahead of you (I safely passed you on my KTM in the left lane just prior to my own close call as we went through the underpass at the gorge)

Small motorway is our Wellington one!

I'd like to take the credit for avoiding this but the truth is he shot past so fast he was already past me by the time I'd have reacted. I've decided I was probably as much to blame for not indicating my migration back into and across the lane.

Still, was a bit steamed at the time and would have had my say if he'd stuck around but I wasn't going to try and match his riding speed just just to make that point!

[onearmedbandit]

I too have committed a foul mistake recently. I left a friends house about 4pm, riding home along a normal 50km/h road in Papanui (Harewood Rd?) I was following a silver Toyota Camry Sports at a safe distance when I noticed a van starting to pull out of Sanitariums driveway. I wasn't sure if he had seen me so I observed him, while making sure the Camry was still a safe distance away, until I got eye contact. When I saw that he had registered my presence and stopped, instead of looking back up straight away I looked at my speed. And so as I looked up I was greeted by the now very close brake lights and indicator of the Camry, which was now stopped waiting to turn across traffic. I grabbed a fistful of brakes, and a dab of the rear (which briefly locked), looked for my escape path and very nearly cleaned out the back of the Camry as I just nipped up the inside of it.

I was travelling at approx 55-60km/h (the speed of the traffic), I was being cautious, but overly cautious (I concentrated on the van too much, the Camry hadn't stopped between me checking my speedo and looking back up).

Lesson learnt. Being cautious is recommended, but don't ever get distracted by a possible threat at the expense of other threats around you.

[martybabe]

Being cautious is recommended, but don't ever get distracted by a possible threat at the expense of other threats around you.

Now that is a good one. My only ever car accident.....I was so intently watching this rather manic loose dog, totally convinced he was gonna dive under my wheels at any moment that I totally misjudged the parked car in front of me and clipped his rear wheel arch. Not much damage but bloody embarrassing when I was only trying to do the right thing.

The moral: watch everything but don't watch one thing too much because the other thing that your not watching enough may be the thing you should be watching more than the thing you are watching which didn't need watching as much as you thought it did

Or: survey and absorb everything that is, or is likely to be, happening around you, always.

[Fatt Max]

I made a HUGE mistake at the weekend and was going to keep it quiet. To be honest, I am still in a lot of pain, have a heap of regret but the bike is ok, so, every cloud.....

Time to fess up...

I put a spoon in the knife drawer, missus Max hates that, she bashed me with a rolling pin

There, it could have been avoided but my stupidity caused the pain I feel now

[John_H]

Brent, to make yourself feel better, simply grab your whip (we all know you have one) and proceed to flagellate yourself repeatedly on the back until the message has sunk in.

[dipshit]

Reflection learning is great thing. But it won't save your life.
Its difficult to reflect if your dead.

That's right. It pays to grow a brain before you do something stupid.

So many Kiwis only seem to have a change in attitude after they have paralyzed themselves or killed somebody. All the remorse and wishing you had done things differently afterwards means jack shit.

[onearmedbandit]

Didn't realise it was limited to just Kiwi's, I thought of it more as a 'human' trait.

[dipshit]

Didn't realise it was limited to just Kiwi's, I thought of it more as a 'human' trait.

Some countries take their road usage a bit more seriously than your average "she'll be right" kiwi.

[PrincessBandit]

There are too many examples of motorcyclists writing their bikes off through stupidity with little more response than "oh well, at least I can now go out bike shopping again". All too often, within a short space of time, they set about making history repeat itself.

I'm more inclined to believe the temptation is for them to fall into the "well no one was hurt in the end, so what's the big deal?" mentality. How many times do we witness a myriad of stupid decisions which could end in disaster but because nothing disastrous actually came of it, it was "so what, what's the big deal?".

By going through the realisation stage of what you could have caused (but didn't) you can learn an extremely important lesson without the guilt of the mayhem which could have ensued. I know if you take that to the extreme you could beat yourself up over every little tiny thing, so before anyone comes on knocking what I've said, I'm limiting my reference to incidents such as what Stoney related. The fact that a potential FUBAR didn't turn into one is a source of relief AND wake up call.

[monkeymcbean]

I made a HUGE mistake at the weekend and was going to keep it quiet. To be honest, I am still in a lot of pain, have a heap of regret but the bike is ok, so, every cloud.....

Time to fess up...

I put a spoon in the knife drawer, missus Max hates that, she bashed me with a rolling pin

There, it could have been avoided but my stupidity caused the pain I feel now

Oh well, don't beat yourself up about it....learn from your mistakes, I put utensils in the wrong place too!

[Smifffy]

Glad nobody got hurt in all of this, well except Max but he deserves all he gets. Drawer disturbances are unforgivable.


A guy I work with recently had an off in much the same manner as OAB, except the front went under as he braked and turned.

To me these sound like common occurrences that have been repeated many times by many riders, so the big question is:

How can the MSL best address these examples?

Education?
I would have figured that most of those that posted were well aware of the potential for danger, but for whatever reason weren't focussed on it at the time.

[StoneY]

How can the MSL best address these examples?

Education?
I would have figured that most of those that posted were well aware of the potential for danger, but for whatever reason weren't focussed on it at the time.

I would say, a mix of advanced awareness training and defensive riding education would be the only possible outcome for this 'habit' situation in re training our bad habits....

Another angle (for anyone who can make a cleaver enough business based on the psychology of it)would be free track days where we can let all our adrenaline out and release the valve!

[Smifffy]

I would say, a mix of advanced awareness training and defensive riding education would be the only possible outcome for this 'habit' situation in re training our bad habits....

Another angle (for anyone who can make a cleaver enough business based on the psychology of it)would be free track days where we can let all our adrenaline out and release the valve!

Without wanting to be a dick about it, or make it personal, I would have thought that those who posted their experiences are actually better educated (riding wise) and more defensive than most, yet they still had close calls.

What I want to know is what can be done differently? If the MSL continue to do what has always been done, they will only get more of what we already have.

The advanced rider training and track days for the most part seem already close to being fully subscribed as it is.

[onearmedbandit]

Ever walked into something because you were distracted? Even if you were trying to be careful? Dropped something, because you were concentrating on being so careful you didn't see the bunched up carpet under foot? People take great care in doing things everyday, yet we still have accidents. Unfortunately we can only process so much information at one time, and our minds can be clouded by other subjects too.

This may seem to contradict what I've said about taking responsibility. It doesn't. If you walked into that chair, it was your responsibility. Even if someone left it out, you shouldn't assume it's where you think it should be. Tripped over that carpet, your responsibility again.

So my incident, well I put it down to being a fallible human. I try to ensure that I always ride with the utmost diligence, not making assumptions, looking for and identifying hazards, expecting others to have not seen me etc etc etc, but I'm a human and I made a mistake, one that I was lucky enough to see my way out of. But I still take full responsibility for it, and will learn from it.