Crashing A Motorcycle To Avoid A Worse Fate
It sucked but it worked
A complex network of Roads
It was a beautiful day in the midst of summer in July. I was driving home from work, following an elaborate route I’d cobbled together using a combination of back roads designed to get around the highways and tolls, and the traffic, all the while enjoying the scenery.
Every road I took comprised two lanes, with traffic flowing in both directions. There were long stretches without any intersections or traffic lights, and occasional houses and farms were sprinkled on either side.
The incident
These were not roads designed to move fast and so we were driving at around 40 kph (25 mph). There were a few vehicles on the road that day as I was approaching an intersection.
There were some cars following behind me as well as some cars in front, and, coincidentally, more cars coming in from the other direction on the left. I noticed a car coming to a stop on the right side at the intersection.
Then, suddenly, shortly after having passed that intersection, a car that was located up ahead came to a full stop in a botched attempt to make a left turn with oncoming traffic. The car that was coming from the other direction swerved slightly right to avoid hitting the one that had stopped, and the driver that was in front of me abruptly stopped as well.
Now… I’m not one to follow closely enough to be reading folks’ bumper stickers comfortably, and if it had been a highway I would have had at least a 3 or 4-second gap between the two of us, whether driving my car or motorcycle, but since this was a road passing through vegetation and fields in between the main towns, the gap was closer to perhaps two seconds.
The lane wasn’t wide enough for me to swerve to the right. If I attempted it, all I would find there is either gravel and a small ditch, a grassy field, or a mix of both. So I knew that I needed to act quickly in order to avoid crashing into the vehicle in front of me.
So, by then, starting at a speed of around 35 kph, and having no way out, I had to put my bike down somehow. It sounds a little funny to say right now, but I determined that I needed to aim for a crash slightly to the left of my lane and a little over into the next Lane. I wanted to 1) minimize the chances of me hitting the car in front, 2) provide more space for the person coming behind me to stop, and 3) have enough space to stop before crashing into the car that had stopped mid-left turn.
But First things first…I quickly down-shifted and let go of the clutch in order to use the engine’s compression to slow me down in the least amount of time possible, something that tends to be very effective at lower speeds. And, then, the exact details are a little muddy, but I’m guessing that I slammed my rear brake while making a sharp left turn to make my rear tire slip in hopes that the rest of the bike would follow… and it did. Finally, I heard some short tire-screeching noises coming from behind me.
This is really going to mess up my fiberglass fairing and I hope that the insurance will cover it…
… and I hope there’s no damage to the front wheel and forks so that I can still drive home after this.
Calling the insurance company
The good thing about having managed to crash with only my bike, other than the obvious advantage of nut rear-ending a metal vehicle with my own body, is that I wouldn’t have to deal with another person’s insurance company or file a police report. I could simply call my insurance company directly.
So, after getting up and trying to find just the right angle and leverage point, I managed to get the bike back up on its wheels, all 360 lb of it, and I moved it to the side of the road, out of the way, where I parked it. I then walked to the closest house and asked the owner if I could use their phone to call my insurance company. There were no smartphones back then, and I guess my cell phone must not have had a signal in that area.
1 awkwardly waited for the insurance adjuster to come while the gracious owner brought me a glass of water to drink. I had a bad scratch on my knee and it was either the area of my leather coat over one of my arms or shoulders that was ripped a little. I can’t remember which, exactly.
Luckily, I was able to drive home after the insurance company adjuster had left and they ended up covering everything except for the $250 deductible.
Keep it real, everyone, and stay aware!
I think that it’s important to portray things realistically. And driving, or even simply being the passenger on a motorcycle, can be as dangerous as it is exciting and pleasant. You cannot fully predict what the drivers around you will do. Typically, car drivers, in addition to having to react to sudden problems on the road with other cars and conditions around them, are not as aware of motorcyclists as they ought to be.
Similarly, motorcyclists often take unnecessary risks while driving, or fail to wear adequate protective clothing and a full-face helmet, which is the only kind of helmet you should ever wear if you drive a motorcycle, by the way.
And just like anyone who has been driving cars for any number of years, I’ve had my own lapses in focus. But one thing that I always remain acutely aware of is the presence of motorcyclists next to us. Both the careful drivers and the rest. They do not have the benefit of being enclosed in a metal box that is while moving on these roads.
Conclusion
I ride my small motorcycle on an almost daily basis here, in Vietnam, on roads that are far more crowded and where people play loosey-goosey with traffic laws in a way that sometimes feels like a kind of rite of never-ending rite of passage.
But, even so, with constant alertness and also strategic use of PATIENCE, it is still possible to have a really enjoyable riding experience, and I wouldn’t trade that for what used to be my one-hour+ highway car commute to work many years back in the US. Including the inherent dangers that come with driving on busy highways, anywhere.
Oh, and by the way, I had to repeat the actions that I described in this story one more time, but this time it was here, in Vietnam. But not to avoid hitting a car… It was a woman driving her scooter very carelessly that cut across the main road I was on and stopped in front of me suddenly while waiting to slip into the next lane’s traffic, with her three children with her and none of them wearing helmets. She never looked back.
It is what it is…
All the best,
Pascal
PS: Let me know if you’d like to read more from me on this topic, or perhaps another topic related to the content I’ve addressed here. You can also read about another crash I had years earlier, with the same motorcycle and a passenger, as well as read more about me here.
