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Here's my account of what happened maybe it'll help someone else.

I'm driving on a two lane road in the left lane @ 8pm (so its dark out) at a speed of about 40mph. There is also two lanes of traffic coming towards me. I'm going uphill and approaching an intersection where I have the green lite.
There is a bike waiting to turn left across my lane and numerous cagers behind him. The bike makes his left turn no problem.
I am approaching the intersection now at about 25mph and actually enter the intersection. OF course the cager pulls out in front of me & I hit the brakes hard. Just like they taught in the MSF in a straight line. The cager sees me and stops. At this point I'm about to hit the cage and I'm still breaking. I feel & hear the tires lock up (I don't know if the front or rear brake or both locked up) and release the brakes but go down on the right side avoiding the cage and a hi-side.
As I'm sliding across the pavement I see cage wheels heading for me & I got up & got the hell outta the way (I was still sliding & when I jumped up I kinda tripped) I approach the cage who caused all this and he takes off. I didn't get a plate number, but even if I did I don't think it would matter much as I didn't actually hit him. The cops would prolly say it was a one vehicle accident. I don't even care about the cops I just wanted to get ahold of that cage driver.

I was barely injured except for some road rash on my right knee (size of a half dollar) I can confirm that jeans shred on impact. The rest of my gear held up very well. Helmet doesn't even have a scratch on it. (My head never hit the ground) Mesh jacket and gloves have some scuffs on them but are barely noticable. I was also wearing steel toe boots no damage to them either.

Bike damage is broken off right foot peg. Bent back break pedal. Master cylinder scratched. Broken off lense of back turn signal. And for some reason front brake lever doesn't work. The cable must've been pulled out or something. This happened about 3 miles from a honda dealer so, I drove the bike there and left it. Brother-in-law came to pick me up. I'll see what the costs are tomorrow to fix it.

My assesment of why I went down is I prolly still had the breaks engaged & tried to swerve to the right. (even tho I think I disengaged the brakes) I can't confirm this since this all happened within 2 seconds. I am very P.O'ed at that cager if he didn't actually stop in front of me he would've made it thru the intersection. And I wouldn't have went down & prolly just pooped my pants instead.

If your curious I've been driving for about 6 weeks and have done approx 800 miles and did pass the MSF class. I've really enjoyed it so far and plan to get right back on. I won't let the cagers win.

If any of the more experienced riders have some advice about this incident I'd like to hear it. I'm gonna go back to the scene and pick up that turn signal lense. Like a fool I picked up the broken foot pedal instead.

glad you're ok and not discouraged.

Thanx bro. I'm not discouraged in the least just very angry. I'd like to learn from this incident and become a better rider.

He most definitely caused that accident.

Maybe there's hope you could still track this "O Ring" down and bring him to justice.
Reckless cages should have their cars thrown off a cliff, their license revoked, and their genitals kicked in.

Or just educated...


Anyway, that's a good thing you weren't hurt bad, and that you bike doesn't have too much damage. But it definetely sucks that you have to pay for it out of your pocket, unless you have full coverage insurance. Out of curiousity, what kind of bike were you riding?

Glad you walked away from that.

And a big thanks for posting it-- I am so new at this, not even riding on the street yet (still onlyin our parking lot) and queued for MSF next week. I appreciate you giving the details so I can ponder that setup and (hopefully) have a strategy for when that happens to me.

Peace,
JC

yoda731 wrote:I appreciate you giving the details so I can ponder that setup and (hopefully) have a strategy for when that happens to me.

Peace,
JC

read my blog too and see how i messed up in the canyons on a downhill decreasing radius turn and loose gravel.

i rode above my skill level and paid for it.

I'm glad to hear you're okay. Hopefully there won't be too much damage on your VLX, and it'll be cheap to fix. That cager's a real prick for not stopping to make sure you were all right.

Are you going to go the insurance claim route, or see if the repairs are right around the cost of your deductabile? Looking forward to hearing more from you, take care.

One thing I do from time to time in a situation like this when I see cars waiting to turn in front of me up the road is hold in my horn as I approach the intersection... I don't care how stupid it looks/sounds but it gets attention to you. Don't flash your high-beams because they might think you are telling them to "go ahead and turn". If people give you dirty look just smile and wave if you get the chance that usually calms anyone down.

zarakand wrote:I'm glad to hear you're okay. Hopefully there won't be too much damage on your VLX, and it'll be cheap to fix. That cager's a real prick for not stopping to make sure you were all right.

Are you going to go the insurance claim route, or see if the repairs are right around the cost of your deductabile? Looking forward to hearing more from you, take care.

I plan on just paying for it out of pocket. My deductible is $250. BTW, I have the exact same bike and color that you have.

AS for the cager not stopping I think he was scared. I'm fairly big & look even bigger with all that gear on. I was swearing very loud too. Not sure if anyone could hear it since I still had my helmet on LOL. That cager actually did a burn out to get the hell outta there. Thinking back on it I wish I found the broken foot peg sooner I certainly would've threw at his cage.