Visibility rant...

[MBrockman5]

Bare with me on this one...

 

I was riding home from SF one afternoon last month on the back road (Hwy 113) that I always take. After awhile, I come up to a huge tractor pulling a trailer going 20 mph and driving half in the right shoulder and half in the lane.

 

After a couple minutes, traffic starts piling up behind him about 30 cars long. The semi in front of me signals and passes him. I wait for oncoming traffic to pass before I hit my turn signal & flash my high beams and start to pass him on the left. 

 

I got almost to the front of his long trailer when all of a sudden, with no signal or warning, the tractor driver makes a sudden sharp left turn towards an orchard. At this point, I'm going about 45 mph when he turned. I had no time to react. No brakes, no swerving... Just a slow motion flash of my wife's face as I broadsided his huge rear wheel.

 

Long story long... I ended up with 3 broken ribs (from my Nav III), a severe concussion, major hematomas & contusions, and road rash on my back from when my jacket slid up after I flipped over and slid backwards. While I surprisingly survived, my beautiful RT suffered a bent & twisted frame, cracked engine case and the forks & fairing pushed back about a foot. 

 

 What have I learned? I have come to the painful conclusion that motorcycles need to be  blatantly, annoyingly, and obnoxiously visible. 

 

A month later, I have a new/better bike (another 07 RT) that came with a mountain of BMW riding gear, Arai & Schuberth helmets, F/R Ohlins suspension, Remus, amoung much, much more.

 

The only thing it didn't come with was better lighting. I just installed LED low beams and wired up a pair of Rigid Industries D-Series Pro aux lights. And I'll be applying some 3m reflective stickers on the back/sides. 

 

I know some people say stuff like "These headlights are not designed for LED bulbs and are too bright for on coming drivers".... But in my honest opinion, If I'm annoyingly visible to others, I'm effectively visible. It's better to be annoying than invisible... 

 

Anywho.... Thanks for letting me vent for a bit. 

 

Here's some before and after pictures...

 

 

[MBrockman5]

Oh! And here is my new bike. 

[EvilTwin]

Man, I am so sorry that had to happen to you but glad you survived it.   If that were me my wife would have given me an ultimatum and there wouldnt be a replacement bike in the driveway.  Hope everything heals up and this is the only story like this you get to tell.

[wbw6cos]

Sorry to hear about your incident.  Hope you are recovering.

 

I do not have Clearwater lights, but I know they put out some good light.  Perhaps the amber ones set on high will be good enough for you.

 

Take care!

[MBrockman5]

EvilTwin... I thought my wife was going to say No More Bike, but I told her I did not want to be scared of riding or live in fear. I wanted to face my fear and learn from this experience even though it wasn't my fault. Thankfully, she agreed. Albeit cautiously.

 

Wbw6cos... I ordered a pair of Rigid D-Series Pro flood lights and added LED low beams. I got the Rigid lights wired up, but the mounts I ordered are too big to clamp on the left side engine guard since the gap between the bars and the cylinder head is too small. 

[Skywagon]

MB...glad you and your wife are going to recover physically and hopefully emotionally.  Reading your post....not sure it was avoidable.  I've been very close to the same thing a couple of times.  Sounds like in your case the person was just going to turn without looking period.  He likely would have hit a passing car so don't beat yourself up too much.  

Im familiar with the road.  I use to take 12 to 113 out of RioVista when I was riding.  I use to live in the East Bay.

For what its worth, here is what I do when I need to pass on a 2 lane.  Whenever possible, I tuck in tight and follow a car that is passing. Sometimes that's not possible. Some will say that's not safe as the car may not leave enough room.  I haven't experienced that issue.  When the car pulls back to the right, I usually just go around the car too.

Was there something you could have done to keep your jacket from inverting?  That was terrible.

 

Glad you got back on the horse.

 

[MBrockman5]

Skywagon... Luckily, my wife was at home at the time. As for my jacket, I usually wear my riding pants and zip the back of my jacket to the pants. That day, it was just too hot to wear my [riding] pants. 

 

The most surprising thing I found from that accident (besides surviving) was even though my helmet and leather jacket got scrapped shredded to hell... My Wrangler jeans did not have a single scratch. It was actually a good selling point because the first thing I did, when I was finally able to leave the house, was go buy 2 more pairs of those jeans. Haha

[Hati]

9 hours ago, MBrockman5 said:

 I wanted to face my fear and learn from this experience even though it wasn't my fault.

 

Kudos for the first part MBrockman5, But I have to say that it WAS your fault, because you allowed yourself into that position where someone else can take you out.

 

While I'm glad you are OK and even "gladder" (is that even a word) that you want to get back on the bike, the only way us riders can survive is by anticipating scenarios like yours and not ride into those in the first place. After decades of riding, I found that this mentality is the only one that works. Everything else is blind luck. Admittedly, riding this way does not come naturally, it has to be learned, but just like any other skill, it becomes second nature with practice.

 

For the record, I am not having a go, just trying to assist with a strategy that has been tested and works. Speedy recovery man...

[MBrockman5]

Well, I got the LED headlights in and the Rigid lights mounted and hooked up. The next (and hopefully final) step is to do a test ride at night.

Here are some pictures of the outcome. Night pictures will come later.  

[jack ronner]

Personally, I lament the demise of the headlights that "twinkled", looking like you were driving over rough pavement.  It caught the eye of the drivers ahead nicely.  Whenever I'm white lining during the day, I always put on my high-beam, and weave occasionally so the motion will catch their eye.  Contrary to every driving instructor, I also use the high-beam in daylight fogs.  There's no reflected, blinding light as there is at night, and any advance notice to others on the road could be a life-saver.  BTW, while filtering on a freeway, I had a truck driver grind me against his rear wheel with a car to my left, so there was no escaping it;  worse:  I'm pretty sure he did it on purpose.  Seemed to last forever, and I was on a feather-light 350cc Yamaha.

[John Bentall]

So MBrockman5, the ultimate answer to avoiding traffic incidents is a combination of visibility from bike lighting, recognizing and avoiding dangerous situations, having a sixth sense for danger and a bit of luck. Even the best trained trained LEOs in the world (the British Police) occasionally fall prey to the stupidity of other highway users.

[Skywagon]

Neighbor stopped by yesterday...Two days ago had the proverbial left hand turn accident.  Five broken ribs, punctured lung, Neotec Helmet and other gear destroyed - he was ATGATT.  It was a 4 lane road.  Lady in the median pulled out in front of him.  Scratch one Ducati Scrambler as it was totaled.

 

Be careful out there as per MB 5  original post....we just aren't that visible

[sardineone]

Quote

 I always put on my high-beam

 

Me too when not getting dark!  I have a convincing test if you don't agree.  Have another ride behind you and look in your rear view mirrors as low beams and then with high beams on, riding on a sunny day.  The difference is quite dramatic and represents other drivers recognition of you after a quick glance.  You can easily blend into the background with low beams on during daylight hours!