Wolfen, I don't know what part of the world you live in, but maybe we should team up for some Atlantic City/Vegas excursions, as both of us have recently been
VERY lucky!

Well, other than the fact that there
was an accident to begin with... lucky
to be alive, and not severly damaged, is what I mean.
I'll explain my incident - this was about 6 or 7 weeks back.
Wichita, KS, headin' home from work, I-35 south-bound, heavy traffic, 5:15pm.
I'm in the far left lane, the fast-lane of the three, I'm going about 70 or maybe a touch under, on the street bike that is
not my Big Dog - it's a CBR 600, much like my race bike, but a little slower, and street legal... the speed limit is 60, so I'm going a touch over, but nothing ridiculous.
I said "heavy" traffic, but the truth is, that day it was acutally thinner than others.
In front of me, in my own lane, about 1/8 mile ahead, is a late '80's Dodge mini-van, and I'm gaining on him somewhat, but not much really, but since I am going faster, and gonna be exiting on the right in about 1/2 mile anyway, I signal right, and take the middle lane... it's totally clear ahead and behind me.
My signal is still on, because I'm going to be moving on over to the far right lane soon enough, and I was just checking my right mirror and doing the quick head-turn to verify it's clear - at this point, though the mini-van is one lane to the left of mine, in linear distance, it's about 25 ft. or so from my front wheel, to his rear bumber, and then... it happens.
The minivan, without a signal, or any indication at all, changes lanes into my lane, rather abruptly, and then in a matter of miliseconds, I'm slamming into the back right corner of his very dirty vehicle, with the left front of my bike, and my left shoulder, at roughly 65 -70 mph... I don't think it's possible that he could of seen anything through his back windows.
I came out of the saddle, and the front wheel is off the ground a bit, but my right hand is still gripping the clip-on, and I can't remember if my left hand came off at all. In the extremely brief moment between the recognition of what was going to happen, and it actually happening, my thought was:
"This is my last thought... it is now over"
Then, another number of miliseconds later, I'm back in the saddle, my hands are both on the controls, and I'm still rubber-side down, rolling south-bound as before. My thought immediatley then, was to get on his trail, and make a note of his plate, since I wasn't sure he was going to stop - for all I know, he's gonna run, didn't have insurance, blah, blah, blah.
I've got limited movement of my front end, due to the fairing stay being crushed in, smashing the gauge cluster against my top triple, but at higher speeds, just a couple of inches is enough to counter-steer and drop in, and change lanes back and forth, easily enough... the left side of the radiator was torn up, so the coolant is going quickly.
In the end, he pulled over, and I hotly approached his door, asking with colorful metaphors if he had done that...
stuff, on purpose, and he quickly said "No... no, not at all", and though I'd never seen this man before in my life, it was crystal clear that he was being honest.
The question
did have relevance, though, as I'm sure we've all had run-ins with "
those people", the ones that realize we're about to pass them, on the left
or right, and they say
"Oh NO! I'M not going to be overtaken!! I'll show him, I'll finally decide to pass the slower guy in front of me FIRST, though I hadn't thought of it until I see this guy's about to pass me!" Then, when you're coming up quick on their tail, due to them cutting you off, they further take your life in their hands, and brake-check you! :angry: These people
DO NOT want a roadside moment with me, they are potentially messing with my
life, so I don't care how this sounds, when it comes to jerkwads that do this crap on purpose, doing their little "road rage" bit, if we get some "face time" they
WILL NOT be physically able to drive home... I say this with no apology, and no reservation.
This wasn't the case with my guy, he was just a "Nervous-Nelly" type, and the word "panic" came out in the ensuing discussion.
He had made a mistake, due to not properly checking his intended lane, and when in a flash, he realized what he had done/was doing, instead of the "proper" panic reaction, or the one that makes sense in this case, of jerking back into his own lane... he slammed on the brakes! And I mean
HARD! In that split-second before impact, his vehicle was in a full front-end dive on the brakes - rear suspension near-fully to fully extended... he did the
wrong thing in his panic, plain and simple.
After moving off the highway, and talking with the paramedics, and Highway Patrolmen, I was able, belive it or not, to ride this thing the remaining 2 to 3 miles home, and wake up the next day with not even a hint of soreness... as if nothing had happened at all! :loony:
Over the years, I've always ridden expecting
everyone around me to do the
stupidest possible thing at all times, even other riders, and have been prepared for such, but unfortunately, no matter how vigilant you are, it can still occasionally catch you out. I also think I could have been more ready for it, like Wolfen, but I was momentarily "at ease", so to speak.
The great thing is, both my insurance company, and his, found him at fault, though no witnesses pulled over to give a statement, even if only to say, "Gee, I don't have time to stay, but I saw it - here's my name and number"... nope, everyone too busy to get home for dinner, or to sit behind the tube!
I got paid within 5 days of my first contact with his adjustor, and ended up tripling my money on that bike, but I still have it, and with a straight, non-salvage title!
This is a bit of a read, and I didn't mean to "threadjack" you, Wolfen, but it's good for us to all remember that this $#!7 can happen
any time, even if it's been a few years without a "close call"... I've probably been in situations that could have ended in death, several thousand times, just in the last 5 years, but lived, because I was always
constantly calculating what
could go wrong, and being right!!
Ride safe, all! :up: