Compare crash stories!

[germ]

I think it is good to hear about others accidents because you can learn about things to avoid and also FEAR KEEPS YOU SAFE. So share you stories here if you have the time. Here is mine.

Well for starters, I live in Colorado springs and in the winter when it snows there are truck that shovel the snow and lay various things down in the street for better tire traction. When the snow melts there is dirt and gravel all over the road. The cars push all this gravel to the curb. So one day while me and my girlfriend were out riding (a Honda elite 80 at the time) I pulled into our driveway. I was going very slow, maybe 5 mph. As I braked the front tire skid in the gravel and the bike toppled over to the sidewalk. As we flew forward I reached back with my left arm and grabbed her to slow her momentum so she wouldn't get hurt. My right hand tried to catch us both but my hand could not open quick enough and I caught us with my closed fist on the pinky knuckle. It hurt like hell. After the pain went away I forgot about it until someone shaking my hand squeezed too hard and it freakin' hurt. And still if someone shakes my hand too hard or I use it a certain way it hurts. This was months ago and I think it will probably be like this for a long time to come. I am ok most of the time though. So be careful of gravel when breaking. And get yourself checked out if you get hurt. I wish I would have.

[jess]

Here's mine, cross posted from this thread on Modern Vespa, back in April of this year:

Fear Sucks

It eats you up and steals your confidence and makes you doubt your every move.

I had a low-speed fall on my Moto Guzzi today, getting off the freeway near the start point for the Three Peaks Challenge at about 7:00am. I was coming up on a light, it had started raining, and the street was wet. I was avoiding one of those slick painted arrows on the asphalt, and I guess I must've neglected to apply any rear brake, using only the front. Before I knew what was happing, before I could react in any way, the front wheel locked, slipped out from under me, and I was rolling on the pavement.

As falls go, it had everything you could possibly hope for, short of not falling off in the first place. It was low-speed, there were no cars in my immediate vicinity, I was wearing all my best protective gear, and it all did it's job perfectly. Hours later, my body is telling me that the points of contact were my right elbow and shoulder, and the upgraded armor in my Corazzo protected those points nicely. I don't think my helmet ever made contact, but I got the wind knocked out of me something fierce.

Of course, I was up and swearing almost immediately, and only later did I think to take inventory of my limbs to see if any were broken. As it happens, none were.

The bike suffered minimal damage: a snapped-off front turn signal, a scrape on the muffler's heat shield, a scrape on the right-hand bar-end weight, and a scrape on the end of the front brake lever. I'll replace the turn signal stalk and leave the other scraped up bits alone.

The tragedy of the whole thing is not that I dropped my brand-new bike, or that my arm hurts. The tragedy is that the subsequent fear I had for the rest of the ride (approximately 8 hours on the road) made for a miserable experience. Even once I had made the decision to go home because of the poor weather, it still took another 6 hours of winding slowly through back roads, avoiding traffic and taking every wet turn gingerly and at about 1mph. On top of that, I don't have any desire to ride the Moto Guzzi any more. And since my GT is on the blink, I guess I'm going to be taking a break from riding for a short spell, until the GT is fixed or until my fear of the Guzzi subsides.

Yeah, fear sucks.

[germ]

I hear you man. Fear does suck, but don't let it stop you from riding all together. After my crash I can honestly say that looking back I was a little wreckless on my 80cc, but I was in another mind set all together after I tumbled. I still rode everyday, but was much more serious about being careful. Thanks for the story. That was my point for the discussion was that I never would have guessed about braking on painting street surfaces. Crosswalks and arrows, etc. Thanks for the heads up. Sorry about your scooter. I have never rode for that long at once. That must have sucked. Not sure if I know what I am talking about here or not but it would seem that the laws of physics would almost always be in favor of the rear brakes. But I could be wrong.

[OkieBuddy]

I was in a parking garage last Friday, when leaving, I made it past the first small gate (lowering arm) but was knocked off my Buddy by a second one.

It went up and down so fast, as I accelerated to go when it went up, it came down and hit me on the head (I wear a helment) and right shoulder, knocking me off my Buddy, which went to the ground with small scratches.

I made it through the same gate several times before, so this was a shock an awe to me. I did get back up and ride home, but am still sore from the hit and fall. Buddygirl is find, some minor black touch-up paint on the handle bar area and right turn signal.

Beware of parking garages, very careful!

[germ]

Dude! That sucks. Ouch!

[germ]

Surely someone else has bit the dust out there!

[ScooterMonkey]

Ok, I was planning to make a seperate post about my crash, but I'll just go ahead & post it here.
About a week ago my GF &I were out riding our scoots around town. We went & did some domestic type shopping at Ikea, then stopped for lunch at Voodoo Daddy's. A fun day, & a great ride.
On the way home we headed E. on Apache Blvd. The mile between Rural & McClintock is under pretty heavy construction in preparation for Light Rail. It sucks, it's bumpy, it's one lane in some spots, but it's the route I chose. So we stop in the left turn lane to go N. on McClintock. I get the green arrow, & go. I'm into the lean, accelerating, & some oblivious goon in the westbound oncoming lanes drives thru the red without stopping & makes a right turn into my lane, & almost into me. I think if I'd had more experience I might have been able to avoid any crash at all, but I didn't, & I didn't. I braked to slow so I wouldn't hit/be hit by the ass-nugget making a turn with his eyes closed(apparently) , overbraked & layed poor Brutus down.
Brutus suffered only a few scrapes to the paint job, & lost the left mirror(which I've now replaced, thx. dslee ) I got some minor road-rash to my shoulder & forearm, knocked the wind(& scared the sh*t ) out of me, & nailed my ribs hard(they still hurt). I'm adding some pics of my very minor road-rash, I can't show the ribs as there's no visible bruising, just pain when I take a deep breath. I'll post the pics of the road-rash to Brutus as soon as he's out of the shop(in ScooterInvasion for his first maintenance...woohoo go Brutus!)
The driver who really shouldn't have left home without his seeing-eye dog didn't even notice that he'd almost hit me...(f*cker).
My GF, who had been behind me, stopped & blocked oncoming traffic, while 2 biker's on cruisers stopped in the southbound lanes hopped off their bikes & helped me get over to the corner. They were great, & unfortunately took off before we could thank them. So here's a posthumous thx. to 2 very cool bikers somewhere in the Valley. I owe you guys a handshake, & as many drinks as you can hold. Thank You guys.
Since then I've felt that fear too. I feel it right at the start of my ride, but after a minute or so the sheer joy of riding takes over, & I'm grinning ear-to-ear again Even though it's bumpy as hell, I've deliberatly driven down Apache several times now, & made that same turn. I did it to face the fear, & memory of laying Brutus down. It's worked

[germ]

Man you are lucky. Sorry about Brutus. Glad he's alright too. That's cool that bikers stick together regardless of the cc's.