Thoughts on crashing

[CrashTestDanny]

I've already made a point of letting everyone I come into contact know how much crashing sucks.  In fact, you might say I've made a name for myself doing so.  So what more can I say when someone feels the need to go and discover this fact for themselves, ignoring my good advice?  Well, nothing really.  But as a licensed preacher, I do feel the need to speak up.

Eight participants in the Busa Bash crashed in one form or another this weekend.  I came very close to making it nine with a parking lot drop of my own, but thanks to BusaWhipped and one or maybe two others, I did not.  Without any finger pointing at anyone, I would like to offer some thoughts on crashing and crashes.

Crashing sucks.  You've heard me say it before, and you'll hear me say it again - there is very little good that can come from crashing!  Now it may surprise you that I said "very little" good rather than "no" good.  That is because in my own case, God used my crash for good things in my life.  But had I been a little less hard-headed and hard-hearted, the crash would probably not have been necessary.  Anyhow, if you have a choice between crashing or not crashing, I highly recommend not crashing.

The final responsibility for keeping any vehicle out of any crash rests with the operator of that vehicle.  This applies to any vehicle from hot-air balloons to jet-liners, soap-box cars to semis, and tricycles to hayabusas.  The operator of a vehicle has all of the power and authority to make any decision necessary to avoid a crash.  Nobody else has this authority or power - only the operator.  You can't blame the guys riding too fast in front of you for your crash - that's why we say "ride your own ride" all the time.  Likewise, if there is a crash ahead of you, you are responsible for not becoming a part of it.

Crashes are preventable.  I know that sometimes it seems that they are not, especially when you are experiencing one first-hand.  However, nearly every crash that has ever happened could have been prevented by somebody at some point.  Most of the time there is more than one person who could have prevented the crash.

Now, all this sounds easy, let's just always blame the drivers of the crashed vehicles, right?

Wrong.

Legally, that's where the blame will all get assiged because nobody else had to carry insurance (unless they were drinking and then some blame might get assigned to the tavern or bartender in some states).  However, if I learned anything from the law classes for my MBA, it is that the law is not the full measure of what is right and wrong.  Our instructor - a local attorney - made everyone angry with him during our first session by proposing the following hypothetical:

<div class="iF-Passage"><div class="QUOTEHEAD">Quote:[/Quote]<div class="QUOTE clearfix"><span class="quoteBegin"> </span>
As I am walking into Starbucks this morning - late as usual - I see an infant face-down in the gutter, clearly struggling.  It is clear that without my intervention right now, this infant will die.  Since I am late, I step over the infant to get my double-latte.  The infant dies.  What is my legal liability in this case?
[/quote]

His answer was that he had no legal obligation to the child (since he has no particular medical skills requiring him to help everyone in need).

Now, I am not ascribing blame to anyone here for any particular accident.  I am also not trying to make anyone feel bad about any situation going on here.  The situation on the Cherohala may have made me decide to post this, but that same situation has played out in many other rides hosted by many other groups - it is not unique to Hyabusa.org and it is not unique to the Cherohala.  My goal in writing this is to provoke us all to introspection about whether or not we as motorcyclists can improve our global community (i.e. all other motorcyclists) through deliberate and careful action.

Can a ride leader make a positive impact on his group by intentionally riding below his (or her) capabilities and within the capabilities of the others on his (or her) ride?  They don't leagally have to (or do they?), but would it be worth it anyway?

Could a ride leader conduct a brief safety talk before the ride starts and remind people to check their machines, to ride their own rides, and to take it a little easier with passengers?

What about other ride participants?  Is there some point at which when we see a rider in front of or behind us riding erratically or clearly being in over their heads should cause us to look for ways to defuse that situation?  And if it does, what action could we take?  If we're able to pass, could we get in front of the rider in trouble and slow down?  Or maybe even stop and flag them down?  Again, we don't really have a legal obligation to, and if we fail to take action, the person in an accident has no recourse against us, but would it be worth it anyway?

You guys all know I'm not nearly so skilled as most of you here, and I ride most of my miles with BusaWhipped - a guy who is probably easily in the top 2% of riders anywhere.  I have watched him repeatedly take the actions I've just mentioned with me and with several others and I can't help but think there are several riders around who owe him their lives just because he sets a good example for them, takes time out to teach them, and is willing to walk up to someone and say "hey - what's up?  You were riding a little erratically back there..."

You guys all ride safe.

DadOfThree, Diesel, and Naomi, I'm praying for full recoveries for all of you.

 

[BusaWhipped]

You guys all know I'm not nearly so skilled as most of you here, and I ride most of my miles with BusaWhipped - a guy who is probably easily in the top 2% of riders anywhere.  I have watched him repeatedly take the actions I've just mentioned with me and with several others and I can't help but think there are several riders around who owe him their lives just because he sets a good example for them, takes time out to teach them, and is willing to walk up to someone and say "hey - what's up?  You were riding a little erratically back there..."

Thanks for the props, but I'm not all that. I'm still learning and have alot to learn from folks more skilled and more learned than myself in our sport. One thing I do which is what CTD is talking about is that I let other people ride their own rides.

 

[Tufbusa]

Every time a crash victim blames the crash on gravel in a corner,,,,,,,,,,,, God kills a kitten!

 

[MrGxr]

Can a ride leader make a positive impact on his group by intentionally riding below his (or her) capabilities and within the capabilities of the others on his (or her) ride?  They don't leagally have to (or do they?), but would it be worth it anyway?

Could a ride leader conduct a brief safety talk before the ride starts and remind people to check their machines, to ride their own rides, and to take it a little easier with passengers?

As someone who leads rides often I find that a pre ride briefing is mandatory. Talking about the route, the road conditions and destination are a must. Stops along the way so those that ride slower or more conservatively know where to look for everyone else.
I also like to ensure that my pace is set to the slowest rider not the fastest. Usually, we ride out to a destination (twisties) as a group allowing the cruisers to lead and set the pace, then when we hit the destination the cruisers move over and the sportbikes take the lead. Usually, at this point there is a lead "Road Captain" and "Sweeper" for both groups.
Also, I find myself a lot of times (when I am not "Road Captain" or "Sweeper") I will ride with a newer rider and work with them on lines, throttle control etc. I feel by helping these riders I improve the safety of the group and since this is the group I ride with often... well call it self presivation if you will.

Also, I have been lucky enough to meet and befriend "WAG"... he is always willing to talk with newbies, oldies and crusties about riding and the how too's and the don'ts.

 

[semi]

Every time a crash victim blames the crash on gravel in a corner,,,,,,,,,,,, God kills a kitten!

i agree, had a guy i was riding with some years back blame it on that although i knew i hadn't noticed any when i went through right behind him...when i went back to check, there not only wasn't any gravel in the corner, there wasn't even any on the side of the road...he just didn't make the corner, pure and simple...went in too hot, panicked, and trashed his bike

like Jerry Springer says, "take care of yourselves and each other"...i always thought if his POS audiences (no insult intended if you are an avid watcher) could follow that advice, it would certainly be fitting that i would do the same for my brother or sister on the machine in front of or behind me...just my meaningless

 

[JET-A]

The only disagreement I have with this is the insinuation that ALL accidents are contributable to a rider/operator.  There are simply times that everything MUST work in unison to achieve a positive outcome.  That unison, usually relied upon, is normally in your corner.  There are times, in all our lives, when circumstances beyond our control take advantage of the situation and bite rather hard.

I agree we should use all opportunities to prepare ourselves to best aviod/respond to those situations.  BUT, we cannot simply change something to make ourselves "bulletproof".

Just my  

 

[Haya01B]

Life is a 50/50 chance.  There is a 50% chance you will F#ck up an another that would say you wont.  My brother left my house on his way to our parents house a few weeks ago.  It was raining like cats and dogs.  There are two different routes to our parents house from mine and that is the short with a lot of turns or the long with a few turns.  He said that something told him to take the short with the lots of turns and it may have saved his life.  Why you say?  Around the same time a guy was being murdered in his drive way by some other people with shot guns and pistols. If he would have come through there the possiblities of him being confronted by those same people would have been highly possible.  I seen the house he lived in and it had bullet holes out the yeng yang.  There are many elements that can effect you out in the real world and it does not matter how carefull you are if it can happen it will.  Not to say some of us dont help it along sometimes, but not all.  Stay up!

 

[MrsTwotonevert]

From Mr. Twotone

Wow Danny, I think you made my brain hurt...................but seriously. Very good thoughts and you made some thought provoking comments. I ride two up most of the time. I do not push my machine and ride to a pace that is comfortable for Juli because most the work is on her to support herself without smashing me. I love riding with Dennis and Semi. I trust those guys tremendously and know I can rely on them. They have my back and I have theirs. One thing I would like to point out to anyone who is reading this and does not have much time being in a group environment. There are rules to riding in a group, a code if you will. Stay on your line, ride in formation, know your hand signals, etc. Every group will have different rules, find out what they are before stands go up.
Do we have a responsibility to other riders in our group? Absolutely. I would hope that someone I ride with would care enough about me to say, Hey, WTF?
I enjoyed riding with you Danny, take care, and see you in Eureka!

 

[Mr Bogus]

Some very hard reality in your post and valid points... Thanks for having the bllz to post this....

 

[Nanwags]

If it had not been for Wag and Jeff Hawkins taking me under their wings I would not have improved as much as I did in the last 3 years. I'm very greatful for the experienced riders that have helped me along the way. They didn't have too.

--Nanwags

 

[Mr Bogus]

Now lets talk about choice of a "first bike"

 

[Nanwags]

All relative there.

--Nanwags

 

[Lamb busa]

Thanks for the heads up and reality check.  It will be used this weekend in the socal ride!!

 

 

[FloydV]

If you are not ready to take a fall, maybe you need a Volvo (a beige one). Life is a crap shoot. On a Busa, there are more snake eyes.

 

[CrashTestDanny]

The only disagreement I have with this is the insinuation that ALL accidents are contributable to a rider/operator.  There are simply times that everything MUST work in unison to achieve a positive outcome.  That unison, usually relied upon, is normally in your corner.  There are times, in all our lives, when circumstances beyond our control take advantage of the situation and bite rather hard.

I agree we should use all opportunities to prepare ourselves to best aviod/respond to those situations.  BUT, we cannot simply change something to make ourselves "bulletproof".

Just my  

Oh, I agree with you 110%... almost... I didn't actually say that the rider/operator is the only person who can prevent a crash. In fact, I said quite the opposite. What I said was that we motorcyclists (not just you busa riders) are a community who need to help each other prevent our accidents as much as possible. While you may not have a legal obligation to prevent an accident just because you can see that it will happen, you may very well have opportunities and IMHO, those opportunities are worth taking - almost without regard to the cost.

 

[Bosshound]

+1 Just had that same conversation recently............. Well Said !!!!!

Although I Hit a Dog !!!!!!  SO IT WASN'T MY FAULT

 

[CrashTestDanny]

+1 Just had that same conversation recently............. Well Said !!!!!

Although I Hit a Dog !!!!!!  SO IT WASN'T MY FAULT  

You know, as pilot-in-command, sometimes you just have to make the decision that hitting the dog is the safest thing to do. My ST could take on a 40# dog and survive pretty reliably if needed... Most busas are probably fairly similar in that regard...

 

[jefferycarman]

Very thought provoking and a good prespective for those of us who are newer riders. Thank you for actually posting this, I know I hear many riders state things along these lines, but never in a place where it can actually stir some peoples thoughts.

 

[JR'S BUSA]

Thanks for the knowledge, i'm a newer rider and I love all the info I can get

 

[MPH 200]

Good thought provoking read. Our group in Austin, & old group in Dallas, have always paired up new riders w/ more experienced riders & racers. You can set a great line example at a very conservative speed for them to follow. We will switch after a gas stop & I will follow them watching their lines, entry speed, body position, etc. There is not a "have to keep up mentality" when this approach is taken. I will work w/ more experienced riders at a higher level. They laugh when they see me dragging my knee & pointing out the line to follow w/ my hand at the same time. Experience is by far the best teacher - good & bad.

I have been involved in 2 motorcycle accidents. The 1st 1987 a car pulled 1/2 way across a 2 lane highway & I hit her broadside. I had no where to go, oncoming traffic / gas pump or car. I saw her just before she pulled out & I reacted instead of being more proactive. The 2nd accident a car pulled across my lane between cars. I never saw it unti I was stuck in the side of her wheel well. This time there is nothing I could have done.

I have learned to always keep a wide gap between me & the rider in front. I also make sure the rider behind me stays in my mirror, but not too close.