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Fresnobuell
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 03:47 pm: | 
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I'm just happy about how track days have proliferated in recent years, which will hopefully cut down on this type of tragedy.
Thank God I recently discovered track days. That really takes the urge out of tearing it up on the streets. I won't entirely hang up street riding, but it will be done in more moderation for sure. These types of tragedies really make me think....
Stuff like this makes me want to stop riding with cagers on the street. You are right. This can happen to anyone of us, no matter how "safe" or "smart" we think we are compared to other riders.
How many of us have scooted by a slow cager that has slowed and pulled onto the shoulder of the road? Everybody, right? Now what would happen if that cager really wasn't pulling over to let you by, but flipping a U-turn right in front of you? Just as you hit the gas to squirt by, the car swerves to block almost all of the road. I doubt many of us would survive that scenario unscathed. |
Reepicheep
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 03:47 pm: |
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Ugh. My prayers for the rider.
quote:Never, ever underestimate the stupidity and poor driving of people in cars. Thank God he is alive, and we can all hope he heals.
Better said then I, my sincere apologies to everyone for any implication that he may have been outriding his sight lines.
(which, for the record, I try to avoid doing, but am not always successful). |
Fresnobuell
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 04:00 pm: |
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Everything sounded bad, but I got the chills about no feeling in his legs. That's my worse nightmare of an injury. I wish him a speedy recovery and hope to read many more articles about how Buells are inferior (just kidding, haha.) |
Spatten1
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 04:09 pm: |
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I still think about Wayne Rainey all the time. I kept the Cycle News with him and Schwantz on the cover previewing Laguna, which actually came out right after the incident in Italy.
If nothing else, I hope this news reaches a 20-something that still feels invincible. |
Fresnobuell
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 04:16 pm: |
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I just made the decision to buy a back protector for the track. |
Scott_in_nh
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 09:07 am: |
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How many of us have scooted by a slow cager that has slowed and pulled onto the shoulder of the road? Everybody, right? Now what would happen if that cager really wasn't pulling over to let you by, but flipping a U-turn right in front of you? Just as you hit the gas to squirt by, the car swerves to block almost all of the road. I doubt many of us would survive that scenario unscathed.
I too hope for a full recovery.
So that we can learn something from this accident, what is the right thing to do in this scenario?
Beep horn
Rev engine (loud pipes)
make eye contact in the drivers mirror
fall back until they either stop or make their move
throttle around them as soon as they bust a move to the right
It may not be possible to come up with a single cure - they say it takes 3 mistakes to crash an airplane, a generalization I know, but what are the 3 mistakes made here?
I think this will be a healthier discussion worthy of the downed rider. |
Seanp
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 09:26 am: |
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If Anony comes back to tell us the details we might all learn something from this. I hate getting only part of a story, and this is one of those rare opportunities where we have someone who was actually at the scene. |
Gentleman_jon
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 10:06 am: |
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What were the three mistakes made here?"
Only one big mistake here, that's all it takes.
Andrew's only mistake was in assuming the driver was pulling over to let them by.
One should never, and I mean never, put one's safety in the hands of the unknown driver of an automobile.
Trevitt could have, and should have, put his bicycle in a position that would have taken him safely out of the situation NO MATTER what the driver did.
There is never any excuse for this kind of accident: colliding with a car that one has seen in time to take evasive action.
The proper course of action is to assume the worst case, and begin taking evasive action as soon as the car is seen to avoid target fixation on the car.
Am I being a bit hard on Andrew?
Yes, very hard. Lead pipe hard.
Maybe that's why I am still riding at age 68, knock on wood. |
Fresnobuell
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 01:44 pm: |
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Gentleman jon,
First off we are not talking about a bicycle here. I would like to hear how you approach to passing a car that is pulling over to let you by? Sounds to me like your approach would either run the car into to end of the turnout, have cars and bikes crawling up your a$$, leave your riding buddies hanging out to dry behind you as you "survey" the situation or all of the above.
The truth is we don't have all the details. My "guess" is that Andrew was coming up on this car at speed and it was simply BAD timing that the car pulled over to make the U-Turn at that moment. Trevitt assumed the car was pulling over for him, when in actuality the car never even knew he was there. In this scenario, how many of us would lock up the brakes to make sure that the car was really pulling over for YOU? Or how many of us would try keep the pace and move past the slower car? If you answered lock em up, I wouldn't want to ride behind you EVER.
Some of you guys are something else. Some of this crap just isn't avoidable out there and it's just fate when it happens. That's a little unnerving, a least to me. |
Scott_in_nh
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 01:53 pm: |
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I understand what you are saying Jon, but you need to break it down more (and you did to an extent).
"I crashed my airplane because of one mistake, I assumed I had enough fuel to fly from point A to point B and did not"
Is that really one mistake?
1) I assumed I had enough fuel at takeoff so I did not double check.
2) I failed to monitor my fuel during the flight.
3) I failed to recognize that I was not going to make it to airport B and needed to find a closer alternate.
See how that works?
so;
1) Andrew assumed that the vehicle was going to let him go by because previous experience prejudiced his opinion of the situation.
2) He did not instinctively mistrust the drivers intentions and placed his safety in the driver's hands by not assuming the worse case.
3) He did not place his cycle in a position that would leave him a way out of the situation.
I am sure these could be refined further but hope I got my intended idea across.
They may appear to all be saying the same thing, but they are not.
A long time ago I took a one semester course on aircraft accident investigation and it taught techniques like this to really get to the bottom of an incident.
It has been awhile since I've read Flying magazine, but they used to run a feature called "I learned from that".
Each month it was a story of aircraft incidents or accidents that the pilots were lucky enough to survive (as told by the pilot) and what they learned from the incident/accident.
It was never one thing going wrong or one mistake that lead to the outcome. |
Court
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 02:23 pm: |
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Accident.
If someone is really into this and wants more information I've got a great book on human behavior elements that was written primarily for aircraft accident investigations. It was for a class last semester and you're welcome to it.
I hope the guy mends fast.
I can, just from a real quick read, kinda see what happened and if I were guessing I'd say the Anon poster is perhaps one of the best qualified forensic accident investigators for motorcycle accident in the country.
Mostly . . I just hope Andrew mends quickly. |
Slaughter
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 04:10 pm: |
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(deleted for being unnecessarily whiney and preachey)
(Message edited by slaughter on November 13, 2008) |
Returded
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 08:42 pm: |
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Remember my theory if their in a car im n my bike they are out to KILL YOU, i ride like monster on defense |
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