Wrote off my SV650, almost wrote off my leg

Soldato
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Ouch, that sucks - get well soon! :(

Dis86;30484751 said:
Naaaaasty! Glad you're still here and that it's recoverable. Suing the arse off the driver who I hope has been prosecuted?

Unlikely, this sort of accident will normally go 50-50. Any bike filtering should be looking out for cars making U-turns or pulling out into side roads, it's as much (if not more) the bikers responsibility to filter carefully especially in stationary traffic if it's not the normal traffic for the road/time of day.

And on that note - why the hell were you filtering past stopped cars at 40mph? :eek: I sometimes filter past cars moving at 10mph while doing 25-30mph, but 15-20mph is the absolute max speed difference there should be. If it was stationary traffic due to an accident or road closure, i.e. not 'normal' traffic then that's a doubly dangerous area as people WILL make u-turns when they get sick of waiting. In 'normal' traffic, i.e. queues due to rush hour traffic people will not normally make u-turns but even then, some will.

Filtering on a wide (space for u-turns) road with a completely empty opposite lane, at 40mph... that makes me cringe just thinking about it... :o An empty other side of the road is inviting people to u-turn, and you should also have been right over 1-2 metres from the right hand verge, better visibility for you and oncoming traffic and more space to avoid cars u-turning.

Don't wanna put the blame on you (but hopefully you learn from this when (not if! :D) you get back on the bike) but if anyone else filters past any stationary traffic at 40mph I hope they might see this and calm it down a little....


Anyway, get well soon, and what's gonna replace the SV? :p:D


Participant;30484932 said:
You're probably right as a general principle, however just to be clear, I wasn't filtering at 40mph in between two opposing lanes of stationary traffic.

It's a wide NSL single carriageway on which there was one lane of queuing and one lane that was totally clear and empty. I was in this empty lane.

This is aimed at everyone, hopefully so someone in the future can avoid an accident like this - this situation (wide road, stopped traffic, empty other side of the road) is THE most dangerous time to filter, bar none.

Why: Completely empty other lane would suggest an accident, or road closure or roadworks, i.e. not normal traffic for the conditions. Makes people impatient and makes them wants to do U-turns.

Now, if there's cars coming the other way, they can't U-turn. It's far, far safer to filter when there's cars coming the opposite direction than when the other lane is clear. Why, because the cars you're passing aren't going to u-turn directly into oncoming traffic.

3rd - a big wide open A-road means any car can just swing around in a single movement and be on their way. A smaller, tigher road means a 2-3 point u-turn which is harder, and a lot of drivers won't bother if it's tricky to u-turn, especially if there's intermittent traffic coming the other way.

If you're filtering in these conditions, keep it slow, and position yourself over to the far right of the opposing lane. Or only filter when there's cars coming the other way.

Bit of a rant, but as above hopefully this might keep one of our newer riders upright and off the deck :)
 
Caporegime
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TallPaul_S;30484968 said:
Unlikely, this sort of accident will normally go 50-50

That's called split liability and does not preclude suing the third party. You just get half the damages.

Whether or not it was sensible from a self preservation point of view, in the eyes of the law and the highway code I was a correctly proceeding vehicle and the driver failed to observe before performing their maneouve.

Traffic conditions were typical for the road in rush hour as it queues in the same place every day, though this isn't really relevant since the person might have never driven on the road before.

None of this helps my leg of course, so would I think twice about doing it next time? Yes, I would!

Next bike: really want an S1000RR, but physically speaking I can't change gear yet and mentally speaking I think it would cause my wife to have a breakdown and trigger a rapid parting of ways! :D
 
Soldato
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If you need a no win no fee solicitor, I'd recommend Neil at bikelawyer.co.uk. I used them when I came off on diesel, wrote my bike off and smashed up my arm. Ended up receiving far more than I thought I would.
 
Caporegime
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Holy moly... glad to hear your leg will heal and get well soon! :eek:

The reason I never touched a bike is because my dad (a biker himself) always said "It's not a case of if you have an accident, it's simply when...". He narrowly escaped a nasty end a couple of times.

Of course the same logic can be applied to any motorised vehicle, but there is no doubt in my mind that when it comes to colliding with something even at low/modest speeds, I would rather be inside a modern car than exposed on a bike. There are just too many ****-wits in the world to make motorbiking as safe as the person driving it should be.
 
Man of Honour
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Oof! Sorry to see/hear that Robbie! Looks nasty! Glad you're on the mend. Take it easy.

It's amazing what 40mph can do especially at the wrong angle of contact. In comparison I low sided on a track day at well over 70mph and other than damaged leathers and a very bent bike I was fine. You must have had little to no time to react :( that must have been frightening.
 
Soldato
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Freefaller;30485546 said:
It's amazing what 40mph can do especially at the wrong angle of contact.

It is. Mine was at 20mph and I came out with a bruised knee. Any faster and it'd be mush. I only had my Hoods on as well, no knee protection whatsoever.
 
Soldato
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Just read through this for the second time (and saw the pictures).

I hope you make a complete & full recovery. The fact you've still got your leg is very lucky, regardless of the (little) damage to the bike. Unfortunately for you, it seems that the incident did come down to being at the wrong place at the wrong time; but regardless of where to place the blame, you made it out in one piece.

If anything like this happened to me, I'd have to give up riding, I would fully understand your decision to not ride again if it came to that.

This sort of incident just brings home how dangerous riding can be, and whilst you can err on the side of caution, there is always someone or something to ruin your day. I don't know what I would have done in your position, the fear factor alone would have probably caused me to make the wrong decision, but you're here and you're recovering :)
 
Soldato
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Love some gory pictures, glad you are alive and still have your leg thats the main thing!

Good luck with the recovery and if you are offered physio take it! It will make a massive difference to how your leg performs long term.
 
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Richdog;30485515 said:
Holy moly... glad to hear your leg will heal and get well soon! :eek:

The reason I never touched a bike is because my dad (a biker himself) always said "It's not a case of if you have an accident, it's simply when...". He narrowly escaped a nasty end a couple of times.

Of course the same logic can be applied to any motorised vehicle, but there is no doubt in my mind that when it comes to colliding with something even at low/modest speeds, I would rather be inside a modern car than exposed on a bike. There are just too many ****-wits in the world to make motorbiking as safe as the person driving it should be.

You're missing out as you live near-ish to some of the best biking roads in the works.
 
Man of Honour
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I'd say it's a little different on a bike though. It takes very little for us to end up in a very bad state whereas unless it's a really bad car accident you'll almost certainly be walking away.

I don't know loads of bikers but even then I know a few with missing arms/legs due to bike accidents yet I know loads of people who drive yet none with any long lasting accident damage.
 
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Glad you are on the mend.

The pictures reminds me of my motorbike accident in 1998 august bank holiday monday, had a CRB600F from new, 3 years old and I wrote if off.

The accident was my fault for being impatient, (was going aprox 40mph) thankfully no one else got injured.

I broke:

little finger and ring finger right hand
punctured left lung (I cannot scub drive again)
left femur
right femur (due to the type of accident the bone got crushed rather than a stright break)
right tib and fib
right ackle

I was later told by the nurses that I had the best surgeon as it was very close to me losing my right leg as there wasn't much bone left to put the pins to. I've lost movement in my knee due to the bone growing through the muscle. Lost movement in ackle as well.

I was off my feet for 3 months, then crutches and then finally walking sticks. The pins were removed from left femur and right ankle after 6 months. Right pin still in, surgeon said it was best to leave in it unless its causing me problems.

I have not ridden since, mainly due to not being able to get my right leg into a comfortable postion, plus I've been pillion on a bike and we were doing 70 and I thought I'd would probably have gone a bit faster.

Thankful that I can still ride a bicycle, disappointed that I cannot scub dive. I took my skiing instead!
 
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Dogbreath;30486258 said:
If you got injured in a car crash would you give up driving?

It's not the same thing... biking is inherently more dangerous as you are not protected like you are in a modern car. You can be severely injured at much lower speeds, and not to mention easily fly off of a bike or hit a limb during a collision (as per the OP). That doesn't happen as easily in a car.
 
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Richdog;30486580 said:
It's not the same thing... biking is inherently more dangerous as you are not protected like you are in a modern car. You can be severely injured at much lower speeds, and not to mention easily fly off of a bike or hit a limb during a collision (as per the OP). That doesn't happen as easily in a car.

Biking is also a passion, while cars are just tools.
 
Caporegime
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Kreeeee;30486640 said:
Biking is also a passion, while cars are just tools.

People don't have passion for cars? :confused:

Anyway this is not a "bikes vs cars which are better" so I'm not sure why you are turning it in that direction. It's a discussion surrounding comparative safety. :)

EDIT - Anyway lets not derail the thread, the OP is ok now and that's what counts.
 
Man of Honour
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Passion or not if you don't question riding after something like this especially if you've got an other half and kids then that would seem very strange to me.
 
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