I guess that I can make it relate to biking by saying that you have to really love biking to, in this weather, put on long pants, a leather jacket, helmet, and leather gloves just to ride to dinner. But I did. So I'm insane. I did, however, see a total idiot on the road yesterday: granted, it was hot, but this dweeb was wearing a tank top, shorts, and sneakers (well, and a helmet), driving what looked to be a big CBR or somesuch (i.e. high-powered sports bike), and TAILGATING the car in front of him. I swear, not only was this guy practically guaranteeing that he'd have an accident, but he was wearing clothes that guaranteed that the vast majority of his skin wouldn't survive it. Oh well.
Did I mention that I'm sweating to death? Cuz I am.
speaking of accidents
So while I was perusing the web today from my air-conditioned office, I
came across the web page of a woman my age, who is into biking. In one
section of her site, she described in detail a really horrible
motorcycle accident that she was in. It sounded absolutely terrible --
she had to go through numerous surgeries, she was in a wheelchair for a
long time, tons of internal damage, etc. The was she described it,
it sounds like she was extremely lucky that she lived at all.
So the reason that I bring this up is that my reaction to it was really interesting. Obviously, I felt bad for this poor girl, and it was sort of freaky to think that someone a year younger than me was in such a horrible accident. On the other hand, she gave a really detailed account of the events leading up to the accident, and I couldn't help but think of all the ways she could have avoided it. Does that sound bitchy? I hope not.
So, first of all, she was hit by an oncoming car that turned left in front of her. The vast majority of motorcycle/car collisions happen in exactly this way: the bike's going down the street, the car turns left, hits the bike, says "but I never saw the motorcycle!" It's freaky, because you obviously can't force yourself to be seen, but there *are* ways to help your chances. Especially if you *know* that most bike/car accidents happen in exactly this way. You need to be on the lookout, and assume that the car turning left in front of you doesn't see you.
Second, she says that she was going extremely fast. She doesn't say how fast, but it's implied that she was speeding heavily on her heavy-duty sportsbike. I have no problem with this, but obviously, if you're going to be on a road with intersections and turn lanes and oncoming traffic, like she was, this was an extremely poor judgement call. Even just slowing down from 40mph to 30mph cuts your stopping distance *in half* -- she mentions that the car turned about 10 meters in front of her. If she was even going 50mph (and I think it was faster), I'm not surprised at all that she couldn't slow down enough to avoid collision.
Third, she swerved the bike when she realized she was going to hit. One thing that *every* book I've read has stressed is that you have to practice emeregency braking, because in a realy emergency, you're going to do what's "natural" to you. Swerving is the natural reaction, but it doesn't slow you down at all for impact!! Brake as hard as you can, using mainly the front brake, without skidding out; it's better to hit the car at 10 mph than to swerve and hit the ground at full speed.
not that i'm perfect or anything
God knows, I'd have panicked if I were in that situation, too. I guess
the interesting thing for me is just that I was able to pick out ways
that the entire accident situation might have been avoided completely,
or at least the damage significantly reduced. So I guess that's good
for me. Incidentally, for those who now think I'm heartless, I'm only
saying this because the woman in question made a full recovery, and
is biking again now (though, uh, hopefully a little safer now!).
did i mention that it's really fucking hot?
I'm just sayin'.