anonymous hatred. or, thank you $HIGHER_POWER for taking care of my brother and sister-in-law

[rmd]

so, there's someone out there who i hate but i have no idea who it is.

i don't hate them as much as i would if someone had ended up dead or even just seriously injured, but still. (which is to say, this story doesn't have a tragic ending -- it's dramatic enough without leaving the ending in doubt for you, gentle reader)

see, my eldest brother was riding his motorcycle the other day. his wife was riding as a passenger.

he was coming up to an intersection where he had the right of way -- the side-street traffic had a stop sign. there was a car coming up the side street. it completely ignored the stop sign and blew thru the intersection. my brother slowed, fishtailed, and then made a conscious decision to lay down the bike rather than hit the car. he told my sister-in-law "we're going down" and intentionally low-sided, and both he and my sister-in-law went skidding/rolling along the pavement. he missed hitting a phone pole with his body by about a foot. she went about 20' further than he did. he managed to crawl over to her as the couple riding on a motorcycle with them stopped to help.

the car never stopped.

my sister-in-law broke a couple of bones in her hand and her helmet sacrificed itself to save her head. both of them have some impressive bits of roadrash. but they're okay. bruised, battered, broken, swollen and sore, but fundamentally okay.

and it was pretty much a matter of luck. there are a lot of ways this scenario could've played out that would've ended much worse. i'm not sure that in his situation, i'd have managed to drop my bike rather than slam into the car.

the car never stopped. even with a motorcycle crashing to the ground and bodies sliding on the ground in the car's wake, the car didn't stop.

drunk? high? oblivious? unlicensed? any or all of the above, i suspect.

they didn't get the plate number, afaik. on the whole, i'm okay with the decision of the other couple to stop and help rather than pursue and identify. if there'd been more folks with them, maybe someone could've gotten the info. but for now, it's one of life's mysteries.

it's a testament to how lucky they were that there's a humorous bit of the story -- after skidding along the pavement, my sister-in-law came to rest in poison ivy. this is what you call "adding insult to injury". whatever higher power one might choose to believe in saved them but is not entirely lacking in trickster nature, i think.

but yeah, there's someone i hate but i have no idea who it is.

today, i can see how vigilantes start.

Comments

[johnromkey.livejournal.com]

I'm glad they're okay.

I might be down with "one strike and you're dead" for traffic control violators.

[drwex]

yeesh! Glad to hear things are basically OK.

[candle-light.livejournal.com]

Wow. So very lucky. I'm glad they came through it reasonably intact. I think people who cause motorcycle accidents should get harsh treatment. Having myself gone through a motorcycle accident where the car caused it but didn't make contact with me, it's really hard to prosecute (even if they do stop). My person got a citation at the scene for failing to observe a stop sign. I had to take her to court to get reimbursed for my wrecked gear etc...

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm glad they're OK.

Gorram BDCs. :-(

And the cravenness of *not stopping* is just appalling.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

it's entirely possible they were so oblivious as to miss it. i don't know. as i say, one of life's mysteries.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad your brother and SiL are going to be okay. *hugs* But holy fuck, I'm right there with you on the hatred of people who cause accidents and can't be bothered to stop. Let's hope karma catches up with that driver RSN.

[tmib.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear they are ok. Stupid cagers are everywhere, and sometimes it seems they are actively out to get us.

I have to say something though that is going to seem terribly callous though. Please understand I say it out of concern for your brother.

He needs to get more riding training. If he's taken the basic riding course, have him go back and take the advanced one. If he's taken the advanced one, have him go take it again to refresh his knowledge.

You say that he "made a conscious decision to lay down the bike rather than hit the car". Flat out, this is the WRONG thing to do. I hear about this countless times from riders that got into accidents. I wince every time I hear it. The idea of laying the bike down to avoid an accident has become so common, whenever someone tells me about an accident they were in, I just bite my tongue and wait for the end of the story where they say, "I had to lay it down."

Laying a bike down is NOT the way to avoid hitting something. For a number of reasons:

1) You are giving up control of your bike. After you've laid it down, there is nothing you can do to change your situation. You don't get a chance to swerve if the situation changes, you don't get to release brakes and apply throttle if the situation changes, etc. You're basically saying, "I give up."

2) This point is what most people that lay their bike down seem to forget: You will stop FASTER if you stay on the brakes and keep the bike upright in a straight line. The coefficient of friction of the tires on the road is WAY higher that the side of the metal bike on the road. Keep the bike upright, keep it straight, and get on the brakes. Every instant you're on the brakes, you're shaving off speed, even if you end up locking the wheels and skidding. Dumping the bike means you'll likely slide even farther along than if you had stayed on the bike and applied strong braking force. In essence, dumping the bike takes you further and faster towards what you are trying to avoid than staying on the bike with the brakes applied.


One big problem is that people learn to do emergency stops at low speed, but never learn or practice high-speed emergency stops. Learning how to properly apply the right balance of front/rear brake in a high-speed stop is a skill that needs to be trained and practiced. Intuition tells us to brake hard on the rear, (which can lowside you) or to simply dump the bike. As with many things with riding, your instincts are wrong in this case, and the correct skills need to be practiced until they become intuitive.


Couple of articles:
http://www.msgroup.org/TIP092.html
http://www.msgroup.org/TIP093.html

Sorry to sound preachy or callous here. I really am glad everyone is ok. This is just one of my peeves, and it bothers me to see such a common myth still making the rounds among riders.

--Tracy

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that your brother and sister-in-law are relatively ok.
Reading this tale, however, has left me shocked, appalled and furious.
Not even stopping? That is just beyond the pale.

*hugs*

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

I think you're being way too charitable to them. They *had* to know. Or they should have known. Jerks.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

oh, no offense taken.

he's taken basic and advanced MSF training.

i'm too busy being quietly upset with his choices in protective gear rather than his choice in dropping the bike. (pudding-bowl helmet, etc) it's not something i can tell them any time soon, so i'm busily grumping at other folks about it.

i haven't been riding in a while, partly because i'm not sure of my own reflexes -- i've got a mild medical condition (low thyroid) that has the side effect of slowing some cognitive stuff when untreated or insufficiently treated. it also, afaict, slows reflexes. i suspect (with very little data) that it may have been a contributing factor to my car accident a year or two ago, just because my levels showed up as low later that summer.

i figure once my levels have been stable for a while (we're still kind of tweaking them, albiet slowly), i'll kick the bike up and see how riding well within my comfort zone feels.

[candle-light.livejournal.com]

Oh, and while it's appalling that the car didn't stop, I can believe that they didn't see the crash happen either. They blew through a stop sign, why should they notice what's happening next to & behind them?

[metagnat.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad they are mostly all right. I hope the wounds they did receive heal quickly.

-E

[gayathri.livejournal.com]

*HUGS HUGS HUGS HUGS* I'm totally with you on the protective gear, etc -- perhaps once they have recovered, you can suggest or point out the host of protective gear that isnt hot or stifling (a big complaint I hear from the Harley riders I know).

Dear Universe, please feel free to take some of my good karma points and reverse them for the idiot who blew the stop sign.

(This isnt the bro with the cool house with that awesome shower is it? or another bro I havent met?)

gayathri

[rmd.livejournal.com]

thanks.

nope, that's the youngest of the three (all of whom are older than me). this was the oldest brother, who is married with three kids. one of whom is a state trooper in MA. who i suspect set a land speed record getting to the hospital the day of the accident since he was already on his way to work in his cruiser.

[waysofseeing.livejournal.com]

There's a special place in Hell reserved for oblivious drivers who take out motorcyclists. I'm very sorry. Glad your family is OK though.

[flabosib.livejournal.com]

I tend to think that there is an angel who watches over folks on motorcycles. At least I ask that an angel be assigned the job. Thank goodness for helmets (and the sense to wear them)!

May healing happen very quickly. I will keep this intention on my prayer list.

Whew!

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

Like ... Bill Janklow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Janklow)?

[sweetmmeblue.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that they are fundamentally ok. I totally grok your rage.

[andybeals.livejournal.com]

road rash

Less than full leathers, I take it?

And I'm guessing the idjit was driving an ovloV.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear they aren't seriously hurt.
Some people are just idiots.

Made me recall the time my uncle lost control of his bike and went into a stone wall. The bike hit the wall, he went over it and landed in a patch of poison ivy. He had some serious injuries, broken collar bone, arm and leg. But he was an idiot, he had been drinking when he got on the bike.

[sabyl.livejournal.com]

I am so glad to hear your brother and wife are going to be OK. This story could have ended much more tragically and yay that the timing was right. Hoping for a speedy recovery for them both.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad it was not worse.

While riding my bicycle, I've had a number of...I won't call them "near misses", but they were situations where the avoidance of an accident was all my doing and none of the motorist's -- and where the motorist remained unaware that there had been a Situation. That really disturbs me. On the one hand, I'm handlin' my own safety and that's good...on the other hand, it makes me question whether I can ride at times when I'm a little tired or inattentive. I can never just cruise along and zone out the way that cagers do as a god-given right. And that does piss me off.

If your brother and sis in law can give any description of the vehicle -- sedan, truck, SUV, color, newish, oldish, signs of damage, roof rack, bumper stickers, MA plate or other, general driver description -- it might be worth pursuing. It would probably not be enough to get the driver convicted, but it might earn him/her a visit and some pointed questions from the local constabulary. Assholes can often be scared into better behavior when you get in their face with the spectre of consequences..

[rmd.livejournal.com]

dunno what the idjit was driving, but yeah, they weren't wearing full gear.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

oh, the local and state constabulary would be all over this given a chance.

my brother, his wife, and the folks riding with them may have some level of description. not sure if it's going to be enough to hunt someone down, tho. the current consensus is that there's not enough identifying information.

[gosling.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad they are basically ok.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

No, but if you were to do something like post some flyers describing the accident and giving the date and time and direction of travel of the perp, and asking if anyone saw it, you might not get anything...but the perp might see it and, again, get kinda scared. Put a "Contact so-and-so police at xxx-xxxx or state cops at xxx-xxxx with info". Scare the fuckers even if you can't catch 'em.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

*that* is an excellent idea. i'll be sure to suggest it.

[tb]

That's scary stuff. We forget just how fragile people are so we can keep functioning in the world, and then we get reminded. Best wishes for a speedy recovery for all.

I can believe the driver was oblivious (not an excuse). I see evidence of that all the time. Today the person behind me leaned on his horn and gave me the finger because I stopped for a pedestrian in a crosswalk. I guess he was mad 'cause I got between him and the little girl he wanted to run over. He sure showed me: he passed on the double yellow and got to be first at the next red light. I guess playing chicken with the semi going the other way was too much for him.

[annathepiper]

Yowza. Very glad to hear your brother and his wife are okay!

[keren-s.livejournal.com]

A**holes!!! deliberate or oblivious, these people should never be allowed to drive again! I hope they are found and jailed. Mad just reading about it! Healing wishes to your family.

[jiapa.livejournal.com]

I'm glad your brother and sister-in-law are okay. Bad car driver. I hope they get found and properly re-educated, but most important is that your folks are okay.

[charleshaynes.livejournal.com]

Yay that they're ok. Here's hoping for a full and speedy recovery.

Wishing you luck with convincing them to improve their protective gear.

[galestorm.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear that they were okay in the end, that it wasn't worse, and thank you for not leaving that little tidbit to the end. :)

[fetish666.livejournal.com]

i share your thankfulness for your brother and sister in law's safety.

and i a growl to the universe yet again at people in cars who do should not be driving.