Well it happened.... | GTAMotorcycle.com

Well it happened....

GateKeeper

GateKeeper

Well-known member
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They say sooner or latter you will be in one, and today was my day, close to damn near 30 years of riding and I am in my first accident on a bike, and it wasn't even my fault, really it wasn't, but I am unsure if anything can be done, or if I should do anything about it...

This is the event



Well today it happened, I was in an accident on the bike, not to worry, I am OK and the bike is not too bad off, for now, as I have not had a chance to really go over it as it literally happened just about an hour ago.....

I was going south and in a right turn only lane, pickup truck in front of me stops at the corner to see if the way is clear he is making a right to go west, and he just overshoots the pedestrian crossing area, well he is in the middle of it, I come up behind him and stop leaving a bit of distance and waiting for him to go, well he does go,,,,,but in the wrong direction he starts backing up, like WTF is this guy doing......I am in gear, clutch in, and I have no where to go, I squeeze the front brake and hold on, I manage to keep the bike upright, he stops but the front tire is pinned under his bumper and hitch, and I cannot get away, I start hitting his tailgate with my right hand as I still have the clutch in as I am in gear, but he proceeds to back up just a bit more, finally he stops after realizing of what is going on, and gets out of the truck, I still can't get away as the front tire is pinned under, so he gets back in the truck pulls forward slowly and I am free, I turn off the bike and start looking at the damage, a bit of a nick on the front tire small bit of rubber missing, but he broke the front fender, couple of nice chunks are missing as they are busted, and the tabs on either side that attach to the forks well they are broken as well, but hey I managed to keep the bike upright didn't drop it so I at least tried to keep the damage to a minimum, but there could be fork damage that I can't see yet, maybe rim damage I doubt it but I have to see, over all I am lucky, but try and find a front fender on a 30 year old bike, well good luck to me......

I did not call the police, yet, I do have his plate number and drivers license info, and I am not sure if a report should be made or not, I am sure he is going to get dinged for something, at least I would hope so, maybe I get him to cover my expense on a fender and the painting of one, and any other damage I might find, I know I won't get anything out of my insurance, and I am not trying to get the guy in trouble, even though he is totally at fault....

so any words of wisdom ? do I just suck it up fix it up and call it a day, do I try to get the guy to cough up some cash, or do I make an official report, I am after all at the Court House today and there are going to be a boat load of cops here very shortly....

Just not sure.....

But I am glad it was not worse, had he backed up faster or kept going more, it would not be a good day at all

Ohh and he tells me it was my fault because I was behind him and not off to the left or right side, he says he checked his left and right mirrors and did not see anything, I asked him if he checked his rear view mirror, replies no and even if he did I am so low he would not have seen me, however I point out to him my head and shoulders are above his tailgate, so how is it that he would not see me.....

Be careful out there fellow riders.....
 
GateKeeper said:
They say sooner or latter you will be in one, and today was my day, close to damn near 30 years of riding and I am in my first accident on a bike, and it wasn't even my fault, really it wasn't, but I am unsure if anything can be done, or if I should do anything about it...

This is the event



Well today it happened, I was in an accident on the bike, not to worry, I am OK and the bike is not too bad off, for now, as I have not had a chance to really go over it as it literally happened just about an hour ago.....

I was going south and in a right turn only lane, pickup truck in front of me stops at the corner to see if the way is clear he is making a right to go west, and he just overshoots the pedestrian crossing area, well he is in the middle of it, I come up behind him and stop leaving a bit of distance and waiting for him to go, well he does go,,,,,but in the wrong direction he starts backing up, like WTF is this guy doing......I am in gear, clutch in, and I have no where to go, I squeeze the front brake and hold on, I manage to keep the bike upright, he stops but the front tire is pinned under his bumper and hitch, and I cannot get away, I start hitting his tailgate with my right hand as I still have the clutch in as I am in gear, but he proceeds to back up just a bit more, finally he stops after realizing of what is going on, and gets out of the truck, I still can't get away as the front tire is pinned under, so he gets back in the truck pulls forward slowly and I am free, I turn off the bike and start looking at the damage, a bit of a nick on the front tire small bit of rubber missing, but he broke the front fender, couple of nice chunks are missing as they are busted, and the tabs on either side that attach to the forks well they are broken as well, but hey I managed to keep the bike upright didn't drop it so I at least tried to keep the damage to a minimum, but there could be fork damage that I can't see yet, maybe rim damage I doubt it but I have to see, over all I am lucky, but try and find a front fender on a 30 year old bike, well good luck to me......

I did not call the police, yet, I do have his plate number and drivers license info, and I am not sure if a report should be made or not, I am sure he is going to get dinged for something, at least I would hope so, maybe I get him to cover my expense on a fender and the painting of one, and any other damage I might find, I know I won't get anything out of my insurance, and I am not trying to get the guy in trouble, even though he is totally at fault....

so any words of wisdom ? do I just suck it up fix it up and call it a day, do I try to get the guy to cough up some cash, or do I make an official report, I am after all at the Court House today and there are going to be a boat load of cops here very shortly....

Just not sure.....

But I am glad it was not worse, had he backed up faster or kept going more, it would not be a good day at all

Ohh and he tells me it was my fault because I was behind him and not off to the left or right side, he says he checked his left and right mirrors and did not see anything, I asked him if he checked his rear view mirror, replies no and even if he did I am so low he would not have seen me, however I point out to him my head and shoulders are above his tailgate, so how is it that he would not see me.....

Be careful out there fellow riders.....
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First sorry i know the effort you put into both your bikes but front fenders of a GS or FZ should not be that hard to find you know someone will be able to find you something on the GS forum.

Second do you have a witness/pictures because he could claim you hit him!
 
It is a terrible situation when you see it coming at you, and you can't get out of the way. First of all, the pick up truck guy is an idiot. Second, did you get his insurance info?
 
That sux my man... Glad to hear that you are okay!

For sure you should report the incident to the police and your insurance company. Just to get it on record. He backed into you... it's his responsibility to pay for damages.

Did you not blast your horn at the guy as he was backing up?

As you say... could have been worse....

Carry on...
 
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Two50noob said:
First sorry i know the effort you put into both your bikes but front fenders of a GS or FZ should not be that hard to find you know someone will be able to find you something on the GS forum.

Second do you have a witness/pictures because he could claim you hit him!
Click to expand...

I am sure one will be found, and I have all winter to source one out and get it ready for next season, I just hate that I have to and I just finished this one up all nice....LOL

no witness, unfortunately no one wants to stop and talk to you, everyone was actually going around us to make a right, and even had the guts to honk their horns and a few yelled at us for blocking the lane, really.....

MarcosSantiago said:
It is a terrible situation when you see it coming at you, and you can't get out of the way. First of all, the pick up truck guy is an idiot. Second, did you get his insurance info?
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got his business card and his license info, no insurance info, I will try to settle with him in a nice way, lets see how well that will or will not go...

Grandpa_Bambu said:
That sux my man... Glad to hear that you are okay!

For sure you should report the incident to the police and your insurance company. Just to get it on record. He backed into you... it's his responsibilit to pay for damages.

Did you not blast your horn at the guy as he was backing up?

As you say... could have been worse....

Carry on...
Click to expand...

horn was blasted, but to no avail, even hitting his tailgate didn't stop him, he initially hit me once and that is when I was pinned, I tried to back up but I was stuck, after he stopped he then backed up more, that is when I started hitting the tailgate, and then he came to a full stop...
 
Considering he said that you shouldn't have been behind him, but to one side or the other... Sounds like he may try to wriggle out of paying for damages... Best of luck there!
 
Yes, I am glad to be OK as well, it was a minor incident, but could have been a lot worse had he kept on backing up or done it with any great speed, well I would have been a sandwich between him and the car behind me.....

Maybe I knock on his door, show him the cost of me getting a fender off ebay or somewhere, he hands over a bit of cash to cover the cost and we call it a day.....I am optimistic and hopeful....

What I really don't like is if it had been a person walking behind him and he reversed and since he was not paying attention, that pedestrian would not fair as well as I did as they truck would have hit them and could have caused some serious injury and or worse.....
 
Grandpa_Bambu said:
Considering he said that you shouldn't have been behind him, but to one side or the other... Sounds like he may try to wriggle out of paying for damages... Best of luck there!
Click to expand...

this is a possibility, but he seemed to care, he gave me his business card and he did say to call him, and we can work something out, lets see how that pans out......
 
Glad you're alright OP....however be careful because if it comes down to it, it'll look like you hit him from behind instead of him backing up.

I had a situation where a guy backed into my car and ******* as to why I was there waiting to leave the gas station....few days later I talked to some cops and they told me "Take whatever $ he gives you because if it comes to it, and he disputes your story of him backing up, it'll be your fault that you ran into the back of him unless you can show witnesses or video evidence".
 
Report it to police. Especially because he started accusing you of being at fault. I wouldn't trust anyone unfortunately, he can just turn around and make a claim that you rear ended him. Especially if there aren't witnesses.
 
mimico_polak said:
Glad you're alright OP....however be careful because if it comes down to it, it'll look like you hit him from behind instead of him backing up.

I had a situation where a guy backed into my car and ******* as to why I was there waiting to leave the gas station....few days later I talked to some cops and they told me "Take whatever $ he gives you because if it comes to it, and he disputes your story of him backing up, it'll be your fault that you ran into the back of him unless you can show witnesses or video evidence".
Click to expand...

SpeeDemoN said:
Report it to police. Especially because he started accusing you of being at fault. I wouldn't trust anyone unfortunately, he can just turn around and make a claim that you rear ended him. Especially if there aren't witnesses.
Click to expand...

so true on both accounts, and since the lot is starting to fill up, it's time to have a chat with the men in blue....

IMG_0166.jpg
 
Did you not have time to employ reverse gear?

alternatively switch to a trials bike and bunny hop the bike into the bed of the truck next time.

also....that sucks and I hope everything gets worked out.
 
Happy to hear that you are OK
Just my opinion from past history.
I don`t trust anybody that says this and then says that.
Never mind how nice he is.
Go through the normal, Police, Insurance company.
Always cover your a**rse.
 
Once the trucker tried to blame you for being behind him, to my mind he's showed you his true self. Call insurance and report to police. Good luck.
 
I'd give him a chance. I believe you have a good bit of time to report if you need to.

Damage costs will be minor if it's just the fender; probably no more than $500 including painting. Make sure your forks aren't bent though. If I were that driver, I'd easily be willing to pay up to a few thousand out of pocket. Even if it cost me the same amount I'd pay extra to the insurance company over the 6 years it's on my record, I'd rather anyone but the insurance company gets their hands on that money.
 
This is truly a tough one. If he decides to be a dik and not pay for damages, your stuck. If you report it to police without witnesses and/or video it will truly come down to he said/he said. At which point he will, (if he is smart), not go with the "you shouldn't have been there", but rather the "he rear ended me". I he does that and you have reported it to police, and your insurer, there are two potential outcomes niether of which are great. First you get a ticket, (likely for follow too close). second your insurer rules it is an at fault for you.

This is exactly why I now have two cameras, (one on the handlebar mount facing forward and one on the backrest mount facing to the rear). I was basically sideswiped three weeks ago by a guy who came into my lane to pass me on the right. He reported it to police and insurance as I had hit him. His insurer called me for the video as they were declaring me at fault. i said no video for you, MY insurer can have it police can have it but not you. Seems once he discovered he was on video his "story" changed.
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