+ Why we crash +

[Trials]

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I would buy a new bike, sue for the entire cost and tell them they are getting off cheap,
anything less then that will be a hardship on you, right?

 

[GreyGhost]

I was in a collision on the way to work on Tuesday. I'm a little bruised but thankfully nothing worse. The bike though will hopefully be reparable, but the front sustained a lot of damage, mainly to the tupperware.

I was riding on Eglinton West going east from Oakwood to the Allen in the right (southmost) lane. Traffic was moving slowly in the left lane but was clear in my lane. A pickup truck in the oncoming lane was trying to make a left into the parking lot on the south side of Eglinton. Guy in a car in the left lane waved him though, so the pickup truck just went straight across two lanes without looking to see if anyone was coming in my lane. But I was coming. He cut into my lane right in front of me, and I barely had time to squeeze my brakes, but it wasn't enough time. I collided with the right front side of his truck and left a dent. Luckily I wasn't speeding. It could have been a lot worse.

I had my bike towed to the collision reporting centre afterwards. Today (the next day) my insurance company is having my bike towed from there to a shop near my house for assessment and (hopefully) the necessary repairs. Needless to say, even without having to go to hospital, dealing with a crash like this takes up the whole day. The collision happened shortly after 9am, and I wasn't able to leave the collision reporting centre after filing the insurance claim until around 3pm when I could finally have lunch. At least the insurance recognizes that the blame lies entirely with the truck driver since he was turning left and I was going straight. That means it won't affect my insurance premium and I won't have to pay the deductible.

Glad you are ok. Many, many of these left-turners turn out much worse for the rider.

Prepare yourself for your bike to be totaled. As you hit the truck standing up, I were be surprised if you didn't hurt the fork or head tube. Even just tupperware damage is normally enough to send a bike to auction. What bike was it?

 

[Mad Mike]

I was in a collision on the way to work on Tuesday. I'm a little bruised but thankfully nothing worse. The bike though will hopefully be reparable, but the front sustained a lot of damage, mainly to the tupperware.

I was riding on Eglinton West going east from Oakwood to the Allen in the right (southmost) lane. Traffic was moving slowly in the left lane but was clear in my lane. A pickup truck in the oncoming lane was trying to make a left into the parking lot on the south side of Eglinton. Guy in a car in the left lane waved him though, so the pickup truck just went straight across two lanes without looking to see if anyone was coming in my lane. But I was coming. He cut into my lane right in front of me, and I barely had time to squeeze my brakes, but it wasn't enough time. I collided with the right front side of his truck and left a dent. Luckily I wasn't speeding. It could have been a lot worse.

I had my bike towed to the collision reporting centre afterwards. Today (the next day) my insurance company is having my bike towed from there to a shop near my house for assessment and (hopefully) the necessary repairs. Needless to say, even without having to go to hospital, dealing with a crash like this takes up the whole day. The collision happened shortly after 9am, and I wasn't able to leave the collision reporting centre after filing the insurance claim until around 3pm when I could finally have lunch. At least the insurance recognizes that the blame lies entirely with the truck driver since he was turning left and I was going straight. That means it won't affect my insurance premium and I won't have to pay the deductible.

Glad to hear you are OK. Wow, these left turners are really making a mark this year. Last week my neighbour was around 16th and Markham Rd when he collided with a left turn loser, cost her a new GL1800 -- he was lucky, only bumped and bruised.

Thanks for telling your story -- these are the things novices (and some seasoned riders) need to hear and remember. 100% the other guys fault, 100% your agony and grief.

 

[sezme]

Thanks for the support! Everyone has asked me if the other driver apologized. Ha! That would be the day. To be fair, though, insurance companies advices their policy holders never to apologize. At least we both agreed that it wasn't how we'd hoped to start our days.

My bike is/was a Suzuki Burgman 400. I really like that bike, so I hope the frame wasn't damaged. I don't even like the new model as much as the 2014 I was riding. But whatever happens happens.

I do make a practice of looking for gaps where someone might turn left in front of me, but I think this one just happened too fast. And of course, some drivers don't register anything in their field of vision that doesn't have four wheels.

 

[Trials]

Suzuki Burgman 400 <- scariest bike I ever rode :|

 

[Chris-CJ]

Is it age and decreased fitness that is causing the crash stats to spike?
David Booth thinks so and he has the facts to prove it.

Motor Mouth: We’re older, infirm, and crashing our motorcycles a lot

Riding a motorcycle is dangerous at the best of times, but older bikers seem to be causing a spike in fatality rates

driving.ca

 

[Ash]

Is it age and decreased fitness that is causing the crash stats to spike?
David Booth thinks so and he has the facts to prove it.

Motor Mouth: We’re older, infirm, and crashing our motorcycles a lot

Riding a motorcycle is dangerous at the best of times, but older bikers seem to be causing a spike in fatality rates

driving.ca

The stats that he quotes don't strongly support his conclusions, particularly the "being infirm causes crashes" part. Saying that fatalities for riders over 55 years old have risen by more than 30% is not useful information without also knowing whether the number of riders over 55 also rose or fell in the same time frame. If the total number of riders over 55 rose by 30% in the same time frame, then it's completely unremarkable that there would also be an equivalent increase in the total number of crashes. More riders in a group = more crashes in that group, on average. The full stats might actually support his claim, but they aren't listed and he doesn't cite sources for them, so this is a pretty low quality article.

His comparisons of US versus EU stats don't support the notion that older riders are over-represented in crashes, because they don't include age-based data at all. Yes, motorcycle fatalities are much higher in the US (58 per 100,000) than in the EU (somewhere between 7 to 11 per 100,000), but automobile fatalities are also higher in the US (15 per 100,000) than in the EU (5 per 100,000), but there's no associated age data, so the best that you can say with those numbers is that people are more likely to die in traffic accidents of any kind in the US versus in the EU. There are hints elsewhere in the article that suggest the problem is rooted in something other than age: training, skill and/or alcohol consumption, but there's not enough to even draw those conclusions based on the info he presents.

 

[Mad Mike]

The stats that he quotes don't strongly support his conclusions, particularly the "being infirm causes crashes" part. Saying that fatalities for riders over 55 years old have risen by more than 30% is not useful information without also knowing whether the number of riders over 55 also rose or fell in the same time frame. If the total number of riders over 55 rose by 30% in the same time frame, then it's completely unremarkable that there would also be an equivalent increase in the total number of crashes. More riders in a group = more crashes in that group, on average. The full stats might actually support his claim, but they aren't listed and he doesn't cite sources for them, so this is a pretty low quality article.

His comparisons of US versus EU stats don't support the notion that older riders are over-represented in crashes, because they don't include age-based data at all. Yes, motorcycle fatalities are much higher in the US (58 per 100,000) than in the EU (somewhere between 7 to 11 per 100,000), but automobile fatalities are also higher in the US (15 per 100,000) than in the EU (5 per 100,000), but there's no associated age data, so the best that you can say with those numbers is that people are more likely to die in traffic accidents of any kind in the US versus in the EU. There are hints elsewhere in the article that suggest the problem is rooted in something other than age: training, skill and/or alcohol consumption, but there's not enough to even draw those conclusions based on the info he presents.

Yawn.

I ride enough to draw my own conclusions, I'm sure that riders who clock 150 days and 20Km/year see enough and experience enough to draw similar conclusions.

Rider skills aside, motorcycling is inherently more dangerous than driving a car - the reasons are obvious. Lack of protection diminished visibility, and you pay a hurtful price whether right or wrong in almost every collision.

It's also an expensive endeavor in a cold climate where it's almost always an added expense over a car. Affordability pushes the entry age back, unlike cars I'm guessing 1/2 of the riders out there have 25+ years of car driving experience before they get their M1.

• Car driving confidence and skills don't transfer to a motorcycle rider immediately -- many mistakenly think they do.
• Older and richer men have the money to buy a behemoth cruiser as a first bike -- sadly you can't buy the experience needed to safely ride it.
• Older riders often never ride enough to become proficient.

As for rest of world stats, those are hard to compare. The rest of the world favors <250cc motorcycles, and in most countries owning a motorcycle is way cheaper than a car so you have lots of young riders learning on very small bikes. Most of the riders I know started serious riding in after their 45th birthday.

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