My Motorcycle Accident

Quite some time ago I had a minor motorcycle accident. Fortunately I was uninjured however the bike needed significant repairs. Thankfully insurance covered the repairs and the bike looked great when I sold it a short time later; much nicer than when I rode it. Despite being a rookie rider, I do feel the accident resulted from circumstances that would undo even an experienced rider.

I was on my way to my sister's place in a quiet suburb, at night and I thought I knew the way however I turned a street too early. Not a problem! I'm paying attention to what is in front of me but the street I turn up has no street lights and is very dark. Still OK.

Now the street is not a simple, perpendicular turn; it folds back an additional 15 degrees or so beyond a right angle which was unexpected. OK, getting a little hairy now.

Acute intersection (driving on left side)

The bike I'm riding has a full fairing, which means the headlights are not mounted on the steering assembly and do not face into the corner as I turn. Instead, the headlights are mounted on the body of the bike and cast in the current direction of the bike; not the direction of the front tyre.

 

Naked is much safer than fairing in the dark

So what I see is a curb coming into range of my lights and it's not "easing off" as its supposed to when cornering successfully. At this point I am only at suburban-intersection, cornering speed which is almost nothing, but this is still a serious situation.

In a perfect world, I might have leaned hard and applied my rear brake. It seems I did have the presence of mind to stay off the front brake which would have brought the bike down immediately, such is the nature of turning any bike.

I do not hit the curb. The bike has turned just enough and the intersection angled just square enough that I find myself driving perfectly upright in the gutter. This after easing myself out of the lean as I get closer and closer to the curb. At this point one may reasonably assume I have just avoided an accident, and I guess I have; however, the incident is not over.

For starters, I cannot turn as my sidewalls are rubbing the curb. I cannot turn onto the footpath, nor can I transfer enough weight to start leaning away from the curb in order to turn that way. But I'm still OK; I should be able to brake.

Now Brisbane is in a 'humid subtropical' climate region with almost entirely evergreen trees. But it just so happens it is autumn and there is a deciduous tree nearby, so the gutter is full of dry leaves. I can only brake very gently. This is not a problem. I should be OK to lose the last of my forward motion while maintaining control.

Of course, you guessed it, there is one final complication to complete the accident. In some older suburbs there is the occasional 'bridge style' driveway entrance and yes, there was one approaching rather fast. There was nothing left to do but grab the brakes.

Old bridge-style driveway entrance

Naturally, the bike didn't stop very well on the dry leaves and went down immediately. The front wheel struck the concrete slab just before the side of the bike hit the ground. This as it turns out was the best outcome because if one is going to go flying over the handlebars, it helps if the bike is lying on it's side. I end up doing a couple commando rolls and get up without a scratch.

So was I unlucky? No. Anytime I can walk away unscathed from a motorcycle accident is a very lucky day.