Who's never crashed?
 

I hear this all the damn time, from riders and non-riders and it gets old after awhile.

"It's not a matter of if, but when." or "There's two types of riders, those that've crashed, and those that will."

I don't knock on wood, I'm not superstitious, and I've never been in a car accident or motorcycle crash of any sort. My car was hit twice while parked legally without me there, that's it.

I believe that most, maybe 99% of "accidents" are preventable, whether or not they're your fault. Many people will never admit that of course, as it implies they're lacking some riding/driving skills that could have saved the day.

How many miles do you have under your belt without being in an accident?

And if you have, do you believe it was preventable? Where you riding faster than conditions or your or the bike's ability to react? Could you have anticipated the situation better?

I don't claim to be a superior rider to anyone, but I pay attention diligently and try my best to stay shiny side up. I commute on the bike almost daily including work trips around SoCal and go on canyon rides nearly every weekend. So I would like to believe that my fate is in my own hands, and that I'm not just sitting on a ticking time bomb.

ive never wiped out on the street. but in the dirt riding trails and motorcross ive been knocked unconsious. i will forever think its going to happen cause im constantantly pushing my luck. i figure that more than likely ill be hit from behind at a red light. but i could definetly see a low side?

Kevin I had 39000 street miles on my F2 when I wrecked it.
Just accept it one day you will go down the question is will you be wearing all the right gear?

I have had many wrecks on motorcycles as well as in vehicles, boats, a helicopter and an airplane. So I guess I dont qualify.:mad:

If I hadn't crashed, I sure wouldn't talk about it. No need to jinx myself.

With that out of the way, I've crashed several times. Once in the canyons when I hit some ice, and again when I was caught in a game of bumper cars with a Toyota Tacoma. On the track? I've stopped counting. Most were slow lowsides, but a few were highspeed lowsides.

The ice I might have been able to prevent. I don't know about the truck though.

All accidents are preventable. That deer would have never ran into me if I hadn't ridden that day. See? All are preventable. Now, which ones you have direct control over are a total different story...

accidents are accidents because they are not avoidable. Maybe had you had the same insight before the crash that you have after than it would be avoidable. Otherwise its all about probability, ride stupidly and your chances go up. Ride safely and your chances go down. Its all number and thinking that somehow those numbers don't apply to you because you are doing something differently is not realistic. Accidents are like the lottery if you don't play(ride) you won't win (wreck) if you play alot you aren't guaranteed to win but there is a better chance. I have wrecked once, my fault, now that I know... could it have been avoided... yes, but at the time no. Its all learning curve and crashing just exposes our weakness, some of which we can't change and some we can, so ride safely my friends.

I've never crashed. I've got about 30,000 miles (I know, not much compared to others) under my belt and am still waiting for that day to come. I'm not superstitious so no worries here. Like what has been said here already: ride smart/stay alert and it's pretty easy to stay upright.

No wrecks..20,000 mi so far. One tank slapper, and one completely blown corner that made me end up on the opposite shoulder. Both could have ended badly and didn't. I typically flash my brake nonstop at stoplights etc until the vehicle behind me is stopped--I don't want to go down that way.

I now have 175,000 miles of street riding, but about 20 years ago (with about 70,000 miles) I went down on a freeway transition (right-left-right) while hanging off on my 86 700 Nighthawk when I hit oil or something slippery in the left. I recovered from the initial rear tire slide, but went down when I couldn't make the final right hander. :(

It cost only $300 in parts and a sore ankle, but I was actually glad to get it over with.

I was tired of people asking me "have you ever crashed?".:rolleyes:

I might add that I had taken that same transition (I-5 south to 55 south in Santa Ana) several hundred times going home from work, hanging off and passing cars, and I just figured that the odds finally caught up with me. I'm lucky that I didn't get killed.

I've dropped my bike, never had a crash per se; more like that stupid noob in the parking lot bike fall over kinda thing. btw it wasn't my bike.... lol, my buddy had lent me his YZF 600R to learn on (yeah I learned to ride[somewhat] BEFORE I bought my bike); well it scratched it up some more than he already had so really no loss other than a skinned and bruised arm.

Also by the way the 600R is an awesome bike, best I4 I've ridden, real practical and a blast in the corners. I'm all about them older relaxed sportbikes, hence the 'hawk.

Close calls?

Don't even ask.

I think it depends on how much exposure you have. I've probably logged close to a million miles on the roads.

I've wrecked everything except a locomotive and my parents' airplane. Dirt riding taught me how to crash.

If you wear all the gear, are reasonable about your equipment and it's operation - you'll be just fine when that one in a million spot of oil puts you down.

one minor low side making a left turn in a sandy intersection...

On the street I have gone down 3 times... One of them being 100% my own fault and preventable... The other was me on the recieving end of cager stupidity extraordinare... and one deer... that one was not avoidable...

On track or offroad... I stopped counting... I only count hospital visits...

Or my fathers version of the same story... If I have ridden it I have crashed it... :lol:

ROFL.. That's me, too.. EVERY toy I've ever owned has hurt me.

Three on the 'hawk (too hot into corner=plowed field, Hard accel=backflip, hard accel+cold tires=slide across parking lot).

XP Limited.. Woke up in hospital with a big gash in side of head.

YZ250.. spained right ankle, bruised left heel, same wreck

Barefoot skiing.. many back injuries. Faceplants hurt.

Water and snow skiing, wakeboarding, BMX, Skateboarding, Rollerblading... geez... I better stop.

Long story short, IF you push the envelope, it will tear.

That was like the nightmare I had after I wrecked my F2.
In my dream the insurance adjuster told me that the accident was my fault because I was riding my bike.

i have been down,it hurt no gory details.

dont want it to happen again.

it will ,just be prepared.

I havent been down in my 5000 or so superhawk miles.. and havent had any accidents in a car either (a whoping 1.7 years of driving)...

When i do go down it will probably be something stupid.. my closest call was pulling in my friends drivway at about 10-15, and took my hand off to strech my back.. hit some dips in the concrete and had to trow my leg down hard and scramble for the bars.. i would have been as angree as imbaraced..

I see lots of preventable accidents being posted. Ice for example... if you knew it was cold enough to freeze the night before, you'd know ice is laying in the shady spots. Anything wet looking on a cold day can be ice. I'm in San Diego, but we have mountains, and I've done a few canyon rides with snow on the trees and ice on the road.

Sand/debris in road. Almost every intersection has it and you can see it in the day time. I often kick stuff out of the way. I even drove back to one later with a broom to sweep a corner near my work because there was no other way it was getting clean, and I ride on it every day. I swept the motorcycle parking area after almost falling on my ass putting my foot down.

I've had plenty of cars pull out in front of me, not see me, bearing down on me from behind and not stopping. If I see them before they see me, it's not a problem. Every time someone else makes a mistake, I try to keep my cool and think how I could have anticipated it better, what did I not see? The only time I've had drivers intentionally try to cut me off is when splitting lanes. So now when I split, I'm always on the lookout for it. I size them up based on what car they're driving, and how much of a hurry they seem to be in.

Deer is a tough one, that's one of the few things that will be standing in the middle of the road around a blind corner.

And there's plenty of times where I wasn't paying attention. I've even fallen asleep while driving and spun off the highway onto the shoulder. But by chance nobody was there to hit me. I've pulled out in front of people because I didn't see them, but luckily they saw me.
This thread isn't about me trying to be cocky and jinx myself, it's about wanting to try anything I can do to avoid getting myself in those circumstances in the future, short of not riding or having fun. I'd rather learn from your mistakes than mine.

Most accidents are accidents because of careless, inattentive drivers and/or riders. That IS avoidable.

I haven't been riding long but already hard throttle + cold tires has tought me a lesson. I had to replace a fairing and a few minor scrapes, no damage to myself at least. Once is enough for me but we'll see what happens!

Been riding since March of '74. Crashed in the dirt and in my yard but never on the street.

Don't want to brag and jinx myself, (knocking on wood right now) 'cause it could happen to anybody. Whether or not you become that "anybody" is mostly up to you.

I do firmly believe this; Guys who insist "you've either been down or going down" have programed themselves to crash.

I've only had one wreck in 18 years of riding. An old lady stepped out in front of me from between cars. She faired much better than I did. I stopped counting the close calls due to cagers not looking and pulling out in front of me. I don't even know how many miles I have put on 6 different bikes. I'm just glad I'm still here to talk about it.

I knew 3 guys that died on their bikes, unfortunatly, it was their own fault for trying to stunt on their bike while riding in town. You just can't teach common sense.

I have only gone down once on the street, many times on in the dirt though. It was my fault and it was a low speed low side. I was on a 1970 CB750; After years of riding more advanced bikes with better setups and tires I forgot the tires on the old CB had hardly any tread on the side walls so down she went in a u-turn.

I've had my share of pucker moments on the road though. Keeping cool and not fixating on where I don't wanna be has saved me I think.

i've crashed twice.

#1 ) 1984 ish. car pulled out of a blind alley & stop once he saw me but then decided he had time to get out of the way. well, once i saw him start to brake i started to change lanes but then had to try and get around his rear end once he started again. i almost made it but clipped his trunk. broke 1 finger. even though it was his fault i think today i could have made it around him, i was too timid in my reactions.

#2 ) last laborday weekend my riding budding ran into me as i stopped at a stop sign. broke my mid foot from my bike falling over on me. i watch the mirrors in traffic but never pay attention as i assume everyone knows to ride/stop staggered.

tim

I went down on my first bike the second week I had it. I am lucky it was a low speed U-turn and nothing was hurt.

You name it.

I've crashed it...

does under 5mph hitting a two foot circle of tar count?? Thats the only one so far, but it sucked, i was mortified. I would have rather lost my pants in a bet and rode in undies then have done that crash.