Ducati Monster Forum

 :'(  This really sucks.   

Figured I should share it with everyone and get some input  on what happened earlier today.

Coming up to a light in the city around rush hour, turns yellow when I'm still a few seconds from it.
 I hit the brakes, with nobody in front.  Get to a complete stop when I glance in my rearview and see a F150 pickup coming up on me fast.
Didn't have much time to react, released the brake as she hit me rolling into the intersection. 
In retrospect maybe I should have just gunned it through the light, but who knows. 
Might have got T-boned instead.   

Not even a scratch on me, didn't drop the bike.  The techs at the shop I had it towed to were in shock I didn't get thrown. 

I guess my question is should I have just ran the light and take my chances?  I don't know. 


The damage:   [bang]
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3281/3488096658_2d41cb88e9.jpg)
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3560/3488096706_96e5fbdde8.jpg)

The frame is definitely bent and possibly the swingarm, guessing its a total loss. 
Need to stay positive, always wanted to get a dry clutch Ducati so I guess now's the time.

Sorry to hear that, glad you weren't hurt though.  Will her insurance cover it?

you're right, I'm thankful I ended up in one piece, a bike can be replaced.
her insurance should cover it, filed a claim at the scene.
hopefully I'll know more tomorrow.   

Anyone have a red w/white wheels S2R they'd like off their hands?  ;D

I would run the yellow. Watch for people who might jump their light though.


If I felt I had to stop, I would watch my mirrors as I slowed down, to avoid this sort of thing.

Glad you're OK! 

There is no exact answer to your question.  If you had clear view of the intersection, had a good shot at getting through safely and were sure you would get rear ended, sure.  If you don't know these facts it means you missed some important data needed to evaluate the risk.  Hey, we all miss some of this data from time to time.  We all can yry to miss less.

I'm an advocate of NOT running yellow lights. Here in AZ people do it all the time to the point where running red lights is like second nature to most people. In order to combat that sort of action, photo camera's are being put in many intersections, but I was totally shocked to see a sign posted at an intersection that read "Red Means Stop". It's so bad that you can regularly see up to 3 cars run the same red light one right after another. It's like people have just decided to stop acknowledging traffic signals.

About a year ago a guy was killed in Phoenix when he was rear ended on an on ramp to the interstate and another sadly lost both of his legs in a rear end collision. It's certainly a judgment call for what to do at the time. But it sounds like the driver of the truck wasn't up your tail pipe when you decided to stop, so the driver should have had sufficient time to react.

As I'm sure everyone will say, we're glad that you weren't hurt. Although it's terribly sad to see your bike mangled, it's infinitely better that you survived. Safe to say that your bike will be totaled by an insurance company.

Sounds like you had fate watching over you. (http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/angel.gif) 

I've always wondered what an S2R would look like with pipes on both sides.  ;D

Glad to know that you were not injured in this crash.

I make it a point to keep an eye on my mirrors until I'm sure that the vehicle behind me will be coming to a stop behind me.  Some people won't shift to neutral in case they need to make a sudden getaway, but I'm of the opinion that if I'm paying attention I still have plenty of time to shift back into first and take evasive action.

There are other options besides just running through the intersection.  You can pull over to the side, either in front of another lane that has stopped or over out of the way when you see someone who is likely to ram you.  One thing that I regularly do if I think there is any chance the car behind me isn't paying attention is to flash my brake light several times to get their attention.  I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but so far I have more than three decades of riding without being hit from behind.  I've been hit from behind in a car at least three different times.

When I'm first at an intersection and nobody is immediately behind me, I always pull to one side of the lane leaving the largest gap in case some moron who isn't paying attention needs to "squeeze by".  I'm also not sure if that is worthwhile or not, but I still do it, along with flashing the brake light.

If your frame and/or swingarm is bent it's almost guaranteed that the bike is totaled.  If the insurance company doesn't want to pay what you believe it's worth, you can always do research on what similar bikes have sold for to get them to increase the payment.  Or you can be like me in 2003 when my bike was totaled and realize that it really wasn't worth as much as I thought it was and I couldn't find evidence to get the payout increased.  :(

The insurance company will total just about any bike with a bent frame. Hey, if I got the money I would look at the Street Fighter. Naked bike with a 1098 motor?!

1- it's great that you're ok!

2-if the lady's insurance covers your bike, awesome!  [thumbsup]

3-running the yellow... that's hairy.

for me, if it's open and I'm not riding w/someone, I'll be tempted to gun it.  if there's a cager waiting to turn left at said yellow light, I'd probably stop (while eyeing the mirror, of course).  left-turners are a popular accident starter

there's an infinite number of variables for this kind of situation, really...

*any situation, for that matter!

i think you did the right things.

letting go of your break reduced the impact from the hit.

not gunning it kept you from possibly getting T-boned

realizing that you are probably getting a new bike !!!

by the way, was she on the phone? i bet she was.

+1, I do the exact same thing...

Glad you are OK.   

wow, i bet if you had stayed on the brakes then you would have ended up on her hood.  Nice job stayin on the horse!

I tend to cheat to the left of the lane at lights to give a cage a chance to squeeze past if they're not paying attention ~

Glad you came out ok, Ducati will make more bikes ~

JM

That sucks man. I'm sorry you got rear-ended. Hate seeing Colorado plates all bent up like that.

I almost had the same thing happen to me in front of the Pepsi Center by a BIG Excursion-type SUV, I was ready to go into the intersection, luckily it was a really wide intersection that had a good sized buffer area for me to sit in, but I'm not sure the driver even noticed what I had to do to avoid having them roll right over me.

+1 on many different ways/variables @ any given intersection/light.

Glad you're okay.  [thumbsup]

Everyone gets rear ended like this or knows of osmeone who does, youll learn to check your mirror while breaking, or while breaking, youll veer of to the side so if they panic break, maybe youll get lucky and they can just squeeze by you.

on the other hand, im not sure where you were exactly, but theres 5 things id liek to comment...


a) you were going to fast and saw the light go yellow and had a choice to gun it and just pass when it turns red, or break heavily.
b) If you were going fast enough to where you saw the light turn yellow, and had that choice, you should always look beyond the turn and if everyone is still staionary, run it,  if its dense city streets, i will not run a yellow unless i know it will still be yellow when i pass it. and there is sufficent are to break on the other side.
c) if you do break, theres nothing wrong with breaking into the pedestrians walkpath, you can always walk back, and people can always walk around you.
d) I really think in these kind of situations, a brake light flasher could of saved your bike, ive had many situations where i saw a car comming in and i just move my bike up and into another lane and they zip by me like i wasnt even there. They were either assholes or really just didnt not see me.

The more you ride in an urban environment the more you see the dumb shit people do while driving, like not even remotely pay attention to the road.

Scott,  my S2R actually had pipes on both sides before the crash.   ;D   
  (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3603/3446799234_2dce7c3c45_m.jpg)

Good advice too from you and everyone else.  Thanks.  One of my first purchases on the new bike will be one of these  http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3603/3446799234_2dce7c3c45_m.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3603/3446799234_2dce7c3c45_m.jpg)
I have flashed the brake light at intersections, but never have done it consistently in city driving.   Wish I could even remember if I was off to the right of the lane and had room to move further over.  Might have been a car parked next to me. I know I wasn't in the center of the lane.  I never ride there. 


not sure, might have been. 


It's the same way here in Denver.  They're more like traffic 'suggestions'.  A bunch of high accident areas have the red-light cameras now and people continue to run them.  A few months back at one of those, came up to the light in my car and a guy flew through the red going about 65mph (it's a 35 posted speed limit)  There was a unmarked cop car right there that pulled him over.  Probably wasted out of his mind. 

No shit, I just had this almost happen to me like 20 minutes ago. I was cruising along in a long line of cars going about 40 and the light turned yellow. I hesitated for a split second deciding whether to run it or not and decided not to and laid on the brakes hard. Checked my mirrors and see this green mini van closing in on me fast so I let up on the brakes a bit so I stop almost entirely in the cross walk and right after I stop I see the minivan swerve around me and stop with its front wheels on on the crosswalk lines with the hood close enough to turn around and touch.  :o

I wouldn't try to second guess yourself too much.  Given the situation and most importantly, the outcome, it sounds like you did everything you could reasonably have done. 

Sorry about the crash dude. I agree that you were right not to go into the intersection, where you might have gotten hurt much worse, AND it might be seen as your fault. Maybe go with even louder pipes next time, and some extra bright tail lights? Those LED tail lights are pretty good.