Proper Mourning Time for Lost Scoots?  By  scooter (Read 2,385 times)

That's the scary part.  I was only doing about 40mph in broad daylight and the other driver didn't see me at all.  I turned to avoid them but they kept coming and intercepted my escape route.  I was like a fighter with a missile locked onto me.  Right before impact I was practically driving horizontally.  I was amazed the scooter could still stick to the ground.  Knowing this, I realize I could have turned harder than I did, but of course it would have been extremely risky, and even a little dirt or sand would have spelled disaster.  

We have a LOT of older people here in FL.  I had a relative who wouldn't give up the wheel well into his 80's.  His awareness level on the road was scary, but it's hard to tell an old WWII vet that he couldn't do as he pleased, just out of respect.  He had Alzheimer's and after he got lost a few times and ended up far away from where he was headed, we had to tell him to not drive any more.  He died within a year of that.

I have been riding, on and off, for almost 30 years without a scratch.  This wreck taught me that, even at low speeds, if another driver makes the wrong moves, there's not much you can do but eat pavement if they make their move at just the right time.  You have a split second to do something and, in my case, the only way to have avoided them would have been to head to where they WERE before they turned, but of course if they HAD stopped like they were supposed to, I would have hit them head on, so it was practically a no win situation.  I'm sure a really skilled driver could have pulled it off, but for your average Joe, not much could have been done.  

Now I slow down, a lot, until I can see if they are going to turn, but they could still hit me if they punch the gas.  In this area we have a lot of slow streets meeting faster ones at intersections.  People at stop signs lurch their cars like kids with ADD that can't wait to start moving again, zoom up to stops signs at 30 mph and then slam the brakes, and every single one of them could be the next "little old lady" who just keeps going.  That's the hard part.  I meet these intersections every few hundred feet.  Being aware is one thing, but it wears me out, driving in hyper-awareness mode all the time, intersection after intersection, turn lane after turn lane.


 For a few weeks it was even harder because the flashbacks of the wreck were distracting me badly.  My brain wanted to study the wreck for a while and see if there was a "solution".  The only solution I have found is to REALLY slow down when meeting other drivers at intersections.  The hardest ones are the ones with tinted windows.  You can't tell if they are looking in your direction or not.

It will get easier, but I know it's only because I will become complacent and ignore the reality of the situation.  Ironically, the only real way of avoiding a wreck would be to drive like a "little old lady".

I rode sideways on the front bumper of a Buick SUV in the past year and it did make me take pause for a while. I maintained balance and only lost the muffler shield along with got a bit of a bruise on my thigh. Those Aprilias exhausts are built like a tank so after replacing the heat shield the bike was good to go. If I had panicked and gone down I would still be in recovery. I rode with and took the hit so I would stay vertical. The bruises were better than ending up underneath.

I been riding my whole life,,

Had my fair share of road rash,,picking rocks out of my skin for months and so on...

Started at 6yrs old and am 44 now...

Anyhow with all my experience I still am very careful on the road,,so many day dreaming cagers,,especially with all this cell phone technology crap they do while driving...my biggest fear is getting hammered(Tee-Boned) on a 35MPH street at an intersection...those never end good and are very hard to avoid...so be on the alert guys!!!!

Jerseyboy...

I agree.  Not knowing why it happened would be disconcerting.  It's hard to avoid something if you don't know why it happened.