abs saved my life 2

[Number8]

i was gonna add to that last thread but i decided that i would have got lost in the mass brawl so i thought id start a new brawl

yesterday coming back from newcastle (to pborough) just after leeming bar services, it was pissing it down and getting worse i had backed way off the car infront (a blue 05 mondao) probably 20meters behind and slowing some more, were were doing about 70 ish in the outside lane, the inside lane was 60mph lorries and vans, the mondao in front was right up the arse of a white van (twat) and there was a old shape escort behind me about 10 meters or so

The vans brake lights flicker for a sec and then it dives into a gap in the inside lane only to reveal a line of stationary traffic about 10meters in front of the mondeo, well u can see the rest coming.
Mondeo hits the back of the line of traffic about 50ish and i just panicked and aimed for the center line and grabbed as much front brake as i could , the rest being a bit of a blur i destroyed a vans mirror and smacked into the side of a curtain side artic and stopped ( he was slowing as the inside lane was stopping also) behind me the escort being an older car with no abs had locked up and slid into the back of the mondao and embedded itself in the center reservation, thankfully the car behind the escort was far enough back to stop in time safely .

thankfully no one was seriously hurt , the lass in the escort was worse , no airbag had the ford logo embedded in here face but was mainly ok as was the other ppl involved , but me i was alive and unhurt but shaking like a leaf in a force 10 gale !

if i didn't have abs it would been brown bread time , as i did and 99% of ppl would have done i just pulled the front brake fast and hard back to the bar, no abs i woulda gone down like a sack o spuds and slid into the back of the mondao and then the escort into me , if i had survived it woulda been a miracle ! but thanks to the abs i stayed up and alive and just have a sore shoulder and a scuffed bike ( hand guard and top-box scuffed ) to show for it ...

now no rider on a bike without abs would have been able to stop in time , no one (well maybe some ppl) have that kind of reaction and control to be able to safely stop in time , i defiantly dont and only made it due to luck and technology..
i might hate the servo assisted pish that my bike has but by heck it ing works!

abs in the wet , worth every last wire , in the dry , pointless!

 

[North]

Hi Number8,

I am glad that you were able to walk away from that.

I live in a rainforest climate, thats why I got the ABS. It just made good sense.



North

 

[Desertbilly]

Glad you're okay.

I read this article this morning from my old home town, Kansas City, Missouri, and it's been eating at me a bit:

Belton officer dies in motorcycle wreck

By KEVIN HOFFMANN
The Kansas City Star

A Belton police officer died Wednesday night when he collided with a car while riding a motorcycle to work.

The officer, Ronnie D. Foster, was riding westbound on his personal Harley Davidson at 8:41 p.m. on Missouri 58 near Skyline Drive in Raymore.

Raymore Police Chief Kris Turnbow said a woman was driving the car, which had two other passengers. “Her windows fogged up, and she was concerned about driving any farther and stopped on the highway.”

Turnbow said investigators think the woman, in the far right lane, might have come to a complete stop and put her car in park while she turned on the defroster. With no brake lights showing, Foster might not have realized that the car was stopped until he neared the vehicle, the chief said.

“He tried to stop and locked it up,” Turnbow said. “It appeared he came off the motorcycle. The motorcycle did not strike the car.”

Turnbow said Foster struck the rear of the car and ended up underneath it while the motorcycle went past the car and came to rest 40 or 50 feet in front of the vehicle.

Firefighters from a nearby station quickly responded and treated the officer.

Turnbow said he received reports that the officer was semi-conscious when he was taken to a Kansas City hospital. He died about two hours later.

“We’re still in our preliminary investigation,” Turnbow said. “We want to do an accident reconstruction and finish our investigation before we can piece it all together.”

Belton police said Foster was a veteran officer.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/12893927.htm?source=yahoodist&content=ksc_news

 

[Bob]

Top Tip for today

When I'm in my car I use the following:
- dry weather 1 car length for every 10 mph
- wet weather 3 car lengths for every 10 mph
- not everyone has abs yet (in front of you and behind !!)
- always look for an escape route on a bike (for obvious reasons)

I know that this isn't always possible to stick with this maxim when on your bike but keep it in the back of your mind as often as you can

Enough of the lecture - glad you are here to tell the tale and remind us all to take care.

Bob

 

[aspad]

Very good news number 8 - good decision to get abs and use it the way it should be used - In balls out panic stops during adverse conditions.
I have had a biking instructor demonstrate perfect modulation of brakes, without abs, whilst simulating a high speed emergency on a dry racetrack. He did it beautifully, + even taught me to do it. I'm glad he did but I think he went too far when he tried to convince me that 'you are better than abs'! Maybe as an ex-racing god he is better than abs under all circumstance.
But for the horrilble situation you describe - give me abs any time.
Go out and celebrate the fact that you've used up another of your 9 lives - are you now number 7?

 

[Greg Masters]

A sad report.

It's been posted a few times before, but this ABS test is a good read if you want to assess a riding God without ABS -v- a novice with ABS.

Greg

 

[Fanum]

Nice one, number8...glad you came out of it OK

FWIW, the distance tips above are sensible (though you do put yourself in the situation of having cars pull into the large gap that you leave, making you temporarily vulnerable again until you make the room again) but I like to be able to see at least the car in front of the one in front...if that's a van, so it's obstructing my vision of the trafic in front of it, I'll move my position so that I can see past it whenever possible

 

[MrIFan]

Glad you survived this time Number8, but i would seriously think about getting some training before your luck runs out.

20m behind a car at 70mph in the wet and positioned so that you could not see traffic stopped in front????????
Sounds like a recipy for suicide to me.

With a totaly clear view in good dry conditions 20m is still far too close (and yes I know most of us are guilty of riding much closer at times, especialy when stuck behind the pricks who own lane3. But it can still be done with a margin of safety and only ever with an escape route ie. never directly behind, always to one side of the vehicle in front)). In the wet 100m would be more like a minimum safe distance, and only then if you had a good view ahead and an escape into another clear lane.


Just checked your profile thinking you must be newish to the game but I figure you must be racking up the miles as a courier, no excuse really for such p***poor positioning in bad conditions.

Like I say, get some training. Not only will you get to where you are going in one peice but you may well find you get there quicker as well.

 

[Kropotkin]

Glad you survived, and nice brake and manoeuvre.

A couple of tips:

1. Never sit behind something you can't see past. If you can't get round it, either sit to one side to look past it, or pull over into the next lane and let a couple of smaller vehicles past. The reason for this is, you want to be watching for brake lights and other traffic clues about half a mile up the road (on motorways).

2. You did it, and others have mentioned it, but it's still vital: always plan your escape route. Where's the space? Between the car in front and the central barrier? between the car in front and the vehicle next to it? Keep scanning for a way out. Practice looking there, so you don't get stuck in target fixation mode should things start resembling pears.

 

[Bilks]

.



Phew..............

No suggestions ect, just good to hear your ok,

yep no. 7 it is...........

Bilks.

 

[Piggers]

Like I say, get some training. Not only will you get to where you are going in one peice but you may well find you get there quicker as well.

Many of us know how we should drive/ride, but how many of us do so all of the time

 

[Theonionman]

In the words of the song and in relation to ABS "It's better to have and not need, than to need and not have"

 

[Cookson]

I alway's try to ride with good visibilty & use the 2 second rule.

Glad you escaped number 8.

 

[Engineer]

In the words of the song and in relation to ABS "It's better to have and not need, than to need and not have"

But ... if you don't need it then you don't have to have it. So it all comes down to whether or not you need it - to which there is no correct answer.

)


I'm confused - AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!

 

[Number 6]

thankfully the car behind the escort was far enough back to stop in time safely .

you said it......

 

[Cestria]

That was a terrifying story. I'm very glad you came through that situation in one piece. I am so pleased my bike has ABS.
I'm not going to get all self righteous on you, just make sure you learn from it.

 

[Number8]

in my defence .....

actually i have little but hey i can start somewhere

it had just been drizzling and the hole line of traffic had been moving along at 80 ish and every one had been leaving decent enough gaps , then it started to chuck it down and the van slowed the mondo did but still ended up up the vans arse and i was in the process of slowing , but due to the car behind didnt wanna start to break hard as it may have ended up with a escort rear ending me
from drizzling and 80mph to accident was probably 20 secs maybe a bit more so the situation very rapidly went from acceptable to oh feck!

appreciate the comments , but i am trained to police standards (did the course a while back) and am probably a much better rider than alot of people given the training i have and the experience , i often clock up 2500 - 3000 miles a WEEK and in all weathers and conditions , last yea i had one day off due to weather and that was high winds. when it gets snowy stick the tkc80's on and have some fun ...

god i sound like an arrogant self righteous prick ... honestly im not , well i try not to ...

 

[MrIFan]

god i sound like an arrogant self righteous prick ... honestly im not , well i try not to ...

Ditto

Sorry mate, but reading the way you described it in your origional post I interpreted as a beginers mistake and was a bit quick to fire back an answer.
In my defence, I worded my reply quite strongly just because I didn't want to see another unnecessary casualty on the board.

At the end of the day, no matter how much training, we will all end up in a situation beyond our control eventualy.

Keep watching out for the idiots out there, they're all out to get us

Ian

 

[Number8]

Ditto

Sorry mate, but reading the way you described it in your origional post I interpreted as a beginers mistake and was a bit quick to fire back an answer.
In my defence, I worded my reply quite strongly just because I didn't want to see another unnecessary casualty on the board.

At the end of the day, no matter how much training, we will all end up in a situation beyond our control eventualy.

Keep watching out for the idiots out there, they're all out to get us

Ian

agreed

shoulda typed it up a bit more pricesly , but ya know ....

AWWWWWWW group HUG!!!!!

damd hippys ..

 

[rdover]

Fascinating article. Read it at least twice.

When I get a new bike or one on test I find a deserted road (theres some near me that ahve been bypassed by new roads leaving a perfect brake test track) and do some brake testing as suggested by Ride/bike magazine some years back.

I did this on my 1150GS and instantly hated the ABS. Dry or wet I consistently beat the ABS braking distance hwilst loathing that 'speeding up' feeling you get. Thinking the ABS to be faulty I got it checked and it was fine. Now I have an 1150RT with evo ABS and it is loads better but still not good, however, having read that article I now understand that ABS has its place and I need to learn that over little slippy bits that I would not normally notice a lockup (or one would not actually happen - just) it will roll on a foot or 3. This is the price to pay for that life saving moment.

I'm now looking very hard at going back to the GS (1200 this time) as I find the RT too boring and was considering not getting ABS. I've had ABS for the last 15k miles (15 months) and not needed it but on sober reflection it a small investment. £800 not spent on TT paniers etc?

I still hate that rolling on shit though.