Left Turning Cagers. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Left Turning Cagers.

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chino

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Hey all

I was headed home around 5:45pm last night, coming back along Lakeshore Rd in Burlington (Pearl St Intersection, Close to Brant St) 2 Lanes in my direction (Westbound) Single lane Eastbound with a dedicated turn lane to turn Left onto Pearl Street. Left Lane Westbound is full of traffic so im riding in the right lane, approaching the intersection I slow to around 50km/h in-case some idiot decides to turn left.

Next thing I know I see a Blue Ford Escape turn in front of me, I try to grab brake and steer around him, nothing. I hit his front right side (right infront of the wheel) flip over the handlebars, cleared his hood, and come to rest about 10Meters down the road (as I'm told)

Luckily there was an off duty fire and rescue team just across the street who saw everything, they rushed over made sure I didn't move until the EMS team arrived. EMS gets there puts me in a neck brace and everything (very uncomfortable btw) transported to the hospital for x-rays and such. Didn't leave the hospital until 11:30pm.

Haven't been able to see the bike but from what I'm told by the paramedic (he rides a CBR600RR, good guy to talk too, its totaled) Police officer at the hospital reiterated that to me too. :(. As for injuries, other than a sore back and neck I'm cut/scrape free (thank god for gear!) just some bruising around my ankles and such. I have to make plans today to go see the bike, talk to insurance (Other driver is at fault, still pain in the *** though) I will post pictures of the aftermath once I get to take a look at it.

I'm in RED, the cager is in BLUE.

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Glad you're okay, I've had a a few near situations like this, but luckily so far, the driver has always noticed at the last second and braked.

Got any more detailed info on what exactly happened so the rest of us can try to avoid being in the same scenario?
Like, you said traffic in the left lane was moving slower than you, at what point could the left turning cager clearly see you, was it not until you were in the intersection itself?
 
Did you swerve before you approached the intersection? i.e. the SMIDSY avoidance technique?

[video=youtube;eqQBubilSXU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqQBubilSXU[/video]

Glad you're ok. Heal up, get the bike fixed/a new one, and start riding again!
 
A really common accident for motorcyclists unfortunately....Glad to hear your ok.

Wasn't there another thread that recommended not using this technique while approaching an intersection? ( a lit four way intersection, not like the one in the video)
 
Glad you're ok for the most part! A bike is replaceable, you are not.
Thanks for sharing the story to help remind everyone that we need to be extra-attentive at intersections and be ready for anything.
 
chino said:
I was headed home around 5:45pm last night, coming back along Lakeshore Rd in Burlington (Pearl St Intersection, Close to Brant St) 2 Lanes in my direction (Westbound) Single lane Eastbound with a dedicated turn lane to turn Left onto Pearl Street. Left Lane Westbound is full of traffic so im riding in the right lane, approaching the intersection I slow to around 50km/h in-case some idiot decides to turn left.
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Let's see. 50 kmph traffic zone in a busy part of town at a busy time of day, and you "slowed down" to 50 kmph as you approached the intersection in the right lane while passing lots of slower traffic in the left lane? I suppose you were in a left-track blocking position too while zipping past all that other traffic that was blocking your vision of the intersection and oncoming left-turners' view of you? http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sour...zulQw-76C2uPhI_YBwuErw&cbp=12,237.49,,0,-0.28

Left-turners really should take more care to ensure the way is really clear before they make their move, but riders should also ensure that they ride through busy intersections in a way that makes them as visible as possible to any oncoming traffic that may cut across their path, and in a way gives the rider ample reaction and safety margin to avoid situations like this. Matching traffic speed to that of the cars on your left, and maintaining station immediately behind the right-rear of one of those cars might have cost you a few seconds getting through the intersection, but you wouldn't have (from the viewpoint of the left-turner) popped out of nowhere while travelling at a speed higher than that of other traffic, and you could have used the car to your left as a blocking wall to help protect you against any potential left-turners.

So bad on the left-turner for not being more careful while making the turn. but your own choices also helped make you vulnerable to a left-turner's error. Defensive riding can go a long way to keeping paint and flesh unscratched.
 
HorizonXP said:
Did you swerve before you approached the intersection? i.e. the SMIDSY avoidance technique?


Glad you're ok. Heal up, get the bike fixed/a new one, and start riding again!
Click to expand...

Excellent video and explains the science behind this type of accident!

Thank you for posting and OP, glad you're ok.. bike's can always be replaced!
 
a couple days ago I almost got run over making a left turn...yea the roles were reversed. I'm in the intersection waiting to turn lights go yellow, some cars still go through. Then car in the lane closest to me slows down as the lights are now red but the ******* coming from behind him in the next lane over decides **** it, I'm gonna go through.
Just as I expected him to stop because I'm sitting in the intersection on the red lights, I had already started rolling but saved it last second and was maybe 6 inches from having him plow right into me. I woulda have been dead meat no gear would have helped and the idiot had actually sped up even more to make it. The people waiting at the intersection were just in disbelief shaking their heads at me as if to say "you lucky bastard". It just surprises me how stupid and inconsiderate people can be just to be 5 seconds faster. He was in a ****ing van too
 
Sorry to hear about accident OP.
but TurboDish has valid points. The onus is on us as well to expect the unexpected.
I ride in the expectation no one can see me. I've had several close calls with cars actally seeing me but deciding to pull out anyway. I know one particular driver will have second thoughts trying that again ;)

Think of the positive, you're ok as much as you can be , and are posting online etc.
 
Glad to hear that you are ok! The bike was 2011? Maybe its natures way of saying buy a different bike? Time for a new one :)

Oh yeah, milk the recovery process, free massages, + time off work.

When I get home from work, I usually am itching to ride, but when I stop and think about everyone else trying to get home after work, it doesn't make for a fun ride.
 
Glad you're OK!

Had someone pull the same thing 2 days ago!
She was waiting for a long row of cars to pass wanting to turn left on a 2 lane road. I was coming up the other side of the road passing the cars, as soon as the last car passed closest to her she turned out, without looking to her left again to see if any cars or me were driving up.
I was lucky that I had braked hard enough (no one benind me) and stopped just 2 ft shy of her damn car!!!!! Honked at her like crazy, and no response!!!
Got to the next intersection at a red light, so pulled right up to her passenger door and honked and motioned for her to lower her window. She did and I yelled at her 'you cut me off!!!!' she simply stated 'she did not see me' and I yelled out 'exactly!!! You need to open your eyes and look before you turn out!'
She didn't give a damn, meanwhile her toddler kid is in the back, I am sure had she it me her kid would of loved to have seen that! (sarcasm) no sorry no nothing!
All I can hope for is that it rattled her enough to look the next time wants to turn.
 
You have to look out for number one!!! That is YOU.... no one else cares about you!!! You come up to an intersection like that and there is a chance of someone turning out in front of you slow down. Drive and ride like everyone is an idiot and about to do something stupid.

Glad the OP is ok. Hope that he has learned from this.

Also, I have found that the weaving "SMIDSY" has been working for me. When I first started out I had people turning out in front of me. Been using it this season and not one car has turned out in front of me. I also slow down coming to the intersection in case the "SMIDSY" doesn't work and I need to do an emergency stop.

Regardless of being on a bike or in a car the OP's senario is dangerous. I've had people turn out in front of me in my cage even though they see me. I've had to come to full stops when I've had the right of way. Rather stop then ram into someone.
 
Glad you're not seriously injured. The others here have valid points about maintaining as maximum vigilance and visibility. As I've said before if a rider believes that another vehicle is about to commit an unsafe and or illegal action you need to be as legally obnoxious as possible to let everyone know you're there. This includes engine revving, laying on the horn, avoiding blind-spots or riding next to their side mirror and weaving inside your lane to make the headlight dance and catch their attention (RTI teaches this). Or if you don't mind risking the chance of some teasing from your mates then wear a high visibility safety vest. (Princess Auto for $5.00)

While the safety vest won't win you any fashion awards it just might save your life, I ride with one and personally I don't give a **** about what other people think. In the past for experimentation purposes I didn't ride with the vest and the traffic around me treated me differently (not in a good way). I know we're few and far between but I've seen other riders out there who wear them as well.

Last but not least it might be to your benefit if it hasn't already happened see if the police can lay charges against the vehicle that hit you. With our ****ed up No-fault system you could still get an at fault accident on your insurance record. I was rear-ended a few years ago and I just found out (without telling me) that they put it as an at-fault accident in their system. It's ****ed up like I said, so get the cops to lay charges against the other driver.

I hope you recover soon and use this incident as a learning tool.
 
turbodish said:
Let's see. 50 kmph traffic zone in a busy part of town at a busy time of day, and you "slowed down" to 50 kmph as you approached the intersection in the right lane while passing lots of slower traffic in the left lane? I suppose you were in a left-track blocking position too while zipping past all that other traffic that was blocking your vision of the intersection and oncoming left-turners' view of you? http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sour...zulQw-76C2uPhI_YBwuErw&cbp=12,237.49,,0,-0.28

Left-turners really should take more care to ensure the way is really clear before they make their move, but riders should also ensure that they ride through busy intersections in a way that makes them as visible as possible to any oncoming traffic that may cut across their path, and in a way gives the rider ample reaction and safety margin to avoid situations like this. Matching traffic speed to that of the cars on your left, and maintaining station immediately behind the right-rear of one of those cars might have cost you a few seconds getting through the intersection, but you wouldn't have (from the viewpoint of the left-turner) popped out of nowhere while travelling at a speed higher than that of other traffic, and you could have used the car to your left as a blocking wall to help protect you against any potential left-turners.

So bad on the left-turner for not being more careful while making the turn. but your own choices also helped make you vulnerable to a left-turner's error. Defensive riding can go a long way to keeping paint and flesh unscratched.
Click to expand...
Very good post. When going though intersections I do have a tendency to use other cars as a blocking wall. As a new rider going through the intersections causes me the most anxiety.
 
Yesterday I watched a cager casually turn left in front of three lanes of traffic that were already 1/4 of the way through the intersection. They didn't even try to speed up to make it. People are nuts, do your best to stay out of their way.
 
Sorry this happened to you.. but i'm with Turbodish.

Regardless of what speed you were doing, I would have slowed down to a crawl in anticipation of such an event.

Not to sound like a pussy, but I always get nervous when everyone else is stopped and I'm the only one moving.
 
An old mantra I picked up from Young Drivers is 'Cover the brake and horn.' and I do it to this day when I see potential SMIDSYs, even when it fails to prevent a collision it greatly reduces impact speeds. I don't find honking to help much if it isn't exactly when the other driver starts to do something, when I delay I find it's like they already committed to the maneuver and only look to see who they annoyed, if they look at all.

Using cars as shields, weaving for visibility, and riding with an escape route are all good plans too.
 
Glad you are relatively ok, Chino.

Left turners are my worst nightmare!

Just heard a salesman, a few days ago, at Budd's BMW got his faced mashed in (wearing an open face helmet) while getting nailed by a left turner.

Wear full gear and full face helmets people!

.
 
hondahhh said:
Oh yeah, milk the recovery process, free massages, + time off work.
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And then people complain about high insurance prices.
 
Thanks all!

I was in the Right section of the right hand land (which you'll see because the damage on my bike is completely left hand side where it impacted the car, it then fell onto the right side and skidded for a bit, judging by the pictures) Other driver was charged, only with "failing to safely negotiate a turn" apparently some other driver in the Left Lane waved him through!! :mad:.

Here are the pictures. :(

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