CRASH report (not mine)

[GypsyRR]

I came upon a terrible BMW RT motorcycle accident today, but with an incredible ending. I was the second one at the scene. In fact, no one stopped except for an older man and myself and there were probably 50 cars and 20 bikes that passed by before the police ever arrived. An older man had already stopped and called for help. Remarkably, the guy riding this bike had no injuries at all, but the way the accident happened – I don’t know how he could possibly be even walking! But he was!.. He asked me to take pictures of the accident when he saw the little red camera mounted to my bike. Look at this. I can’t believe this guy was up and walking around! He was even jumping across the ditch of water to get back and forth to his bike.

When I arrived, this is what I saw walking up to the scene.
The helmet and the gloves were the only protective gear he was wearing. The only injuries he had, were scrapes on the first knuckle of both index fingers. You can see where that part of the glove ripped away.












Here he is holding the helmet.





Here he shows where the new blacktop ate up his shirt.



The man who stopped to help was right behind him when the accident happened. According to him, and also looking at the tracks of the bike into the field, this is what happened: I think the legal speed limit on this road is 60 mph. He was probably traveling at least 50 mph (without proper gear). Although there was a sign saying “Uneven Lanes,” there was never any warning of the grooved road that he hit at ??mph. And it was deep grooves.






The road appears to be being widened here. So new blacktop has been laid on the east-bound side, and the old lane is still in the center, and a new lane is where the grooved pavement is. “C” says he lost control of the front of the bike when he hit the grooves and the next thing he remembers is rolling and rolling and rolling. He ended up about 20 yards past his bike. The man in the truck behind him said he saw the bike hit the 2-3 inch higher pavement and then just go airborne. That’s when “C” flew off. The bike was so airborne that it appears it never touched pavement. It flew across the center lane, across the new black top and then hit the grassy shoulder, fell and slid through the muddy water ditch, up the other side and stopped when it hit the barbed wire fence. You can see in the pictures where it slid through the ditch. There are no marks on the blacktop at all.





We never lifted the bike, and I was gone before the wrecker arrived (it was getting dark and cold), but although he is missing the turn signals and there’s a lot of grass around the cylinders – there is minimal damage to the fairing at all. I wondered what the other side looked like and if they will total this bike. For what it went through, it really held together well, it appears. But of course, I only saw this one side of it. It’s kind of sad seeing a BMW laying in a field like that. But it would have been worse to see a rider seriously injured. I just think this is an incredibly lucky man. The guy had a great attitude about everything. Even he was surprised he survived this so well. Pretty incredible, huh?


I don’t like riding on grooved roads like the one this rider wrecked on. I wish there was sufficient warning before hitting one of these at 60 mph.

Here’s some more of the RT.













Pretty lucky guy, huh?

Any handling advice for riding on grooved roads like that? Thanks.

[OU812]

Really lucky! Glad to hear he was OK. Kristy, you have a way with the camera.
I just wheelie over the grooved areas!

[DJ Downunder]

Thanks GypsyRR..Great pictures and glad he's ok and also glad that it was not you that went down.

Imagine hitting that at night..You'd be on you arse sliding without even knowing why....Nasty stuff.

I will be interesting what the outcome is...Grooved roads are bad enough..but a grooved road with a raised edge like that is just crazy.

DJ

[R4R&R]

Thanks for stopping and sharing with us. I'm glad he's ok. It looks like a barbed wire fence line stopped his bike - good thing he came off before he got to that. Hopefully he'll get some gear before the next ride. He WAS lucky!

[wncbmw]

Lucky guy!

Grooved pavement with and edge trap too! Most DOTs don't give a thought to motorcycles during construction projects. That looks like a milling project, where the old pavement is milled down 1-2" and new asphalt laid in the milled area. Works OK but leaves nasty edges until it is finished!

I just wheelie over the grooved areas!

Actually, that is a pretty good idea! Or at least whacking on the throttle as you cross the edge (at an angle!)

[sjbmw]

Thanks.

Walking away is the greatest gift to riders....fix the bike, it's all good...

[munchmeister]

Very, very, very lucky guy. Glad that he could walk away from it and go buy some leathers.

Very, very, very poor signage on the part of the contractor doing the work, or his subs. Those grooved roads are nasty, even when you know you are on them and have a firm grip on your handle bars.

--Doug

[Sunbeemer]

Good for you for stopping for that unlucky/lucky fellow! Your pictures tell the story (as usual), and I'm sure he will be grateful to have them for his records. He is truly lucky to have walked away from that spill so apparently healthy! It's always good to watch for shock in such situations, as often people don't realize how much they've been hurt due to the adrenalin running.

With regard to edge traps, I try to avoid crossing them whenever possible, but barring that, I cross them as perpendicularly as I can. On the highway this means scrubbing off as much speed as I dare in following traffic, then turning sharply across the edge while accelerating. I start from the far side of the lane to get as much as a crossing angle as I can, and straighten the handlebars just as I cross it (hold tight!), then twist them back the other way to get straight in the new lane. But I don't do it unless I need to.

Last year I rode on grooved pavement for over 35 miles on the interstate right next to a beautifully repaved passing lane with a 2" edge trap. I wanted to get up on that smooth surface so bad, but decided I was better off riding the grooves then going down trying. I found that going faster on grooves was better - sort of like riding in gravel. I plead the (one hundred and) fifth about the best speed, but I was definately in the groove. It was, ahem, a very groovy ride! (Sorry, I can't help myself sometimes).

[Dr. Strangelove]

So, what did him in? was it the uneven edge (my guess) or the grooves?

I once read that the best way to handle grooves--and gratings-- is to hold the grips like you were holding a baby bird and let the wheel wander slightly, but the uneven edge is another issue.

What is the best way to handle the uneven edge, going up it or down it--any rules here?

tia

John

PS and Gypsy, thanks for your usual well documented story of this near tragedy.

[Buckster]

Dr.,
Sunbeemer has it right on the technique. I have only dealt with the uneven part twice. I would prefer to wait it out until the road went back to normal if possible. Go at it at the greatest angle you can.

As far as grooves go, just know that the bike is going to waiver some and keep a relaxed grip.

[GypsyRR]

According to the guy, it was the grooves that 'grabbed' his tire and turned him toward that 2-3" edge. It had to be hitting that edge and throttling (accidentally) that would make the bike go airborne across the opposite lanes, right?

I had an older brother that tried to take my Kawasaki out once when we were kids. If that bike wasn't warmed up long enough, it would pitch forward when you put it into first. He was in a hurry to get gone on it before getting caught, so in the driveway he popped it into first pretty quickly, and the bike jerked and caught him off guard. So he gripped tighter and accidentally gave it some throttle at the same time. (hahahahaha, sorry Jim) And like a bucking horse, the bike threw him over the handlebars out into the cul-de-sac. He landed on both of his knees and broke both of them. Casts on both legs. BUT.... I learned then to always be very cautious about gripping too tight in a 'panic' type situation. I think that is what happened to "C" as well. But that's just my assessment. I could be totally wrong. It does seem strange that an RT could get airborne like that though.

I hate those grooves. I'd like to know how to handle them better, myself.


He emailed me today and told me that he had some swelling in his wrists and knees the next day, but other than that, he is fine. Remarkable still.

[NoRRmad]

I've had that "accidental throttle" a couple of times, and it's always seemed to me to not be connected with how tight you're holding on -- but rather, the angle of your wrist. If your right wrist is rotated down when something throws your body back (like an acceleration,) then your wrist straightens and rotates the throttle on, accelerating more.

I've read things that recommend loosening your grip on grooved roads, and I've tried it, with little effect. My instinct is to tighten up my whole upper body and bear forward on the bars -- trying to 'stiffen' the side-to-side movement of the front wheel. This theoretically should raise the wobble frequency of the front end and damp it some. I'm really not sure which tactic is best.

[OU812]

Hard acceleration, weight back. It worked on my motocross bikes.

[Sunbeemer]

I think riding grooves fast helps get some weight off the front wheel, too, as the increased air flow rotates the bike so more weight is on the rear wheel (bike is trying to "lift off"). This, along with putting a little more weight on the pegs, (not standing up, but sort of a half-assed dirt-biking position) kept the bike pretty stable and wobble free. I kept a normal (loose) grip on the handlebars.

It's kind of fun, really, and other than being a pain in the butt, it was pretty groovy!
Sorry again, like I said, if it's just there, I can't resist it.
And yeah, I laugh at my own jokes too... (somebody has to, right?)