A Day in the Life...

[DK Custom Products]

Masterpiece I'm sure. Fred

[DK Custom Products]

Yesterday, on the way to work, a girl was pulling out of a gas station parking lot while texting...



With the nose of her car halfway in my lane I slowed to almost a stop, blipped my throttle. She finally looked up and stopped.

I just stared at her, waiting to see if she was going to go out further or stay stopped and let me proceed, since I had the right of way..she just started texting again and PULLED all the way out in front of me.

Ok....I remembered Nomadmax wrote a few days ago..."The best way to ride is without emotion. Getting angry or wound up about what someone else is doing is like drinking poison hoping someone else will die." .... and in my later years I have become resigned to the fact that many cagers appear to be idiots while driving, and it only is getting worse, there does not seem to be any fixing it. So I did not get upset about it.

Unfortunately, she was going the same direction as I was, so I was following her (at a safe distance) for several miles, as she varied her speed between 45 and 60 on the same 55 mph road.

Before going further, and at the risk of offending some readers, I do not own a cage. I own 4 motorcycles. Every now and then I will borrow my wifes truck, but for the most part, rain, shine, cold, hot, I am riding.

Probably because of that, I have developed a very poor opinion of cagers. I trust none of them, most of them seem completely void of any common sense with their constant tailgating and changing lanes without signaling, then in recent years add texting to the equation, I wonder how some of them actually make their way thru life with, what appears to me to be, a dire lack of ability to think in the simplest of terms.

Anyway, I was following her at a safe distance and she suddenly slams on her brakes (at which point I discovered her brake lights were NON-Functioning). Seems she looked up from texting and realized she had just passed the street she wanted to turn left onto.

I grabbed a bunch of my front and rear brakes and hauled my bike to a near stop. Once I saw she was just stopped on this 55 mph road, and then starting to back up, I looked behind me and saw no one coming, so I passed her and continued on my way to the shop.

I will say I kept my calm after her first antics of pulling out in front of me, but after the second installment of stopping without brake lights, it did get my adrenaline going a bit.

I said nothing to her, just got away as fast as I could....BUT, I was fully awake and energetic (adrenaline is amazing stuff) when I got to the shop.

Just another day in the life.

Kevin

[Fearless]

It is scary when you see a driver looking down and not the road. We have the same problem here I will report any I see to my old friends (PSP) if I can get a license number I have no problem with doing it. ride defensively Fred

[Fozworth]

Are all cagers that bad or is it just the women? lol Don't answer that............

[desertclassic]

Glad it all went well. I have see the days that I would of gone crazy if that happened. The best thing that I probably ever done was being a school bus driver for 5 years. Talking about defensive driver training and patience.

[DK Custom Products]

It is scary when you see a driver looking down and not the road. We have the same problem here I will report any I see to my old friends (PSP) if I can get a license number I have no problem with doing it. ride defensively Fred

Yeah, absolutely nothing gets done reporting people around here for texting & driving...in TN it is illegal, but they do nothing. In MS, as far as I know, it is not illegal...just stupid.

Up to us to ride defensively.

Are all cagers that bad or is it just the women? lol Don't answer that............

No too long ago virtually all truck drivers were some of the safest drivers on the road. I still see a high % of them driving well...but there is a growing # of truck drivers that are downright scary...whether in a cage or on a bike or trike.

Just last week I saw an 18 wheeler (male driver) driving at 70 mph in a 65, come right up on the back of a car (that was in the right lane) and stay behind that car, not even 1 car length behind it. I observed this idiot truck driver sit between 1 and 1.5 car lengths behind that car, traveling at 65 mph, for over 5 miles.

With the delay of air-brakes on a truck, there is NO POSSIBLE way he would not have rear-ended that car, should the car have put on it's brakes.

When I see stuff like this, which is quite regularly, that is what makes me wonder how these folks have made it as far as they have in life. To me it is incomprehensible how ignorant drivers are of the danger they put themselves and others in.

hahaha, rant off.

Glad it all went well. I have see the days that I would of gone crazy if that happened. The best thing that I probably ever done was being a school bus driver for 5 years. Talking about defensive driver training and patience.

Yeah, I imagine driving a school bus is a huge personal responsibility.

I'm glad it went well also. I had two minor incidents on a motorcycle when I was 17 & 18, then went all the way to 52 with hundreds of thousands of miles and no accidents. Then at 52 had a minor one, and then the BIG ONE, the one that put me on a Trike. I was always vigilant, now I would say I am hyper-vigilant.

Kevin

[DK Custom Products]

The kid in this video says it all!



Kevin

[DK Custom Products]

We are into our warmer part of the year, but every now and then we have a cool morning. It was a nice ride in at 70 degrees this morning.

Been hard at work all day...just came up for air and stepped outside for a minute.

It looks like it is going to a nice ride home in the "cool of the evening".



Kevin

[Fozworth]

Kevin,

I don't want to talk about what you may be wanting to forget about but "The Big One".

I know you like to ride aggressive on the curves. Did you lay it over?

Or, did someone pull in front of you?

Disregard if this brings back bad memories.

Everyday I think.......whoa, my wife is with me........if anything happened to her...........my life is over.

I want to believe all accidents can be avoided. I really do.

Brian

[DK Custom Products]

Kevin,

I don't want to talk about what you may be wanting to forget about but "The Big One".

I know you like to ride aggressive on the curves. Did you lay it over?

Or, did someone pull in front of you?

Disregard if this brings back bad memories.

Everyday I think.......whoa, my wife is with me........if anything happened to her...........my life is over.

I want to believe all accidents can be avoided. I really do.

Brian

The big one was when I was riding my Ultra Glide (solo) on interstate 40. Speed limit was 65, I was doing 65. It was a Sunday afternoon, about 90 degrees, and very little traffic. Devin (the "D" in DK) was riding the DK Sporty behind me.

I was in the middle lane, there was a truck (F250) parked in the emergency lane up ahead on the right. I saw it...no flashers, no running lights, it was parked. I checked it off my mental list of potential dangers.

At the last minute this truck decided to pull out of the emergency parking area and cross all three lanes of traffic to take an exit that was on the LEFT side of the interstate.

I saw him at the last split second and veered left to keep him from t-boning me. Devin saw the whole thing, he thought I would make it.

He did not t-bone me, but his front left fender well hit my front wheel, then my front wheel got wedged inbetween his fender and front bumper. This caused the bike to snap against the side of his truck.

The right floorboard folded up, crushing my foot between the floorboard and the cam chest, that broke 9 bones in my right foot.

The engine guard folded in, causing the highway peg to hit my right knee, that broke my knee.

I then got propelled thru the air, in front of his windshield. I flew 150 feet thru the air, landed on my side, then rolled to my back. I slid another 165 feet along the concrete before coming to a stop.

The landing fractured my pelvis and broke my collarbone. Sliding along the concrete on my back broke 7 small bones in my back.

I was laid up in bed for 4 months.

I had zero road rash. Boots, kevlar lined jeans, mesh jacket, helmet and gloves all had significant damage to them, but they kept my skin intact and no concussion.

Could it have been avoided?

Absolutely. Although it was his fault, and his insurance paid out the max coverage, I had gotten lax. At that point I had been riding on the street for 35 years virtually incident free.

All I had to do was NOT check him off the potential danger list until after I passed him....but, of course, always keeping check of the mirrors to see any danger coming from behind.

Instead, I had written him off before I passed him. My mistake. Another mistake was not keeping my head on a swivel, being aware of what is around me 100% of the time.

I know folks say it is not a matter of IF, but a matter of When you'll be in an accident. I do not subscribe to that. I know quite a few folks that have ridden as long, and longer, than me that have never been in an accident.

I know that the one I was in could have been avoided.

That said, there are things that can happen, that are unavoidable.

I have a friend that was riding his Dyna, wife on back, on a two lane road. A car coming in the opposite direction swerved into his lane and hit him, head on. There was literally no time for him to take any evasive action...and there was no indication that the car was going to swerve before it did.

That is a one in 10 million kind of thing that can happen that I would classify as unavoidable.

There is no doubt, that when we ride, we are taking a higher risk than if we were in a cage. But there is a lot we can do to reduce those risks. Being on a Trike is one thing, definitely safer than 2 wheels. Keeping the bike in good maintenance, SEE & BE SEEN with good bright lights, day and night, and being 100% aware, 100% of the time, along with a plethora of good defensive riding skills/attitudes.

Kevin

[Fozworth]

Wow. Thanks Kevin....

[DK Custom Products]

Wow. Thanks Kevin....

Yeah, that was "a day in the life" that I could have done without.

But a lot of good came out of it too. As a result I discovered trikes, and am very happy for that.

In fact, today I rode the Tri-Glide into the shop, and will be leaving early to start our trip out to the Smokeys this afternoon. Mary and I have had some fantastic trips on Tri-Glides, that we would have never done on 2 wheels.

Here's a photo of the Ultra after the accident-



And one of my knee (which is stronger now than it's been in decades) -



Fred (Fearless) almost always signs off on his posts with a "travel safely" or "ride safe". This is a much appreciated reminder.... we need to always be aware out there, anything can happen, at any time, and how it turns out, 99.9% of the time, will depend on us.

Kevin

[Fozworth]

As time rolls on I need to get some lights from you for more visibility.

We bought the mesh jackets you recommend some time back. They have some "armor" in them. We for sure need to get some riding pants that are set up for armor as well.

I find myself wanting to stay out of big cities to reduce risk of being hit by an aggressive city driver. But our favorite time together involves the city of Wichita, Kansas.

None of it would matter as much if I didn't have my wife with me.

For those of us fortunate enough to have a "match made from heaven" I want to do everything I can to avoid "the big one"!

[DK Custom Products]

Rode 4 hours this afternoon...headed toward the Smokeys.

1.5 hours of it was in the rain!

In a motel now, getting ready to eat some Pizza...watching the rain outside.

Tomorrow should be sunny as we ride to the Smokeys.

Kevin

[TGCarol]

Rode 4 hours this afternoon...headed toward the Smokeys.

1.5 hours of it was in the rain!

In a motel now, getting ready to eat some Pizza...watching the rain outside.

Tomorrow should be sunny as we ride to the Smokeys.

Kevin

Is this going to be another one of your awesome ride reports Kevin?

[DK Custom Products]

Is this going to be another one of your awesome ride reports Kevin?

No big ride report....just a few days in the Smokeys, honoring our friend that we lost last year...see link HERE.

Mary's been taking photos, so there'll be a short ride report after we return.

Kevin

[TGCarol]

Oh my gosh Kevin. I'm so sorry. I just read all of the info you linked here. What a senseless, horrible loss. My heart goes out to you and everyone in Larry's life. Please forgive my post.

[Fearless]

No big ride report....just a few days in the Smokeys, honoring our friend that we lost last year...see link HERE.

Mary's been taking photos, so there'll be a short ride report after we return.

Kevin

Please travel Carefully Ya! kno! Fred

[Larry Sobczak]

Enjoy your ride and stay safe, that is the best way to honor your friend.

[Fearless]

Today is the day I have the honor of placing flowers on Family Graves Grandparents and parents and my oldest brother. I named my son him after makes one think of our own mortality and how short our time here really is. You see it seems two weeks ago I was 20. travel safely Fred