I didn't see you...or how a U-turner got me...

Ooh yeah, I'm almost ashamed to admit it : I got wrecked last Thursday in Shanghai by a U-turner...
Why ashamed ? Because I should have known better really, even though I slowed down enough to avoid a biggie, but I still crashed into him. I should have known better... :rolleyes1:


The story (trying to be short) :
I was riding the YBR 250 on Hongqiao lu in Shanghai last Thursday afternoon, coming back from a nice little trip outside Shanghai. From those who don't know it, it's a 2 lanes road. I was on the left one, riding at approximatively 70 km/h. One car was going in the same direction, on the right lane, 100 meters in front of me.
The car suddenly slowed, so I did the same, even though there was no sign it might cut into my lane, but we know Chinese drivers...
When I was at 10 meters behind the car in the right lane (and me still in the left lane) and going around 40-45 km/h, the car suddenly started a U-turn (yeah, from the right lane...) without any prior signals, without blinkers, nothing... I jumped on the front brake and slowed down as much as possible to around 15 km/h but the car was too close from me and completely across my lane, no way to avoid it or swerve around it.
So I hit it between the left rear tire and the rear bumper, the bike went down on the right side.

And myself you may enquire ? :naughty:
Well, to be honest, I'm pretty proud about what I did, if I had watch the scene from the sidewalk, I would have come to congratulate me... :lol8:
So I braked as hard as I could, I remember thinking "Ooh shit, I'm gonna hit it" (in French, mind you...), I hit the car, the bike went down, and I found myself running, yes running on the road with the momentum...
Yeah, that's right I didn't even fall down, I ended up the crash by running on the road, the bike on its side behind me. :lol8:

Slowly like in a movie, I turned around and walked towards the car driver. He parked his car on the side, and I just had time to (relatively politely I'd say) ask him if he knew how to drive, before he completely exploded in apologies and enquiries about my health.
I have to be honest : he was a wanker of a driver, but a charming guy outside the car. :lol8: It's pissing me off actually, as it's very hard to stay upset when somebody is so nice, apologizing to no end and really enquiring about my health...

To cut the story short, he told me right away that he would assume his mistake, and did it without blinking when the motorcycle cop arrived. He took 100% of the blame, apologized again many times to everyone, the cop, myself, and his grand-mother...

His car was totally fine, my bike not so much... I broke the front mudguard, and most importantly the front forks are bent and need to be changed.

And because I'm thinking about you guys, some pics !
Attachment 5844
My poor wounded steed, comforted by the police bike...

Attachment 5845
The bent forks and the broken piece of mudguard on my tank bag...


Today the "expert" from the blind driver insurance came to my bike shop and agreed with the quotation of the shop mechanic who will change (and NOT repair):
- both front forks
- the fork T
- the handlebars
- the exhaust cover
- the mudguard
and I'm forgetting others things. Of course 100% of the costs is paid by the cage driver insurance.

All this means : I'm without bike, again, for at least one month I guess, time for them to get all the new parts, especially the front fork... :gun_bandana:


But 1 thing is for sure and this is also the main reason for me to write all this :
IF I WAS NOT 100% LEGAL, ALL THE TROUBLE (at least a very good part) WOULD HAVE BEEN FOR ME ! No matter who cut the other on the road, no matter who did what.
The cop who came to the accident scene was pretty surprised to see my registration, license, plates, insurance, everything 100% legal. He was pretty nice to me after seeing all this and the fact I could speak to him in Chinese.

Other than that and the fact that I avoided a biggie by slowing down before this twat started his U-turn, the morale of the story is :
I know now that I could have been a famous action movies star in Hollywood, doing my own motorcycle stunts, with hordes of female fans screaming my name, and live in a big villa up in Beverly Hills.

Damn....:lol8:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fred

Yeah, that's right I didn't even fall down, I ended up the crash by running on the road, the bike on its side behind me. :lol8:

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Sorry to hear your misfortune, luckily you're fine. First accident and already trying to flee the scene! :mwink:

U-turning was allowed at that location? There are lots of places in BJ where it isn't allowed at all, but they still do! Probably same story in SH?

Best part of your story is the fact that you weren't hurt. Sorry to hear about your ride though. A month to repair your bike? That sounds a little long. Hoping they can get the parts in a little sooner. That being said, best possible result of an unplanned dismount is that you can walk away (or run, as in your case).

Barry, yeah of course it wasn't allowed to U-turn there, otherwise it would not be fun for Chinese drivers ! :lol8:
There are 2 clear yellow continuous lines where he turned, which I showed to him.

The only thing to prevent U-turn is to have fences along the road, continuous yellow lines are just decoration...

Nuhaus, the mechanic at the shop said 2 weeks to get the parts, but I know them, so I'm guessing a month... That would give me a nice surprise if it's earlier, but I'm not planning on it. :rolleyes1:

Bloody hell!
Glad to read that you are okay. I had to laught though when I scrowled down to the photos towards the end of your post there Fred, the police motorcycle doesn't look that much better, what with a headlight not sitting square in it's mounting bracket. LOL

And trying to outrun the scene, haha, that would have been a sight to behold. Good to read that your instincts kicked in and you'd started to slow thereby minimising the impact. Good for you! Great to see that the outcome was better than the episode that lead to it, and the driver accepted his responsibility from the outset. A good example of why it pays to make sure that one is 100% legally entitled to be using the road in a vehicle too.

A whole month seems a little on the steep side to be waiting for your ride to be repaired? I had my CF250T-F (4-5 years ago now) completely fixed with new parts within 2 weeks and that included several days of the October holidays back in 2006. Damage was similar to yours, fairing, radiator, hoses, headlight mounting hardware and associated bits and pieces... though my front forks didn't need any work at all.

This is one of those instances where I use my loud horn (dual tone 115db accessory types) with gusto. I firmly believe that one needs to use the horns on vehicles whenever there are other road users or potential road users around, or those that have the possibility to become road users that might somehow come to share my space. I am sure that I am the worst of the worst when it comes to using the horn on my vehicles here in China, it has become so second nature. I swear that it has saved me uncountable number of times.
I know that many foreigners and even some locals in big cities complain about the high frequency of horn use, but many of them never drive or ride in China. Sorry but my arse comes first over any sensitivities, regulations or by-laws.

I hear you Bikerdoc (pun intended) about the use of the horn, and I do it when really I see or feel a dangerous situation coming up.
You wrote that foreigners who complain about the incessant horns in big cities don't drive or ride. It's true to some extent. As I wrote above, I use the horn too, but only if I think it's really necessary, because I cannot stand all this often useless noise...

Obviously last Thursday I could have and would not be here without a bike now, but for some reasons I was cautious about him slowing down, but naive in the fact I didn't think he would pull off a U-turn from the right lane. Well, guess he did... :lol8:

But anyway, even after this bit of unwanted jogging down the road, I'll still use the horn only when really necessary, not "at will".

One more thing I didn't mention in my 1st post : I'm actually "pleased" with some consequences of the crash.

Of course I'm pissed off to be without a bike for a month, but if some of you guys remember from my bike presentation thread, since the 1st day I rode my new YBR, I felt something "strange" with the steering, when I was going straight the handlebars were not completely straight, but maybe 1 or 2 degrees off. After I insisted they changed the handlebars, but it was still the same. It was very slight so not a big problem to ride it, but when you buy a new bike, you expect everything to be perfect !
I was considering completely stripping the front of the bike this week to see where could be the problem, but now, I don't need to do it anymore... :icon10:
They will change the whole front deal : suspension forks, fork T, handlebars (again), everything that could be crooked or bent, without having to yell and convince them there's a problem, and without paying a dime.

So yeah, in a way, I'm "lucky" to have it happen to me in this way. :lol8:

Whoa ... Fred ... glad you're ok!

The bike is just a machine ... means nothing ... easily replaced. What is important are your lightning fast reactions, those sprinter legs, and that French noggin! The admiring crowds of girls would be heart-broken if their stunt-boy was damaged.

Hmmmm ... that YBR seems to have had a bit of a crunchy start in life (reference initial delivery, and now this).

Again, glad you had a "happy ending".

EDIT - oh yeah ... and I couldn't agree more re being legal. It could've been quite ugly if you weren't. Good work.

The car insurance responsible for your side of damage, not so bad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by td_ref

The car insurance responsible for your side of damage, not so bad.

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Not sure I understand what you mean there td_ref. There's no "my side of the damage". Maybe something is lost in translation...

Oooh I get it now, sorry ! Yeah, the car insurance is taking care of all the costs, which is normal considering what happened, but TIC, so maybe I need to consider myself lucky... :lol8: