not quite a crash, but my first OH SH*T moment

[fukengruven]

I've had my M1 for about 6 weeks and have been riding around SF on weekends and commuting back and forth to work in the city, at least 4 days a week. I've been riding very defensively without lane splitting.

The intersection of Market, Noe, and 16th is very large. As I was approaching the light (I was one car length from the crosswalk) it turned yellow. There was a car in front of me. I gave it more gas to get through the entire intersection as did the car in front of me. However, once across the intersection the car in front slammed on his brakes. I reacted by hitting the back brake first and as I reached for the front, the rear wheel locked and started to skid. I remained upright and in a straight line but was about to hit the car in front of me, so I instinctively released the brake and swerved to the bike lane to the right and went around a couple of cars, pulled over and made sure I hadn't soiled myself.

I realize that I was lucky there was room to the right to swerve. I also realize I shouldn't have accelerated through the intersection.

Any advice on what I could have done if there wasn't room to swerve? Should I have used the front brake as well if the back brake was locked, leaving the back break applied?

 

[Ironbutt]

Seems like your in car mode still.. Your on a bike and it's legal to share. Avoid being directly behind a car and that's mostly for your line of sight; hold back most of the time and give it gas as your passing the cars slamming on the brakes.

 

[Enchanter]

not quite a crash, but my first OH SH*T moment

Then I suppose that Crash Analysis is the wrong forum for this thread.

Moved to General.

 

[gixxerboy55]

You need to practice using your front brake, that's where most of your stopping power comes from.

 

[alanx182]

Leave enough room for emergency braking and remember that bikes don't stop as good as cars. Good save though.

 

[corrupt]

Use your front brake. In these kinds of accidents, the biggest mistake tends to be not using the front brake as much as possible.

Practice your panic stops.

 

[Enchanter]

Leave enough room for emergency braking and remember that bikes don't stop as good as cars. Good save though.

Test data from from the various car and motorcycle magazines indicates otherwise. With that said, it is a skill issue in both vehicles. It takes more skill to stop a motorcycle in the shortest distance than it does to stop a car in the same manner.

 

[afm199]

Practice braking and stop using the rear only in emergencies. The front supplies something like 90-100% of braking power depending on the situation. If you don't understand that, go to a parking lot or vacant street and practice braking use the front only, rear only and both, and see which stops you the quickest.

Set up a marker, ride up to it at 30 mph, and stop as fast as you can. Do this several times using front, rear, and both. Mark the spots where you come to a halt and decide what works best for you.

What you will probably discover is that emergency stops with the rear usually result in massive rear tire lockup and lots of skidding, so be CAREFUL using that rear brake.

 

[jmonte35]

Leave enough room for emergency braking and remember that bikes don't stop as good as cars. Good save though.

I think someone is ....current sport bikes will stop much faster than cars. but just like your first time hard braking in a car when you locked up the brakes...it will take practice to effectively brake but sportbikes now a days have unbelievable braking power.

 

[Roadstergal]

car mode

+1 Offset yourself, leave room to manuver, and practice your swerves. It's almost always going to be faster to jog a foot to one side and avoid a hazard than it is to come to a complete stop.

Not to mention that the vehicle behind you can't asspack you if you avoid instead of stopping hard.

Expect that all of the vehicles around you are going to do the worst thing they can do at any given point in time, and be prepared with an escape plan. In that situation, I'm assuming, one step back, that the car is going to accelerate for the yellow, then change his/her mind and slam on the brakes - and would be set up to dodge around it already.

 

[phr0st]

If your first instinct is to hit the rear brakes, there will be many more "oh shit" moments for you.

 

[hcop33]

i think if you used your front brakes you would have been fine with the hard stop.. just make sure you dont grab the lever, just slowly squeeze it..

 

[Archimedes]

I think someone is ....current sport bikes will stop much faster than cars. but just like your first time hard braking in a car when you locked up the brakes...it will take practice to effectively brake but sportbikes now a days have unbelievable braking power.

That's not true at all, unless you're talking about some of the worst performing cars in terms of braking. The best sportbike out there in the most capable professional hands will brake about equal to a decently equipped car. And, as Enchanter already pointed out, the skill required to get that kind of performance out of a bike is much higher than it is to get that out of the average car. Any time you want to compare your ability to panic brake your sport bike from 60 mph against my M3, I'll be happy to demonstrate the real world differences. You can throw all the braking power you want at a motorcycle, but you're still going to be limited by that small contact patch.

To the OP, your lesson learned should simply be: learn to use your front brake for 90-100 percent of your braking power and control your speed better.

 

[tim]

i think if you used your front brakes you would have been fine with the hard stop.. just make sure you dont grab the lever, just slowly squeeze it..

... in a rapid manner.

Go practice so you can just take a handful without crushing it. There is nothing slow about an emergency stop but there is some finesse involved.

 

[thesnaf]

The intersection of noe/16th/market is also a very dangerous one due to the people going left off 16th in both directions it is always a high acceleration to get through during the light if going left. Until your skills/awareness improves i would suggest an alternate route that avoids it.

Glad you didn't eat the car or soil yourself.

 

[fukengruven]

Thanks y'all.

If it is truly a nice day tomorrow, I'm going to head over to City College (where MSF holds range classes) and use the vacant lot next to them for braking practice.

 

[mike23w]

I also realize I shouldn't have accelerated through the intersection.

This is probably the most important lesson.

If you read BARF you'll find the majority of accidents are preventable.

Improving situational awareness and good judgment will keep you safer than practicing your braking skills.

 

[KennyMonster]

It's all about the 3 second rule you learned about during drivers training when you were 15. Even if you are mediocre at stopping, religiously keeping a large distance between you and the vehicle ahead of ya can save ya in both the car and moto.

 

[biomimetic]

Maybe my first post? Thought I would add something, even though I notice the post is aging now, being newish myself ad noticing something leftout - it's as easy to speed fixate on the vehicle in front of you as to point fixate. Which can lead to bad things in turns, and in emergency stop situations. Look through the traffic, and ride your own speed, not theirs.

 

[Karbon]

Give yourself more room.
Give attention to the car in front of the car you're behind.
An intersection is the last place you want to be left stranded or imobilized.
Yellow lights should be regarded with greater caution on a bike. If there is doubt just slow down and/or stop while checking your 6. The guy behind you might have other ideas or is fixated on the light.

accelerating will get you in a bind as quickly as it will get you out of one.
With 6 weeks behind the wheel you're more inclined to get into bad situation.

good luck