Witnessed my first motorbike RTA and it was rough...

[skylineonfire]

I decided to ride my new bike to central London and back (I'm in Bedford area) all went swimmingly on the way there, way back was going great too.

As I was riding up Edgware road, the A5, Northbound out of the city, I filtered to the front of traffic with two other bikers, one on a BMW R1200, the other on a Honda Transalp, both with full luggage, really nice bikes, riding separately.

We pull away at the lights, all 3 of us, I was at the back, BMW at the front, Translap in the middle. We get a few hundred yards down the road, no traffic which is rare for this road, especially at 5pm.

Suddenly a guy whos walking across the road just stops, a huge guy, obese, at least 6 foot 4, really scruffy looking. The two bikes ahead of me were both doing around 35 mph, I was matching their speed but a good 10 metres behind, whereas they were admittedly a little close to each other.

BMW in front slams his brakes on as he couldn't avoid him at this point, the guy just stepped right in front of his bike. Goes up on his front wheel and as he does, the Transalp from behind slams into him, both end up on the floor. I've got some distance behind them so I don't have to brake very harshly. I slow down, pull onto the pavement and run over to help get the bikes up, check on the riders.

At this point the fat guy just walks away, hes drunk off his mind, and nobody stops him. I shout at him to stay, he ignores me, and everyone else is rightfully checking on the riders. Suffice to say, he walked off.

I stay for 20 mins to write down my details for their insurance companies to contact me if need be etc, check on the guys, both lovely guys and it's such a shame. The Honda was wrecked. Liquids pouring out of it, enginge hanging out, bodywork all over the road, it just collapsed. BMW was pretty messed up, exhaust had broke off, lights broke, wheel arch/wheel all bent up.

Now my question as I rode away, was who is going to pay for this? I don't really see it being any of their fault, as the guy who walked off was utterly responsible for it all. Although the Honda was following a little too close for those speeds, especially considering how open the road was in front and behind us.

Would the Honda's insurance have to pay, since he was the vehicle who struck the other from behind?

[rac3r]

Welcome to London

I would have thought it would come out of their own insurance or as you say the BMW could maybe claim from the Honda
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Bikes : 2006 CBR125R - 2004 Monster 620ie - 2004 ZX-6R B1H - 2005 Monster S2R 800 - 2011 Street Triple - 2009 Streetfighter 1098 - 2014 ZX-6R 636

[kerr]

Chances are the guy at the back, he shouldn't have been so close or it wouldn't have happened IMO.
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aprilia 125 Af1 Futura >> Suzuki gsxr 600 srad >> J1 zx6r >> cbr 600rr >> Speed Triple

[WannaBeDude]

SHit obs bmw riding m fers !!!
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Jogging on, destination living.

[stinkwheel]

The Transalp rider will land up paying for both bikes. If I read that right, he ran into the back of the BMW and both bikes went down.

Poor obs and not enough distance to the bike in front. "Only a cunt hits the person in front.".

If the BMW had outbraked himself and dropped the bike without having been hit, he would probably have had to sort it out himself.

If he'd hit the pedestrian then gone down, there would have been a protracted claim lasting for years where the drunken chav tries to claim vast sums off the BMW rider for being hit which might or might not have been sucessful in court. He'd still have landed up claiming off his own insurance for the damage to the bike.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
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[Aperf]

Transalps fault, will go through its insurance.
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CRF450R supermoto, Husaberg 650 supermoto, Triumph Street Triple R

[Aperf]

Transalps fault, will go through its insurance.
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CRF450R supermoto, Husaberg 650 supermoto, Triumph Street Triple R

[keggyhander]

If the two "adventure" dickheads had been riding staggered, that would have been avoided.

[Rogerborg]

[skylineonfire]

Little update.

At 7am this morning, I was awakened by my phone blaring from my bedside table. I answer with the most dignified "hello" I could manage.

What followed was a barrage of questions from the insurance company of the Honda. 10 minutes later the call was over, I gave my honest recollection of the crash. From what I could decipher, the Honda's insurance company are blaming their own rider. They think he was too close. Maybe he was, but I just cant believe the fat drunk is getting away with this.

Then at 9am, the BMW's insurance company called me, asking me my version of events etc... They are also looking at blaming the Honda rider.

Then at 11am, the Honda's insurance company contacted me, asking me if it's okay for them to mail me a free envelope and some papers to fill in with my description of the event, and a diagram if possible. So they are en route to me.

Interesting stuff!

[Aperf]

[GF-91]

Honda riders fault. He should have anticipated that a freak occurrence might occur, and held back. As you did.


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One dream, one soul, one prize, one goal.

[skylineonfire]

[skylineonfire]

[Aperf]

In that case if Honda man hadnt splattered into his mate then someone could have chased fatty but because BMW got taken out blatently by his mate the what if scenario of fatty is kind of redundant What could you prosecute fatty for, potentially causing an accident that never played out because Honda rider didnt leave sufficient gap so taking out his mate BUT fatty might have been liable if it wasnt for Honda man?

Put your thoughts on fatty to the insuers, if theres any chance of sticking the blame on him then presumably theyll be glad of the info
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CRF450R supermoto, Husaberg 650 supermoto, Triumph Street Triple R

[map]

[cornish]

I have to agree. It is each rider/drivers responsibility to allow a stopping distance and anticipate pedestrians with no will to live, bints jamming the anchors on with a clear road ahead because they are texting other bints and dropped their phone, men who've overtaken you with their cock driving then after cutting you up jam on cos they realise they're way over the limit etc etc etc.

It's easily done when riding in a group. I often feel anti-social on the rare occasions i choose to ride with others as the gap i leave in front looks a bit 'offish'

My dad (a retired copper) who taught me to drive properly is racing bike mad. Despite everything he knows he was riding in a pack with the cycling club when someone at the front jammed on and he went up someone else's arse. He came off funny and broke his hip. So it can happen to anyone i guess. Poor Honda guy just got caught out.
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[slyrob]

as far as RTAs in London go that doesn't sound that rough to be fair! I saw a guy half under the front wheels of an Iceland lorry on Cricklewood Broadway at the weekend, that was rough!!
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[J0Al1]

If it is true the BMW was going down anyway, I would see this as 25% to the favor of BMW...

But the BMW is not likely to admit he was going down to get dirty anyway.

[GF-91]

[Alpha-9]

Even me and my mate on our crappy 125s ride in a staggered column, what noobs

Lane discipline is important! We stick one side and keep each other in our mirrors, working out pretty well thus far
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Fzr-600 1999

[map]

[Aperf]

My Honda didnt give enough room to be able to stop in the correct distance whilst allowing for the BWM potential monouvering room. Its ok to ride staggered with reduced distance but then if the lead rider swerves then what? As in this instance. Staggered plus the correct distance would be safe.
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CRF450R supermoto, Husaberg 650 supermoto, Triumph Street Triple R

[Rogerborg]

[sirswali]

That is an stupid comment.
You can't predict the freaky and unexpected. That kind of what makes it unexpected.
Unless that was meant to be tongue in cheek. Didn't come across as that though.

You can however minimise the risk. As said above riding offset gives you a greater stopping distance directly in front of you. I suspect some of the Honda rider's problem may have been target fixation though. You end up staring at the point you're going to crash.

https://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e122/Tbirdnz/JBT-07aSmall.jpg

[/quote]

So you're saying that we should ride around thinking "oh that'll never happen"? Really? Really?

One should anticipate that the person in front might encounter something out of the ordinary and have to perform an emergency maneuvre* (sp?). Had he done this this would not have happened.[/quote]

I agree.. Emercency manoeuvre 101.. In order to Pass you Level 1 after your CBT you have to be able to pull off an emergency manoeuvre at about those speeds anyway.. Rider error all tho unfortunate.