Accident - lucky

[scifer]

Hi everyone,

I had an accident with my baby "Bajaj 180 DTSI" Saturday night on the
N1.
I was coming down underneath the R300 overpass picking up a bit of
speed to maintain 85+ to go up the steep side. All of a sudden the
car in front of me swerved out and I was unable to do so in time and
hit a piece of scaffolding. I could not maintain control of the bike
and lost it. I fell hard but only managed to get 1 scratch. My foot
was very saw but is now much better.

This is my second time I had an accident with a motorcycle. First
time someone drove in front of me and took off like superman at 65km/h
but this time it was faster and more dangerous as someone could have
driven over me.

What surprises me about the bajaj, is that after a fall like that, she
only sustained damage to the headlamp cover / mirror / boppin on the
handle, brake lever and the exhaust tech cover on the back. The tank
has got a tiny dent in it, and obviously will bother me. A very tough
motorcycle, she still drives like nothing happened.

With all this, I just want to put it out there that if you drive any
vehicle with any tools or anything on it, please ensure that you
fasten these things properly. This could have been avoided, as it
could have been much worse. Just after falling, I picked the bike up
and another car hit the scaffolding and lost 2 tires in the ordeal.

I will send you the pics of the scaffolding as soon as I receive it.

Drive safe

[Anton Damhuis]

Hi Scifer

Wow, sorry to hear about your fall. Very glad to hear you are OK.

Were you wearing protective clothing? If you did, do you think it helped?

Regards
  Anton

[scifer]

Thanx Anton.

Yeah, I was wearing some thick clothing coz it was cold and than a
thermo suit, once of those thick weather-proof suits, not designed for
motorcycles, but I had proper Lethabax gloves, those with the
protective plastic on the knuckles and a proper leather jacket. I
must say, the leather jacket got the worst part of the fall but I had
no scratches on me. The gloves indicate that if i did not wear any, I
would have had no skin left on it and the thermo suit took a hard
beating with the road. If I did not wear this clothing, I would have
had some bad scratches.

It all happened so fast but like I have learned, when you fall, don't
stick out your arms, don't fight it, just pull in your arms and
slide. If you stick out your arms you will most definitely start
rolling, and this is dangerous.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I would suggest no matter
how hot you are, wear protective clothing. I always wear my
protective clothing hot or cold, even if I go just around the corner
to the shop.