Well, it happened

On feeder road to subdivision lady in full size GMC Suburban turned left in front of me. 854 pounds of purple motorcycle with HID headlight blazing, fat dude wearing silver riding gear. She never saw me.

It was pretty obvious what was going to happen so there was plenty of time to slow down to avoid collision.

I followed the lady to where she turned into her driveway and actually had a good conversation with her. I told her about what happened to Bill and she almost cried. She apologized profusely saying she didn't see me. I told her it happens but PLEASE take just a half second longer to keep an eye out for us bikers. She was a very nice lady who felt bad for what might have happened.

I have 2 55W quartz driving lights to mount below the mirrors and plan to convert the turn signals to clearance lights. I have a mesh orange/yellow conspicuity vest I will start wearing. It sure isn't doing any good sitting behind the seat in the pickup.

Any other ideas????

Loren

 

Maybe a flashing strobe light mounted on top of our helmet?

Glad to hear you saw it coming and were able to avoid the problem.

I've been on the lookout for the Kamakaze cagers myself.

 

You'll burn-up the Charging System adding 110 Watts.

You can Decorate the Bike with a TON of LED's.
The System can handle all the LED's in the world.
2 Running or Road Lamps will put the Alternator in Overload and burn-up the Rotor or windings.

 

Loren, you could use those quartz driving lights if you were to swap the H3's for the LED H3 bulbs that Superbrightleds.com sells http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/H3_11-WHP.htm. I am leaning in that direction as well but plan to go with amber lights as soon as I find the housing I am looking for.

The yellow/amber lense that came on the driving lights of the early 750 Seca's stand out from the crowded mess of normal headlights in a big way. Check into one

 

They make kits that will strobe your headlight. I have seen them on several bikes and they make you much more noticeable. You have to be careful though because they are Illegal in some states.

 

I had a guy literally 4 feet from my back tire a few weeks ago. I threw up my left hand to get his attention.. he saw me and backed off. once I got to an intersection, I pulled to his window and told him that it's people like him that kill people like us. he apologized and told me he wasnt paying attention. he had his phone in his hand, so I am guessing he was texting.

 

Hey Loren - you've already done the most effective thing by anticipating the car driver not seeing you..... and then taking evasive action.

All the flashing lights in the world will not be anywhere near as effective as that.

Glad to hear you're OK :wink:

 

It really wasn't a close call because the speed limit was only 30 mph and there was plentyof time to slow down but the situation flashed me back to what happened to Bill.

The flashing light on the helmet is a great idea actually. One helmet mfg makes a helmet with a row of Led's built into the back of the helmet. My spare helmet is the same brand just one model down.

I will look up the brand and model and post it. They are very reasonably priced. I'm going to look for an after market source of led's that I can add to the back of my helmet to reduce risk of a rear ender.

Loren

 

^^Thats actually the helmet i am using. It is made by Gmax and it is model 68s. Verycomfortable helmet with lots of vents and i think i got it for only like $117. I plan on wiring the front brake switch to a wireless transmitter and the LED strip to a reciever so the LED strip also works as a secondary brake light

 

What's really sad.....is that around here, almost 70% of people riding motorcycles aren't weren't any protective gear.

 

The one that always makes me shake my head around here is the guy on a crotch rocket wearing a nice expensive armored jacket with shorts and tennis shoes and his helmet on the helmet lock as he is going down the road. But don't worry folks he has gloves on so he will be fine if he wrecks.

 

I was driving down I-70 on my way to the in-law's house and a dude on a SCOOTER was flying down interstate with flip flops and a tank top on.
no helmet at all.

on the way back, a dude in overalls was flying down interstate while standing up on his pegs.
again, no helmet

 

Those headlight modulators are legal in all states by federal mandate, as long as they never turn the light totally off. They vary the bightness from 50%-70% to full on several times per second. They are very effective.

Here is a good story about the legality of them.
http://zenreich.com/ZenWeb/motorcycle/h ... ulator.htm

 

I would like a study to be made to understand why car drivers see an oncoming car, but not an oncoming motorcycle. Of course they "see it" (as far as I'm concerned), but why doesn't their brain register it?

Maybe the smaller size is interpreted as more distance away? Or do they figure the bike has to yield the right of way?

I think we need to understand what is happening in order to counter the problem correctly. Bill had the modulator on his headlights I believe and it did not help. I suspect that making ourselves more visible with more lights might not be the solution. Unless we can trigger a really surprising burst of light - a strong and sudden strobe going off.

How about using the horn? Maybe not loud enough...

We probably need to trigger something that appears to be a threat to the other driver to get their brains working correctly. I don't think LEDs on the helmet will solve this problem by itself even though it might help to look like a xmas tree riding a bike.

 

One issue at least a night time is that cars have 2 headlights positioned a decent distance away from each other. It is easier for the brain to calculate distance when there are 2 points of reference. However there is definitely something that doesn't seem to click in drivers brains.

Count this week for someone pulling out in front of me is twice already and it is only Tuesday. Luckily a horn and some maneuvering on my part and quick breaking on the part of the cager has kept me safe.

 

I am an eye doctor and can tell you that people can see you but they just dont register the info the same way. When we drive on the road, we are trained to look for other cars or trucks, things that pose a threat to US. Bikes are not even looked at the same way.

Hillsy called it the best. You can only be more vigilant and take reasonable precautions to enhance your visibility. When my dad taught me to ride some 30 years ago, he told me to always assume the cars around you are trying to hit you, know that you are invisible, and to NEVER stay in someones blind spot.

Hightened awareness and good protective gear are the only things that will keep you alive.

 

Glad to hear you're o.k. It's an all too familiar story being a motorcyclist. On the subject of the headlight modulator, does anyone know where they are available? My father always had them on his Goldwings when I was a kid, I'd like to get one for when I am putting my bike back together. It's true that the best that we can do is to be vigilant at all times, and brightly colored gear and extra lights can help make you be seen, but vigilance and awareness at all times is the best. I have noticed that in certain instances as Bgitch says, drivers simply do not "see" motorcycles even though they may be looking right at you. I have had this before with people tailgating me in moderate to heavy traffic, the car driver looks right past you to the car in front of you. You have to do something just to be noticed.

 

bgitch, I read somewhere that yellow is the most visable light and that it is the first color an eye will pick up on, also it is the most irritating... As an eye doctor can you confirm this?

I based my decision to switch over to the yellow auxillary light on the information above.

 

Well done avoiding the lady in her urban assault vehicle. Happens all to often. I think the cagers only notice cars or trucks. The size or threat level of the vehicle doe not seem to matter. I have driven trains a few times, and had cars cross right in front of me - even after I have given them a long toot on the air horns. So, they don't take any notice of the flashing red lights and bells, either.

 

I don't know anything about the proper standards or regulations but it seems to me if bike turn signals had a night-time always on mode (with the turn signal being off-on-off-on) it might help improve visability at night.

I think one of the problems is that it is very difficult to properly judge the distance of a single light moving towards you at night. So it has got to help simply having more lights on to let cars have a better reference with which to judge your distance and speed.

I guess this idea is very similar to the idea of running clearance lights but I guess that this way wouldn't overtax the alternator?

 

It is probably the sparky in me, but I would like to see more work done on the side of lighting.

I know we have limits set in place by our generation system, but where there is a will, there is a way. I have seen a couple posts (i don't remember his name, but the guy with the killer fuel injection) on converting to LED's to save power (in his case to run the EFI modules) This is one way to go, and frankly, I will be converting just for sake of longevity, but to each his own.

But has anyone tried to advance the charging system to get more juice to begin with? Stepping up to a better generator? Adding an additional unit? That would give you enough power to run just about anything!

 

Where could I find information on the load capacity of the alternator?

 

A rough idea would be to take the Rated current output and multiply by the volts...

If it was rated at 19A and the system was at 14V, you would get a rough idea of 14Vx19A = 266 VA which we could call Watts in this case, since we don't need to bring power factor into this...

I don't know if all models are the same, and never have the manual handy when I need it, but i think 19A Max was what the 82 XJ650 was rated for...

Bear in mind this is all rough approximation as you do have other loses that will steal some power here and there, and then again, things like light bulbs suck more juice initially and other items with inrush currents. Not to mention the charging of the battery. You also wouldn't want to add do-dads until you were using the max rated current from it.

However, if you want to see how much space you have to add a running light, or a seat heater, this should get you close.

 

I love the persistance of putting more lights on your bikes and agree hole heartedly with any measure taken to increase rider safety, but I would like to +1 on rider alertness, I say this because of the # of people who fail to notice emergency vehicles approching from any and all directions with a vast aray of lights and sirens that we couldn't house in our wildest dreams, the truth is that our fallen friend Bill is what probably amounts too 1% of collisions that were truly unavoidable.

The other day I was watching you tube video's of accidents as a reminder of why I need to be at the top of my game while riding when I came across a vid titled something like "guy in car kills biker" in the video the car changed from right to left lane and side swiped the bike, all of the comments ranted about this a$$ hole in the car or poor guy on the bike, no mention was made that when the car started to change lanes the bike was keeping pace in the cars blind spot with his front tire level with the cars rear bumper, but when the car starts to move in on him the biker guns it to get in front and gets wiped out in the process. yes it is the cars fault, BUT the biker is hurt or dead because he couldn't just back of and avoid the collision.

BE THE BUNNY!!! BE THE BUNNY!!! BE THE BUNNY!!!

My wife told me in a walmart parking lot after nearly being hit by a car (on foot) "if he hit me I would sue him!!" I asked her if a wheel chair lined with money would be more comfortable than a normal one?
It's not better to be dead and cool than alive and uncool, but it's it is better to get home safe knowing he was wrong than go to the hospital knowing you were right.
Sorry for the rant, it's just my opinion
Shaun

 

I will have to agree with you on this point:

Lights, flashers, HL modulators, Horns, Flare guns, smoke signals and seminole, are all just TOOLS.

I like to add lights and flashing things to better the odds of someone seeing me, however, I still treat all drivers as if they don't. Even the ones I just made eye contact with at the last stop light.

 

well said.
I judge brake vs gas by my location on the car.... 50/50 rule
50% is past his door, gas it even if he isnt changing lanes. I treat the cage as though he will.

 

Yes SecaRob, yellow is more visible to the human eye. Our retinas are the most sensitive to 555 nm wavelenght which is green. But green lacks the luminosity (brightness) for everyday use, therefor Yellow is the next best thing. Yhat is why things seem brighter when you put on a pair of yellow glasses.

 

Glad to hear your ok. All this wreck stuff makes me a bit nervous. Has anyone ever mounted led's or running lights off of their handle bars, like those yamaha logo things that stick in there,
It seems like if wider is better this would be a great way to give a driver more depth.
Where have other people mounted led's? I think its time for me to take a little more precation and i might start looking into a reflective jacket