The (very) fine line between life and death

[Andy J]

I don’t wish to appear to be being over dramatic, but it has to be said life can sometimes travel along that line and depending, perhaps more often, on luck more than anything else, you somehow manage to survive to live another day.
One such event happened to me on Wednesday during, what had started out as, a carefree ride around the Manx countryside, following a shitty day full of frustrations.
By mid afternoon, of an extraordinarily good day weather-wise for early October, I had decided I needed to get out for a ride and enjoy the good weather while it lasted.
I chose the ‘should have been a Jota’ over the 500 Lav, as I had decided I was going a bit further than usual and I didn’t fancy the noise and harshness of the ride on the 500 over some of the roads I was planning to take.
I guess it was about 4.30pm as I headed north over the mountain section of the TT course, by which time it was already starting to get a bit busy, but generally I had a reasonably clear run to Ramsey. I stopped in Ramsey to take on more fuel and then headed further north to Andreas, and then onward, on country lanes, to the coast road at Smeale, turning right at the junction to Bride. Apart from a concerned horse rider, I didn’t really pass anyone else on the road to Bride, rejoining the slightly more main road back to Ramsey.
By now, it was getting on for 5.30pm, so I was well aware there would be a steady stream of rush hour traffic heading northwards over the mountain, from Douglas, and the sun was also starting to drop down towards the horizon. But unperturbed, as I have a drop down internal tinted visor, and insulation tape stuck to the top of my external visor, to help shield my eyes from a low sun, I still wanted - as you do, whenever you can, if you are sport bike rider in the IOM - to get another run in over the mountain.
However, mindful of the traffic and the sun issue, I set out to ride the road in a much more conservative fashion than normal, and that decision may well have either saved my life, or incurring life-changing injuries.
I followed a van for quite some distance from Ramsey before feeling safe enough to pass, and repeated the cautionary approach to overtaking the few other vehicles I came up behind on the run through to the Bungalow. I barely exceeded 100mph in places I would generally be hitting 150+ and was, by my standards, loitering along at mostly 70-80mph, rolling off early into the bends and only using part throttle coming out. I didn’t even get beyond 4th gear for most of the time.
I swept through the Bungalow, over the tram tracks and with a clear road ahead accelerated briskly, but by no means using full power, towards Hailwood Heights, and the highest part of the course.
Noting the ‘convoy’ of traffic coming towards me, and mindful that when I turned into the right hander before the approach to Brandywell the sun would be in my eyes, I again rolled off early at the start of the first right hand curve.
I guess I was traveling at around 80-100mph before I started to roll-off, and I was more-or-less at the apex of the curve, when, to my shock and horror, I was confronted by a complete and utter, impatient fuckwit, in a SUV type vehicle, heading towards me on my side of the road.
I instinctively braked hard, momentarily locking the front, before releasing the pressure and steering towards the narrow gap between the offside of his vehicle and the edge of the road. He presumably also braked and moved slightly to the left allowing just enough room for me to flash past inches from the side of his car. Having ‘saved’ myself from a full frontal or glancing blow, I was still heading left on a bit of road curving right. I tried to avoid running off the road, but I was virtually in the gutter as I passed his vehicle and couldn’t avoid momentarily running onto the grass verge, or probably better described, roadside ditch, which, with all the recent rain, was like a bog. Needless to say that set off a weave and just when I thought I might regain control I was highsided out of the seat. I came down hands first and sliding on my front I watched my previously, pristine, low mileage Tornado pirouette up the road in front of me. One small mercy, neither of us ended up under a vehicle coming the other way.
I was up and running to pick my bike up within seconds of coming to a halt, despite having a fair bit of pain in my hands, arm and knee, moving it to the safety of the side of the road.
There was absolute chaos for awhile with people running around, others trying to impatiently get passed, but order was soon regained and the traffic commenced flowing again. A couple of people came over to check me out and tell me the police and ambulance had been called, and also that they had tried to photo the car that caused the accident, which had driven off. I was told he had already overtaken several cars previously in, what they described as, an unsafe manner, and the latest manoeuvre was, in their opinion, just plain dangerous driving.
The ambulance duly arrived and cleaned my cuts and abrasions and applied a plaster to the hole in the palm of my right hand. Although a little shaken, I was remarkably calm, no doubt due to the relative minor damage to me. I hadn’t really looked at the bike, but had spotted the front brake lever didn’t seem to be pointing in the right direction.
The police finally arrived, more of which to follow as there is another side to this story that hacked me off almost as much as the crash itself.
I’m obviously counting myself very lucky to be walking wounded, a few miles an hour quicker and I’m sure it would have had a different outcome.
I don’t really know whether my luck has been in or out as I have now had three near misses on the Benelli, having met drivers on the wrong side of the road, and in places close to where other bikers have died in the last couple of years.
My missus thinks, having fallen off, I should sell all my bikes, but of course I subscribe to the view, ‘if you fall off your bike, you should get straight back up and get back on again…..’

P.S. Before anyone makes the remark, ‘Tis a mere scratch, it will polish out’, I’ve done it first!

 

[rocketonarail]

That`s a pretty horrific story Andy .......... Glad you are relatively ok ....... looks like the gloves and helmet did their jobs well ....... The Benelli doesn`t look too bad from the photos either , considering what happened ..... ( Trying to avoid saying it will polish out .... ...... ) ......

I know what you mean about feeling relatively calm afterwards ........ an incident which I experienced at a lower speed by the sound of it , when a car pulled out in front of me , left me feeling the same way , strangely relaxed , once I had picked myself off the floor .... the adrenaline has a soothing effect , I guess ........

Be prepared for a few bruises to appear within the next day or two ........ my right hip and leg turned and remained completely black for a while ....

Don`t let this affect you too much , ( although it may in the short term ........ you will find yourself replaying it over and over again in your mind ...... ) , but it`s experiences like this which will help you in the long term ........ expect every situation to provide the unexpected .......

Best wishes , Tony

 

[Reunited Chris]

What a bummer Andy, pleased to see you survived relatively unscathed.
Over the years I've learned to listen to my inner self or intuition if you like and modified my riding accordingly just as you did, dread to think of what may have happened otherwise.
Shame nobody came forward with the bastards number plate, deserves some retribution.
On another note I see that Nellie survived relatively well, surprised to see both mirrors still attached to the bike, unobtainium to replace and normally first to wreck in these situations.

All the best.

 

[Vince]

They are out there, all this talk about road safety, so many need a hard bashing after pulling shit DELIBERATY like this, and they don't give a fig. Happy to have you relate the story first hand Andy.

 

[piranha-bro2]

Bloody hell, Andy! Our worst nightmare, deadly idiots putting our lives at risk at no risk to themselves. I do hope there is some way of finding out who the offending halfwit was - surely some CCTV from somewhere prior to his fancy manoeuvres. No way should someone be able to get away with that. I wait the next part of the tale ... which also doesn't sound positive.

 

[Sir Sidney Ruffdiamond]

Glad you are ok Andy - the Jotanardo does look too bad - seems the gully was soft - you may have the car impregnated in your brain and being an island you may come across that quality of driving again !

 

[Andy J]

Thanks for the good wishes folks.
The crash bungs fitted by the previous owner did their job and stopped a lot of damage that could otherwise have occurred. The damage was done on the road not the ditch Sid, although by running into the ditch probably helped slow me down.
There are two gouges in the ditch/verge, one where I originally ran off the road, and another about 50 yards further up. I’m not sure if that was caused by the bike or me. I’m going past the scene again today so will try to get some photos of the crash site.
Fortunately for me a police inspector travelling in the ‘convoy’ of cars witnessed the incident and had the driver pulled. I understand an investigation into the crash has been opened but I don’t know any more than that at the moment as they wouldn’t give me any information beyond the crime number. I’m also going to the police station again today to try and get the other driver’s details for my insurers. The bike is going to Paul Dedman’s in Ramsey for assessment, but he says it’s going to be difficult to do as you just can’t get any parts in the UK any more. However, I have spotted various bits for sale in Italy.
As for my kit, the helmet isn’t too badly damaged as I only lightly brushed the tarmac with it just before I came to a stop.
My leathers are a bit scuffed and the stitching has come apart in a few small places, such as the impact point on my knee, and probably accounts for the abrasion. The leather on my right forearm was also worn through, again probably accounting for the abrasion in that spot. I was really disappointed by my Richa ‘world best gloves’ as they wore through on the palm far too easily. I was surprised, on closer inspection, how thin the leather was. It should have been double skinned and I reckon another older pair of gloves would have stopped me getting a hole in my hand.

 

[Jo]

Hello Andy,
you were indeed lucky in your misfortune. You also described well what we can and cannot control, despite all the precautions we take.

What an asshole, he fits seamlessly into the image of those SUV drivers who alas always catch my attention first on the road. Good to hear that he was stopped and will now not get away unscathed!

Jo

 

[pf1]

That has happened to me before now up in Cumbria when I was driving a car, I was faced with a head on crash situation on a blind bend with a dip in the road a double white lines. A car full of teenagers overtaking a pick up truck suddenly appeared out of the dip right in front of me. My only option was to leave the road and take to the grass and I was lucky that it was a wide verge there. Didn't do the car any good but at least I escaped.
I'm glad you did too.

 

[Vince]

My first big ride as an 18-year-old, I was heading to The Gold Coast from western Queensland after sliding off on a gravel bend earlier that week. Leasion one even in 40c plus weather don't take off your jacket as skin on the road hurts. Leasion two is to maintain concentration. Back then, they had a habit of swooping between dual-lane roads with wide bush dividers and going back to single lanes. I came up behind a slow car and pulled right to pass thinking it was a dual lane but it had changed back to a single lane. So out I come without looking and right in front of me is some car heading right at me. I shit my pants and dived back bearly missing it. I needed a little rest stop after that, its a feeling I avoid to the max, reminds me of those wide eyes in the original Mad Max Film. I learned so much on that 6-week trip, by far the most important was how to overtake safely. That's how most headons happen and it's a deadly and dying art. There were hardly any overtaking lanes back then so you learned fast how to.

 

[nick7]

.kin ell, just glad you are ok....one of your nine lives gone

 

[Rob]

A chilling read, Andy. Glad you survived thanks to a keen sixth sense and your finely honed course knowledge.

 

[Andy J]

Thanks again chaps for the comments.
I’ve been up to the see the police again, and I’m still waiting for the other parties details. However, I was informed by the copper I spoke to that the driver has been given a mere Fixed Penalty Notice, for driving without due care and attention, a £120 fine and 3 penalty points. When I said, is that all, he said that’s all they could really do for a run of the mill traffic collision. However, he did add he wasn’t sure if he is still being investigated for any other offences, and that the AG’s division could always say the penalty was too lenient.
To put this into a bit more perspective from my point of view, you may have noted that I mentioned there was another side to this incident that had also hacked me off, and now even more so knowing the driver has in my opinion ‘got away with it’.
After I had been checked over and treated by the paramedics, I was moved from the scene of the incident by the young WPC down to a ‘safer spot’ at the Bungalow. Fully expecting to be properly questioned about what I thought had happened in the incident, I was a bit bemused as she went backwards and forwards to a parked squad car, with two other coppers inside. Eventually she climbed back into her vehicle and said I needn’t worry as I wasn’t going to be arrested, but I was going to be reported for riding an untaxed vehicle and I would in all likelihood be given a caution for the offence; and, in the meantime, my bike was being impounded pending payment of the outstanding tax etc. This probably explained why they had kept telling me up at the scene of the incident I couldn’t go and get my own vehicle to recover the bike.
I was totally gobsmacked, and wondered if she was being serious about wanting to pursue an allegation I had failed to pay £28 in road tax when someone had just tried to kill me. I added I didn’t believe it was true, and that I have had previous experience of ‘the computer’ saying a vehicle of mine wasn’t taxed which I later proved was incorrect. However, she wasn’t accepting my word I had paid the tax in June and I was made to sign the form to say my vehicle was being impounded.
Obviously, as soon as I got home, I went through my paperwork and found the renewal forms showing I paid to tax both the Benelli and my LZ50 on 11 June 2024. Knowing my hand written note wouldn’t be sufficient evidence, the following morning, before I took my documents and the release form up to the police station in Ramsey, I printed out a payment receipt off the government’s online payment history portal.
At the station I spoke to another young WPC, explained the situation, and provided all the requested documents along with the online receipt. She disappeared off for a few minutes before coming back to tell me the receipt wasn’t acceptable proof of having paid the tax and wouldn’t sign the release form!!!! Yet again I wondered if she was being serious, but deciding she wasn’t going to budge, and in fact was getting more arsey about me pointing out the failures of the system, I backed down and agreed I would wait for her to make further inquiries and call me later on. This she did a few hours later and told me vehicle licensing had admitted to receiving the payment but had then failed to process the issuing of the tax discs and updating the computer. However, there was no apology and in fact I was effectively told it was still all my fault as I hadn’t made sure licensing had done their job properly…..
The aggravation didn’t stop there, as having obtained a signed release form I still needed to pay the Highway’s Dept for the privilege of having my vehicle unfairly impounded, before they would issue a release form for the government vehicle compound. Needless to say that was cocked up as the form sent to me was for a 3 series BMW car!!!!
I have of course now recovered my bike and it is up at Paul Dedman’s awaiting his assessment of the damage and a list of replacement parts needed.
I’m now also about to embark on a round of complaints to various government agencies about their incompetence and crap systems and wanting my release fee refunded along with a suitable apology and some compensation for my distress and inconvenience.
Oh, and BTW Nick, it’s ninety lives not nine as I am way past single figures…..

 

[Haggis]

Crikey Moses Andy! Glad you escaped the clutch of the grim reaper, dressed up in the guise of an SUV driver. All best wishes to you chap. We need more buggers like you on planet earth, so keep in keeping on.

 

[Andy J]

Thanks Hag, I plan to continue being a PITA for IOM Government for a lot more years to come. Twice now I have had a vehicle towed for 'failing to tax' it. The first time was an EV for which the tax was the princely sum of - wait for it - nil, zero, nothing. Yet again someone had failed to process the 'zero' payment and issue a tax disc. I sucked up the recovery charge on that occasion, but it's gone too far this time as I was made to feel like the criminal in this case.
Attached are a few photos of the scene of the incident. Unfortunately it rained last night so the debris from the ditch has been washed off the road, but the scratch marks from the bike spinning and sliding down the road are still visible.
The distance between me and the bike in the first photo is about how close the car was when I first saw it. In the same photo you can see the curve in the road and a line of vehicles. On Thursday afternoon the procession of vehicles extended beyond that and probably started around where the bike is, so there was no way for me to see anything traveling towards me in my lane, or for the fuckwit to see if anything was coming either.
The second photo, taken just before the apex of the curve, is about where I first saw the car coming my way. As you can see there isn’t really anywhere to go because of the sod bank virtually up against the roadside and I was trying not to hit that either as I was sure that would also result in a worse outcome than trying to keep to the road. I think I ran into the ditch just after the apex of the curve.
The last photo shows where the bike ended up, with me not far behind it.

 

[rocketonarail]

All the hassle regarding the tax mistakes and releasing the bike are the last things you need after all that you`ve been through Andy ........

Would these administration cock ups be down to having to deal or go through the IoM authorities , or do you deal directly with the DVLA at Swansea like the rest of us ........ ? .......

 

[IAG]

A cautionary tale & one that I'm glad you're able to share!

 

[RGS1000RGS]

That was an incredibly lucky escape, and a testament to your riding skills.
'Driving without due care'? that's laughable given that you came within a gnat's cock of eternity. A fixed penalty notice and a £120 fine is no fit punishment for the "fuckwit", who was, no doubt, was running on something more than ambition to pull an idiotic maneouver like that. I'd make enquiries and ask if the driver had been drugs/alchohol tested, and if not, why not.

 

[GregT]

Very lucky escape and best of luck with the officialdom.

Too similar to the accident where I lost a good friend. Road was raised on an embankment so he didn't have a ditch option.
Tried to thread the gap on the centerline - and failed. Turned out the idiot overtaking had already been involved in accidents
killing motorcyclists twice previously.

 

[martymoose]

Glad you're Ok Andy.