Dang that's hard to watch! I hate seeing riders go down, no matter what the situation, but I watch so that I can learn from their mistakes, and hopefully avoid making these mistakes myself. Honestly, it's crash videos like this one that pushed me over edge and getting riding pants. I already had everything else, and riding on expressways and freeways got me thinking, "what would happen if I fell at these speeds?". It would suck for sure, but why not do what I can to minimize damage? Even if all it does is prevent road rash, I'm still going the ATGATT route. Although my favorite method for anti-crashing, is riding well within my limits, and paying attention! When in doubt, stay your course! I'm still pretty bad at cornering, and ride accordingly. lol The gear, the way I see it, is for the unexpected, nothing you can do type of situation, like someone running a light, or slipping on an unseen hazard mid-corner, etc.
I think everybody was at fault with this one. I was in my car stuck behind a car full of idiots on a local mountain road, and the driver wouldn't pull over for anything. He was going a max of 20mph on the straights, much slower in the corners, and the PSL is 40mph. Behind him was me, 2 motorcycles, and about 15+ cars, all angry. I would flash, honk, swerve, nothing would make the douche pull it over. We came to a short straight, where I was going to pass. If I didn't make it, I was screwed for some time. I also noticed the sport bike riders where itching to go as well. Keep in mind, that I was not a rider yet, didn't even own a moto. Just the same, I wanted to make sure that we didn't launch at the same time and cause a nasty wreck(like in that video). So, I put on my signal, and threw up my hand to let the riders know I was gonna go for it. Before I made the pass, I checked to make sure they didn't already launch, and even as I was making my pass, I kept an eye on them just to be sure. Honestly, it was an iffy pass. But damned if I was going to wreck the riders! Just the same, they just followed me around the slowpoke, and shortly after I moved way over and waved them on. They waved thanks and shot off into the distance. I'm sure they appreciated the heads up, I know I would've! That's how things could've gone down in that vid, but a series of mistakes led to that easily avoidable disaster.
Honestly, if people would just pull over, most nasty situations could be avoided. Go ahead and drive as slow as you want, but don't hold up traffic like a di**. When I'm driving or riding on mountian roads, and someone comes flying up behind me, I just move and let 'em go. People act like traffic police, or act like it's going to kill them to just take 5 seconds to pull it over. Seriously, is it really that bad? Which would you rather have, a bunch of irritated motorists on your rear, or nobody behind you, so you can do as you please? Plus, to me it's just courtesy! These days traffic and road conditions are bad enough, why make it worse on each other?
Great thread BTW, lots of great comments. There 's much to be learned here!