I never locked my rear with my brakes, the pool got stuck in between the swing arm and locked the tire for me. If i had more skills like most of you guys maybe i would had avoided it all together. But it happened and now i have to deal with it and learn from it.
Moe, I'm glad to hear you say that....
From personal experience, I can tell you that one part of why this happened has to do with your motorcycle's location with respect to the truck you were following. You were following too close to the truck, in my humble opinion.
I completely agree that the pool flying out of the back of the truck is the fault of the driver of the truck. As a result he is at fault for your accident..... that doesn't mean that you had time to react. The responsibility for that, MUST fall with the rider. The only time I will ride closer to a vehicle than 2 seconds behind is is when I can see over, around, or through it. Anything closer than that is rolling the dice much much too hard.
I have had multiple incidents that have taught me this the hard and painful way. In my first year of riding in the SF Bay are on I-880 passing through Oakland, I hit a railroad tie that had fallen in the road. The truck with a canopy on it ahead of me passed right over it... it was laying crosswise on the road, and it fit in between the truck's wheels. I was following less than a second behind that truck, and had nowhere to go but right over the top of that monster piece of wood.
I learned to back off to at least a second, from that. :spank:
A few months later, a canopy blew off the back of a truck ahead of me. It hit the ground after I rode by.
I learned to back off to at least 2 seconds, from that.
Months later, in San Diego, a semi truck blew a tire in the next lane over from me, about 2 seconds ahead. I watched a piece of tread going end over end right at my head. I had time to duck.
Ten years later, I'm riding a cruiser through Tacoma, WA, and a piece of plywood blows out of the back of a landscaper's truck. I was one car length off his bumper, and one lane over..... It hit me square in the helmet, and flattened out against my handlebars. I now had a windscreen about 4' x 4' being pushed into me that I couldn't see through, doing 70 MPH in a curve. With traffic in all 4 lanes of travel. I am very fortunate that I managed to swipe the thing over and down with about a half a dozen sweeping motions of my left hand on the plywood. The saucer sized eyes on the cars around me are something I will never forget.
Got to work, and changed my pants. It nearly broke the fingers on my throttle hand, from whacking my front brake lever into my fingers. The next day, my mirror stalk snapped off, so I know it hit pretty hard.
These things happen. As a rider, it is ultimately up to you how you address the risk.... I can tell you that it is a WHOLE lot easier to trade distance for time, than to try and get the distance when you don't have the time.
Please consider what I'm saying. I hope you continue to ride, and gain enough experience to survive the learning process.
0.02
