I purchased a brand new URAL Gear Up for my wife and was doing the shake down for the first 500 miles for the correct break in period prior to the first service. I was sitting at a stop light at US40 westbound waiting to turn south onto SR39 in Clayton, Indiana waiting for the light to turn green, a 90 year old guy floored his accelerator for some unknown reason and veered right towards me. He reached approximately 30+mph by the time he hit me. I realized as he was halfway throughout the intersection that he was going to hit me and increasing in speed exponentially, so I pulled on the throttle and turned the handle bars to the right as quick as I could but was only able to move forward about a foot and get about 15 degrees off of his trajectory to the right. His front bumper of the 2014 Chevy Cruze he was driving hit my front left crash bar causing the bike to dip down and the car tire to essentially drive over the left cylinder head. I know this because I was now standing up and leaning right looking straight down at the tire as it narrowly missed my calf which I pulled into me as I stood up to avoid having my leg amputated. The tire rolled off the jug, drove down onto the exhaust and I was still moving forward slightly when the front left fender/bumper directly hit the bike's rear left shock and frame as well as the swing arm causing the bike to pirouette counter clockwise quite succinctly. Due to the rapid counter clockwise movement it caused me to bounce back to my left causing my lower torso to brush lightly against the side of the car as it rapidly passed me, as well as the handle bars to be ripped out of my hands as they now were also hit by the side of the car as it passed. The car's left side mirror exploded pretty much from the impact to my handlebars and then hit my hip causing no injuries. Lucky! As the car continued to scrape the side of my bike in that split second, he never let off of the accelerator. He then hit the 2013 Ford F350 in the exact same way, but this time he bounced off harder as he was traveling a lot faster now. The truck was approximately one and a half car lengths behind me which was nice of him. If he was closer the car would have come to a stop from that impact. But since he was a comfortable distance from me, the car's speed was still increasing and now veering right and the car's front left bounced up and over the truck's tire in the same fashion that it did to my jug after hitting the truck's bumper. This is not a thin plastic bumper. It is a heavy steel bumper of the truck. It knocked a 6" diameter 2" deep dent into it and then bounced off. The car continued to accelerate eastbound and fled the scene. I checked myself for injuries and to see if the bike was destroyed. Preliminary inspection that the bike wasn't cut in half, my high level of pistoffness and the fact that I am a cop caused me to whip around and pursue. The truck driver had the same idea. I got the Ural up to about 45 but it didn't feel right so I slowed. I waved the truck past me and he took off like a bat out of hell after the fleeing car. I called my dispatch and advised them what I had and to direct other on duty officers to the area to catch the now criminally fleeing driver of the car. The truck caught up to the car and boxed the car in about five miles to the east of the scene at about the same time other units arrived and stopped the car. The Duke Energy truck driver who had about $100,000.00 worth of very large transformers in the back later stated that he was doing 120mph+ just to catch up to the car and the car was easily doing 100mph to flee. The car was essentially blocked by heavier traffic further down the road which caused it to slow down and be caught. When I arrived on the scene other officers informed me that it was a 90 year old man. He stated that he thought he hit a guard rail. My ass, we were at a well lit four way four lane intersection with no guard rails within 10 miles. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident along with a letter submitted to ISP to revoke his license due to his age, his fleeing, and his admission of not knowing what was going on, or his BS story whichever you want to believe. Either way, I didn't care which it was. This bike was pristinely brand new and had zero flaws, with a direct hit to the frame, it is now questionable. I also and more importantly almost became a left leg peg due to it. It was going through my head right after how I was going to work the gears on my GSA and F800 once I recovered ( I was pissed ). Not riding anymore wasn't an option that even crossed my mind. This goes to show you that no matter how vigilant you are and how much you pay attention, and how much riding experience you have, 17,000 riding miles last year alone, sometimes a boulder just falls out of the sky and smacks you in the damned face. I shutter to think what would have happened if I wasn't paying attention. I would have been a hood ornament to say the least for a five mile 100mph chase. Another officer and long time riding buddy of mine who was first on the scene walked up to me and said he had determined the cause of the accident. He pointed at the license plate that I put on that very day, and then pointed at the old dude's hat which was a WWII hat. Then he said, "He hates Naaaahzis, saw the bike and had a flashback!" I thought that was pretty funny since the plate is a play on words since most people that see the bike ask if it is German. Here is a video walkthrough showing all of the damage up close. Standing over the top rear looking down you can see that the rear end is no longer concentric since that is where the brunt of the impact occurred. My opinion due to the shock mount and frame being hit so hard that it is bent. It also has first gear shifting issues and 2 wheel drive engagement issues due to the impact. The clutch lever was smacked very hard ripping the handlebars out of my hand. I believe this impact stretched the clutch cable as well as possibly bent either the clutch plunger or clutch plates due to the impact. I am a welder and I fabricate metal cages for off road race vehicles. It doesn't take much to bend or frature carbon steel at weld points. I'm hoping that it is totaled out since to me the frame has been affected and there will most certainly be alignment issues and tracking issues, as well as the potential for future fractures in the steel due to vibrations where it is bent. Besides. It is tainted! It was brand freaking new! Anyway. I will post what happens. It was towed to Heinldl Engineering today in Ohio at the direction of Ural USA. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2zHTvpyvkHo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Good FSM, I'd be screaming. Glad you're ok, and hope that the insurance covers it all. Also hope that guy is off the streets forever!
wow, you have some good Spidey senses. I bet he got confused and thought he was hitting the brake. 90 is way too old to be driving, IMO. Glad he is off the road and you still have 2 legs.
Now that is a harrowing tale. Glad you are intact, and that the perp got caught! In my area (Norcal) there is a guy who can run a computerized analysis of the frame to assess its straightness (or lack thereof). Anyone near you who might be able to do that? I'd not be comfortable riding a bike that had taken a smack like that again without some serious assessment.
Being a GearUp owner myself, your post reminds me that you have no guarantees of safety out there. Glad the pickup owner could chase him down. What a PITA. Again, I'm happy you are OK and best of luck to you sorting out the Ural. Hope you have many great rides in the future to put this one out of mind, at least a little. Find some dirt roads, GearUps like that!
Fast thinking and I'm glad you're safe. Insurance companies are leery about repairing motorcycles due to the potential for future liability. IMO if the driver has insurance you should insist that the bike be totaled. If not, you'll be forever wondering if every problem that arises during your ownership is a result of the accident. Good luck with the negotiations. BTW, having lost the use of my left leg I thought bikes were out of my life...then I took delivery of a Honda NC700X automatic. Whoop!
Yikes! Did this happen over race weekend? Maybe grandpa was just driving fast and turning left... All joking aside, glad you're ok. I'm hoping you get a replacement; it's rare to see Urals in Indy.
A story with a good ending: Early 2012, I drop off my 2011 1200 GS at the dealer for 600 mile service. My bike is sitting in the parking lot with a bunch of other bikes, new and old. An "elderly" gentleman pulls into the parking lot to, supposedly, turn around. The "elderly" gentleman has a senior moment (or something) and takes out the service manager's car and a number of bikes. My bike was one of the ones that ended up under the man's vehicle. My bike was pronounced totaled. I was allowed to take off personal equipment. The "elderly" gentleman's insurance company (AAA) offers me $xxxxx.xx. My dealer (BMW of South Eastern Mich) says they can work with that and put me onto the exact same bike except it's a 2012! While taking off personal equipment I noticed that the instrument cluster had been torn off and every surface seemed to receive some kind of damage. The thought of buying it back from the insurance co. crossed my mind until I noticed that the front and rear tires were no longer in the same vertical plane. Frame and potential engine damage -- forget it! The time from when I discovered the bike was trashed to when I got the new bike took 18 days. Everyone I worked with, on this, (esp. the dealer) was great! I hope your experience turns out as well as mine. It still was a royal PITA and I had some very nervous days. Hang in there!
Due to his age and the potential that he could indeed be telling the truth about thinking he hit a guard rail as well as there being no injuries, he was summons arrested which mean he was cited and released instead of incarcerated. It was my call. He apologized, and my reply was, "Well I think it is time your turn in your license and stop driving because you almost killed me." He didn't respond.
Very glad to here that you walked away virtually unscathed. Bikes as dear to our hearts as he may be can be replaced. Similar story except that it was an elderly member of my family that I had to be the bad guy and say hey Uncle Terry it's time buddy to turn in your license don't ya think. Why he asks? I tell him to come outside and take a look at his car. He says there's nothing wrong with my car. To hell there isn't the whole passenger side is just about missing he walks out to his driveway and says now how did that happen sitting there? Uh uncle did ya go anywhere yesterday? Yea food shopping and straight home. I call the local PD to see if they have a report of any hit and runs on his route home. Sure enough Electric company needed to replace a fricken pole someone took out the day before. He got the letter in the mail about two weeks later and it was a good thing. He passed about 3 weeks later of a massive heart attack. Being a cop can you tell us why states don't run checks on their databases and review some of these individuals?
At a certain age, the state of Indiana requires you to pass eye tests more often as well a renew you license annually. At what age that is, I am not sure. But as far as medical records being made available to the BMV, that is a constitutional issue which once one branch of a bureaucracy has your personal info, it opens the door to any other bureaucracy to having access to it. I think that an accident caused by an individual at a certain age should automatically generate the requirement to retake your driving test, eye test as well as have a physical just like a flight physical if you crash your plane or helicopter. Just my opinion.
I opted for the white 2012 patrol so that I wouldn't look like a guardrail. Quick reflex on your part... This is the first share I've read on this forum topic... glad you jumped up... my next ride will keep me looking for 90 year old men..
Great to hear you made it through with no physical damage. Hopefully the insurance folks will be prudent and you will end up with a replacement with no out of pocket expenses. My unfortunate experience is that with frame damage they will total it - then its a little matter of the approprate reimbursement. Regarding the driving and the elderly - its a tough situation. When my mother was 90 we decided that it was time for her to hand over the keys and her license. She didn't agree. Long story short the DMV was of no help, so I wrote a letter on offical looking DMV letterhead instructing her to turn in her drivers license and included a stamped and addressed envelope she could return the license in. Fortunately she didn't realize the address was mine. I got the license and she gave her car to one of the grandkids. Thank God.
You couldn't have hauled him in at that point? Did he get to drive away? Due to his age? That's complete nonsense, 12 year olds get arrested all the time...this guy should be sitting in jail awaiting trial.
If I run into any family members of the elderly that are having the same problem, I will recommend that to them. Thanks.
First, thank goodness you came out of that one alive! Excellent write-up. Just think how differently this would have turned out if a mere fraction of your attention had been diverted with fumbling around with an i-pod, cell phone, GPS, or other such nonsense while operating a bike. Great Job! - 2po
Hate that this involved someone who was probably a WWII vet but let's face it part of life is knowing when to quit while you're ahead. And of course fleeing the scene is inexcusable.
If he did think he merely hit a guardrail, what was his excuse for fleeing at over 100 mph!!? :huh My late father, would have hauled out that "fellow vet" and given him some flashbacks to the war, alright. At first I couldn't really even see any damage on the Ural. :eek1 Great that you weren't injured, mate!