...thank god it was at about 5 miles per hour in a parking lot. in short, and SUV cut me off, clipped my handle bar and sent me sliding. stupid woman!!! :x i was in the left side of my "lane" going about 5 mph - and it's in quotes because there aren't really any marked lanes in parking lots - reading the eckards pharmacy drive through signs in front of me and to my left to see what to do to drop off a perscription, and all of a sudden this suv is is next to me and i'm out of room. i remember hitting my elbow shoulder and thinking i didn't want to scratch my helmet in such a sissy accident...which i didn't do! my head never hit the ground. yeah! had my fieldsheer mach 1 jacket on with leather boots and jeans and olympia gloves. no damage anywhere to me except my pants are dirty. of course mrs. asad tried to tell me that i rearended her, but here's the real deal. in order to pass me on the right she had to use of part of the road that are marked for parking spaces so since i was going to slow she tried to whip around me before running into a car actually parked in a parking space. she misjudged and broke my front break lever off in her right rear tail light.
i called the police and she called her brother. apparently the police don't do accident reports here in dallas unless there is an injury, so no cops came. i really wanted them to prove it was her fault. i explained to her and her brother that the laws of physics show that if i had rear -ended her then my bars would have been forces to the right and my bike would have high sided to the left and so would i. now, if she is going faster than me and reaches out and grabs my right handle bar as she going by then what they see on the ground would happen. :nana: i have their insurance info, but haven't decided if i'm going to claim it yet.
my drag bars are bent, broken brake lever, and broken suzuki emblem off tank. i added a bit more character to the tank and the exhaust. i had to ride it home the 5 blocks and it seemed to run fine. i would love to replace the bars with S-M bars or clubman bars but it's too expensive right now, so it looks like i'm going have to get some more drag bars. if i get drag bars, a new brake lever, and a new engine plate - that will get me back to where i was before. then again, if i don't claim it and something i can't see if messed up and a couple weeks later i'm cruzing down the road and my front tire falls off, i'll wish i would have claimed it. :(
that really sucks. i hate large vehicles that only transport one person, expecially when that one person doesn't pay attention to their driving. passing someone in a parking lot? what the hell? if she was in that much of a hurry it's her own damn fault for not scheduling her life correctly. i almost got run off the highway myself today when some guy in a mini van just decided to not check the left lane and just merge into it. luckily i managed to swerve left towards the shoulder and hit my horn and he gave me room to get by him. god cagers suck. :x
i realize no one has a magic crystal ball and can see my bike, but are there things i should have looked at by a professional mechanic after a fall, like the forks, etc... even though everything else looks fine?
i'm waying my options on filing a claim vs. avoiding the red tape and/ or arguing with the woman that hit me. if i'm missing something, let me know, but the way i see it is:
1. i can replace the parts myself
2. take the bike to suzuki and have them look it over and get parts replaced and have the woman pay for it
3. make claim on her insurance
any advice?
From the way she was talking (blaming it on you), I'd bet she won't pay a dime. You'll probably have to file a claim if you want any money.
The police in Dallas won't come out and write a report ?!?!!? Were there any witnesses? How are you going to prove it wasn't your fault? Is Texas a no-fault state?
I've nearly been sideswiped twice in the last two weeks. All that kept me from being hit was that I noticed the idot drivers in my mirrors as they zigged between lanes in heavy traffic... causing a lot of fuss and getting themselves no-where. By the time they got near me I was already ultra paranoid and was able to avoid them. In one instance I saw a driver up ahead throw his blinker on in the left lane and knew the moron to my left (I was way ahead of his blind spot) was going to yank it into my lane so he wouldn't have to slow down. I got on the horn and hit the throttle... he still came half-way into my lane and nearly hit the car in front of him. Eh, sorry about the rant... you really gotta watch out for those idiots.
good to hear you walked away from it and are not hurt any worse,
as for the bike it should be fine, i locked my front brake up at 20mph and did a slapper ... bent the bars and the foot peg a few scrapes nothing else was damaged, i took it to the dealer and they didn't even look at it once i told them what happened they said it wasn't a serious enough wreck, I haven't had any problems with the bike and its been almost a year and i have put over 3000 miles on it since then
That bites MAN! As for handlebars- ask Srinath how long it would be to get a set of his. SM protos!!!
Good luck!
In Dallas they are really bad about not filling reports anyways. When my truck was stolen in Dallas it took them 6 hours before they finally came out and took a report. Needless to say I never got my truck back. Sorry to hear about the accident Brandiwine, but I would claim it with their insurance otherwise you are going to be paying for all the repairs yourself. If you don't file you will need to make all the repairs and take them to small claims court to get your money back. I have put a call into my brother who is a Police Officer here in Texas to verify that is correct. I know the deal with a hit and run as you can see in the message I posted here "someone hit my bike" (http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4412). As soon as he calls me back I will update with the info he give me.
BTW-In the state of Texas if there is no injury the police do not need to come out to file a report of the accident. Basically it would be the two insurance companies that would be battling it out. Since you both said it wasn't your fault. Just so you know. So you would basically have to prove to both ins. agencies that you did not hit this woman from behind, and it always works better when you have a witness or two. Hope this helps ;)
Check out AZ Motorsports - they sell drag bars and clubmans for under 18 bucks... the SM bars are expensive but the clubmans on AZ Motorsport's site are cheap and seem to be similar to the SM Type-1 bars.
//store.yahoo.com/azmotorsports or http://store.yahoo.com/azmotorsports/knclubhanbla.html
thanks everyone. i had a witness but when it happened i didn't think to ask her to stay....duh! she came running over to see if i was ok before the suv stopped. i'm wondering how long my bike will be out of commission before i get any insurance money if i go that route. i think i'll try to call the woman and ask her for the money but it won't be easy because apparently she only knows 2 sentences,"why you reer-end me? look what you did to my light!"
Well at least now there is some concrete evidence to backup my personal opinion that Texas is a big waste of sand. What the hell else to the police have to do there? Chase illegal immigrants? That's just dumb.
well it turns out that i wrote down the account # and not the policy number so i just screwed myself. this lady doesn't exist in texas officially and the number for her insurance company is just a voice mail. i called the personal numbers she gave me and one lady called back saying she doesn't know her, but the lady that called back is also from India - felt like a cover up! i had a friend that works for a lawfirm run the phone numbers and no info came up. she ran the fl. license # and of course fl addresses came up but to no one that was named sonya asad.
*sigh*
make sure you get all the info if this ever happens to you!! if i had it to do over again, i'd just take her proof of insurance and write down everything on her liscense.
File a report with the DMV for an accident with damages against her plate numbers. They will track her down and it gives you a basis for supporting a claim or suit against her if need be.
also say it was a hit and run since she gave you bad info. shes trying to evade responsibility (what the f*k is with people these days!).
Yeah but in the state of texas it doesn't matter if it was a hit and run. If the damage is under $200.00 then it is a class C misd. same as a speeding ticket. If over then it is a class B and an arrestable offense. But that still doesn't mean that you would get paid for your losses, you would have to do that in small claims court and since there is no way for Brandi to find out where this person is, then there is not really anyway for her to recover the money that she would have to put in her bike. Sorry for the bad news.
claim insurance :(
QuoteFD3S
Local Club Racer
Joined: 22 Jul 2003
Posts: 22
Location: Knoxville, TN
SWEEEEEEEEEET! a fellow east tennessean