11-07-2020, 06:15 PM
I think it's a really interesting question, j3gq, particularly as I had an accident in February this year. My previous accidents were nearly 50 years ago. The first was entirely my own fault. I wasn't paying attention to the traffic and a car stopped in front of me. I ran into it at low speed. Nothing much hurt but by pride and the front mudguard (fender). The second was entirely someone else's fault. On a one-way street, a driver turned right from the left lane across the right lane in which I was travelling. He hit me, damaging the bike and my leg. I learned to try to be more aware of the traffic around me and to work on the driver's 6th sense that alerts you when someone is going to do something idiotic.
My last accident was in the country earlier this year. It was raining lightly and had been raining on and off for a few days. I turned under a railway bridge into a depression filled with mud and the bike slid out from underneath me. I'm not sure that I could or would have done anything differently. I don't recall whether I realised it was mud until I was in it and the bike started sliding. I was travelling at a safe speed for the conditions. Maybe, if there's another time, I'll try to stop and the proceed very gingerly, but, on this occasion, there were cars close behind me and it may not have been possible to stop safely.
As for traffic, I'm forced to ride in it to escape it, but I rarely enjoy it much and exercise as much care as I can to stay both aware and safe. I try to avoid getting too close to cars, or sitting in the blind spot, or allowing them to get too close to me, but in stop-start, multi-lane traffic it is often hard to control all those things.
My last accident was in the country earlier this year. It was raining lightly and had been raining on and off for a few days. I turned under a railway bridge into a depression filled with mud and the bike slid out from underneath me. I'm not sure that I could or would have done anything differently. I don't recall whether I realised it was mud until I was in it and the bike started sliding. I was travelling at a safe speed for the conditions. Maybe, if there's another time, I'll try to stop and the proceed very gingerly, but, on this occasion, there were cars close behind me and it may not have been possible to stop safely.
As for traffic, I'm forced to ride in it to escape it, but I rarely enjoy it much and exercise as much care as I can to stay both aware and safe. I try to avoid getting too close to cars, or sitting in the blind spot, or allowing them to get too close to me, but in stop-start, multi-lane traffic it is often hard to control all those things.