"Driving with wheels off the roadway"

[MossRoad]

I got forced off a city street by oncoming traffic in my lane, on a sweeping curve to my left. I managed to slip into a driveway entrance on my right instead of hitting the curb, bumped over the little shallow rise on the far edge of the driveway, across the tree lawn, across the sidewalk, back into the lawns, and across three yards before being able to steer back towards the sidewalk, down the sidewalk, back through a driveway and out onto the road and continued on my way....TA DAAA!! .......... scared the crap out of me! :laughing:

I hit gravel on the right shoulder once on a curve to my left.... ended up about 50 yards into a corn field of waist high corn. Just fortunate that I slipped right down a row and didn't have to go across the grain of the planting. That was fun. Yikes.

 

[MossRoad]

I agree, but since when did losing control of you vehicle constitute a summonsible offense?

It's always your fault. Unless there are other forces, like someone else forcing you off the road, a deer running out in front of you, etc... it's always your fault. Snow on the road. That's your fault. Rain. Your fault. Just like pilot error.... your error was getting out of bed that day. It's always your fault.

Making a turn and running off the side of the road, that means you made the turn in an unsafe manner. Should have gone slower. Or payed attention better, etc...

If there was nothing wrong, and the cop thought the guy just messed up, he probably wouldn't have written a ticket. 9 times out of 10, though, I'd guess the driver did or said something he shouldn't have, so he got a ticket. It's all about attitude towards the officer. I've gotten out of several tickets by just admitting to the officer that I was wrong. Honesty is amazing.

 

[oosik]

I just had a strange thought - "driving with wheels off the roadway" - - something Evel Knivel might have been guilty of...........

 

[D2Cat]

Maybe when the officer got there the bike was laying on it's side!!

 

[bcp]

A search of the local paper. Look down past the ads.

Search | The Columbian

Bruce

 

[gemutlich]

I'm a Shovelhead guy, 70's vintage bikes.

I can tell you that some things just ain't as they seem, and one of those things is that if for some reason (broken spring for example) the side stand / jiffy stand / kickstand whatever you want to call it were to drop and lock, man there ain't no way on earth you're gonna make a left turn.

Another factor is the rider (passenger). If they ain't leaning with you and the bike into the turn, and sit upright instead, man they'll take the turn right out of a bike.

The article didn't mention equipment failure, though it didn't mention rider experience either. Plenty of 50 year-old first time ever riding a motorcycle people getting on the road every day. Worse than chinese women behind the wheel those first time riders are. Like kids, at 50 they seem to know everything...

Glad to see no mention of injuries.

 

[TheMan419]

A 50 year old on a Harley most likely wasn't doing a wheelie,
it sounds like a strange charge, wheels off the highway.
Around here it's parking on the shoulder, but that's what a lot of speeding tickets get plead down to.
To me that's just a catch all charge to generate revenue.

Probably pleaded to that bc it has no effect on your insurance rates. Around here we plead to not having your license physically in your posession when you were stopped.

 

[Streetcar]

In Ohio , the charge is failure to maintain control

 

[Ritothebull]

so the guy blew the turn went into a ditch and flipped the bike, the cop should have ticked him for careless driving or something like that.

 

[3930dave]

There are some bikes, and a few riders (an ex motocross racer for one) that can handle gravel well, but modern HDs are not one I'd want to try that on.....

Moss gave examples - emergencies do come up - if I had to dodge a deer and the only place open was a gravel shoulder and a 2' ditch, I'd give it a go on a street bike. Mid-sized Dual-sport MC with appropriate tires, would be my preference.

Rider skill and attention..... yep, there are some middle aged+ new to MC riders who can quickly get over their head..... but there is also the category of the former riders who are now back on a bike decades later.....

A bit younger than 50, that was me..... hadn't riden since early college days, decided it was time to go back.

Esp. that first year back I worked hard at reminding myself, every time I went out:

1) It's been a really long time, your skills are very rusty.

2) Traffic is faster now, and higher density in many areas.

3) Probably the most important (and hardest to admit), while I'm still capable - Reflexes have slowed down with time.

It's easy and relatively safe today being a sloppy car/truck driver. Anybody that wants to keep riding a MC (or just living, for that matter), can't afford even a second or 2 of inattention on the road. Just something as simple as a closing radius curve can cause the thread title accident.

Even riders with some experience tend to forget how often a heavy motorcycle can work against you..... esp. as you age, you may not have the muscle ergs to quickly correct certain situations. One of the toughest things to do is ride a heavy motorcycle slowly, with accurate control - gravel or other non-pavement situations amps up that problem.

1000cc or so adventure bikes are popular today. You can see many examples on advrider and elsewhere of people trashing themselves and the bikes trying to do anything serious off-road with something that heavy. Unless you've done the intensive PT needed for something like Dakkar, you're not going to last long bashing around off road on a heavy bike.

Physics wins. Always.

Rgds, D.