Reading the News section, about so many bike riders coming to grief at the hands of other road users, I thought I would add my daughters story.
My youngest got the 2 wheel bug about 18 months ago and talked about getting her first set of wheels, her dream, was a little Red Zip Scooter. She even made the brave decision of selling her car and depending on her new scooter and public transport to get around Adelaide. Well she only had a car license so was able to get the 50cc scooter and ride it without a bike license.
I helped her get the scooter home to her place and after some tuition she headed off around the block. Being all automatic it was good to learn on a scooter as you didn't have to learn gear changing and riding in the same time. I gave her all the tips I could and now about 12 months later she has just traded in the scooter and bought her first bike, a secondhand 250 Virago. She did the first training course and was determined to go the next stage in bike ownership. May I say that she did go to the Harley 2011 model launch with me and fell in love with the new Sporster SuperLow. This is the bike she would like to own one day.
Well, she has been going great with the Virago, however I received the phonecall that all parents dread just a couple of weeks ago. It was my daughter talking so I knew it wasn't too bad, but the story goes like this.
She was travelling along Main South Road, which is the main north south drag accross Adelaide. She was in the outside lane and following a woman in a car. She noticed that the woman was driving eratically (probably texting) and my daughter was worried that it wasn't an ideal situation to be near her. So she moved to the inside lane and got past the dumb car driver. She then noticed that a large Truck was following her, in fact it was a B Double.The traffic was heavy and a lot of stop starting. At one of the intersections the truck pulled up behind her. Next thing she knows the truck is moving forward and she tried to get out of its way. It crashed into the back of her bike, smashed the tail light lense and bent the number plate. Then he stopped once he saw her move to the side. I had told her and it was taught at the riding course to stop at lights with the bike in first gear and the clutch in. This gives you a chance to get out of the way if you see a vehicle behind you not stopping etc. So this advice probably saved her, from what I shudder to think.
She managed to pull up at the LHS kerb and got off her bike, very shaken and upset. Luckily the truck stopped and so did a car driver who witnessed the incident and offered to be a witness if required and gave her his card. The truck driver started to rant and rave, and said that he didn't see her, and thought she must have turned off back further. She lost the plot with him and said that he was clearly in the wrong and she was pissed off. Eventually the truck driver admitted that he was wrong and offered to pay for the damages.
Well, my daughter called her partner and he came and followed her home as she was pretty upset.
Next day she decided that the best option was to "get back on the horse".....she was determined that this incident wasn't going to spoil her love of discovering the pleasure of riding two wheels. She went to the bike shop and bought a new tailight lense, which they fitted (Pittmans Yamaha) and ordered a new number plate. She then decided to go for a big ride and in fact rode along the road where the incident happened. She put it all behind her and was determined not to get spooked.
Another bit to the story is that the truck driver phoned her and asked how she was and he did pay for the damages and gave her a $50 voucher as well......Maybe he went home and thought about what he had done. Maybe he had daughters of his own.......For starters he pulled up way too close behind her, said he couldn't see her.....
Lucky for our family this didn't end tragically, but it is another example of where non bike riders don't normally give a shit about motorcyclists on the road.
I think that all people should learn to ride a motorcycle on the road before they can get a car license...radical but it might save a few lives.
