Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hey all, just thought I'd tell my story from the other night, maybe someone saw the aftermath.

About 8pm on thursday i was heading northbound on Pennant Hills Road just after Patricks pub thingy, I was travelling in the lane closest to the oncoming traffic, as I was passing an 18 wheeler the pr_ck indicated and swerved into my lane at the same time on a right hand bend. Within seconds I had nowhere to go because i was halfway through overtaking and was level with the midsection of his trailer. The truck took my whole lane and the next thing I knew was I was spinning on my back on the other side of the road.

I quickly stood up and the car following me had stopped and the guy was yelling to me to get off the road, all I could think of was 'where is my bike'. I couldnt see the truck or my bike because apparently the bike got wedged under the rear axle of the trailer and the truck had pulled up a few hundred metres up the road.

Several people stopped and were very helpful and kind, they called an ambulance and waited till they arrived. I got taken to hospital and it turns out that I have a cracked rib, cracked shoulder blade, fractured shoulder (up the top), torn ligament in shoulder area, I have a grazed knee and I have internal bruising near my kidneys which hurts like a b_tch and has swelled up huge. It hurts to move everything pretty much.

I was wearing all gear, helmet is badly grazed from the concrete as I slid across the road, my leather/kevlar jacked is badly grazed, the kevlar absorbed a lot of the impact and the back is also all grazed from the sliding, my boots are ok and I was just wearing normal jeans which stood up ok aswell-just a very small whole at the right knee. I keep looking at my jacket and thinking how much more badly injured I would have been if I had been squidding... Please ppl wear you gear it will save ALOT of hurt!

I went and saw my bike, it is literally FLAT. Apparently the truck dude kept reversing over it to try and get it out from under his truck... its totally rooted!

Now.... I only have 3rd party insurance and when I went to give my statement to the Police they suggested that because our stories are conflicting they may not find anyone at fault. If that happens it means my insurance won't get paid right? I just don' understand. I mean, I was travelling in along in my lane and the truck merged straight into me... I would have assumed that as a tort of law he would be instantly found to be at fault? I also have the guys number whom was driving behind me and said he saw it all and agreed that I had nowhere to go when he came into my lane

Anyways, thankyou to all who stopped to make sure I was ok

WEAR YOUR GEAR PEOPLE!

mate, you need that bloke who was following you to make a statement ASAP with the police! As it will aid in proving that the truck driver was at fault.... so you can get some insurance $$$ or you will be out of pocket one whole bike....

Man what a story - you're a luck man.
As swab said - you need that witness to make a statement.
The fact that you're not insured shouldn't matter as HIS insurance should pay for it.
Good luck
ty

Wow,glad you're ok.

Witness statement/insurance company/lawyer time.

Wow. Sorry to hear this. Hope the ribs etc heal up ok.

Whoaa.... Bit of a scary thing to happen... You really do need that statement.... They surely must be able to find the truck driver at fault then....... ?

And yes I agree with the Gear recommendation... I have had an off where my bike was written off... And all I ended up was a fracture in my hand.... No grazing anywhere, because I had Draggins, Gloves, Jacket, Boots and of course Helmet on...

Shit Paulie, sounds like you're pretty lucky to be here telling the story

As others have said, pursue the truck driver for the replacement cost of your 400. I've had several successful dealings with insurance companies over the years and found the most effective way of dealing with them is very professionally, cool, calm, collected, etc with no passion. Put things in writing, be patient but relentless and don't give up. It will often cost them much more than the replacement cost of your bike to fight you in court.

One day I'll post up a copy of the document I sent to an insurance company who wanted to pay me about a grand less than I'd asked for but had pissed me off to no end along the way - suffice to say there were matrices, graphs, about 7 appendices and a finding that infact the market value of my machine was higher than I'd asked for, but that I'd settle for what I originally asked for... and I got my money!!!!

damn!

Don't let the truckie get away with that! Get the witness statement and file a claim to your insurance.

My experience is in the order of this (AAMI)

- guy backed into my bike at work, I got 2 witnesses
- called AAMI
- get 2 quotes
- AAMI sent a "template letter" for me to sign and send to the 'prick'. Quote is attached
- prick's insurance send me a check.

However I dont know what if the prick won't pay anyway (i.e. not insured). There may be legal proceedings which $$ on itself.

NO good paulie hope you can nail the truckie for neg driving.
I used to live around the corner at thornleigh & same RH bend was riding in the outside lane when a woman pulled out from the street on the left & proceeded to merge across all three lanes into mine & side swiped me .. same deal ended up on the other side of PHR... luckly no damage to me but the bike was a wreck
Hope it works out for you mate I cant imagine how you must feel in limbo about the liability...... keep us posted

thats sucks

stay focussed on what you have to do now
get better / get your insurance sorted

and this will turn out ok
keep on keeping on dude

cheers mick

Hey man glad to hear your ok
That story reminds me of Mad Max (comm-on Gos!......)
Seriously though if it was a company driver the policy for nearly all trucking companies for drivers involved in accos is to deny all responsibility and not to admit fault. It is also advised by all insurance companies if you read the fine print.
the main thing to do atm is to get corroborating statments from witnesses and/ or pass the contact no's onto your insurance or the police to complete the investigation process
Heal fast and get the bastards

Paulie wrote:I only have 3rd party insurance

Man thats some freaky stuff lucky your not the one wedged unda that truck
these bastards are always on a mission to get some wher on time and
they dont care who they kill along the way put that aside thank God your
OK as for 3rd party insurance depending who your insured with well once the
Police find trucki at fault hopefully, insurance can fight for you the get your damages worth up to $5000 even if 3rd party you should inquire with your insurance
glad your still with us good luck

Ok, heres where my experience with having a shitbox and 3PP. Basically a witness aids in the story going your way tenfold. Having 3PP means that if in an accident and someone else is at fault, your insurance WILL pay for repairs to/replace your bike up to about 5k or so. So Call your insurer ASAFP (as soon as farking possible) and let them know about the existing claim and start making deals with them and let them take over talking with the truckies insurance.

trust me, i was in a 4 car accident and was the ONLY one insured. (instigator was DUI, other car he hit was a fresh import, the owner was going to get insurance the next day, the commodore next to me didnt even have 3PP. The funny thing was, i was in a shitbox camira worth less than the grand they gave me for repairs. I never repaired the dint, and got a new indicator from a wreckers for $5.

Anyway, call your insurance company first thing tomorrow, don't make me hunt your ass down and beat you with a clue by four.

P.s. way to go with being very unscathed considering what coulda happened!

holy moley!! hope you heal up quick and good luck with the insurance guff. glad you're ok... -J.

Ouch man thats gotta suck. Good luck with insurance and glad you're still here to ride another day