Survive a Fatal Crash

This is an article I wrote several years ago, then updated.

How To . . . Survive A Fatal Accident
Crashing into a car isn't a good way of staying fit and healthy, so it must be worth considering any way of reducing the severity of injuries which you could suffer in an accident. It takes the average car driver four or five seconds to arrive at a give way line, check that the main road is clear, rev the engine, set the clutch to biting point and then accelerate away - possibly into the path of an average motorcyclist.

If you are that approaching motorcyclist, then you have four or five seconds at best to remember, consider and implement any attempt at avoiding an accident - and all under considerable mental pressure! Quite simply, a rider may be too close for emergency braking to guarantee success and will probably have too little time to swerve around the emerging vehicle. The rider's fate seems certain as the options available are very limited.

A variety of measures can be taken on the approach to junctions to try to prevent the situation from developing further, but for now we will confine ourselves to an 'imminent collision'. If you have seen the TRL and IMMA leg protector and airbag videos you will be well aware of these types of crashes, and of how violent these impacts actually are. If nothing else, they emphasise the advantages of keeping out of accidents rather than trying to reduce their severity.

With the 'traditional' type of accident, a car turning right from a side road on your left, you are likely to collide with the car in one of three ways. Just which one it is will depend on how much time elapses between the driver starting to pull out and you arriving at the same bit of road that the car is occupying. This time delay will change the way you collide with it, and will affect the options open to you. Let's look at these three main variations.

In the first, the driver pulls out when you are still some distance from the junction. There is almost time for the driver to clear your bit of road and you have a higher chance of using machine control, braking or steering to avoid a collision. Panic braking is likely to cause the wheels to lock, so be prepared to release and re-apply. Swerving around the car could present you with a number of other questions: Is the driver stopping the car or continuing to accelerate out? Has the driver of the second car in the queue at the junction decided to play follow-my-leader? Is there any oncoming traffic? Will I avoid the car, only to hit something more solid still? If you are attempting to brake and swerve, remember that they are separate actions. Combining the two won't work!

If you are going to collide with the car, it is likely to be a glancing or angled impact with its side or square-on to its rear wheel arch area. Try to ensure that it is the bike which hits the car, not you. Stand up. If your leg is about to attempt an impersonation of a crash bar, lift your leg. If you can get your knee and shin onto the seat, the car driver will really have to work hard to break them! Release the handlebar on the side that will impact and swing your arm in front of your body.

In the second variation, you are closer to the junction when the driver starts to pull out. This is likely to be the worst scenario, as the car will be completely obstructing the lane. Braking will not be effective, reducing your speed only slightly and giving you only a small time delay before arriving at the accident. The car may be blocking the full lane width, making any evasive manoeuvre unlikely to succeed.

You will probably T-bone into the middle of the car, which is its highest and strongest section. It is designed as a reinforced cage to protect the occupants - not to permit easy access for a passing motorcyclist. If you can, steer towards the bonnet or boot, for these areas are lower and designed to absorb impact. Not exactly a soft landing, but in these circumstances anything helps.

The next technique may be difficult to remember and enact under the circumstances (i.e. scared . . . rigid): Stand up and jump as high as you can! The idea is to take yourself off the bike (missing the 'bars and petrol tank) and over the car. Just standing up will help, but the higher you jump the better!

Flying over the vehicle will present you with another immediate problem: landing. I can't help you much here, though a lot will depend on the amount and quality of your clothing. Although this jumping technique may sound dubious, hitting a car at 40mph and coming to an abrupt halt will probably kill you. Falling off (i.e. landing) at the same speed will just scuff leather and possibly break bones. You may argue that by missing the car, you will hit something else. Quite true, but you're not really going to be much worse off, are you?

In the third and final variation, the driver starts off just as you reach the junction. The vehicle is likely to hit your side. If you are lucky, you may clear the junction before the car moves into the major road. You might even see the first clues that the car is moving, so you could accelerate out of the danger area as quickly as possible.

If not, then the standing up and arm-swinging technique is used again. You might even control the bike and continue on; one of the TRL videos shows a bike continuing on upright after just such an impact with a car. So, if in doubt, pretend you are a TRL dummy!

The closer you are to the vehicle when it emerges, the less time you will have to react, so it becomes even more important to have your escape route or evacuation plan arranged. Ask yourself a few questions: How could that affect me? Has that driver seen me? Is that car going to move out? Can I stop if it does (how good is the road surface)? If the car does move, what must I do?

It is important to be pessimistic. Treat every junction as if a vehicle will pull out until you are sure it is not going to happen - and even then, don't drop your guard. Keep thinking through the options available to you before you need them. When a collision is imminent, thinking time is strictly limited.

A few years ago, Bike magazine gave away a set of stickers. One of them read 'The best leg protector is your brain'. Very true, but only if you know what to do and actually use it to help yourself.


Update:

Unfortunately - especially for me! - I've had a chance to 'test-ride' the jump. But first, some history: I first heard about the 'jump' from PC Dave Strong, who used to train Hampshire Police motorcyclists, in 1980 while I was on an RAC/ACU instructor training course, and I've been telling people about it ever since.

On Friday Aug. 23rd 2002, at about 13.10 (not that it sticks in my mind . . . ), while I was crossing a mini-roundabout at 15mph, someone thought I was a gap in traffic. I had, at most, about one second to react after seeing the car start to move. Quicker than I would have thought possible, I'd run through - and eliminated - the options of braking, swerving, and accelerating, so I arrived at the 'jump' option. I'd just stood up at the point of impact, and the next memory I have is of being flat on my back in the road, unable to move. Luckily, I'd had a soft landing - I'd landed on my head . . . I suffered concussion, a strained neck and various bruises. My bike was written-off.

Here's the crash site:



View Larger Map

I was travelling from 'behind' the Google view (in the left lane tho' ;) ), intending to go right (around the right-hand of the two mini-roundabouts) and pass the far side of the large estate car (Peugeot?). The driver who clobbered me came from teh 'arm' of the junction where the dark grey car has just emerged (ie the 'head on' to me, the driver was intending to take the same route as the Google car).

As I crossed the 'give way' line (the large blocks of white paint) the other driver was stationary.


NB The driver of the samll hatchback is going the wrong way around the second mini-roundabout!


Further update:

Someone, having read the above 'update', said there was one option I hadn't considered: selling the bike. I replied that if I'd thought of it in the time available, I would have considered it, and if a buyer could have been found then would have sold for a very reasonable price.

Further update still:

Someone else, having read the article, thought that I meant we should all jump on our seats like circus riders at every opportunity, and suggested that instead we should put more effort in to actually avoiding these situations in the first place. Totally agreed! The article only deals with those moments when there are no alternatives.

Copyright: BMF & Malcolm Palmer, original article published in Motorcycle Rider, the BMF journal, reproduced by kind permission.