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-   -   A Close Encounter - How my luck outweighed my stupidity (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/ride-safe/277720-close-encounter-how-my-luck-outweighed-my-stupidity.html)

There are somethings which you think will never happen to you. It's mostly due to ignorance and then hubris. I'm my case, I guess it's the latter.

When I was learning driving, an elder cousin once told me that it's not when you learn driving that you get into an accident. It is when you have many kms under your belt, when you start thinking you have mastered the skill that it happens. Why? It's because that's when you drop your guard. I didn't think much of it that time until I experienced it first hand a couple of days ago.

I have been riding for about 9 years now and have never got into an accident on a two wheeler till now. Why? Because I'm very careful and afraid of getting into an accident. However, everything changed in 5 seconds on the quiet morning of March 1st.

As usual, I was going about making my morning commute to the gym. This day, instead of taking my trusty Activa 125(Blu), I decided to take my BIL's Ola S1 Pro. I have ridden this bike quite extensively and was familiar with the acceleration and power on offer. Early morning the roads are empty and I started from home for the 4 km ride. There is an upward gradient with wide sweeping curves on the way. The road is new and smooth. I was enticed to ride a little more briskly. I was almost alone on the road and was doing about 60-65 kmph where I usually do 50 kmph on my Blu.

I took 3-4 curves at this speed and everything was ok and while entering the next turn I thought, 'what am I doing?' and decided to reduce my speed. I applied both front and back brakes and everything went south in a matter of couple of seconds.

Unintentionally, I had applied the brakes a bit hard and the rear wheel locked up and started sliding out. I released the brake hoping to get out of the slide and the bike recovered but went straight on to an old telephone post by the side of the road and before I could do anything I crashed head on into the post and fell on the road towards my right.

Thankfully the road was devoid of any traffic and I got up and got to the side. I was shook up and winded as I had hit my chest and side on the handle quite hard. The scooter was lying with its back wheel in the drainage and front wheel on the shoulder of the road. There was debris all around it.

An auto rickshaw went by which I waved to stop but did not and also a biker passed by, whom I asked for help also did not stop. Thankfully a lady and a guy who was coming on a scooter stopped and came to enquire about my condition. By this time I was able to catch my breath and I was assessing my condition. My left hand was hurting as I had used it to shield my face from the metal post. I was wearing a half face helmet and as I crashed into the pole, I had involuntarily shielded my face with my left hand. While this saved my face, the right side ribs hit the handle bar hard and also my right feet got some scraping. The big toe was squished at the nail and three other toes were also injured.

This accident happened in front of a house and the lady who lived there came out with a glass of water for me. She asked me if I were feeling better and should she call someone. I looked for my gym bag and it was lying near the scooter and I got my phone from it and called my wife and quickly narrated the situation. Since my BIL was not at home she asked my FIL to come get me. Now my FIL was on his morning walk and it would take him time to reach me so my wife's uncle said he would come pick me up.

While waiting for him, I was told by the lady(who gave me water) that this was a regular spot for this kind of accident as in the past week itself one girl on a scooter and a set of three boys riding triples had hit the same pole. Now it was about 15- 20 mins since the accident and the lady and guy who first stopped began asking if they should take me to a hospital. I thanked them and told them that uncle would reach soon and they could leave. They stayed for some more time and then left. In my shock and disorientation I never got to ask even their names. In between another relative on my wife spotted me sitting on the side of the road and came to my help. By that time uncle also reached and I went back home with him, leaving the scooter on the side of the road.

At home, I find that my wife who replied calmly on the phone was clearly disturbed and tensed. She brought Dettol water and cotton and cleaned the wounds on my feet and uncle got the car and off we went to hospital. There I was taken to the emergency and accident care and wounds were again cleaned and antiseptic medicines applied. I was given a TT injection and X-ray of chest, hand and foot were taken. The I consulted with the orthopaedic surgeon who told me that my left hand wrist has a ligament tear and bruises and cut all over legs and chest. That was it. No broken bones or anything. I was very very lucky. I was having trouble breathing and the right side ribs were hurting like hell. I asked him again whether my ribs are ok since it was quite painful. He assured me that it was just bruising and he is going to prescribe some pain medication. He also told me to take rest for a week.

We were done at the hospital in about 2 hrs and came back home and I called up my brother to inform him and assure that I was very much okay.

The thing that disturbed me about the accident is that how much distress it caused to my near and dear ones especially my wife. I never want to see her that disturbed/ distressed again. I am feeling so bad about myself that I allowed this to happen.

I have destroyed my BIL's new bike. Although nobody in the family cared about that as they were concerned about only my wellbeing, I can't seem to forgive myself for destroying it.

Because of this, my movement is restricted and I'm again burdening a lot of people. All this which I believe is primarily due to my stupidity. Lesson learnt. Painful, emotional and costly.

That 5 seconds when I decided to have 'fun' without assessing my or the machines capabilities and my hubris caused my downfall. I was saved by an insane amount of luck. My FIL who went to get the scooter to (ASS) garage, on seeing the condition of the scooter remarked that if I had hit the pole face first, I might not be here to tell the story. Maybe throwing my hand out indeed saved my face and a torn ligament is a far lesser penalty than a smashed face.

My key takeaways from the incident are,

• It doesn't matter if you have been riding/driving for decades; all it takes is 5 seconds of lapsed concentration or a single poor judgement.
• The distress of your near and dear ones hurts more than your physical injury in an accident.
• Always be extra careful when using someone's vehicle/ property.
• Learn from your mistakes. I have learnt quite a lot and I'm sure that I will remember this for life.

Some pictures of the damage to scooter and myself.

Glad you are safe! Some of these electric scooters are more powerful than their dynamics permit and it is easy to get carried away by the performance and get into tricky situations.

Please also add better riding gear to your list - A full face helmet and basic rugged shoes goes a long way even for short rides. All the gear all the time may not be for everyone, but I believe a good helmet and a rugged pair of casual shoes (Woodlands, for example) can really be maintained.

An eye-opener about being attentive and respecting unusual road physics. Thank god you are safe. Get well soon.

Statement worth its weight in gold. It is much easier to create electric vehicles with unbelievable acceleration figures compared to their ICE counterparts. All you need a powerful motor and battery. Often the chassis doesn't match the power on tap.

Glad that you are safe. You mentioned that the wheels locked up. Doesn't the scooter has ABS? I wish that making features like 'always on headlamp' and touting that as a safety feature (which is anyway a nuisance), they mandated ABS on all vehicles including two-wheelers.

Glad you're safe and hope you recover soon!

Been in a similar silly but serious 2W accident due to someone else's fault, I always recommend that everyone on the road should use a full face helmet only. And a fully covered shoe, a pair of jeans and any jacket. These might not be adequate to protect your bones but they do make a lot of difference in accidents like these.

PS: the wounds heal but the scars keep reminding/teaching us :)

Glad you're safe, BLACNWYTE. On seeing how rampant our roads are filling up with unruly road users, I've also cut down on riding.

Also, riding a two wheeler with half face helmet is a strict no in our roads.

Beg to differ. It should be more than doable in any city in the wee hours of morning when it's cool and there is less traffic and a gym is the last place where people are concerned about sweaty backs from a jacket and whatnot.

I really don't understand why people wear a half face helmet and don't buckle their lids properly. You are already going through the inconvenience of adding extra weight to your head, 'ruining' your hair(style), and lugging it with you if you ride a bike with no storage, might as well wear a full face lid that's properly buckled and actually works.

First of all, thank you all for the recovery wishes. I have stopped the pain medication as it was making me very lethargic. Now the pain is tremendous but at least I'm not sleepy all the time.

Since the common point that everyone has raised is a full faced helmet, I have to say that I have a full faced helmet which I use for all other rides. Since this used to be gym ride, I preferred the half faced one because on the return journey it allowed so much air around my head. Read very comfortable.

Anyway, going forward it will be at least full faced helmet and shoes for all future rides as and when I'm able to.

I'm not sure if Ola has ABS, if it has then it didn't work. The rear wheel locked up and skid out from under me and I was going sideways for a couple of seconds.

You mentioned the wheels locking up as a reason . Doesn't such an "advanced" scooter like Ola have ABS ? Or is it some of their newest software glitches where ABS sensor doesn't work? Anyways, follow the advice of the other Bhpians, and please wear a proper shoe the next time you're riding. It could have saved from that bruised toe . I hope you recover quickly, and only ride your reliable Activa:)

So sorry to read about your accident. I hope you recover quickly. Don't beat yourself up, it's definitely not your fault.

What I don't understand is how the EV companies can get away with making a scooter, Ola S1, than can beat an R15 in terms of acceleration but not have ABS. It's such a simple technology to have and it would avoided your accident as well. I am convinced that Two-wheeler manufacturers want more accidents so that their broken scooters can be replaced by fresh ones.

Nothing done from the Indian government's side either. Manufacturers still give Single Channel ABS on bikes that cost upwards of 1.5 lakhs on road. Scooter segment is largely deprived of ABS, except for a few premium offerings like Yamaha Aerox and Aprilla 160s, which aren't practical family scooters and have minimum sales. So ABS is lacking where it's most needed and neither Two-wheeler nor the Indian government seems to be interested in adding this basic technology. Indian roads are inundated by water in monsoon and in dry weather, dust and gravel are ever-present. Despite these treacherous conditions, no Two-Wheeler manufacturer gives ABS in their 1 lakh rupee scooters and neither do EV manufacturers. It's a shame honestly, and it's a blight on the Two-Wheeler market in India.

New Car brochures will be like we have 7 airbags, 61 active safety technologies, 7 star rating, and Two-Wheelers will be like "please pray to god before riding." Such a joke.

No, none of the mainstream EV 2w have ABS. Its a loophole in law since their acceleration is similar to 250cc bikes (where its mandatory) but these are seen as 125cc scooters. These have combi braking where left brake lever works on both front and back brakes simultaneously.
Using regen somewhat helps in wet conditions - normal braking but any hard braking locks the wheel.

Oh man, driving head on to a pole is a recipe for disaster. Glad that you didn't suffer any serious injuries.

Seeing this photo made me think if the pole in question is badly placed as compared to the pole a bit at the back?

The pole is an old telephone pole which is now kind of defunct. Local cable TV operators are using it for supporting the wires. Should have been removed by the authorities before widening the road or at least they should have move it off the road.

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. Happy to see that nothing serious happened.

That pole should not be there. As usual the apathy from government departments.

Also, appreciate you owning and accepting it as it is.

Unless there was some oil or sand in the road, I don't think this sort of an accident can happen even at 50 Kmph. But, losing control of a two wheeler is so easily done. You gave us regular two wheeler users something to think about and to be cautious.