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Avoided a scary highway accident with my Hayabusa: 11,000 km ownership

11th May 2023, 15:36 by Rahul Nagaraj

No one stopped to help or see what a guy with a riding jacket and helmet was doing in the middle of the highway.

BHPian SnS_12 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I had not taken Bluebird for a long spin post the annual service as the RX and Bianca kept me busy the previous weekend. My Brio and Bianca are both getting some work done so I was hoping to get Bianca home today and the Brio on Monday. But as luck would have it Bianca will be spending the next week as well at my friend's place as I have to travel for work and can only get her back post my return and the work is done.

So, I decided to take Bluebird for a spin with my Shoei and also it was just over 100 km shy of hitting the 11k km mark. I didn’t check with any of my riding buddies if they are riding and decided to go for a solo relaxed spin as the death of the YouTuber in Delhi on his 10 R was running on my mind and was bothering me. Normally when I read such news I just avoid riding that weekend as it messes my mind completely and I am not in the right head space. But I decided to do a relaxed ride and started off late as well as my usual time.

The ride was uneventful and Bluebird performed flawlessly till my return journey when I had another scare of my life. I was taking a sharp high-speed right corner and was in the fast lane with a Kia Carnival in front of me in the centre lane. Suddenly there is a puff of white dust from behind the Kia Carnival I thought there is oil on the road and they had put mud to cover it, but to my horror, a big RCC block came from under the Carnival and I just narrowly avoided hitting it. The Carnival driver didn’t see it and his left front tyre went over it and broke the block into big and small pieces and scattered it on the road. The Carnival guy immediately pulled over to the left and so did I just stopping ahead of him. I asked him if his vehicle was ok and told him he hit a RCC block. He had no idea what he went over and I just pointed to the pieces scattered on the road behind him. My immediate thought was to clear those pieces off the road before someone damages their vehicle or worst losses their life after hitting as I said it's a fast corner with a long straight stretch where everyone carries at high speed. Being a highway and high speed corner it was scary trying to move those pieces and trying not to get hit by someone in the process. I waived too many sports cars and superbikes trying to make them slow down and make them aware of the debris on the road. As it was grey in colour it was difficult for many to spot and I was just praying no bikers goes over it and crashes. I must have moved out close to 5-6 pieces which were quite significant in size and all my own as no one stopped to help or see what a guy with a riding jacket and helmet was doing in the middle of the highway. I just couldn’t continue with my journey back home without removing those pieces as it just reminded me of the incident I had in 2017, three months into the ownership where a stone hit my left fairing. I just thought If someone had removed it from the road I could have avoided that incident and thought this is my time to do the right thing even if no one else stops to do it as even the Carnival guy went about his own business and left immediately after inspecting for any damages to his car.

I am just lucky to have my guardian angel ride with me and happy to be alive and injury-free including avoiding damages to Bluebird.

P.S: Note to self to be 100% alert all the time when riding or driving no matter what as our roads have danger written over them all the time.

Some pictures...

A later start than my usual time of around 6:15 am. ODO reading at my place.