I exceeded the limits of the machine that I was riding. It is important to know the abilities of your bike/car and to not test its limits.
BHPian locusjag recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
I was doing 3 digit speeds on my Honda Unicorn on the ECR in 2009 when the same thing happened to me, except I'm alive to tell the tale. A Tata Ace pulled in, in my path. At my speed, there was no scope to brake or maneouvre any which way. I braked briefly and let go of the bike; with its greater momentum, it went ahead of me and T-boned the Ace first. I followed suit shortly thereafter and struck the Ace's goods guard-rail/scaffolding head first. Miraculously, the helmet did its job very well. If my neck or spine suffered any damage, I don't know about it till date. The bike was still rideable (it was wobbly) to the nearest Honda service center.
Q: What did I do wrong?
A: 1) Leave alone the illegality of my actions; I exceeded the limits of the machine that I was riding. It is important to know the abilities of your bike/car and to not test its limits.
2) I didn't expect the unknown. If the road ahead is clear for now, it is not guaranteed that it will remain so. Anything can happen at any time. It is crucial to respect the unknown.
Q: Why did I do it?
A: I was young, depressed and frustrated with life. Everything was going wrong and had gone wrong for me. Hitting triple digit speeds seemed like one thing that I could at least achieve credibly. And I'll admit, I had this weird notion that my life was over. (Yes, things were bad for me at the time...not the least of which was coping with my mom's passing - and there were other depressing things to cope with as well.)
Q: Did I ever do it again?
A: Never again, not even on any of the cars I've driven. Once you crash and cheat death, you become this paragon of driving virtuously!
Q: Did the load carrier do wrong in my case (and in the current accident's case)?
A: Yes. But the crossing load carrier in both the cases only bear ~25% of the fault, for crossing without looking.
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