News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill. Parent comment

Re:Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then stic... by the_sleaze_ on Thursday November 07, 2024 @11:19PM (#42084092)
Cue an extremely vivid memory of a rainy drenched Washington DC street awash with glare and sparkle from the street lights. Car in front of me lit the brakes, and I grab the front handbrake on my little 250 to.... nothing. No result. "uh" escaped my mouth as I grabbed a somewhat panicked handful of brake and slammed on the rear again to.. absolutely nothing except a lighter rear wheel. Finally had to just lean into a quick hard veer into the oncoming lane cause the wet and my small bike was just gliding. I learned that day that my last word will probably be "um"
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then stic... by opless on Friday November 08, 2024 @12:54AM (#42084534)
I've a similar story, but 35 years ago, a situation which was entirely my fault, 100cc and 'shit'.

Ended up with a sore knee, bent forks and a realisation that leaning plus braking in the wet is a great way to make a nice groove into the asphalt!

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then stic... by yakshaving_jgt on Friday November 08, 2024 @01:54AM (#42084781)
That sounds dignified. I had a 911 a few years ago and it aquaplaned on the motorway at ~160-180kmh, spun 180ΒΊ, and sent me into the central barrier.

I learned my last words were "AAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then stic... by taneq on Friday November 08, 2024 @04:02AM (#42085421)
When you say 'gliding' you mean the... what? I'm confused. When you lock the front in the wet, 'nothing' is the best possible outcome and even then doesn't last long enough. I'm assuming your 250 had ABS and the 'nothing' was it not dramatically flopping you onto the road. (As an aside, I used to hate ABS and I've now totally come around to it. New ABS is so incredibly much better than old ABS.)

Also there's no such thing as a quick hard veer in the wet, the road is like oiled glass.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then stic... by the_sleaze_ on Wednesday November 13, 2024 @12:21PM (#42128007)
No ABS on the 250 and I agree, I won't buy anything without it ever again.

By "gliding" I mean the acute sensation of the loss of weighted-ness on the road. Like when you hit a patch of ice in a car or when you're at a severe lean angle and the tires start to skip a little.

Let me assure you, there very much is such a thing as a quick hard veer in the wet. My fingers on the keyboard right now are proof, ha-ha

[ Parent | on HN ]