Road gaters

ChucksKLRST

ChucksKLRST

Team Colorado
Joined
Dec 10, 2004
Messages
1,786
Age
75
Location
Aurora, Colorado
Bike
25 NT1100 14 FJR1300
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I gotta say, i'm pretty good at spotting debris and foreign objects in the road during the daytime unless I'm tailgating the vehicle in front of me but at night my headlights don't light up the road well enough far enough in advance that I could dodge stuff in the road it's really a matter of luck that I haven't hit anything big yet.

(And I can tell you from experience squirrels and possums are not big -- they're just speed bumps.)
 
gunsmoker said:
... unless I'm tailgating the vehicle in front of me...
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Which they'd told you to avoid already in riding-school... potholes, rocks, manhole covers, a trowel fallen off a truck, etc...

Over here already the headline would have held the riders at fault... you have to milk that public prejudice...

Interesting that they'd pixelated the gators face to protect his privacy rights... :unsure:
 
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Pesky varmints come in all shapes and sizes here is AUS, but I haven't seen a gator (or a croc) on the road, yet. Fortunately though, in 55 years of driving and riding I can count the number of enconters on one hand.

Hit a roo in my panel van on the Nullaabor Plain back in '75, minor damage to van, roo skipped away. Only a couple years back on the ST1300, with Mrs W riding pillion, we hit a roo in a Melbourne outer suburb called Kangaroo Ground (do'h!). It was only my silky smooth riding skills (AKA, luck) that kept us upright. Again roo skipped away into the bush, no damage to ST but a bit of blood and fur on the lower RH front fork.

Then there was the time in around '89 when I got around 20 in one hit. On a rural back rroad between Sheppaton and Bendigo, came over a crest in the road at around 140km/h in a Nissan Pintara (work car) to see something like this (a flock of Sulpur Crested Cockatoos) pic from the web. Braked, but not enough, plowed through - bump, bump, splat, splat, bump, bump, splat, splat, bump, bump, splat, splat, bump, bump, splat, splat (about 20 times).

Damage to Pintara - cracked windscreen, two smashed headlights, smash radiator grill.

Damage to cockatoo population - around 20 less.

Had to fill out an incident report for the fleet manager, I don't think he believed me.
 

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"I thought it was a semi-tire that came off the tread or something," Gilmore said.

"I just seen something, and like, once I realized what it was, it was just too late..." "I was like, 'oh crap, you know, like,' and it just, the impact happened... I just wasn't expecting a gator to be in the middle of the road right there."


Ok knowing more about how it actually happened could be useful. Unless the alligatior suddenly moved out in front of a bike it would seem that maybe there was room for evasive action. This seems sort of like relying on "auto-pilot" right up until the time it doesn't "auto-pilot"

Based on the info provided one might assume the riders were at fault. Or one might assume the 'gater moved in front of the bikes without sufficient warning. Not that the 'gator is obliged to provide a warning of any sort. And there don't seem to be any GATOR CROSSING signs posted.

So I'd be inclined to forgive a reader their trespass of assuming it was the rider's fault. To its credit that article while not particularly edifying didn't assign blame to the riders or the 'gator although it's almost excessively differential to the riders.
 
back in my big trucking days i was out in west Michigan and called out on the CB about a bunch of gators and baby gators on the road, some guy replys " i didn't know you guys had gators this far north "
 
Yes we have them here and big snakes and black bears which are impossible to see at night. I have had a snake strike at me a few times while riding. Stood on the pegs to frighten a bear standing in the road. I have seen dead alligators on the side of the road numerous times. Thanks for posting that, I usually completely forget about the dead alligator threat while riding but I’m usually looking for tree limbs and snakes anyway.

I have been bitten in the thigh by a snake, no injuries. Once had a bird drop a snake on to the windshield of a car I was driving, that would have really sucked on a bike.
 
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A few years ago I was on a beach on the Mar Menor in Murcia when a seagull flew over and dropped a live eel onto a girl sunbathing. Surprised the screams weren't heard in Madrid. :eek:
 
The other problem we have is wild pigs, often seen on the side of the highway. They are usually black and sometimes found dead in the road. Not unusual.IMG_6550.jpeg
 
This is a good subject because despite it all, I often forget these threats. Because I am used to them. Thanks for the reminder.
 
I missed one by probably 6" one day. It was on one of those roads where half shaded and half sunlight. In and out of the light and it was in a shaded area. Just laying in the middle of the road. Didn't see it until I was right on it. Only missed it by luck.
 
My closest call was a small deer running out and stopping short of the front of my car. My rearview mirror passed right underneath its chin. I mean right underneath. Their intelligence is inversely proportional to their speed.

I know it's no guarantee but my subsequent move to LED headlights would possibly have let me see it prior to its bolting.
 
Somewhere I have a video of deer jumping over a hedge in front of my bike, with one jumping over my head. Dual sport, dirt road.
 
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