I’m here to whinge but I don’t know if I’m whinging in the right forum. If not, dear mods, you can move the post where it should be.
I just had an accident. I’m mad. I had a record of not having had an accident in my 2-year stay in Taiwan. Not anymore. All because of the stupid road condition.
I was on the way home on this windy road. There were absolutely no lights. The light on my scooter attracts moths and they flew right into my face and my eyes, so I had my helmet screen down. I couldn’t see very well but I was riding relatively slowly. And all of a sudden my scooter skidded and the bike went down on the right hand side and caught my right knee. It dragged my right knee for about 5 meters until I grabbed the brakes. I went to the hospital and thank goodness my bones are all okay. But the wound is so mushed up so the doctor actually couldn’t sew it. He booked me in for one of the cosmetic surgens next Monday.
Apparantly I rode over a big mud puddle. Due to the heavy rain over the past few days I guess. It made me so agonizingly mad. Why was there no light? Why are the road conditions so bad in Taiwan and it seems that nobody in the government cares about it?
Even though you were riding slowy your vision was affected. Riding without being to see properly probably meant that you did not see the puddle.
I ride in the mountains on windy roads where there are no street lights. Insects are a bane but you should have stopped and cleaned your visor. A bit of toothpaste will get it nice and clean… do both sides… crystal clear after that. The paste will clean up slight scratches as well on the visor.
You can’t blame somebody else because there is a puddle on the road that you failed to see. Perhaps you also have very poor lighting on your scooter.
How did you fall off when you went through the puddle? Was there apot hole in it or was itjust slippy…
You get puddles in every country, so although it’s unfortunate I think this time it may be your fault.
Some of the roads are in piss poor condition though.
Hope the knee gets better - could have been your face which would have been worse.
A pristine, clean, unscratched visor, and preferably one of good quality with no optial distortion and no tinting, plus a brighter headlight on your scooter, might have been what it took to avoid that spill.
For the visors, if you buy a low-price helmet here, it will have a somewhat poor quality visor, often with slight distortions, but even if not, it will be an easily scratchable plastic. Then, since it’s a cheap helmet, you’re likely to hang it carelessly on the bike where it will get scratched by banging around when others park. The scratches collect dirt and cause glare, and so really you should be replacing the visor annually at a minimum.
Even better, move up a (big) notch to helmets that come with optically correct, distortion-free visors with scratch-resistant coatings. Then, when you hang it on the bike, cover it with the provided cloth cover to protect it. Baby that visor, cleaning it with Windex and a super soft cotton cloth, and treat it with anti-fog solution. Keeping it pristine will mean better vision, and that means safety. The pricier helmets will also be more comfortable (once you find the right fit) and will keep you safer.
Finally, replace your headlight if it’s getting dim. Also, get a tiny spray pump bottle (you can buy empty ones for cosmetics and at pharmacies) and fill it with Windex; put it and tissues under your seat. Once a week, use it to clean your headlight, turning signals and brake lights. You’ll see better, and others will see you better.
Sorry to hear about your accident. You say it was dark, the road was wet, you had your visor down and couldn’t see properly, yet you were going so fast that you slid for nearly 30 feet?
Sounds to me as if you were riding much too fast for the conditions.
You can blame the road if you like, but I warn you – if you maintain that attitude, you better get your private insurance up to scratch because you’re going to need it in the future.
On behalf of WC thanks for your concern and advice everyone.
She’s OK, but housebound (and no computer - otherwise she’d probably respond herself ) Thank goodness for DVDs.
The 5 meters is probably an exageration. She was riding a 50CC up a hill, and she’s generally a cautious rider. She probably looked back at the hole (it was actually a rain induced hole in the road full of water - hence puddle) after she got up and it was probably about 5 meters away (allow a meter of so of exageration for sympathy factor - I’m dead when she reads this :help: :help: :help: still time to edit! still time to edit! :loco: )
She said that after she hit the deck the bike dragged her a little until she pulled on the brake. It sounds like the the throttle may have been stuck on a little, probably due to throttle grip wedged against road. Her knee has quite a gash in it, but I doubt that it’s 5 meters worth of gash.
So the 5 meters proabably included the skidding before she hit the deck.
As for the helmet she has a fairly new helmet and the viser is still in good shape. She wears a full face helmet, which is a good thing. Also I don’t think the viser was covered in bugs, just drizzle, on a dark wet road, and a hole that wasn’t there the day before.
As for the headlight. That probably was a factor, as the 50CC headlights are often little more than candles. If I remeber correctly she said it was drizzling at the time.
Also probably not moths, but those flying ants flying at her as we have had quite a few of them come out with the rain the last week or so. but it could of been moths.
As for the road conditions they just slap down the bitumen and it doesn’t take much to lift it again. I often see completed roadworks (I use the term loosely) which I know from the moment I see it that it will not last more than a month or so, rain or no rain. But when the rain comes many roads suffer. Like most things there doesn’t seem to be any long term thinking in their construction. :loco: :loco: :loco:
[quote=“sandman”]Sorry to hear about your accident. You say it was dark, the road was wet, you had your visor down and couldn’t see properly, yet you were going so fast that you slid for nearly 30 feet?
Sounds to me as if you were riding much too fast for the conditions.
You can blame the road if you like, but I warn you – if you maintain that attitude, you better get your private insurance up to scratch because you’re going to need it in the future.[/quote]
It certainly does sound like our OP was a newbie…to the mountains anyway. I can symapthise. During my first few weeks in Taiwan, I was forced to travel and undesirable stretch of highway. Then, they started roadwork on a particularly gnarly stretch of road.
I was driving home one night after they has stopped working for the day and hit a nasty potole created from the roadwork. Totally my fault because I was ignorantly thinking that if that stretch was open, they had at least smoothed it out for night-time driving. Nope.
I was lucky and skimmed over it, so to speak. But I stopped and actually went back to check it out. It had to be two inches deep and about three feet in circumference. Certainly big enough for the road crew to put a pylon there. I walked over to some useless pylons and moved one in front of the pothole.
Since then I have never assumed that, just because the road is open, it’s going to be safe.
Thanks GongChangZhang, I didn’t realize that the original poster was a female. Well, that explains it all then.
Don’t listen to Hobart with his “Get a car” advice. Unless you have hours each day to waste stuck in traffic. Not to mention more accidents…but with less injuries. Just get yourself a bigger scooter…or more importantly one with bigger tires. You could get one of those 50cc Yamaha dirt bike thingies…the BWS? What can make smaller tires crash…you won’t even notice with bigger tires.
[quote=“wonder”]
It certainly does sound like our OP was a newbie…to the mountains anyway. [/quote]
It was not a mountain road per se, but very comparable - hill with windy road and no lights.
She has actually travelled this road for a little more than a year 5 days a week (it’show she gets home from work). Not a newbie. When it buckets down she usually waits.
I don’t see how you can say it was totally your fault. (except the fact that you don’t get a lot of sympathy from this crowd )
It is just pure negligence to not take any precautions to warn others of a potentially dangerous situation like that. Back in the western countries people get sued for that kind of thing (legitimately so in my opinion).
Even the law that God gave to the nation of Israel held a person who was neglligent responsible. Exodus 21:28-32 (If a known vicious bull was not suitably kept away from people gored someone the owner was liable) and Deuteronomy 22:8 (IF someone did not build a small wall on the roof of their house and someone fell off the owner was held liable.)
The Taiwanese have the technology to build better houses and roads, it’s just that they can;t be bothered (probably the dollar weighing in there too.)
When I was in China several people got killed due to poor building quality. The Builder was located, tried and shot. (mmm… now there’s a way to reduce the population in Taiwan…)
I agree that cars are a hassle inTaiwan. I’d love a big bike myself. But they are not so convenient in the city and I don’t get out to the mountains often enough to justify one and even if I did , I don’t have the cash.
[quote=“joesax”]Sorry about the accident and glad it wasn’t any worse. I do agree with other posters that it’s no-one else’s fault.
Sandman, how do you get 30 feet out of 5 metres? That’s more like 15 feet.[/quote]
Ah. Um.
Still though. You really need to be very very careful after the kind of rain we’ve been getting. I twice bashed the sump of my car badly – very badly – last night coming along the Huanhe Expressway in heavy rain, on deep potholes that had just opened up that same day. If I’d hit them on the bike I’d have been a goner for sure. As it is, I have the horrible suspicion that I’m going to have no oil next time I start the car. :fume:
Sounds to me as if you were driving much too fast for the conditions.
You can blame the road if you like. Is your insurance up to scratch?
Just messing with you. :raspberry:
As GCZ wrote, I was riding an old 50c.c. With the accelarator full on, (which it wasn’t) the fastest I could go uphill on this windy road is 35 - 45 km/h. Thanks for your warning, though I really don’t think I have an attitude.
[quote=“GongChangZhang”][quote=“Mordeth”]Thanks GongChangZhang, I didn’t realize that the original poster was a female. Well, that explains it all then.
[/quote]
I agree with the car thing. With the bigger bike thing, I actually think getting a bigger bike would mean more accidents for me due to weak arm muscles. (Well, I AM a female anyway.)
Sounds to me as if you were driving much too fast for the conditions.
You can blame the road if you like. Is your insurance up to scratch?
Just messing with you. :raspberry:
[/quote]
I was – it was a new stretch that they don’t have any cameras on yet and I was flying. Oh well – its about time I replaced the suspension anyway.
Seems you DO have an attitude, too – a nice one.
Good luck with your knee!
I agree. My helmet is about 4 weeks old and it’s a “Penguin” one - cost me NT$900. The visor is not scratched yet and I wipe inside and outside of the visor every 3-5 days. I think this is why I could keep an “accident free in 2 years” record. (Not anymore. Boohoo )
This is perhaps what I failed to do. Good advice. Thanks!
(and no computer - otherwise she’d probably respond herself 
- I’m dead when she reads this :help: :help: :help: still time to edit! still time to edit! :loco: )
)
