let's just get to what happened

 Sept. 4th, 2013 when I was hit

Wednesday Sept. 4th I told my Wife(we'd been married just  2months at this point, but together 9years before that) that I needed to go get title, plates, and insurance on the bike I bought the day before....she called ahead to the insurance to let them know I had another bike and was coming in...I usually like dropping in, just show up and wait until someone can see me, but she thinks that's rude ...she told me that my usual agent wasn't in that day, but I could still go if I didn't mind seeing someone else....I'd already put 100 miles on the bike that first day when I bought it, and tho I was told that I am automatically insured for the first 30 days on any bike I buy, I really didn't want to wait any longer to get new plates and everything for it in my name...I was planning on using it that coming Saturday and Sunday instead of my BMW with the rest of the guys I normally ride with, so I wanted it set to go so they could see it


about 2:30PM I was ready to head out, but first I put on one of my textile mesh armored motorcycle jackets(even tho it was pretty hot for a jacket, I needed the pockets to carry some of the paperwork) and the full face helmet I was given with the bike.....here is an actual overview of where I was headed for my first stop, the building where you get title and plates, and the streets around it

Google Maps image

                                                 
I used the west entrance(3rd one, or the one in the back) to the lot off S. Clinton St. as I'd kinda taken the longer way to get there by riding thru the 'downtown' area on Burlington St. then went south down to where the County Admin. building pictured above is.....I parked by that tree at the end of the row in the lower left corner of the top main lot(that picture must have been taken in the morning, as when I was there, the shadows pointed more at 2o'clock) and pulled thru the open spot in the side of the row nearest the building and stopped in the shady spot(the backside of that first closest row) facing out east.....I went in and it didn't take long to get the new title and plates as there was no line.....I went back outside and switched to the new plate on the bike right there in the parking lot...there were some other cars in the lot, mostly parked closer to Benton St. but I only saw a few people coming and going to the building, not a busy day at all, no other cars driving/moving in the lot when I got back on the bike to leave


I headed straight east out of the parking spot with a little diagonal weave onto the driveway to the east (1st, or front)entrance/exit onto S. Dubuque St. and before turning onto the road way I stopped up high in the raised lot before the sidewalk above where the driveway slopes down and widens into the street ... there was hardly any traffic on the streets around the building area....just a car(the white one) and a truck(big older SUV that was blue)

here are some diagrams I drew the weekend after the accident(as I couldn't go riding with my buddies)

drawing fig. 1               

the white car was just coming past going north on S. Dubuque St. in the far lane(from me) as you would drive normally on a two-way street(but it isn't),  and I needed to turn onto the street in the 'near' left lane as this is a two lane one-way street....even tho the white car was in the other lane farthest from me, and my lane was open; I waited for it to go all the way past before entering the street myself...as I always hate when cars pull out next to me(even when I'm in a car) into an adjacent lane(with two lanes of traffic heading in the same direction), as it freaks me out that they might not turn sharp enough and hit me...the streets weren't busy, and I wasn't in a hurry, so it just felt safer not to pull out beside him....the only other traffic I saw was the blue truck just coming around the corner off  Kirkwood Ave. onto  S. Dubuque St....if you look back at the overview photo above from Google Maps, you can see that the truck was farther away(from the white car as it passed the entrance/exit and where I stopped in it) than what my drawing shows

drawing fig. 2

the white car had just driven past in the far right lane ... I could see the truck also in the right lane now on S. Dubuque St. also headed north, but it was far away so it was totally safe for me to pull out into the near left lane and turn north

...ahead the white car was slowing in the right lane for the curve around corner and I was accelerating after making my turn onto the road in the left lane...motorcycles divide each lane into three "lines" to ride in: the first is where the left tire of a car would roll over the road surface, then second there is the center of the road(but this is where oils drip off cars, and debris can collect; so its not a preferred line to ride on), and third is where the right tire of a car would run...because I'd just done a sharp left turn onto the road, and I had a curve to the left coming up, I was more in the right "line" of that left "lane" to take those turns a little wide, and not be tight along the curb in sand, rough gutter surface, and debris that would collect along  that edge of the road

drawing fig. 3

I was starting to catch up to the white car as we approached and went around the curve...at the start of the corner he was in the right lane with me back about 15~20 feet behind at his 7 o'clock in the left lane...he was going nice and slow, about only 10mph, and was turning smooth and steady as he stayed in the right lane...I still didn't want to come up beside him as we went around the corner even tho my left lane was totally open(sometimes a car might 'cheat' and use both lanes to round a curve that tight) so I stayed back slightly in my lane and by the end of the curve could have only been within 10 or 5 feet back at the least before being beside him, still back and to the left of his rear bumper at his 7 o'clock, him staying in the right lane the whole time, and me in the left lane; both of us safely navigating the curve without any erratic movements and moving onto the straightaway   

drawing fig. 4

I was headed west after the curve on E. Benton St. and started to accelerate so I could shift into second gear, but only getting up to 15mph yet ...I was starting to come up beside the white car, as we were both now pointed straight ahead and the road was clear ...he was still solidly in the right lane, and I was in the left lane ... I was still pretty close to the painted line dividing the lanes, riding along where the right tire of a car would be in that left lane.....the front tire of my motorcycle was just coming up along side his rear tire of the car, with  maybe only 4~6 feet between us in our lanes as I started to come beside(which is pretty normal for cars to be this close beside each other in traffic)

if you look back above at the Google Map image, you can see that there isn't much distance between where the curve straightens out onto E. Benton St. and where the north 2nd (side)entrance/exit to the lot is off that street

I hadn't shifted gears yet, and was looking  ahead on the road  when I turned my attention back to the white car as I noticed it suddenly slow dropping back and I came up fully beside it, my front tire now up beside the driver's door....at the same time I noticed his front left turn signal flash on one first blink, and the car move toward me starting into my lane...so instantly I grabbed the brake, and I started to drop back a little also, to where my front tire was coming approximately beside his rear backseat door to try and avoid him as he was shifting over into my lane nose first ahead of me

drawing fig. 5

before I had any time to take any more action(I really didn't have time to even brake much) suddenly the white car fully turned into and across my lane and the side low rocker panel(just below his door) of his car hit my front tire and I lost control of the bike as it was knocked over to the left  in a lean,  with the rear door area(directly behind the driver)  hitting higher up into the front fairing of the motorcycle pushing the front right corner of the fairing up and back and over some as the whole bike was then fully thrown down to the left hard, hitting the ground  in the center of my left lane...the bike was knocked out from under me, and  I came over the bike and down(pulled down with the bike) and my body was hit squarely by the backseat door panel just below the window and was pushed down to the ground beside the bike(my body bouncing off the car after it hit me) landing flat on my chest, with my arms still down at my sides from trying to hold on to the handle bars

the white car did not stop turning or even slow after the big impacts; the first one right below his door outside the side of his driver seat with the motorcycle tire, the next one a big crunch of the bike fairing/windsheid back farther on the rear backseat door higher behind  his head, and last the car door directly behind and below his shoulder slamming into my body

the bike and I slid forward on the pavement in the center of the left lane as we were knocked somewhat away from the car, but the car kept coming farther crossing more into my lane on top of me and the bike, catching us again under the side rocker panel and dragging us slightly to the left(pushing us more to the side of the road) with the car as it turned in front of me...the car came over the front forks and wheel assembly of my motorcycle(up to the headlight, where it then was broken hit by the rocker panel of the car) and then my head/helmet was jammed under the car as the car continued to cross my lane, and then the rear tire drove over it all crushing us to the ground

then white car still continued with its turn from the right lane across the left lane as he ran over everything in it, not trying to stop at all with my head/helmet and motorcycle being stuffed directly under the floor of his car where he sat

even after driving over what had to be a large noticeable bump(the front wheel of the bike and my head/helmet under his rear tire) the car drove on up into the inclined side entrance of the parking lot, leaving me and the bike lying out in the street

drawing fig.6

here is where the white car finally stopped fully up into the lot, all the way thru and up  the inclined entrance and across the sidewalk, as the car entirely left the street and parking along side the front of the building ... the motorcycle lay still in the left lane(a little off the center of the left lane into where the left tire of a car would roll if driving in that lane) moved off course from the car dragging it across the left lane some, but just out from the entrance/exit of the lot(blocking about half the entrance)...and soon the truck pulled up and stopped in the right lane