Hi guys,
I came to my parents home in Cesme Turkey, a popular holiday resort where I spent all of my summers since I was a kid. I keep my first bike, a 1988 Vespa PX200 here to get around, it suits the spirit of this place so well. After doing some office work remotely all afternoon, I hopped on the trusty PX to let off some steam. I also brought my four year old daughter to my parents house. She loves this bike and asked for a ride as I rode past her playground (I give her very short and very slow rides in the driveway after I put her bicycle helmet on). I told her we'd do it after I got back.
I decided to get away from traffic and turned to a street that follows the coast of the Eagean sea. I was doing around 20-30 miles as I approached to a shiny part of the road. As I got near, I realized that this part was under construction. They had laid pebbles and covered them with tar, which is unfortunately common practice in Turkey in road construction. I decided to stop before getting on that part because I could loose the front and crash at worst or get covered with tar at best. Just a fraction after I stopped I heard the sound of chirping tyres, before I could react I was slammed from behind and deposited on the road. The whole episode took probably about 1-2 seconds yet it seemed longer. As I stood up, I checked for any signs of pain but I was totaly OK, not even a bit of road rash. I was really lucky because I was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and loafers (though I had my helmet and my summer gloves on). I looked back and saw what hit me, a Volvo XC60, a mid-sized crossover they sell in Europe. The driver was apologetic and she asked me if I was OK. I said "Yeah I'm OK, and you and I are both very lucky". Her husband was by my side and they took a big breath when they saw I was totally OK. It got a bit weird after this though. They blamed me for having stopped very suddenly. Now guys imagine this, a scooter that has 50 year old technology with tiny 10 inch wheels, cable operated drums front and back outbraked their state-of-the-art crossover with four disc umpteen channel ABS brakes and gazillion driver aids. I told them they were inattentive and I didn't accept this excuse. At this point they decided to take off and I said they ain't going nowhere until we filled out an traffic incident form (unless it involves injury, parties involved fill out a form, where a simple diagram of the scene is drawn, a short description of the accident is written and details such as insurance, licences etc are inserted; cops do not get involved) and they were going to pay for my damages. The husband had the audacity to say "Well who's going to pay for mine?" which were just tiny little scratches on his bumper. Seeing that I didn't really care about this childish and obscene outburst, he gave in (it would've been worse for him to take off because that's highly illegal) and we went to a nearby office to fill out the forms. I called my dad who came with our van to pick me up and got back home.
Technically I was not at fault, a more attentive rider would've just driven around me as I actually steered to the right side of the lane as I braked. But I didn't check my mirrors as I braked, which is very rare for me. I am extremely lucky, had the car been a couple of miles faster, I couldn't have gotten off so easy. Here are a couple of pictures for those who might be interested:
[image: index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=img_ctrl&img=606]
Right before this crash, I was thinking about getting the Vespa back to Istanbul to refurbish it. It had some rusty spots and I thought I'd get it totally stripped, repainted, renew its wiring, suspension and make it a winter project. Well, I definitely have to do it now. May be I should get a supercharger for it as well :-) ...
Be very careful out there guys. Cars are getting smarter but people are definitely getting dumber...
I came to my parents home in Cesme Turkey, a popular holiday resort where I spent all of my summers since I was a kid. I keep my first bike, a 1988 Vespa PX200 here to get around, it suits the spirit of this place so well. After doing some office work remotely all afternoon, I hopped on the trusty PX to let off some steam. I also brought my four year old daughter to my parents house. She loves this bike and asked for a ride as I rode past her playground (I give her very short and very slow rides in the driveway after I put her bicycle helmet on). I told her we'd do it after I got back.
I decided to get away from traffic and turned to a street that follows the coast of the Eagean sea. I was doing around 20-30 miles as I approached to a shiny part of the road. As I got near, I realized that this part was under construction. They had laid pebbles and covered them with tar, which is unfortunately common practice in Turkey in road construction. I decided to stop before getting on that part because I could loose the front and crash at worst or get covered with tar at best. Just a fraction after I stopped I heard the sound of chirping tyres, before I could react I was slammed from behind and deposited on the road. The whole episode took probably about 1-2 seconds yet it seemed longer. As I stood up, I checked for any signs of pain but I was totaly OK, not even a bit of road rash. I was really lucky because I was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and loafers (though I had my helmet and my summer gloves on). I looked back and saw what hit me, a Volvo XC60, a mid-sized crossover they sell in Europe. The driver was apologetic and she asked me if I was OK. I said "Yeah I'm OK, and you and I are both very lucky". Her husband was by my side and they took a big breath when they saw I was totally OK. It got a bit weird after this though. They blamed me for having stopped very suddenly. Now guys imagine this, a scooter that has 50 year old technology with tiny 10 inch wheels, cable operated drums front and back outbraked their state-of-the-art crossover with four disc umpteen channel ABS brakes and gazillion driver aids. I told them they were inattentive and I didn't accept this excuse. At this point they decided to take off and I said they ain't going nowhere until we filled out an traffic incident form (unless it involves injury, parties involved fill out a form, where a simple diagram of the scene is drawn, a short description of the accident is written and details such as insurance, licences etc are inserted; cops do not get involved) and they were going to pay for my damages. The husband had the audacity to say "Well who's going to pay for mine?" which were just tiny little scratches on his bumper. Seeing that I didn't really care about this childish and obscene outburst, he gave in (it would've been worse for him to take off because that's highly illegal) and we went to a nearby office to fill out the forms. I called my dad who came with our van to pick me up and got back home.
Technically I was not at fault, a more attentive rider would've just driven around me as I actually steered to the right side of the lane as I braked. But I didn't check my mirrors as I braked, which is very rare for me. I am extremely lucky, had the car been a couple of miles faster, I couldn't have gotten off so easy. Here are a couple of pictures for those who might be interested:
[image: index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=img_ctrl&img=606]
Album: My poor Vespa
7 images 0 commentsRight before this crash, I was thinking about getting the Vespa back to Istanbul to refurbish it. It had some rusty spots and I thought I'd get it totally stripped, repainted, renew its wiring, suspension and make it a winter project. Well, I definitely have to do it now. May be I should get a supercharger for it as well :-) ...
Be very careful out there guys. Cars are getting smarter but people are definitely getting dumber...