Ran a Red (Photo Enforced) but no choice!

[pv107]

Arhhh!!!

Here's the situation: Riding home from work. It's 11:30 at night. Ambient temp. is around 50 degrees. I was about to cross an intersection. I forgot how far I was from the from the signal light, but when it turned yellow, I knew I still had plenty of time to stop. I was going around 40mph.

I used my rear brakes first. All of a sudden, my rear wheel slid side to side, not violently, but enough to make me shit bricks. I kept calm. But instintivly, I applied the front brakes (but gently). Then both tires lost all grib, and the bike just slid forward (strange sensation), hardly loosing any speed. I was less than 15 feet from the stop line when the light turned red - still sliding side to side going at least 20mph. I thought to myself, forget it, if I force the bike to stop now, I might loose it. So I just let the brakes go. The tires regained traction as I crossed the interesection.

Before I crossed the opposite cross walk, the photo lights flashed. Damn... All of this happened in a few seconds

I'm a newbie, and in retrospect, maybe I should of just used the front brakes instead of the rear? Or, I should of let the rear go, then apply the front? And, no, I never grabbed the rear brakes, I always sqeeze it as I was taught in MSF. I'm guessing the rear slid due to cold tires and cold asphalt? I didn't see any sort of spill on the road.

I figure, crash the bike or go to traffic school. Guys, and gals, please tell me I did the right thing in that situation!

[youradhere]

Depending on which camera caught you, sometimes there will be more than just a picture of you flying past the light, in some cases there is also a video that is brought to court. If the camera that caught you does not capture the wheels losing traction, you may be able to subpoena the video from the camera facing the opposite direction which (if you are lucky) will have caught the whole thing on tape

[ChampionR6-476]

well for starters, you were braking totally wrong. 70% or better of your braking force should be coming from your front brakes. There is a reason that there are two, they are bigger and they are controlled by your throttle hand.

[sunofwolf]

Yea the fastest way to stop is of course using front and rear brakes at the same time sometimes very hard to do. I sometimes hit the back brake to test the road surface before hitiing the front,but not the best idea thats only if i have plenty of time. To stop the fastest hit the front brakes lighty then increase pressure but not all at once and then you could lightly be using the back brakes too- I have special pads in back that don't lock up and ss lines that don't make the brakes feel like sponges- I am going to add floating rotors soon in the front for more braking power

[Scooby]

sounds like bad choice of brake , and cold tires. i never use the back brake , unless im riding a 90mph stand up wheelie through a school zone while being chased by 5 cops. just trying to be safe.

[Mot Krig]

I use both, you can stop way faster w/ the combo, but you gotta go down to a parking lot and test it out to see how fast you can stop w/o locking up. I just started out slow then tried it going faster and faster, i'm definitely not an expert, but it gives you a great feel for the bike. you should already have done this if you took the advice from the msf course.

[sideshow]

wait.. does your bike have a plate on the front? if not.. why are you worrying?

reason i ask is cause the cameras at intersections around me all take shots of the front plate and of the driver.. not the rear

[doorsdude]

either way, if you get a ticket, just talk to the judge and explain to him what happened. chances are he will give you a break, or a reduction at least, if this is a first offence.

[unsuper man]

your front tire didnt lose traction. trust me.

when u lock the front tire, youll know... you had more breaking power left..

[pv107]

I don't use the rear brake to totally stop the bike. I use it to start slowing the bike down. Then I use the front brake directly after. But this night, once I the rear started going side to side, I was in "ohh shit" mode. I think another reason for this was because I rode in the very center of the lane (which usually has the worst traction correct?). I was very surprised the rear broke away so fast, since I only used minimal pressure on the pedal.

I spoke with someone who used to work with the police. He said since I had a helmet on, they can't totally identify me. They probably have my plate #, but I could just say someone borrowed my bike that night. But I think i'm going the other route and just tell the judge what actually happened.

Live and learn. When I think about it, i'm lucky there was no car in front of me. Then my choices were going to be: 1. Hit the car in front of me. 2. Swerve to the side and low side the bike. 3. Hit the car in front of me.