Glass Bead Reflectors- Life Flight Ride

[L.B.S.]

We've always had that retro reflective glass bead painted lines up here (or at least in BC anyway, not sure on the rest of the country) and it's death slippery in the wet, not so bad in the dry. I can't say I've every seen it's more insidious form of excess powder left over from application!

To my knowledge it doesn't seem to be done that way here. I've watched many lines being painted, and it's a one shot process, with no follow up dry ingredient added. Maybe it's a new way of doing it, because of some latest and greatest environmental requirement, or cost cutting measure!

I'm going to be for sure extra careful of the darned lines now, just in case!

 

[shelglass]

Wow, as some have said this is a new one for me, heal fast my friend

 

[Fuzzy]

So if I understand correctly, not a problem of beads in the paint, but sloppy work spreading and leaving beads across the road beside the paint they should have been in? Basically tiny, loose, marbles under your tires.

 

[walawn]

All this talk about tiny killer death beads that are virtually undetectable and unavoidable until it's too late is giving me the heebie jeebies. I think I'll be going 15 m.p.h. from now on...

 

[Therapy]

I have read about and ridden bikes for 50 years (this year). This is a new one for me. The road is so steep in this turn that I go down to 3rd gear, w/heavy engine braking and a light touch of the front brake before hitting the apex.
I went there today (2 days later) and saw immediately why I went down so violently; the beads were still there. I travel this road almost daily and knew something had changed in that turn and that I had entered (the turn) the same as I had done many times before.

I've contacted a lawyer and Rider magazine w/my story and only want the word to get out about this practice, which probably won't change. My low side was more violent than a normal high side get off...I could have been killed in this one and that angers me.
When I hit on my right shoulder, it threw me over and downhill onto my left side. My left hand is swollen and have a strained wrist. I also have deep tissue hemorrhage to my right upper forearm. My right knee is also swollen. I feel blind sided by WV DOT.

Did you collect some of them?

 

[ST13Fred]

Yes, I have some in a pill canister; my memento.

Before a light rain was on the road one could see the narrow trail of medium start about a foot from the edge of the line and widen about a foot, 10-12 feet into the turn. That is what I saw (that was not there before) as I entered the turn.
I took pictures of the area but are not as detailed when the road was dry. We have gas/oil (Marcellus shale) industry trucks on our local roads, spilling all sorts of fluids and debris down, so I'm mindfully aware of road conditions here.......but these damn beads!

 

[pahondafan]

Glad you're relatively okay. What is so troubling about this is that it was preventable. Unfortunately when we are on 2 wheels the local and state government do not seem to care about the road hazards they create for us with sloppy and unfinished road work. They collect their pound of flesh from my registration and MC inspection but we seem to get nothing in return for that. Maybe you could relate your story to the AMA magazine for their government affairs editor Jim Witters to look into.

 

[ST13Fred]

I spoke w/the man who striped the road in question, know his company address/phone number and walked the turn tonight. He acknowledged his equipment will miss the stripe in turns.
But I'm alarmed at how badly his machinery misses the white stripe on the slightest of road bends and completely misses the line in turns, meaning ALL the beads are in the roadway in R/H turns.
The beads fall to the outside of the line onto the road curb on L/H turns and pose no hazard for cyclists. The (illuminated) beaded line goes to a taper entering and exiting the turn, showing the beads simply fall onto the roadway vehicle track.

I've contact AMA and DOT again regarding this as it is completely unacceptable for this to be happening in EVERY R/H turn during restriping.

I sent pics to the striping company. They now say they did not do the white striping, only the yellow and that beads are mixed into the paint before striping, which is contrary to what the job supervisor told me, who by the way did not return my 2nd call. He's been told to shut up, I believe.

 

[pprior]

That is flat out negligence of the highest order. They know but still do it and don't even bother to sweep it up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[shelglass]

Hurt them in the pocket book, then they will pay better attention.

 

[wildeone]

I don't get it why safety of two wheelers are not important for road service companies,
and why is that not regulated what can be painted and what kinda paint used

 

[Therapy]

Hurt them in the pocket book, then they will pay better attention.

Too bad that is the only way to get people to listen.

Reason is lost in the hum and buzz.

 

[ST13Fred]

I gave AMA a detailed description over the phone of my incident and will send night time pictures (w/headlight stripe illumination/lack thereof) of how the beads tapered off line and onto the roadway. These pics and caption may end up in the magazine.
The police report was faxed to my lawyer and states 'lost control due to glass beads from line painter in the road way', which is the wording we need from an independent witness to move my case forward.
I want to contact the young lady who called 911 at the scene to get her story as I have a blank spot in my memory I need to fill. Her name is on the report.
Our WV Dept of Highways have email contacted me, are investigating this incident and say they will contact me when more information is available.

 

[Therapy]

I gave AMA a detailed description over the phone of my incident and will send night time pictures (w/headlight stripe illumination/lack thereof) of how the beads tapered off line and onto the roadway. These pics and caption may end up in the magazine.
The police report was faxed to my lawyer and states 'lost control due to glass beads from line painter in the road way', which is the wording we need from an independent witness to move my case forward.
I want to contact the young lady who called 911 at the scene to get her story as I have a blank spot in my memory I need to fill. Her name is on the report.
Our WV Dept of Highways have email contacted me, are investigating this incident and say they will contact me when more information is available.

I would be pretty upset too.

If the call was a 911 then it is recorded along with her phone number. Release of that number may need a Judge's signature but if litigation is a happening thing your lawyer will know how to get her statement. If he doesn't..........get another lawyer.

 

[ST13Fred]

Her name is on the 911 summary call sheet that the good officer was kind enough to attach to the report. I did not think about contacting her for a statement as part of the litigation, but yes that would help also. Her statement to the operator was 'rider seems to be hurt pretty bad, he seems very confused and is trying to get up'.
Yes, all of the above. My poor body took a very nasty slam to the hard asphalt and was in shock. I did get up though and had 2 other gentlemen help drag the bike out of the guardrail right before I passed out.
I'm really not wanting any money out of this deal and will donate anything I get to charity, in the hopes the Man upstairs protects me. I just want these paint crews to not do this anymore.

 

[Therapy]

ST13Fred,

What is the latest?
Are you allowed to talk about it?

 

[ST13Fred]

The lawyer has backed out of the case but I have been talking from day one. I was never out for money but racked up a high 5 figure medical bill I hope gets paid; other than me.
2 big issues were, (1) although the Officer indicated the beads caused the crash, he put that in the report after talking with me, so never saw the material in the roadway the day of the accident
and (2) the fine lady on the 911 call from the scene said I acknowledged saying 'yes' to her question, 'were you going too fast?' I never saw her face or remember saying ANYTHING to her. Groaning was all
that came out of my mouth, i just had the snot knocked out of me.

But another motorcycle advocate firm is looking into the incident. The word DID get out, but govt at any level seldom gets held accountable for their misdeeds......one look at DC confirms that.
Fool me once, same on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

 

[davidc83]

All 911 calls are recorded and kept in storage for a long time. You can request the 911 call and listen to it and have that as evidence of what you did or did not say. Were any road signs in place, such as, road work ahead, paint crews ahead, anything warning of any type of road work (doesn't have to be specific)... if so, they probably covered their behinds-depending on the state you live in.

 

[Therapy]

About going too fast: Any good lawyer can prove that you were not thinking (or speaking) coherently from the trauma. Even so, after the crash it would be obvious that for the dangerous conditions created by the line painters, yes, of course you were going too fast.

STORY;
I was rear-ended by a bus at 30mph. I was thrown a fair distance and was unconscious. A Good Samaritan nurse held me down when I was coming-to. I was pretty confused. After a few minutes I was up and walking and the bus driver asked me if my bike was OK. I said I didn't know. He told me to start it and I did. He made it seem as though everything was fine. So what. It turned out to have a bent frame and was a total loss. (bullet proof Honda 125 engine!!) My point is that after a trauma like that one cannot think clearly for themselves.

PS. Two days later my bleeding spleen ruptured it's capsule and only my GF noticing me dying and modern medicine saved me.

PPS. Find a better lawyer.

 

[Brillot2000]

I'm in a new DTE club, however, not related to paint. I've never gone down because of paint; I stay clear of that. These dxxx glass beads are a whole new animal, much more dangerous for us than even dry paint.

It would like be riding on marbles if there's enough of those beads to cover most of the contact surfaces of both the front and rear tires. I am sure that the beads were all over the surface of your tires when the bike came to a rest. They may not still be on the tires since the bike as been handled several times after the incident.