Hit and Run

[Yakaru]

Well, my bike was nailed in a hit and run yesterday. I seem to have the worst luck with these things.

Super long story short: Parked in a subcompact spot (seems appropriate for a bike), and a woman decided to park her van in the [subcompact] spot next to my bike and completely creamed my ninja when she pulled out to leave. There was a witness but she sped off too fast for her to record a plate and so now the only hope is for the security office to review the parking lot camera video on monday to try and catch it.

Was leaking a lot of fluids, could definitely smell gas. I'm hoping the damage isn't serious but since I'm trivially past my uninsured deductible just from my helmet and the tow I'm trying to track down a good shop in the area to give everything a super solid inspection.

https://twitter.com/Yakaru/status/495398081610129408

[Alex]

That blows. Hope the plate is visible in the video.

Gas leaking out of the overflow isn't rare in a tipover, and doesn't necessarily indicate any real damage. A little more concerned about oil leaking out that easily, but would have to find out where it's coming from. If it went over hard enough, I'd imagine there is a good bit of cosmetic damage, so it could be a good amount of $ if the goal is to get it back to perfect. Good luck!

[M42]

That's awful dude, I really hope the plate's visible in the video. People that hit and run in any capacity are scum.

[Baron]

That sucks.
I hope they can figure out who it was from the security footage.
On a side note : You work at Valve?

[Yakaru]

Originally Posted by Alex

That blows. Hope the plate is visible in the video.

Gas leaking out of the overflow isn't rare in a tipover, and doesn't necessarily indicate any real damage. A little more concerned about oil leaking out that easily, but would have to find out where it's coming from. If it went over hard enough, I'd imagine there is a good bit of cosmetic damage, so it could be a good amount of $ if the goal is to get it back to perfect. Good luck!

Thanks, it was definitely mostly gas -- the small amount of oil may just be from the filter on the crankcase. But I keep my bike spotless so yeah, every bit of cosmetics I will want fixed up. Thankfully I can't imagine this hitting the frame or getting wheels out of round, which would be much bigger problems.

[Flying]

I hope you get justice for the hit and run.

[flitecontrol]

I hope they find out who did this, and they are prosecuted.

[ForceofWill]

Originally Posted by flitecontrol

I hope they find out who did this, and they are prosecuted.

^^

People that hit and run are pieces of $#!&. I hope the camera is clear as day and the cops show up at her house.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by ForceofWill

^^

People that hit and run are pieces of $#!&. I hope the camera is clear as day and the cops show up at her house.

Hopefully. From my experience with security cameras, it depends on how old the cameras were, the camera's field of view and the distance between them and the car. You have no idea how dumb people can be when it comes to positioning security cameras. I personally had to oversee the repositioning of more than a few of those in one of the places I was working at.

[algs26]

Well that sucks.

Maybe she bought something? You could tie a face to a name from her CC info.

[LittleRedNinjette]

Hope it works out and they catch her.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by Yakaru

Well, my bike was nailed in a hit and run yesterday. I seem to have the worst luck with these things.............

Sorry to read about this senseless damage to Saturn, Yakaru.

[choneofakind]

People that hit and run suck!! I really hope you can find out who did this on the video.


I'm actually relieved to see this after reading the thread title. I thought you'd been hit personally, not just the bike in a parking lot!!!

[cuong-nutz]

Piece of $hit, alright. Hope you catch that scumbag!

[greenaero]

Very sorry to hear this, hopefiully the damage isnot too serious and you can get back to riding soon.

[Yakaru]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

People that hit and run suck!! I really hope you can find out who did this on the video.


I'm actually relieved to see this after reading the thread title. I thought you'd been hit personally, not just the bike in a parking lot!!!

Yes, thank heavens it was just Saturn and not a combo deal. I may have the worst luck but I have the best worst luck in that regard -- for all the things I've gone through I've never been hurt.

[Finesse]

So sorry to hear this. My bike leaked oil when it was down on its right side and when I started it up, I smelled oil burning and there was smoke coming out the exhaust pipe. Turns out it was nothing, oil coming out the breather or something... Bike was fine after it ran a little bit. Are your handlebars bent or your wheel out of alignment? I'd look for that. It's Monday - did you get a chance to follow up on trying to track the plate?

[Yakaru]

Yeah, no go -- they have it on the camera but the resolution is too low to make out the plate from what the security office said, so we only have a make/model/color. I've passed those details along to insurance.

I'm having the bike taken to SUB ( http://seattleusedbikes.com/ ) tomorrow on the recommendation of pnwriders for a full inspection and repair. Looks like I'm out $1000 to pay my deductible at this point.

[Finesse]

Mehh. I know how upsetting it is to have stuff like this happen, sorry you have to go through it! It's especially frustrating when it's not your fault at all, so I don't know if it helps to say that at least you weren't on it and anything can be repaired if you can pay for it. Maybe just do the minimum and when you've got some cash saved up, fix the cosmetics? $1000 deductible is high!

[Yakaru]

Yeah, it is unfortunate but there are plenty of worse things that could have happened

As for the cost -- since everything after $1k is covered it's most efficient to go ahead and do everything (the total bill at this point I'm sure is over $2k, taking into account the tow yard, storage, plastics, and my helmet as a minimum). This is what savings are for, even if it wasn't what I wanted to save for.

[Finesse]

If I were you I'd go ahead and take it to a shop, let them make an estimate on the repairs to return it back to pristine condition. You should have the option to receive a check from the insurance company for the estimated amount less $1000 and then you can decide what to do with that. I work in a shop and we get a lot of people whose estimates were around $3-4000 and instead of ordering factory parts they choose to upgrade some things and ignore others. There was a guy with a Thruxton that he'd crashed twice already and the second repair estimate came to $4,000 for the parts and labor to return it back to stock. He decided to order cheaper parts and have the shop install clip ons, aftermarket grips and brake lines and mirrors and ignored the scratched engine cover and scratched exhaust pipes. Just a thought. You could even make some money off of this! I know I did when I lowsided my bike. 'Crashed your bike? TIME FOR TWO BROTHERS!'

Let us know how it turns out.

[BaeSlippinn]

I can't believe some people :/

[flitecontrol]

You never said where this occurred. If it was at work, you might be able to locate the vehicle. If not, an ad in the local paper asking for information and describing the vehicle and where damage to it should be might give good results. Most folks dislike hit-and-run drivers with a passion, and would be glad to help identify the responsible party.

[LittleRedNinjette]

Originally Posted by Finesse

If I were you I'd go ahead and take it to a shop, let them make an estimate on the repairs to return it back to pristine condition. You should have the option to receive a check from the insurance company for the estimated amount less $1000 and then you can decide what to do with that. I work in a shop and we get a lot of people whose estimates were around $3-4000 and instead of ordering factory parts they choose to upgrade some things and ignore others. There was a guy with a Thruxton that he'd crashed twice already and the second repair estimate came to $4,000 for the parts and labor to return it back to stock. He decided to order cheaper parts and have the shop install clip ons, aftermarket grips and brake lines and mirrors and ignored the scratched engine cover and scratched exhaust pipes. Just a thought. You could even make some money off of this! I know I did when I lowsided my bike. 'Crashed your bike? TIME FOR TWO BROTHERS!'

Let us know how it turns out.

^^This!!

Did that when the 300 took a nap in the driveway.
My deductible was 200 and only paid 60ish.

Now, you still have to pay the deductible even though its clearly not your fault?

[Yakaru]

flite: there was a witness and it's on tape already, I doubt if those aren't enough that filing something in the paper would do any good.

littlered: yeah, I still have to pay the deductible. Same as if it were hit by lightning or anything else that isn't my fault. The only way to not pay is to find the person who hit me and make her pay.

[broken neck]

Originally Posted by Yakaru

Yeah, no go -- they have it on the camera but the resolution is too low to make out the plate from what the security office said, so we only have a make/model/color. I've passed those details along to insurance.

I'm having the bike taken to SUB ( http://seattleusedbikes.com/ ) tomorrow on the recommendation of pnwriders for a full inspection and repair. Looks like I'm out $1000 to pay my deductible at this point.

Can you have that recording? Maybe you can use some editing to try to see the plate numbers... Just saying...

[alex.s]

keep an eye out for that van.

karma must sometimes be self-imposed.

[Yakaru]

Originally Posted by broken neck

Can you have that recording? Maybe you can use some editing to try to see the plate numbers... Just saying...

I wasn't told this directly, but my insurance company really wanted the contact info for the security company. It'd be in their best interests to get that information, so I'm assuming they're on it :P

[alex.s]

if the plate is visible moving across the picture at least a few pixels you can use fancy algorithms to interpolate based on the data from the movement. they do it a lot for photos from space

[Baron]

Originally Posted by Yakaru

I wasn't told this directly, but my insurance company really wanted the contact info for the security company. It'd be in their best interests to get that information, so I'm assuming they're on it :P

Talk directly to the supervisor since all other guards/security officers need his permission to give the footage. You'll be saving yourself some time.
Good luck.

Originally Posted by alex.s

if the plate is visible moving across the picture at least a few pixels you can use fancy algorithms to interpolate based on the data from the movement. they do it a lot for photos from space

While that is true, security cameras used in most places don't have enough resolution to begin with. If you try to do to much, you end up with a pixelated mess since digital zoom can only go so far. Playing with the contrast, saturation and brightness may help but only to a certain extent.

As strange as it may sound, security camera's are more of deterrent in many places. Given the low end cameras many businesses use to save money, their main purpose shifts from catching someone to just proving that something happened.

Again I don't know what cameras they are using but if they said that the resolution was "too low to make out the license plate", you can pretty much assume that you won't be able to do much even if you get the footage; But this is what I think is the case given the experience I have with security systems and I very well could be wrong.

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by Baron

Talk directly to the supervisor since all other guards/security officers need his permission to give the footage. You'll be saving yourself some time.
Good luck.



While that is true, security cameras used in most places don't have enough resolution to begin with. If you try to do to much, you end up with a pixelated mess since digital zoom can only go so far. Playing with the contrast, saturation and brightness may help but only to a certain extent.

As strange as it may sound, security camera's are more of deterrent in many places. Given the low end cameras many businesses use to save money, their main purpose shifts from catching someone to just proving that something happened.

Again I don't know what cameras they are using but if they said that the resolution was "too low to make out the license plate", you can pretty much assume that you won't be able to do much even if you get the footage; But this is what I think is the case given the experience I have with security systems and I very well could be wrong.

using multiple images of the plate, as the plate moves across the boundaries of pixels, the sum of the colors that each pixel represents changes since the pixel is summed from varying sources of light (ie- the part of the plate that contributes to an individual pixel changes). using the movement deltas and the deltas from the summed values (pixels), you can interpolate between subpixel units based on approximations of what combinations of subpixels could be summed with those movement deltas to produce the resulting pixel sums. the result is a very smooth but fairly clear image that is the approximation of subpixel combinations that could lead to the resulting low resolution sets of images. ie- "ENHANCE!" is actually a thing when you have video of it and know what you're doing.

if there are at least 10 or so images at with at least 10x10 pixels of the plate, moving at least 30 pixels across the screen, you should be able to generate a pretty clear image of the plate.

[alex.s]

you could probably get a decent result by simply summing the perspective corrected frames of the plate over many frames without even worrying about the movement deltas

[Yakaru]

All this is fine theory talk but I've washed my hands of it; It's not worth my mental reserves to try and track them down and my insurance company will handle what due diligence needs to be done.

[allanoue]

Originally Posted by alex.s

using multiple images of the plate, as the plate moves across the boundaries of pixels, the sum of the colors that each pixel represents changes since the pixel is summed from varying sources of light (ie- the part of the plate that contributes to an individual pixel changes). using the movement deltas and the deltas from the summed values (pixels), you can interpolate between subpixel units based on approximations of what combinations of subpixels could be summed with those movement deltas to produce the resulting pixel sums. the result is a very smooth but fairly clear image that is the approximation of subpixel combinations that could lead to the resulting low resolution sets of images. ie- "ENHANCE!" is actually a thing when you have video of it and know what you're doing.

if there are at least 10 or so images at with at least 10x10 pixels of the plate, moving at least 30 pixels across the screen, you should be able to generate a pretty clear image of the plate.

No Way Out w/Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman

[Baron]

Originally Posted by alex.s

using multiple images of the plate, as the plate moves across the boundaries of pixels, the sum of the colors that each pixel represents changes since the pixel is summed from varying sources of light (ie- the part of the plate that contributes to an individual pixel changes). using the movement deltas and the deltas from the summed values (pixels), you can interpolate between subpixel units based on approximations of what combinations of subpixels could be summed with those movement deltas to produce the resulting pixel sums. the result is a very smooth but fairly clear image that is the approximation of subpixel combinations that could lead to the resulting low resolution sets of images. ie- "ENHANCE!" is actually a thing when you have video of it and know what you're doing.

if there are at least 10 or so images at with at least 10x10 pixels of the plate, moving at least 30 pixels across the screen, you should be able to generate a pretty clear image of the plate.

Interesting. I didn't know about the finer detail of the process but it does sound doable. Tell me something, and correct me if I am wrong since I am try not to go into technical details of a process, by what you said doesn't the size of the pixel matter in relation to the whole resolution?
What I am getting at is, that if the ppi is too low, won't it really effect the info that could be extracted from that particular area even for 10 frames?

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by Baron

Interesting. I didn't know about the finer detail of the process but it does sound doable. Tell me something, and correct me if I am wrong since I am try not to go into technical details of a process, by what you said doesn't the size of the pixel matter in relation to the whole resolution?
What I am getting at is, that if the ppi is too low, won't it really effect the info that could be extracted from that particular area even for 10 frames?

the lower the summed resolution (larger pixel size vs source image), the more movement/frames you would need to get an accurate representation. more frames, more data, more accurate.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by alex.s

the lower the summed resolution (larger pixel size vs source image), the more movement/frames you would need to get an accurate representation. more frames, more data, more accurate.

See...NOW I get it, you really got to break it down for me to get it. I can be too stubborn sometimes. Well you learn something new everyday. Thanks mate.

[flitecontrol]

Originally Posted by Yakaru

flite: there was a witness and it's on tape already, I doubt if those aren't enough that filing something in the paper would do any good.

I was thinking more along the lines of a neighbor noticing that the lady next door came home with a damaged van, and it's the same model and color as listed in the newspaper article.

[Yakaru]

Finally got the estimate in -- $2300 in bike damage plus my helmet. Thankfully doing the work myself will 'make up' for the deductible it looks like; so I'm only out a bit of time in the garage.

[csmith12]

How did miss this thread?

That is a bummer Yakaru hope everything works out for the best for ya.