Paying Attention

[Ryan T]

Well, what a day. As I'm riding down I-110 enjoying yet another warm day down on the coast of Mississippi I let my attention slide over to this lady taking the exit. Something caugt my eye, not sure what. Anyway, as I return full attention to the road in front of me there in the middle of the Interstate is a 6 ft aluminum ladder.

As the car in front of me avoids it I instantly see all of it. I had enought time to decide if I wanted to go left or right. Took the left option (already in the left lane, so why not use the outside third of it).

As I pass it, I'm thinking, "That would hurt if I'd hit that going 60mph. That would have been ugly. Pay attention".

I guess no one really cares if their gear is properly tied down these days.

Yeap, paying attention comes in handy.

 

[MarinaFazer]

+1: guilty of looking in to cars (even while driving my Jeep) and then turning back to see a surprise.

 

[madmanmaigret]

For some reason I always look into peoples cars when I'm on the bike but I don't do it so much in the car......

 

[Oscar54]

Yeap, paying attention comes in handy.

+1 - You got that right. I find myself day dreaming sometimes and I realize that I'm not paying attention to what is in front of me.

Had a moment this morning, with a semi-truck doing 20 or 30 mph on the expressway, and did not really notice until the car in front of me hit its brakes because of traffic trying to go around the slow truck, which could have be bad if I didn't make it a habit of trying to always maintain proper following distance. I had to brake hard but had the room, and it woke me up.

So yea, it pays to pay attention, big time.

Glad you made it.

 

[Ryan T]

It's really a problem when you pass a hot young lady. You looking at her looking at you. :thumbup:

Imagine doing this and you run into something. Not cool at all, and talk about embarassing

 

[ANLR21]

+1 on that. This is usually when I end up doing stupid stuff, i.e. not paying attention to the right things. You might think I'm old enough to know better. You'd be wrong.

 

[MarinaFazer]

or some douchebag in a sweet car and you look over to laugh at him as you're in second gear while he's shifting in to 4th

 

[DefyInertia]

Very important on the highway. Thanks for the reminder.

In the twisty bits you rarely have time to lose concentration.

 

[grumpy1luvs2eat]

I'm in Gulfport, I see STUFF falling off, hanging off, not tied down and flopping around all the time. And at HIGH speed. The speed limit signs down here seem to a suggestion, not a limit. I moved here 14 mos ago and I still ride with my senses on HIGH. Left turns on red, while talking on the phone and putting on eyeliner is a huge problem. They act as if you are in the wrong when they cut you off. And they don't have last call, so the drunks are out all the time. But, the weather's nice and I ride 24/7, a big improvement over Ohio! GRUMPY

 

[davidsa1]

Yeah you really do have to watch out for crap coming out of peoples vehicles. My wife had a V8 engine come bouncing at her after it fell out of the back of a pickup!

 

[MarinaFazer]

who the heck doesn't tie down an engine block?!

 

[OZXJR]

who the heck doesn't tie down an engine block?!

The same people that don't tie down those big rolls of electrical conduit ,the 3mtr high ones,saw one come off a truck on the Westgate Bridge in Melbourne once,not in my lane thank god !

BTW the bridge is sloped quite steeply and that sucker just kept rolling !

 

[Ryan T]

I'm in Gulfport, I see STUFF falling off, hanging off, not tied down and flopping around all the time. And at HIGH speed. The speed limit signs down here seem to a suggestion, not a limit. I moved here 14 mos ago and I still ride with my senses on HIGH. Left turns on red, while talking on the phone and putting on eyeliner is a huge problem. They act as if you are in the wrong when they cut you off. And they don't have last call, so the drunks are out all the time. But, the weather's nice and I ride 24/7, a big improvement over Ohio! GRUMPY

No doubt, I'm in D'iberville and it's aweful everywhere. People are always turning left when it's obviouse they have the red light. I always sit at the light an extra moment and look to make sure nothing is coming. The fact that people don't know how to tie things down really annoys me. Too bad I'm not a cop, I'd be writing tickets for that stuff left and right.

I've been down here for over 3 years but I just got my bike last year. It's nice to be able to ride year round (when I'm not deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan that is).

 

[Donnie869]

Thanks for the reminder, sometimes on my commute I feel like I let my "gaurd" down some because of the ho hum boring commute that I have. It's like I forget that I'm on a bike, comment to self " Keep your head out of your ARSE! "

 

[SovietRobot]

This is why I hate driving on multilane freeways/interstates.

 

[mabbott]

I've been down here for over 3 years but I just got my bike last year. It's nice to be able to ride year round (when I'm not deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan that is).

Think about how differently you ride when you first come back! I know I don't want to ride close to anyone, I ride a lot faster (damn Busa!), and I feel anxiety, plus road rage is worse!

I agree with everyone that you should always pay attention, having to hit something, ride over something, or something hit you is not something that you want to do. Keep your guard up and know that you look cool, so you don't have to look at the hot girl looking at you! BTW... you can always put your cell number on the side of your helmet, just in case she was interested.