Did a dumb thing today...well, two dumb things.

[OneTrack]

I was in a bit of a hurry this morning when I left home on my FZ6, and suddenly realized about 20 seconds into the ride that I hadn't fastened my RF-1000's chin strap. (that was a first...). Anyhow, at the first opportunity, I signalled right and pulled over to the side of the road to fasten the chin strap. Once it was fastened, a quick shoulder check and off I went. I then realized that I hadn't zipped up my jacket outside pocket with my wallet in it, so rather than pull over, I slowed down and felt for the zip. While I was doing this, a van stopped at a stop sign about 100 feet ahead of me (from the right). As I was zipping up the pocket zipper, the van driver looked right at me and pulled out half into my lane before he realized (even though I was going quite slowly, probably about 30 kph) that I was going straight on.....I gave him a look in the old style and then realized....yep....I had not cancelled my right flasher from when I pulled over to fasten my chinstrap. I felt an absolute idiot, and felt sorry for the van driver. From his perspective, my right flasher was going and I was slowing down; therefore I was going to turn right. I really can't blame him for pulling out. He did stop immediately when he realized that I was going straight on, but must have been PO'd that I gave him a dirty look.
They say confession's good for the soul, right?
Moral of story: NEVER be so much "in a hurry" that you forget things like fastening your helmet up....In my case, mistakes began to accumulate that could have had a very different ending. My bad. :spank:

 

[sportrider]

I'm guilty of the chin strap. I've gotten side tracked gearing up and ride off to feel it whipping in the wind.

 

[wrightme43]

Yep, me too. Both of them but at seperate times. Dude was all nice and didnt kill ya, and you give him a dirty look. I guess you owe that guy a amends. Lol. He has probley forgotten about it by now.

 

[2-stroke]

Anytime I am in a hurry to get on my bike i forget my chin strap. It tends to whip me in the neck to remind me. One time I tried fixing it at a red light. Took off my gloves, fixed the helmet strap then started putting my gloves back on dropping them on the ground ended up needing to get off the bike to pick them up, it was at a long red light.

 

[DefyInertia]

I'm so paranoid about blinkers that I find myself cancelling them at the track sometimes.....I often push the thing repeatedly before catching myself (not at the track).

 

[OneTrack]

Yep, me too. Both of them but at seperate times. Dude was all nice and didnt kill ya, and you give him a dirty look. I guess you owe that guy a amends. Lol. He has probley forgotten about it by now.

I'm not a mean person (nor am I a pushover), but I generally agonize for days if I think I've unjustifiably/unintentionally upset somebody...I just hope that he didn't actually see my "dirty look" because of my helmet. Oh well...lesson learned. :thumbup:
One can mess about in one's car like that and (unfortunately) get away with it... dialing the cellphone, reaching for the coffee cup, searching for sunglasses or a decent station on the radio, trying to find that bag of candies that seem to move around...But on a bike? NO. Inattentiveness combined with forgetfulness and a sprinkling of stupidity can be unforgiving and lethal.

 

[OneTrack]

Anytime I am in a hurry to get on my bike i forget my chin strap. It tends to whip me in the neck to remind me. One time I tried fixing it at a red light. Took off my gloves, fixed the helmet strap then started putting my gloves back on dropping them on the ground ended up needing to get off the bike to pick them up, it was at a long red light.

Heh heh....I dropped a glove at a traffic light once when I was looking for something in my jacket pocket and had to do the same thing. How embarrassing.

 

[OneTrack]

I'm so paranoid about blinkers that I find myself cancelling them at the track sometimes.....I often push the thing repeatedly before catching myself (not at the track).

That's the first time I've forgotten to cancel my flashers since I first returned to bikes early last year. (Flashing indicators on motorcycles..? Who knew?)
I'm normally paranoid about cancelling them, to the point of saying to myself "cancel cancel" every time I've completed a turn. This time was a bit different, I guess, in that I didn't turn....I pulled over to the side of the road, which is something I rarely do, if ever . I was distracted and I ended up making a fool of myself with a cager of all things.

 

[rvbiker]

I've done the same thing. The first thing you notice is the helmet pulling up on your head. Too bad somebody hasn't come up with a mod to cancel the turn signal. Glad you weren't hurt.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I myself have been guilty of numerous things that has required me to stop. But being stubborn, I always have opted to wait until I come across a red light as there are plenty here in this town, intersections after intersections. Go figure, everytime I need a long red light to stop and get things right, I get nothing but green lights.

 

[anot]

Well everybody does the indicator thing at one time or another, and the look, he probably deserved it for something he has done or will do in the future

 

[abraxas]

Yeah, don't worry about the look "old style' ... but indicators are a problem too. Especially when you're turning with cagers, and so focused on getting round the corner ok you forget to switch them off.

Helmet never a problem, i take care when gearing up, a loose glove or chinstrap is really annoying, so make sure its right before getting on.

 

[bluenova]

I'm so paranoid about blinkers that I find myself cancelling them at the track sometimes.....I often push the thing repeatedly before catching myself (not at the track).

I always press to cancel a couple of times whenever I'm coming up to a junction where I'm going straight on, just in case I forgot or didn't press hard enough before. It's second nature now, to press it just as I would if I'm turning left or right.

 

[lonesoldier84]

just do what i do to avoid forgetting to do up ur chin-strap:

never take ur helmet off...ever.

 

[codeblue]

Guilty on both accounts, plus the other day I was coming out of the parking lot closely following a coworker.... I check the left side of the road for traffic but neglected the right. I came close in taking out two teens on bikes, I quickly lock my front and rear brakes to avoid them. Felt like an idiot after a few seconds of foolishly blaming the kids for going in their RIGHT way. I've been alot better with the blinkers though, the chin strap is very rare.

 

[mdr]

Guilty on both accounts, plus the other day I was coming out of the parking lot closely following a coworker.... I check the left side of the road for traffic but neglected the right. I came close in taking out two teens on bikes, I quickly lock my front and rear brakes to avoid them. Felt like an idiot after a few seconds of foolishly blaming the kids for going in their RIGHT way. I've been alot better with the blinkers though, the chin strap is very rare.

Not sure what you mean by their RIGHT way. Bicycles must follow the same road rules as motor vehicles. It's pedestrians that are supposed to walk against traffic. Lots of people make that mistake but at least in my state it's the law and it's a lot safer for everyone if it's obeyed.

 

[Tailgate]

I rode with a 1100 cc Honda cruiser the other month. On the entire trip, he had his signals on...even after I told him about it once (or was it twice?). I guess he's a moron when it comes to this department. At any rate, this turn signal business got me to install a beeper. I can't hear it when I'm on the freeway but for the in town stuff it won't let you forget about it. It's annoying enough so that as soon as the signal is no longer beneficial I'm eager to turn signal off. I think that manufacturers ought to incorporate an audible signal (or maybe one that can be default/off) in new bikes. I don't know how the after-market self-cancel signals work but I have my doubts.

 

[AJ_rider]

Guilty of forgetting my chin strap as well, but only once. Also I sometimes have OCD when it comes to turning off the blinker, I'll hit the button a few times and sometimes I hit it even if I didnt turn on my blinker, not necessarily a bad habit I guess.

 

[Tailgate]

Not sure what you mean by their RIGHT way. Bicycles must follow the same road rules as motor vehicles. It's pedestrians that are supposed to walk against traffic. Lots of people make that mistake but at least in my state it's the law and it's a lot safer for everyone if it's obeyed.

Yeah, I haven't checked my state (CA) but I suspect usually that this is the same. However, there's an avenue right by my house on which there's a sidewalk on one side and no sidewalk and no/barely any shoulder on the other side. Bicyclists routinely ride both directions on the sidewalk side. I would say that it's actually dangerous to ride a bicycle on the other non-sidewalk side even when you'd be going in the same direction. Then, of course, there exist the bicyclists that just ignore standard protocol on streets where there's no good reason not to. I try to check for both directions. Ever try to sue a bicyclist? I don't imagine that it's a slam dunk but rather difficult or more trouble than it's worth. But, yeah, mdr;8785 is right about standard protocol for bicyclists. But, it's kinda like the same for maritime rules. A lot don't KNOW what the rules are because you're not required to know maritime laws to register boats and for some boats (non motorized?) you don't even need to register. Go figure.

 

[sideslider]

That's the first time I've forgotten to cancel my flashers since I first returned to bikes early last year. (Flashing indicators on motorcycles..? Who knew?)
I'm normally paranoid about cancelling them, to the point of saying to myself "cancel cancel" every time I've completed a turn. This time was a bit different, I guess, in that I didn't turn....I pulled over to the side of the road, which is something I rarely do, if ever . I was distracted and I ended up making a fool of myself with a cager of all things.

I have a habit of clicking my cancel button often