It never ceases to amaze me...

[jtarkany]

Riding home from work today, minding my own business, on the outside of the fast-lane, doing about 65 mph, got a good 2-3 second gap between me and the car ahead when...

...this little black Acura with a 20 something, young lady, passes on my right in the middle-lane. I don't think too much about it as the traffic is obviously packed up ahead and she's not going anywhere.

Sure enough her lane starts slowing down and of course I am now positioned in her blind spot, off of her driver-side rear fender, I check the shoulder condition (paved, fairly clean), glance in my mirrors to make sure I'm not being tailgated, just start to slow down when...BAM! she pulls right into my lane without even glancing over :spank:. I pull the bike to the extreme edge without going into the shoulder, straighten out, throttle down and give the breaks a little tap and avoid disaster.

I look at her in her side-mirror and she has this big, shocked face :jawdrop:, like 'where did you come from,' completely forgetting that she had just passed me not 10 seconds earlier.

Like Dunno said over in the "List Your Street Riding Strategy" Thread:

Im invisible.

Never assume that you have been seen & you wont be disappointed when someone is picking you up off the road saying "sorry I didnt see you there".

You could have your lights on high beam & be wearing a fluro jacket, a car driver will still change lanes without looking & use it as their defence.

 

[wrightme43]

people are stupid.

 

[jtarkany]

people are stupid.

Unfortunately there is a lot of truth to that, but it still surprises me sometimes.

 

[CHEMIKER]

You might have saved your own life by paying attention and anticipating.

Good for you, and thanks for posting the story; it might help one of us learn and avoid disaster :thumbup:

 

[Wingover]

I know that I am invisible & simply expect the worst of human beings when they are in their cars. You handled the emergency well.. Sometimes, after sharing the road with our species, I worry that I may become a total misanthrope.. Ha!

 

[lonesoldier84]

this is honestly the one thing that CONSISTENTLY scares the crap out of me when im out there.

i ride extremely defensively...but when a car is to one side of me and i have no possible exit i always pretend like they are about to swerve INTO me. I try to get out of those situations ASAP. scares the hell out of me. i start eyeballing the guardrails i could be forced into, or posts, or whatever.

rly a very unsettling feeling.

 

[jazzpaintball]

you did the best thing you could, think of the worst case scenario and prepared for it.

Easiest thing to remember while riding that will save your life:

EVERY ONE IS OUT TO KILL YOU

use this idea to heart, and it will save you

 

[LERecords]

Easiest thing to remember while riding that will save your life:

EVERY ONE IS OUT TO KILL YOU

use this idea to heart, and it will save you

I like it.. cuz that would "make" anyone pay attention... :thumbup:

 

[Heather]

My brother, who is an extremely careful, excellent driver - one of the safest I know - has a bike license, but in a recent e-mail to me, he said: "I am my own reason I don't own a bike. Different times I look, think it clear to pass and then holy cow - there's a motor bike coming. Also in the truck and trailer [he drives a rig] I can have a blind spot even though I check carefully so make sure a big truck knows you're there before you pass. In four lanes be very careful passing in the slow lane, many people are just not as careful going to the right lane as the left. So every time you take that beast out, remember the road is full of drivers just like me." A sobering warning. Be careful out there!

 

[AJ_rider]

Thats why I never ride in anybody's blind spot. I keep an aggressively defensive strategy while on the road. Always overtaking, never letting myself be forgotten about in a blind spot.

 

[grumpy1luvs2eat]

The safest thing that you can do for yourself is to maintain situational awareness. Assume that everybody cannot see you while you share the road with others and ride that way. After all, they are actively trying to KILL you. Cagers will always say that bikers are wrong and it's YOUR fault when they do something stoooopid! GRUMPY

 

[chunkygoat]

You nailed it right on the head - pretty much all of you. Invisible is the perfect word. As much as some people like to ride for the image, its quite opposite. I always keep the mindset that I am invisible to everybody. I am constantly flashing my high beams and cars approaching intersections, honking my horn, switching lane positions, etc.

And even then, being aware of all road and traffic conditions is crucial. You set a good example there checking out the shoulder conditions and looking in your mirrors to make sure nobody was close behind you. That is planning and execution of your escape route to the T.

Glad to hear you made it out without a serious ordeal. Sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders. Keep on ridin safe dude.

 

[n.e.mich]

Not to mention it seems like most 20 something women have no common sense or value for human life anymore.

 

[Got-boost?]

What I like is when they look right at you then pull out, had this done to me yesterday. My new pair of armored gloves are going to come in handy when my temper explodes the next time.

 

[jtarkany]

What I like is when they look right at you then pull out, had this done to me yesterday. My new pair of armored gloves are going to come in handy when my temper explodes the next time.

I'm glad they didn't nail you pulling out

 

[JD6]

Cell phones, and woman drivers will be the death of us all!!! lol

 

[jtarkany]

Cell phones, and woman drivers will be the death of us all!!! lol

I almost agree, don't forget, there are a lot of ladies on two wheels as well, and I'm sure they are just as frustrated with the cagers .

 

[JD6]

I agree with you 100%. Two days I passed a pile of pig swine in his Porsche SUV doing a a cross word puzzle while cruising at 75 on the h'way!!! So no disrespect intended to the ladies throwing down on the two wheels. It was more personal experience talking. The ex loves to fire off txt messages while navigating through busy streets. :spank:

 

[jtarkany]

Right on :thumbup:

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Excellent post and excellent awareness , anticipation and execution of your surroundings.

The only thing I would have done different was use the horn. This happens to me almost on a daily basis here in Vegas, and the exact scenario just happend to me yestereday also on the freeway. Whenever a scenario like this starts to develope, a lot of times, I have the horn covered in the anticipation and for some odd reason, I'm just begging for them to come into my lane so I can give them an ear full blast of my Stebel Horn. Yeah, sometimes they still come in but at least I let them know that they F'd up. And yes, I know I can't rely on the horn 100% to bail me out of certain situations, but I still use it a lot because it's kind of a nice revenge for most situations that I encounter.