Never relax.. never assume you're safe

[Erci]

This morning, I was surprised for the first time in a very long time.
I was in the parking lot at work, looking for a spot, riding at about 7-8mph. I always go slow in lots and I always expect that any of the cars can suddenly pull out (even though we're talking arrival time.. highly unlikely for anyone to be leaving).
As I'm moving, I'm occasionally turning my head to the left to look ahead for spots. Then.. an SUV blows by me on my left at about 25mph. I have to admit I was completely surprised. I failed to apply my own advice that I give to all my students: "what if" .. in this case the "what if", in addition to cars pulling out should have been "what if some dummy decides to pass me?".
Even though I was in the parking lot at work, sharing space with co-workers, I should have still accounted for worst case scenarios. It doesn't matter that the driver was a completely careless idiot who didn't think about my safety.. it was up to me to know he was there and it should not have surprised me. If I had actually made the left into a parking spot (no.. at that point I would not have done a head check because I was so sure no one would do something so stupid as to go into oncoming-traffic-lane and pass on left in this situation), I would have gotten hit.

A very good reminder for me to always be alert and always expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised if the worst case scenario does NOT happen.

Hopefully, this post will serve as a reminder to others.. who may have gotten a bit too relaxed or too comfortable, that we always have to be on our game if we want to stay out of trouble out there.

 

[Verharen]

This morning, I was surprised for the first time in a very long time.

Perhaps the universe felt it was time to send you a little wake up call? Glad to hear that you are wide awake and reminding all of us to be careful too. If it had been too long since you had that heavy surge of adrenaline while on the bike, I'm sorry it had to happen this way!

Ride on my brother! :mikebike:

 

[Ohendo]

Great advice. Lesson learned!

BTW, did you know the guy that blew past you? Did you say anything to him afterward?

 

[Karate.Snoopy]

That is appalling, you should have clobbered that sucker good man.

 

[Water Bear]

Just remember: That guy needed an SUV to feel safe from a motorcycle.

 

[FinalImpact]

Man I hear you. In these industrial parks many here use them as shortcuts and travel way too fast in them. IMO the odds of being ran over here (even in a cage) are just to high and I stay on the main thoroughfare to avoid being a statistic because of this.

Anyway, back to your point; this past weekend I was in large group ride (35+ bikes) which I didn't know any of the riders or their skill sets. While in route to a destination I thought I'd made wrong turn and was going to pull onto a side street to turn around. I braked slowly, had my signal on, was just inside the center line of the road waiting for traffic to pass before turing onto a side street - AND MUCH to my surprise, some idiot comes flying between me (very close to the center line) and an oncoming car. Our handle bars couldn't have cleared by 3 inches. I didn't even have time to crap my pants and it was over as they were long gone!

Point being, 1/4 second in time and my day could have ended right there in heap on the road. I cleared the area behind me, was still traveling about 20 mph but slowing when this guy came through at ~ 80 mph. Yes, heartrate was accelerated for bit!!! As said, it was over before anything happened. SCARY! If I had to guess that person didn't see me slow down and WAS distracted!

FWIW: this was 4 lane road, with guard rails on both sides thus HE was behind me and didn't come from a side street. There was an empty lane to my right. I did not see him behind me either and suspect they were coming up at speeds into the triple digits....

 

[Erci]

Perhaps the universe felt it was time to send you a little wake up call? Glad to hear that you are wide awake and reminding all of us to be careful too. If it had been too long since you had that heavy surge of adrenaline while on the bike, I'm sorry it had to happen this way!

Ride on my brother! :mikebike:

Thanks, Jen! Honestly.. zero adrenaline surge. I honestly just felt bad for not anticipating this at all.
I tend to beat myself up for being less than perfect and the system I use to get around lingering on any given mistake is to just count the total mistakes on any given ride. Usually the count is very low, but even when it's one or 1 or 2, it's typically not a surprise.. it's more about the action I took to handle a particular situation.

This on really got me!

 

[Erci]

Great advice. Lesson learned!

BTW, did you know the guy that blew past you? Did you say anything to him afterward?

I don't know the SUV driver. I considered following and confronting him, but thought better of it.

Obviously, I was a tad pi$$ed off at the moment and I doubt I would have been able to express myself in a calm and rational manner. Even if I did manage to open this guy's eyes (which I honestly doubt), that would leave millions of other drivers out there who don't know any better.

It's our responsibility as riders to anticipate these things.

 

[2nd childhood]

I don't know the SUV driver. I considered following and confronting him, but thought better of it.

Obviously, I was a tad pi$$ed off at the moment and I doubt I would have been able to express myself in a calm and rational manner. Even if I did manage to open this guy's eyes (which I honestly doubt), that would leave millions of other drivers out there who don't know any better.

It's our responsibility as riders to anticipate these things.

You've hit the nail on the head. Yesterday I had a guy take a left turn in front of me and after laying on my horn (I fortunately anticipated him turning), he just gave me a blank stare. Grrrrrr

 

[Erci]

Man I hear you. In these industrial parks many here use them as shortcuts and travel way too fast in them. IMO the odds of being ran over here (even in a cage) are just to high and I stay on the main thoroughfare to avoid being a statistic because of this.

Anyway, back to your point; this past weekend I was in large group ride (35+ bikes) which I didn't know any of the riders or their skill sets. While in route to a destination I thought I'd made wrong turn and was going to pull onto a side street to turn around. I braked slowly, had my signal on, was just inside the center line of the road waiting for traffic to pass before turing onto a side street - AND MUCH to my surprise, some idiot comes flying between me (very close to the center line) and an oncoming car. Our handle bars couldn't have cleared by 3 inches. I didn't even have time to crap my pants and it was over as they were long gone!

Point being, 1/4 second in time and my day could have ended right there in heap on the road. I cleared the area behind me, was still traveling about 20 mph but slowing when this guy came through at ~ 80 mph. Yes, heartrate was accelerated for bit!!! As said, it was over before anything happened. SCARY! If I had to guess that person didn't see me slow down and WAS distracted!

FWIW: this was 4 lane road, with guard rails on both sides thus HE was behind me and didn't come from a side street. There was an empty lane to my right. I did not see him behind me either and suspect they were coming up at speeds into the triple digits....

Holy crap that's scary!! Can you think of anything you could have done to have avoided that incident?

 

[tejkowskit]

The things people do...

Unexpected in a parking. Watching my mirrors in a parking lot isn't something I am as adamant about as on the road. Will now! Reminds me of when an idiot passed me on the right...on a 2 lane road (1 lane each direction)!!!! Luckily I was watching my mirror at the moment and noticed her speed up and veer right; gave me enough time to move left for the crazy broad.

 

[pookamatic]

I would have made an attempt to see where the guy parked without going out my way too much, then used the day at work to cool off and decide if a note was warranted.

All that he needed to do was give a horn toot. Would have been waved around without having to spend 75 cents in gas going 40 feet and scaring the sheite out of someone.

 

[metallicat]

Just remember: That guy needed an SUV to feel safe from a motorcycle.

Along these lines, I was talking to another parent yesterday who got a new Nissan super-SUV (Armada, Pathfinder, I don't know), and she insisted that she could never have a car big enough so she could feel safe. She drives one 5 year old girl in it - to put size into context .

I guess if you're in a cage large enough, the rest of the world doesn't matter :Flip:

 

[jdoorn14]

The things people do...

Agreed.

Just Sunday, the wife and I were in the home stretch from an out of town wedding (read: less than 3 miles from home via two lane roads with double yellow lines). We were in the car, and I see in the mirror some guy scream up behind me to tailgate for a few seconds (I was going at/slightly above speed limit) then zoom around me over the double yellow to pass. We get up to the stop sign a few hundred yards ahead, and someone else is turning the same direction he is.....so of course he passes over the double yellow lines around that guy--barely clearing the oncoming traffic. All to squeal into the Lowes parking lot. I told my wife his boss must have told him if he wasn't at work by such and such a time that he was fired.

I drive those streets all the time and I've never seen anyone cross the double yellows there before. I shudder to think what he'd have done to someone on a motorcycle...whether he'd have bothered to even cross the double yellows to pass or if he'd just squeeze into the lane with a motorcycle.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FinalImpact]

Holy crap that's scary!! Can you think of anything you could have done to have avoided that incident?

Played that through many times - bottom line, I just didn't expect kamikaze Rider AT ALL! Fail on my part! I really thought I cleared the area behind me thoroughly. Hell, the guy could have used my section of unused lane to my right OR the whole entire lane to my FAR right. At best there is no way i could have matched his speed to reduce impact. Guy may as well have been an actual Zero (kamikaze) from the sky. I think the only difference is he didn't want to die!

I really don't know! Glad I'm still here in one piece.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I always consider parking lots one of the most dangerous places, and usually have my horn covered at all times, and yes I rev my engine. You have people backing up, cutting across the parking lot through the open spaces, many junctions have no stop signs, etc.

But in Erci's scenario, I would be more pissed about myself than the driver. I should know better from letting that happen to me. Not saying that that it can't happen to me, I can get complacent too. It's our responsibility to be safe.

 

[trepetti]

This morning, I was surprised for the first time in a very long time.
I was in the parking lot at work, looking for a spot, riding at about 7-8mph. I always go slow in lots and I always expect that any of the cars can suddenly pull out (even though we're talking arrival time.. highly unlikely for anyone to be leaving).
As I'm moving, I'm occasionally turning my head to the left to look ahead for spots. Then.. an SUV blows by me on my left at about 25mph. I have to admit I was completely surprised. I failed to apply my own advice that I give to all my students: "what if" .. in this case the "what if", in addition to cars pulling out should have been "what if some dummy decides to pass me?".
Even though I was in the parking lot at work, sharing space with co-workers, I should have still accounted for worst case scenarios. It doesn't matter that the driver was a completely careless idiot who didn't think about my safety.. it was up to me to know he was there and it should not have surprised me. If I had actually made the left into a parking spot (no.. at that point I would not have done a head check because I was so sure no one would do something so stupid as to go into oncoming-traffic-lane and pass on left in this situation), I would have gotten hit.

A very good reminder for me to always be alert and always expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised if the worst case scenario does NOT happen.

Hopefully, this post will serve as a reminder to others.. who may have gotten a bit too relaxed or too comfortable, that we always have to be on our game if we want to stay out of trouble out there.

Geesh. Glad you are ok. They make all this software to make it easier for unskilled thoughtless drivers to live longer lives, cheating Darwin out of a meal or two. If they want to impress me with software, write something that sends 10k volts through the steering wheel when the driver makes a dumb move like that. It works for trainig dogs...and these critters are not any smarter...they just have thumbs.

 

[Erci]

But in Erci's scenario, I would be more pissed about myself than the driver. I should know better from letting that happen to me.

Exactly what I felt, Kenny.

 

[Karate.Snoopy]

Path to getting a drivers license to operate a Motor vehicle

1) Age 14- through 16 : Ride a bicycle on roads with low speed limit
2) Age 16- through 18 : Ride a moped,scooter,bike with low BHP, excluding highways
3) Age 18 - through 21: Drive a small car
4)Over 21, mandatory testing for SUV drivers.

Also wasn't there a petition to include motorcycle specific training material and questions on the drivers education in plenty many states in the North East, this was the case in CA. Not sure what the curriculum/test includes now.

Oh and banning cell phone use whilst in gear.

 

[Water Bear]

Holy crap that's scary!! Can you think of anything you could have done to have avoided that incident?

The hard part is incorporating whatever you could have done into a strategy for riding that you can always do.

You can't expect the unexpected; Do you try develop a means of scouting for necessary information that provides as much feedback as possible, and faithfully carry it out?