Nearly died today, one for the bikers

[chunkolini]

Bopping along to work, B road, bendy, used by idiots as a rat run to avoid the awful A49. Dodgy road, lots of bad cambers and loads of idiots. 50 mph, keeping the speed down cos of said idiots and bad cambers.

See a tractor coming the other way with a line of cars behind it, normal.

''Ohmygodheisovertakingthelotfem'' aim for the gap twixt him and the verge, dont panic, dont get mad. Survived it. Saw his face looking as though he was asleep. Thank heavens he did not brake or swerve as he had nowhere to go. Glad I didnt panic and brake or swerve. Glad I am alive.

realised this was a near death experience when I did not even have time to be annoyed with him. Got of the bike shaking like a leaf and had to phone Chunkoletta and tell her I was alive.

First time I have been properly scared on a bike for donkeys years.

What is the matter with these people?

Chunko'.

 

[engybenjy]

As you said mate '''looking as though he was asleep'''
See them all the time, makes me wonder how theyve survived this long......
Glad your OK, keeping your nerve was the ticket

 

[R Kraft]

Sorry about the scare.
My experience with riding bikes is, You are invisible to 90% of auto drivers-The other 10% can see you and will try to kill you.
Robert

 

[Wedg1e]

It's a strangely British phenomenon, this arrogance, ignorance and incompetence that permeates our driving society.
Look out for them, 'cos they sure as shi'ite aren't looking out for you.

 

[Marty2005]

As Wedgie sez, and it amazes me how the whole of British motoring is anti bike, from government legislation, to 'bike dangerous' roads and traffic systems on top of the arrogance and incompetence of some non biking motorists. And yet if the country took to two wheels a hell of a lot of our traffic problems could disappear.

 

[Angusdog]

Glad to hear you're still alive. Even if you treat every driver as a homicidal maniac, you can't anticipate every stupid maneuver they'll make. Luckily it sounds like you have the experience to have survived it.

I wonder if in the US, with their liberal gun laws, people are more cautious about who they cut up - the possibility of someone pulling out a pistol would make most people a little more courteous. When I hired a Harley in San Fran a while ago, I was waiting in a queue for the lights to change, and a woman was waiting to pull out of her driveway into the traffic, her car pointing straight at me. She accidentally landed on the horn, I turned to look at her and she frantically waved her hands in a 'Don't shoot, DON'T SHOOT' kind of way.

 

[Pete.]

I almost never react to driver stupidity, red mist is a killer. Close shaves are a daily occurrance commuting into London in rush hour and I'm pretty much immune to driver ignorance and ride as pre-emptively as I can.

If that had happened to me however I would have followed him to wherever he stopped next and smashed his car to ****ing pieces with my D-lock.

 

[migwig]

Gave up bikes a couple of years ago. Promised the wife I would when we had sprogs. In the 15 years I was riding them though, I definately got the impression car drivers were getting worse. Maybe it's because 20-30 years ago more people started off their motoring lives by riding bikes.

 

[Angusdog]

I gave up riding sport bikes when we had our second child. I have a Suzuki M50 / VX800 cruiser now, with noisy but not offensive pipes, and my wife loves it. In fact, having never been on my bikes before, we went out and bought her a leather jacket and helmet. We've just had our third child, so she hasn't been for a ride recently but she's still keen.

And I agree - bikers make much, much better car drivers.

 

[oz.]

The thing I've noticed is that these idiot drivers don't just do it to bikes. Ive had a few close shaves in the car and on the bicycle. In the car i always put the sidelights on and down the back lanes i put them to dipped. Doesn't matter what time of day the lights are on, Yet even in a bright red car they fail to see me coming

 

[Specialist]

Maybe those are not people. Maybe they are aliens from another planet - at least, their driving supports such notion. Just to let you know, here we also have a lot of similar brain-dead, sleeping things behind the wheels of other cars.

 

[syborg]

glad your ok mate, must admit. im no proper biker but as soon as i took my cbt on my scooter back in the day it opened my eyes to the ignorance of drivers and find myself completely stopping at all junctions and look twice both ways before i pull out. even on my daily rat run i dont overtake, unless its a push bike of coarse, only takes one bend on a road to cause this sort of thing, peace

syborg

 

[Arsonista]

Hunt him down and damage him. Glad it worked out OK Chunko.

 

[daf45]

Yeah glad you are ok mate.
Had a long chat with a biker the other day - who has been 'studying the human terrain' in afghanistan first hand for the last few years He was adamant the only time he's ever stared death in the face was a near miss with a car whilst riding his bike over here!
Shame your man didn't stop for a 'chat'.
Take good care

 

[chunkolini]

Cheers all, glad to get some support.
I am still barely able toregister that is exactly what happened.

I agree with Pete's coment about the red mist being a killer, I used to be prone to this one, never a productive response, but it can be a laugh to yell at a plonker in town.

I did once chuck my muntainbike down the road, and lie there yelping and howling before jumping and bawling out the myopic driver, then riding off leaving him a bit confused.

But best stay right way up.

All the best, Chunko'.

 

[lchris21]

Glad you escaped unharmed. Have seen it from both sides of the table. Had roadbikes for years and decided on living a little longer by giving them up. Too much redmist and twisty roads in my neck of the woods

Then I saw the other side first hand on the weekend. Twisty roads again, but this time me on my bicycle. Bikers performing unbelievable overtakes in the face of oncoming traffic, as if they had some sort of force field around them. I felt quite embarrased as I'm still a biker

Get my kicks from this sort of mechanically proplled two wheeled stuff these days. If you come off you tend to bounce, and if so your going too fast anywhow

 

[bill_gj]

The issue with a lot of car drivers these days is that they're almost totally divorced from their true environment once they enter their car.
If I had my way, a new driver would spend several months driving in a closed area in a car without
- power steering
- power braking
- ABS
- heating or air con
and running on skinny cross-ply tyres.

That way, some of the ars€holes you come across driving their 206s. Golfs, fiestas, ZRs etc, etc might have enough of the shi_ite (thanks to earlier poster) frightened out of them to realise what a tenuous grip the average motor car has on the road.
A lot of drivers (in my opinion) think they're pretty hot stuff with their motor's - little do they realise how much kinetic energy there is stored in even the smallest car when trying to keep it on the road / trying not to hit someone or something.

 

[MrFluffy]

Rant! Been there lots of times, you do see some insane overtaking moves here in france too, going uphill with no visability in a tiny econobox etc so its not just the uk but dont seem to be malice invoved as much. However in the uk Ive rode a bike a lot and Im *certain* on a couple of occasions the drivers really truly meant to kill me. And they certainly weren't people who knew me (cos then Id have a explanation ).
Flicking down the white line of a stationary row of traffic jam one day on a dual carriageway, and some guy in a repomobile bmw drove across the centre line, and then opened his door to make his car even wider in the way, I think just sheer old "your not overtaking me if Im stuck" mentality. I nipped between the oncoming car and the verge on the opposite side of the road with the front wheel hopping with the braking force while cranked over not having much time to stop (and tending to steer round things cos of a crap front brake). The oncoming car tore his door off having nowhere left to go (and I hope broke his arm or leg he was wedging it with, I never stopped to find out, police + biker involved whats the point in trying to put my innocence). How could that be a "accident?"
Another occasion, four lads in a open top escort , threw beer cans at me as I approached their car stationary on a jam in the motorway, I was crawling cautiously and one of the cans bloody hurt thumping me square in the chest. Dropped back, and they were shouting and jeering. I "accidentally" tore off their wing mirror and left some steel crosser footrest marks up the side as I went past and rode off with my wing mirror trophy.

Ive never had nothing like that on the continent, its one of the great joys of living here, although they havent have the daily fail and the sun papers reinforcing the cafe racer image of the 60's for the past 40 years firing up earnest dull father of 5 to take action against the menace of bikers. I am even happy to deal with the police when they request my attention, since theyve always been even handed and reasonable in the past.

I used to rent a house in suffolk, and of a weekend the little lanes would fill up with the weekend residents all driving new range rovers like they owned the road. Some behavioural modification used to result as usually I was piloting either a very beat up renault master van, or a even more beat up range rover classic if I wasnt on a bike.
If someone moved a bit, id have drove into a field to let them get past, but the types that refused to even put a wheel on the verge and try to force you off, they either traded paint/rust or changed their mind.

Bill its the old risk compensation theory, you sit in a car in a airconditioned bubble, and its packed with safety features, therefore you can drive like a **** to make up for it.
The "safer" cars get, the worse people feel able to drive.

What is piquing me is the anti biker campaigns by the police etc. Why dont they have a anti women campaign, or a anti lesbian campaign? answer because theyre not allowed to select them out for special treatment...

 

[Robotstar5]

I've been riding bikes 40 years now and try to stack the odds in my favour with headlight on, hi-vis clothing etc. but for some reason have recently felt a lot more "vulnerable" on the roads to such a degree I'm thinking of hanging the helmet up and selling the bike - probably getting old!.

 

[Add]

I love bikes....i have to stop myself tho because if i don't i'll get one.
An as already said i don't trust other peoples driving with my life
I used top get very angry at other drivers, because i had just passed my test and cost a lot in leassons and stressed over the test and heres people who by their driving have never taken any kind of formal assesment in their lives.

I have a lot of respect for people on 2 wheels, always do what i can if i see a bike, like move over a bit if they are comming by and they are curtious and give a quick thumbs up.

Some of the stuff i see tho like suicidal overtaking on blind corners...scares me and i ain't even on the bike....both cars and bikes tho

I know a few people as soon as the helmet goes on they have no fear

Glad you are ok dude