This was one of those things that I am not sure I could have done differently. I was driving on a state route in a built up area, speed limit was 35 and moderately heavy traffic was moving at about that speed. There were lots of stores on both sides of the road (two lanes in each direction with turn lanes in the middle) and plenty of driveways for cars to pull off the road. I had just crossed an intersection and pulled up maybe 10 feet behind 3 or 4 stopped cars in the right hand lane. There was a huge utility truck to my left with orange cones all around the truck completely blocking the left lane. I was in gear, hand on the clutch when I checked the rear view mirror - a silver Infinity was coming up behind me FAST. Far too fast to stop before rear ending me. I let the clutch out, and was moving ahead and pulling to the right of the car ahead of me when he/she/it slammed on the brakes and with a long drawn out squeal, skidded to a stop. I don't know if the Infinity stopped where I had been (I was not entirely out of my lane by the time it stopped completely, but I was almost alongside the car ahead of me). Absent that last minute braking, the impact would have totaled the bike and/or slammed me into the car ahead of me, or if my evasive action was sufficient it probably would have pushed the car now to my left into me - I was NOT accelerating with wild abandon - there was simply no room to pop the clutch and scream away.
I have auxiliary bright LED brake lights that flash when I stop - all the good stuff. This driver was simply not paying attention and would have nailed me and the car ahead of me except for that last second awareness of all the stopped traffic and panic braking. (Yes, a loud skidding screech of locked tires on the road - what happened to anti lock brakes?).
Scary stuff. I replayed this all the way home. Sometimes we are the bug on the windshield and there is nothing to be done about it.
