Saw A Close Call....

BakerBoy

BakerBoy

It's all small stuff.
Joined
Jan 31, 2008
Messages
3,598
Location
Golden, Colorado
Early this morning on my way to work, I saw a motorcycle and a vehicle get too close, and then it escalated to road rage.....

A guy in all matte black riding gear (helmet too) on his Kawi Ninja ZX-14, another guy in his Jeep Grand Cherokee, semi trucks, and lots of other of us stopped at southbound light on a 4 lane highway (2 lanes each direction). Light turns green, everyone at the front of the line zips away, but Ninja guy is caught behind a loaded semi which is slow to get up to speed. Ninja guy changes lanes (no indicators or shoulder checks), squeezing between vehicles getting around the semi. Ninja guy then moves back into the right lane, accelerates then slows without apparent reason, then finally moves along in the blind spot of the Cherokee (along side the Cherokee's rear wheel), closely matching the Cherokee's speed... At this point I'm watching the Ninja guy a bit closer as my sense is that he's not a well-educated rider.

The road then has a slight gentle left turn and slight incline, resulting in the just-risen sun shining into driver's eyes halfway between left and forward (we all know this happens every morning here). But Ninja guy stays in the Cherokee's blind spot, which also happens to shade the sunlight from the motorcyclists eyes--maybe Ninja guy is staying in the shadow on purpose??

(Recall the Ninja and rider are all matte black). The guy in the Cherokee doesn't signal, but slowly moves right into the Ninja's lane (whether he meant to change lanes or drifted into the adjacent lane because he didn't match the road's left curvature, I don't know). The Ninja guy sees it happening once the Cherokee is half in his lane. As the Cherokee continues, Ninja guy keeps looking at the Cherokee (in disbelief?) while also drifting right, ending up on the road shoulder. Oddly, Ninja guy doesn't slow down (no brake light) nor does he speed up--he just appears to watch the Cherokee fully take his lane, until Ninja guy is fully crowded on the narrow shoulder, now dodging road makers. Then, Ninja guy slows to get back on the road, behind the Cherokee.

At that point, it seems that Ninja guy gets pissed at what just happened and accelerates around (on the right shoulder) and quickly gets in front of the Cherokee, then brakes while swerving back and forth in the lane, swinging his arm at the Cherokee and pointing to the side of the road. Thankfully the Cherokee saw the motorcyclist at that point and braked to avoid running him over (while cars behind braked to avoid the Cherokee).

It appears Ninja guy wanted to have a word with the Cherokee driver, but the Cherokee driver didn't stop and pulled around the Ninja (other cars had slowed and given the idiots space at that point). So Ninja guy now is more incented, speeds up and takes the left lane adjacent to the slow moving Cherokee, and starts yelling/waving and pointing to the shoulder inviting him to 'talk'--Ninja guy also swerves at the Cherokee a number of times. This stalemate went on for ~1/4 mi while the Cherokee driver kept his head pointed forward and not responding.

Fortunately it seems the Ninja guy got ahold of himself and gave up, rocketing way ahead into the next pack of cars. Cherokee guy turned off at some point.

Interestingly, about 10 miles later on C470 I come upon this Ninja guy riding along, tailgating another car that was moving along about 10 mph under the limit. Strange.

So, fortunately no injury, not even any damage or impacts. But mistakes were made on both their parts. IMO, the majority of the fault was due to the motorcyclist not riding to be seen, nor riding defensively, and then raising it to road rage and engaging in really stupid maneuvers bringing much higher risk than he encountered with the original lane change problem.

Hopefully this story is useful to think about how we each drive when in vehicles or on motorcycles.

Be careful out there...
 
If Ninja Guy continues to ride like that, Darwin will catch up to him! :eek:4:

One reason I don't like to ride with guys with too little time in the saddle, they often make stupid moves that can cost those riding with them!
 
I watch videos of idiot riders who get enraged at vehicle drivers because of some perceived slight.
Watching closely you can see opportunities for the rider to back off to make it safe.
But there seems to be a sense of entitlement or something that compels them to stand their ground. I don't understand this at all.
My inclination is to get far away from a dangerous driver. And I sure am not going to provoke them.

IMHO all that happens is vehicle drivers sgets even less respect for riders and vice versa.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
+3 right there.
You can't account for stupidity, let's think about it.
Travelling on one of the most vulnerable vehicles known (don't get me started on bicycles) to man and you pick a fight with someone you have no knowledge of in a big blummin truck. Said person in big blummin truck may also have gun readily at hand.
I used to ride quite a lot in the Derbyshire dales and peaks at weekends and whilst travelling at not so daft speeds I would be passed by a pack of sports bikes with obligatory loud pipes, blue headlight covers and minute number plates only to find them half a mile down the road riding with one hand on the bars, shouting f..k all to each other and riding at about a third of the speed limit whilst weaving from side to side like Rossi on his warm up lap. They thought it quite acceptable behaviour, like I said, you can't account for stupidity!
Let's hope we all have a safe and road rage free riding season, two hopes, no hope and Bob Hope.
Upt'North.
 
Car/ truck vs motorcycle. Car wins. My thought is to just to remove myself from idiot drivers. Sometimes I just blow past them, sometimes I turn off. Happens to me allllll the time. Cars/trucks simply don't see me in my hi vis jacket and hi vis helmet.
Be safe and just as importantly ,, Be Smart out there.
I pray that Ninja guy will get some sense soon, so he or she can continue to enjoy riding.
 
Grizzly said:
Seriously though, All you have to do is look up from your cell phone and DRIVE!!!!
Click to expand...

I have a new system now....If I am beside or behind someone who is texting or otherwise distracted I merely give a nice blast of the Fiamms. They, of course, not paying attention, never know who did it, since we all KNOW bikes don't have horns that loud.....it really seems to wake up errant drivers, and we have a LOT of them here, as Grizzly says.
 
Grizzly said:
...... "I just didn't see you!" Seriously though, All you have to do is look up from your cell phone and DRIVE!!!!
Click to expand...

Once upon a time, before cell phones, I rode up on some 40 mph or so traffic in the fast lane of the freeway. As it became my turn to pass, I saw a woman reading a book. It was attached to her steering wheel by a clamp that appeared made for that job. About that time, a state trooper came up really close behind her and hit his lights and siren. Scared the semicolon out of her but she grabbed the book from the clamp and tossed into the back seat before pulling over....yes...onto the left shoulder of the 70 mph freeway. Wish I could have listened to their discussion.

The stupid is with many of us. Always has been, always will be.

I can't wait to watch what some will do to autonomous vehicles in the near future.
 
I went on a mission trip to the Philippines last November. I was amazed at the traffic there, with everyone going this way and that. One of the pastors explained that everyone uses the "lug nut rule".

He who has the most lug nuts, has the right of way.
 
klaproth said:
I have a new system now....If I am beside or behind someone who is texting or otherwise distracted I merely give a nice blast of the Fiamms. They, of course, not paying attention, never know who did it, since we all KNOW bikes don't have horns that loud.....it really seems to wake up errant drivers, and we have a LOT of them here, as Grizzly says.
Click to expand...
I'm the same, on the Bike or in a car I honk at a Texter, wakes them up some, but not enough.
 
It's not worth it on a motorcycle to get into an altercation with a cage driver. You will never win. It's best to use the speed of your bike to get the heck out of there if there is ever a confrontation with a cage driver. Stay safe guys.
 
jamalc6996 said:
It's not worth it on a motorcycle to get into an altercation with a cage driver. You will never win. ...
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if you'd call it a "win", but a motorcyclist in Tacoma got caught up in a road rage incident. They got caught in stopped traffic and the driver got out of his car and walked up to the motorcyclist ahead of him. She got off the bike, and they started fighting. He had her down on the ground hitting her, when she pulled out her gun and shot him. He died with his wife watching. No charges were filed at the time.

jamalc6996 said:
...It's best to use the speed of your bike to get the heck out of there if there is ever a confrontation with a cage driver. Stay safe guys.
Click to expand...
Or brakes. It never ceases to amaze me that the person in the road rage incident who was so intent on speeding through the traffic to get somewhere in a hurry, has the time to get into a fight about it.

I just try to avoid it all anymore. I've had two cases of drivers wanting to pick a fight with me, and one case of a driver wanting to run me off the road. All were over many years, and all when driving a car. It's just not worth it to me to get even. A little mad, yes. But I let it go.

Chris
 
the frontal lobe of the brain ( responsible of common sense ) is full developed till the age of about 23:spank1:
 
Ive just started riding again after a long hiatus and despite being very defensive and experienced I've had drivers move over on me several times. Despite pretty serious fines and demerit points in Ontario, The major change I see from 10 years ago is the high volume of people who text on there phones..... its sad to think that my life (or yours) is less valuable than the message they are reading. As I say to my son who has been riding since he was 5 but not allowed to ride on the street under family rules until he is 25,...try to be as visible as possible but expect despite your best efforts ride defensively like no one will see you.
 
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