[spdklls]

I know several on here have already had mishaps of one sort or another..some rider error, others no fault of there own.....I had a near miss today and wanted to share...i am also hoping the rest of you will post your near miss's as well....

So far i have had only one person pull out in front of me..even then it was only partialy and i was going slow and saw it coming so it wasnt even an "oh sh#$" moment..
that is until today...i was out riding around in the country for an hour n half, came back thru town and just outside on a side road i was going down a hill and was going to make a right hand turn....I saw the black car for the first time after i put my signal on..i remember thinking he must be flying because i didnt see him at anytime before then but he was still far enough away and my signal was on and my brake light was flashing....then i slowed down a bit more,my turn was just about there...
I glanced in my mirror again about 2-3 seconds away from my turn and saw his front grill was about 2 car lengths away from my rear end and still closing fast...thats when the lightning jolt (panic) hits your body like a shock wave...I was probably in 3rd gear and just gapped the accelerator right about the same second i heard his tires start screeching.
I pulled away much slower than I wished I could have but in a panic situation you dont have time to think something through.. the whole time i was waiting for the impact and dreading the pain that would soon follow.

..thank god it never came...

i will guess at one point there could have been no more than a few inches between my rear end and the front of his car as i was accelerating and he was skidding
...i went up to the next road about 30 feet away and turned in and stopped..the guy sat in the road for a few seconds (car stalled?) then just drove past and didnt even look at me, he was maybe 24-25...dont know if he txting,talking on the phone or what..
i wish he would have stopped to talk just so i could found out what his deal was...anyway..it ruined my ride..i drove straight home...but i am n ow ready to go for another ride as I am writing this 2 hours later
I am not mad at the driver of the black car,just disappointed he almost seriously injured or killed me..I had my turn signal on and had the knight rider flashing brake light flashing on my rear end but you can be decked out like a circus at night and it wont save you from someone whos not even looking....but i am just grateful he hit the brakes when he did...

 

[xxxxxfoobar12]

Glad to hear that you are ok. I would have thought the driver would at least acknowledge you. My first oh $h17 moment happened last weekend. Cruising down a canyon road, car was pulled off onto the shoulder on my side but facing me. I was about 50 yards from him when he decided to take off. Literally headed right at me before moving over into the opposite lane. Was like I wasn't even there. I've read so many stories about drivers that claim they did not see the motorcycle. Glad I was not another one.

 

[CBR-STL]

My first guess would be that he was looking at his phone. So much of the time I will see poor driving and of course the driver is messing with their phone. I wish people would not take others lives so lightly. I have had a few people start to pull out in front of me. Scares the **** out of ya for sure. Like a lightening bolt to the body! Glad your safe spdklls! Stay vigilant.

 

[250 Tom]

When things like that happen, it really rattles you for a while, glad it turned out as good as it did. Thank god there was no collision. Worst thing that ever happened to me was when I was passing a group of cars and the guy in the vary front decided he was going to turn left. ( no signal ) just missed the back of his car

 

[pgkool]

Hey...Speed Kills...

Ok all puns aside, im glad you are ok. I dred this very thing and always keep my bike in gear when ever i come to an intersection and am constantly checking my rear view for just that guy like a nervous twitch.

Did you happen to be in the center of the lane or on one side? Just curious.

 

[llory]

I'm glad you're okay! Sounds like a SCARY situation to be in. The only "near miss" that I have had was turning onto a road at a 90 degree angle with a minivan on my tail and hitting a patch of sand and gravel and loosing traction on both front and rear wheels briefly, I prepared myself for a low-side when I re-gained traction and somehow did not high-side (which would've caused me to fly off the bike in front of a speeding car going in the opposite direction. It psyched me out and just like you did, I rode straight home.

 

[Top]

lol fun topic....


i guess my most recent one was a few ago on the way to walk, i had a mini van pull an emergency stop in front on me..... at a green light.
after i re-adjusted my nuts.... i pulled alongside her and pointed to the green light... she was on the phone AND doing mascara...


metal knuckled gloves ARE for protecting your hands when you have to ditch... right?

 

[Saeed]

I had mine couple of days ago while I just ride on a big spot of oil in the middle of lane which I have no idea where the hell that came from.

It was night and I didn't have the best vision. For a second I felt I'm riding on ice, No control on anything, both tyre lost traction and lucky I was riding straight not on a bend.

Scince then, I carefully check the road surface. I don't wanna lose my bike becuase some idiots don't fix their $hitbox.

 

[CBR250R]

Actually no real near misses for me on the CBR250R so far. Nor my CBR125R over the last two years. I think near misses - while scary - can be a great learning experience because they really make you acutely aware of how vulnerable you are out there and how essential it is to be constantly vigilant and aware of your surroundings.

Having said that - one thing I like to do is swerve (weave) in my lane a bit to provide some lateral movement - to create a more conspicuous visual stimulus when approaching traffic head-on and when nearing an intersection. I must say that I've had a few cagers that looked like they were about to cross my lane (cut in front of me) or turn left in front of me and then I did the slalom thingie - and they suddenly braked and reconsidered. It may have caught their attention at the last moment. I suspect that most people notice a guy on a bike that is swerving like he has cerebellar ataxia.

I've had a couple of near misses on my WR250R though. One of which happened this spring. It was late at night and the streets were vitually empty. I pulled up to a red light on a two lane boulevard. I was in the blocking position (in the right tire track of the left lane). I kept looking in my mirrors to watch if any traffic was approaching from behind. Everything looked fine. Just as the light turned green - a car came up from behind and...... get this.....passed me in my lane. Just whizzed by a foot away from me as we traveled through the intersection together. I honked my horn hard at the driver (a teenaged girl) but she didn't even look fazed. I think she simple failed to realize that she wasn't supposed to be driving by me in my lane.

On occasion, when getting ready to make a left turn from a two-lane city street onto a side-street, I sometimes abort the turn and continue on to the next block to make my left turn - if: 1) There are cars approaching from the opposite direction that would otherwise force me to stop and wait in my lane until the way was clear, and 2) If traffic is heavy, and traveling quickly, and the person behind me doesn't look like they are paying attention, even though my left signal light has been flashing well in advance.

It seems that there are a lot of rear-enders in my area, and lots of distracted drivers. I don't want to be on the receiving end of one on a motorcycle.

Mike

 

[Aargee]

If its India, then there's mishaps everyday!!! But I'll just share the one that really shook my heart & experienced butterflies flying!!!

During my RJ trip, when I was returning from Jaipur to Mumbai (had been riding since 4:30 AM) at around 5:30 PM, I was cruising in a little over 70 mph as usual. A three wheeled vehicle who wanted to join the side I was driving came whirring from the opposite direction & didn't notice me. Seeing this guys, I'd to brake hard, but due to rains the surface was slippery (one moment I wished I had ABS C250R) & I was trying hard not to crash with this guy as well myself & I almost missed him. That was one scary moment in my entire trip.

If anyone wants to know what's Indian highway driving, here's it...

and hold your breath to watch this one...

 

[motorpsycho]

Lol. That second video reminds me of a group of ants trying to get around each other by going in every which direction. Which raises the question; whats the yearly roadside casualty rate for India?

 

[Aargee]

whats the yearly roadside casualty rate for India?

We're #1...sadly, I've to say that in embarassment
If you don't believe me - India suffers from highest number of road accidents: WHO - PTI -

But that said, we're living in a system that we're used to live, so cutting through such traffic is part of everyone's life. But I've to seriously admit one thing that, most Indian riders/drivers have high concentration level & such mishaps occur due to prolonged high concentration level of riding/driving.

 

[spdklls]

Did you happen to be in the center of the lane or on one side? Just curious.

...i stay in the center of my lane unless i see a reason not too...however as i accelerated away...i went to the right side as far as I could while staying on the pavement (instinctively i guess) in that instant i figured it would hurt less getting launched onto the side of the road rather than down the middle

Not sure if weaving while slowing down like CBR250R suggested would have worked this time or not but its a great idea to get noticed..i have missed many turns before on both bike and car because of people behind me...I guess i had grew complacent because everyone seemed to have been noticing me and giving room when slowing,turning and stopping here lately .... in hindsight..when i saw the idiot coming and thought to myself " he must be flying" i should have aborted my turn at that moment

 

[sendler]

Mirrors

I glanced in my mirror again about 2-3 seconds away from my turn and saw his front grill was about 2 car lengths away from my rear end and still closing fast...thats when the lightning jolt (panic) hits your body like a shock wave...I was probably in 3rd gear and just gapped the accelerator right about the same second i heard his tires start screeching.

Great riding. You saved your own life. That's why I like the big mirrors that come on the CBR250R. They are very functional compared to many other bikes.

 

[Badger]

I can't remember how many times I have pulled through an intersection to avoid being rear ended. The closest I have come to falling on any bike in the last 2 years is gravel or sand on a roadway that you could not see until it was almost too late.

I always asses the situation continuously with the first priority being, where is the Moron that is going to kill me coming from. Two lane roads at speed it is primarily the distracted driver coming head on who swerves into your lane at precisely the wrong time.

When you are slowing down, for whatever reason, it's the Moron behind you, multitasking for whatever reason. I always use each lane as 3 lanes to give me some distance between any vehicle that is close. I have had a 1 pound rock thrown into my windshield (in a car thank god) by on ONCOMING vehicle on a two lane road.

While some may think it borderlines on medicatable paranoia, I have not even come close to a really dangerous situation in quite some time. It might be because I was almost killed by a manhole sticking 3.5 inches straight up with no pavement collar. I hit it with a 1971 Datsun 510 going about 35 at night (never would have happened in daytime). The impact jacked the left side of the car up about 3 feet in a sweeping left turn with a terrible crown in the road. Went across the oncoming lanes of traffic (no traffic), hit the curb and went airborne. Landed on the roof of a Dodge Dart and caught on fire with me out cold inside. Lost half the blood in my body and the emergency room doctor told me I had been scalped as he stapled the two sections of tissue back together again. My rock hard head knocked the windshield out of the car and it came to rest 75 feet from the vehicle.

I pay a price every day for that single accident which occurred December 13th 1987, but it may have just saved my life since then. It does seem like when I get close to some real trouble on any road in any vehicle, it is always a combination of unusual events that gets past my self imposed safeguards.

regards
Badger

 

[Badger]

Great riding. You saved your own life. That's why I like the big mirrors that come on the CBR250R. They are very functional compared to many other bikes.

Those mirrors are always pointed in the right direction, especially for those Morons behind you.

regards
Badger

 

[HoPMiX]

Im pretty aware so far and have noticed and avoided trouble. Today though someone locked brakes in front of me. I had to stop from 50 and really fast.
Then when he started to accelerate after stopping he hit his brakes again and i thought he was fn with ne regardless. I was a bit to close and once i stopped i said to myself. What the f%# are you doing. You should have seen that. Ill admit i was day dreaming a bit.
When i pulled up next to guy at next light he was showing his passenger a video on his iphone. I wanted to throw my helmet at his car but thought it my own fault for not noticing the guy. Lesson learned. I was counting 1 motorcycle 2 motorcycle all the way home.
Though if anything gets me. Ill say it will be a rear end. I dont pay near enough attention there.

 

[FlipKickz]

yo spdklls glad ur ok!

i commute to work often and have had to ride through the city with plenty of traffic and stop and go... the most common occurrence i experience is getting cutoff and being tailgated.

i try to utilize all 3 sections of the lane to make myself visible, create a cushion in front and behind me, but that doesnt stop anyone who doesnt have respect for the road or anyone else on it.

the closest call i had was getting cutoff, and then the guy slamming on his brakes. speed was prob about 30mph or so, and i had to stop fast. i hit the rear brake a lil too hard and it locked up on me, but not the front brake. i was able to maintain control, and pulled away from it safely, with slightly higher blood pressure...

after that day, i really look to ride the lesser traffic areas, even if its completely out of the way - up to 45 minutes out of the way. i enjoy the bike and the ride, and the less i have to deal with other drivers, the better. getting up a bit earlier to make sure im at work on time is a small price to pay.

you can be the most aware and best rider/driver in the world, but unfortunately, you cant control anyone else on the road...

ride safe y'all.

 

[Moldy_Dog]

I had a close call this morning. I was about to change lanes into the right lane (slow lane for you foreigners). I turned on my turn signal and checked my mirrors, all clear. I look over my shoulder, all clear. I was about to perform the maneuver when I caught a glimpse of something in my mirror, and a giant SUV flies by going twice the speed of traffic. I collected myself, did the mirror check again, look over my shoulder, all clear again, and when I look forward again, the car in front of me has stopped maybe 30 feet in front of me. I swerved into the other lane and missed the stopped car. I was terribly distracted as I was running late to work, and I had tried to take a shortcut that took me the wrong way, which made me even more late. I decided to calm down and realized that since I am a consultant and I have no fixed schedule, there is no "late", just "delayed". The ride after that was perfect. I even made it to work less delayed than I thought I would.

In the three months I spent waiting for this bike, I took every possible route home in the cage to find the safest (least scary) route. The route I chose is actually quite fun and relatively light traffic, and includes some of everything. Plus, it gives me lots of chances to go exploring after work. The fastest route I found in my search is pretty much all 4-lane highways with lots of horribly-designed intersections and lots of aggressive (stupid) drivers. It scares me even in my truck. Friday afternoon, nowhere is safe.

 

[sendler]

Camera

We all need cameras on our bikes so we can maybe start to report severe wreckless driving such as passing on the right.