Had to bust a move this morning (evasive maneuver)

I was on a two-lane narrow state highway, speed limit 50 mph.

I came up on a car going 40 mph. Had a clear line of sight and began a passing maneuver in 5th gear, rolling on the throttle moderately. I signaled began to overtake the car.

While next to the car I was passing in the oncoming lane, a saw a car pulling right out of a driveway on my side of the road, coming right at me, about 200 feet ahead. I was going about 55 at this point.

MCRider and other rider training stress to look where you want to go, then go there.

I also remember S.E.E. - See, Evaluate, Execute.

I said "uh oh", rolled on the throttle hard, looked in front of the car I was overtaking, pushed the right bar and leaned up and out to the right to execute the most secure, but quick, lane change as possible. The bike responded predictably, smoothly, and securely.

I have practiced this move at least a dozen times, but one never knows how they will react when presented with a scenario where you have to use it. I actually feel more confident now that those skills have been put to the test in a real situation.

This was my first close call of the year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VStarRider

I was on a two-lane narrow state highway, speed limit 50 mph.

I came up on a car going 40 mph. Had a clear line of sight and began a passing maneuver in 5th gear, rolling on the throttle moderately. I signaled began to overtake the car.

While next to the car I was passing in the oncoming lane, a saw a car pulling right out of a driveway on my side of the road, coming right at me, about 200 feet ahead. I was going about 55 at this point.

MCRider and other rider training stress to look where you want to go, then go there.

I also remember S.E.E. - See, Evaluate, Execute.

I said "uh oh", rolled on the throttle hard, looked in front of the car I was overtaking, pushed the right bar and leaned up and out to the right to execute the most secure, but quick, lane change as possible. The bike responded predictably, smoothly, and securely.

I have practiced this move at least a dozen times, but one never knows how they will react when presented with a scenario where you have to use it. I actually feel more confident now that those skills have been put to the test in a real situation.

This was my first close call of the year.

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I had a close one yesterday too, 3 lane highway with another merging in and then merging down to two lane.

I'm in the 2nd from the left lane at about 65 when a ##**head in a jacked up, blacked out truck merging on from the other highway (accelerating) came across the lane to my right and tried his best to hit me on my right rear. Traffic was light so I was able to avoid him with some quick maneuvering.

He laid on his horn as he passed in the lane I had just swerved out of like I was in the wrong .....

The bad part was I just put a dual camera DVR system on my wife's bike the day before, and she wasn't with me to record the action.

Thank god for this super stable, highly maneuverable bike.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VStarRider

I was on a two-lane narrow state highway, speed limit 50 mph.

I came up on a car going 40 mph. Had a clear line of sight and began a passing maneuver in 5th gear, rolling on the throttle moderately. I signaled began to overtake the car.

While next to the car I was passing in the oncoming lane, a saw a car pulling right out of a driveway on my side of the road, coming right at me, about 200 feet ahead. I was going about 55 at this point.

MCRider and other rider training stress to look where you want to go, then go there.

I also remember S.E.E. - See, Evaluate, Execute.

I said "uh oh", rolled on the throttle hard, looked in front of the car I was overtaking, pushed the right bar and leaned up and out to the right to execute the most secure, but quick, lane change as possible. The bike responded predictably, smoothly, and securely.

I have practiced this move at least a dozen times, but one never knows how they will react when presented with a scenario where you have to use it. I actually feel more confident now that those skills have been put to the test in a real situation.

This was my first close call of the year.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Navvet

I had a close one yesterday too, 3 lane highway with another merging in and then merging down to two lane.

I'm in the 2nd from the left lane at about 65 when a ##**head in a jacked up, blacked out truck merging on from the other highway (accelerating) came across the lane to my right and tried his best to hit me on my right rear. Traffic was light so I was able to avoid him with some quick maneuvering.

He laid on his horn as he passed in the lane I had just swerved out of like I was in the wrong .....

The bad part was I just put a dual camera DVR system on my wife's bike the day before, and she wasn't with me to record the action.

Thank god for this super stable, highly maneuverable bike.

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I'm starting to think that biking belongs on back roads only. But, you have to get there. I had so many close calls this year, and every other year for that matter, That I'm surprised VStar only had his first yesterday. It must be a lot quieter up there! Every day lately, there's an incident on the news. Deaths and injuries. I think the motoring public had a private meeting to take out bikers.

Cell phones started it. Its all their fault!

Yeah, they took over from makeup! :) Point remains that cell phones and all that other "safety" garbage they put into cars now are the biggest culprits of unsafe driving. Hell, even on the damn car commercials, they show the morons not paying attention to the drive, but relying on the avoidance/lane drift features to their jobs for them.

Pathetic.

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Originally Posted by Draxsr

Yeah, they took over from makeup! :) Point remains that cell phones and all that other "safety" garbage they put into cars now are the biggest culprits of unsafe driving. Hell, even on the damn car commercials, they show the morons not paying attention to the drive, but relying on the avoidance/lane drift features to their jobs for them.

Pathetic.

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Agreed. My Tundra is an '18, so like all '18 Toyota models, has all sorts of safety features. One of the features is adaptive cruise control, (or whatever Toyota calls it), that will slow your vehicle if you come up on a car moving slower than you, while you have cruise control on. In other words, "you're too dumb to maintain a proper distance from the car in front of you, so we'll do it for you".

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Originally Posted by jmdaniel

Agreed. My Tundra is an '18, so like all '18 Toyota models, has all sorts of safety features. One of the features is adaptive cruise control, (or whatever Toyota calls it), that will slow your vehicle if you come up on a car moving slower than you, while you have cruise control on. In other words, "you're too dumb to maintain a proper distance from the car in front of you, so we'll do it for you".

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BINGO...the dumbing of the Nation.

Remove all that junk including cupholders, and automatics should only be for the disabled. The German engineers had it right in that when you're in the car you should be driving, period!

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Originally Posted by wjduke

I'm starting to think that biking belongs on back roads only. But, you have to get there. I had so many close calls this year, and every other year for that matter, That I'm surprised VStar only had his first yesterday. It must be a lot quieter up there! Every day lately, there's an incident on the news. Deaths and injuries. I think the motoring public had a private meeting to take out bikers.

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Yeah, I am not all that comfortable riding in moderate to heavy traffic. Cars in a line, nearly bumper to bumper, going 45+ mph coming at you on a two-laner make me particularly nervous.

I live on the outskirts of Rochester, so I usually head south and east into the Finger Lakes to ride. Plus, I ride east into a rural area on my commute to work - 37 miles, 45 minute drive, total of four traffic lights.

Heading due south involves going through the eastern 'burbs, and, yes, to get to those backroads requires going on a lot of busy roads.

Close calls are so subjectively defined ... its possible this is my third, but the other two did not involve as an aggressive of a move is that incident that started this thread, but could have. One was on I-81 south of Watertown (NY); a disabled vehicle on the right shoulder, a NYS Trooper pulling out of a no U-turn between the north/south lanes, and a car in the right lane (I am in left) that purposely did not get next to. Sure enough, he quickly switched lanes in front of me upon approaching the disabled car. If I was directly next to him, he would have pushed me into the trooper car. I had a guy start to pull out in front of me at two-way stop intersection crossing my right of way, but I saw him in plenty of time and laid on the horn. He stopped. I went around him very cautiously.

There were two motorcycle fatalities in ROC this weekend; both busy roads, both involved a cage turning left in front of the bike. In one of the accidents, witnesses report the bike was riding at a high rate of speed.

There's no doubt that the motorcycling community has it's share of "unsafe" riders, but that number is dwarfed both in percentages and actual numbers by the amount of 'distracted drivers' that are on the roads.
I'm just back from a 2700 mile trip - had some scenarios occur that made me pucker a bit - but that will not stop me from riding.
I find I'm my own worst influence...
Cheers,
Steve