So i've only been riding for a few months. Up until this past weekend, I haven't had any near misses with cars. There were a few times i've made mistakes almost resulting in spills, but i haven't fallen (yet). This weekend was a bit scary though.
I was riding down a highway local to me (northern state/grand central for those local to NYC) with a friend of mine. He was following me and we were cruising between 80-90 at the time, in the left lane (the speed limit is 55 in NYC but the flow of traffic is typically 75 imo; no matter how it's perceived, i was speeding, but not to the point of absurdity). I was passing a small suv mercedes (ML, I believe) and as I was passing him, he decided to make an insanely abrupt turn into my lane. I was going faster than him and was near past him when it happened, but his mirror caught me in the shoulder. I think the shoulder pads on my bike took the majority of the impact because his mirror got ripped right off. nevertheless, I felt the pain instantly and we all pulled over. No conflict, he was a nice guy and was just glad he didnt kill me. He never really explained why he did what he did, he just said he didnt see me. My friend, who was tailing me, said he maneuvered as if he was trying to avoid something, but he couldnt see any object or anything to justify his actions.
Anyway, just thought i'd share. Huge black and blue on my upper arm, but its all good. We walked away, no one is really hurt and the guy wasn't a tool, which didnt exasperate the situation.
thanks.
I figured it would happen sooner or later. The shocking part was the mirror. I still cant believe it hit me and i'm so thankful for my gear. I think if i wasn't geared up, the impact would have shifted my body or maybe even knocked my right hand off the throttle. who knows what would have happened then.
Yup been there before... Never ride near cars I always accelerate quick or avoid riding next to cars at all costs even if I have to speed... Also always look at the car when approaching you can always tell when they feel like moving over either their head turns or you see their head in a mirror luckily I can spot these things very easy and always stop and what do you know they cut right in... I have very good riders awareness always know what the cars going to do... You have to notice the little things to live for the big things...
Glad your alright but that is close never had contact with a car as of yet.. Don't plan on it anytime soon either
Yup been there before... Never ride near cars I always accelerate quick or avoid riding next to cars at all costs even if I have to speed... Also always look at the car when approaching you can always tell when they feel like moving over either their head turns or you see their head in a mirror luckily I can spot these things very easy and always stop and what do you know they cut right in... I have very good riders awareness always know what the cars going to do... You have to notice the little things to live for the big things...
Glad your alright but that is close never had contact with a car as of yet.. Don't plan on it anytime soon either
I absolutely agree with you on all the above and practice them all. And i was going faster than him as well.
Like i said, he just jerked his wheel last minute as if trying to avoid something. Maybe he was, but my friend that was tailing me said he didnt see any reason for it.
You are right though. I feel like drivers illustrate body language while driving. they tend to ride heavy on a side of the lane before turning, head checks, speed, etc, seem to follow the movements. It sounds obvious but it needs to be paid attention to.
Glad you're ok man. I had an experience where a cager was driving beside me and started drifting into my lane. There was a car in front of me as well, so I couldn't accelerate. I just depressed the clutch and revved the sh*t out of my engine. I think it scared the crap out of both the drivers, because the guy beside me jerked the car back into his lane and the guy in front of me changed lanes to clear a path for me. Haha, I waved as I passed him.
I've been in similar situations, multiple times. Half the time it's my fault.
Pay closer attention to your surroundings and try to anticipate what drivers might do.
Always ride defensively and ride as if you were invisible.
Glad to hear you made it through that. I always assume I'm going to be cut off by everyone on the road. Don't ride in blind spots. Give your self a space cushion around all other vehicles on the road. Always be aware of everything around you.
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unfortunately this most likely will not be your first time, i gave up street riding because of this. it is just too dangerous.
I commuted for 1.5 years, about 50 miles a day and I had these brushes 3 times (once the car pushed me off the road entirely), 3 crashes (one going down at 70/mph) and countless near misses. IMHO it is just not worth it.
If you do however you have to be fully aware of the fact that you ARE invisible to cagers, I always tried to tell myself this but somehow that realization fades away after a few days. I found it helpful to get in a car once every while, as being a rider myself I look for bikes and still about half the time i totally miss them, they seem to come out of nowhere.
So if you really feel you need to ride the streets, be very aware of this, ride defensively and gear up for every ride no matter how short!
damn, im surprised you stayed on the bike from that impact. You must have good upper body strength or something and having that gear definitely helped. Glad you're ok man, close call for sure.
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I've been in similar situations, multiple times. Half the time it's my fault.
Pay closer attention to your surroundings and try to anticipate what drivers might do.
Always ride defensively and ride as if you were invisible.
Very true words!!!
I always tell people (particularly non riders and new riders) that many motorcycle accidents may legally be the fault of the driver but that means absolutely nothing when you are sprawled all over the road wondering what happened.
We as riders are ultimately responsible for keeping ourselves safe, that is why it is of paramount importance to drive in a way that helps us avoid getting hurt by the mistakes of others. I cannot believe that drivers are out to kill us, they just make mistakes, like we all do. We need to make sure that we watch out for them and keep ourselves out of their way when they happen.
I have been riding my CBR daily for more than 3 years and covered around 38,000 km's on it and have no plans to let the mistakes of others take away my enjoyment of riding!
thanks for all the input everyone!
it was a crazy situation but informative nonetheless. i consider this a learning experience and i'm glad I was able to learn via a black and blue and not both bike and myself sliding down the road.
Get used to it. Good thing nothing bad really happened, but close calls are way too often on a bike. Always be prepared for the worse. Up here, drivers are just sooooo shitty, I get close calls a little too often, almost every ride.
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OP
I'm not saying you can predict what people are going to do, or for see the future. But like CK said there are tell tale signs that people wish to move
-Looking around quickly
-Face in the mirror
-Moving about their lane
-turn signal (OBVIOUSLY!! LOL)
-Swerving
-Slowly drifting to one side (sometimes doesn't mean they wanna switch lanes. But I pretend it does)
You will learn how to ( I repeat NOT PREDICT OR FOR SEE THE FUTURE) But you will learn how to notice/react/take in all of these subtle movements/actions, and turn them into a REaction by yourself. I can usually "Sense" when something is about to happen, you'll know, and I'm sure everyone here can agree, you get that feeling in your stomach. It becomes heavy and you start running options through your head.
You will learn to become AMAZING at anticipating things, as they are about to happen. Like I said not PREDICTING anything. More of -"that lady up there keeps looking around a lot, I bet up here where we get another lane, she's going to move into my lane". Boom she does it, situation avoided by situational awareness.
Also-Get yourself a copy of Keith Codes book/DVD- Twist Of The Wrist 2. ALL ALL ALL NEW AND VET riders NEED these tools. It is a necessary asset to every rider.
Don't ride near cars and don't get boxed in. Always have one lane, and 5 exit plans.
Stay safe new brother and keep the rubber side down!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carbonrrpilot
Here in Philly very few ride alone (mostly small crews) but even if they are alone and get run off the road, 20 other riders are just a phone call away. it wont be long before these idiots are over run by a Squid-Squad that'll leave those Tonka cars smoldering!!
OP
I'm not saying you can predict what people are going to do, or for see the future. But like CK said there are tell tale signs that people wish to move
-Looking around quickly
-Face in the mirror
-Moving about their lane
-turn signal (OBVIOUSLY!! LOL)
-Swerving
-Slowly drifting to one side (sometimes doesn't mean they wanna switch lanes. But I pretend it does)
this is NY brutha everyone drives like that lol
well except nobody uses turn signals
as for the OP, glad you made it out, thats pretty crazy that he actually hit you
this kinda reminds me of the time i almost was taken out;
i was on the gsp northbound coming up from being at my gf's house at night and i see like 3 cars all in a row in the slow lane driving slow with their hazards on, so i just figured their lost and i move over a lane
right when im about to pass the lead car i suddenly see the left front of the car slam down hard, sparks come shooting out of the wheel well and i feel a gush of wind blow right behind me as the wheel bounced past...i only missed it by inches
had i been riding any slower it would have hit me dead on and who knows what woulda happened
but anyways, just goes to show you that anything upon anything can happen
sometimes you really just get lucky
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as for the OP, glad you made it out, thats pretty crazy that he actually hit you
this kinda reminds me of the time i almost was taken out;
i was on the gsp northbound coming up from being at my gf's house at night and i see like 3 cars all in a row in the slow lane driving slow with their hazards on, so i just figured their lost and i move over a lane
right when im about to pass the lead car i suddenly see the left front of the car slam down hard, sparks come shooting out of the wheel well and i feel a gush of wind blow right behind me as the wheel bounced past...i only missed it by inches
had i been riding any slower it would have hit me dead on and who knows what woulda happened
but anyways, just goes to show you that anything upon anything can happen
sometimes you really just get lucky
WOW; reminds me this one time when I was driving in my cage and there was an SUV a lane a away from me. All of a sudden its rear tire blew and destroyed the fender. These types of occurences are the most frightening situations because there are no signs to try and detect beforehand like with drivers' input. Glad to see you made it out okay.
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thanks for all the advice. and CRAZY stories.
still, glad we're all here to share them!
I will say, NYC is crazy. you grow very defensive as a driver here and that follows you to the bike. Like i said, I think in this situation there was nothing I could do. He swerved as if he was avoid something, which in fact, may have been nothing, lol. Still, sh*t happens.
A friend of mine with a zx6r lives in PA so i ride down there sometimes. COMPLETELY different world. people acknowledge your presence and ever (dare i say) accommodate for you by moving out the way and making room.
I'm glad your ok dude. I almost got hit Saturday. Was on the freeway and a soccer mom in her dodge caravan decided to use my lane at the same time as me.
I'm too scared to ride on the street, I've just seen too much at my job. I feel like I'm pretty good at anticipating other drivers, but sometimes people just do crazy stuff out of the blue which is very scary. Good thing you didn't get seriously hurt!
I was driving along home one day and was ABOUT to signal to switch lanes and if I hadn't looked twice (and if the rider wasn't passing me as fast as he was) I would have either hit him or run him off the road. I look for motorcycles when I drive anywhere, but that one almost got me... I just did not see him at all. Thank goodness I looked twice. One in the mirror and actually turned my head around too. Maybe at some point or another I saw him and it was in the back of my head. Idk.
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