Close Call Thread

[Bebop]

I have a few of them I can tell you guys about.

First one I know all of us have delt with. I was riding home, north bound on Sheridan around 84th. I was in the left lane going maybe 5 over i was about to pass an older red pathfinder who was in the right lane I was watching him in the mirror and he checked the mirror I would have sworn the he saw me but he started to come over into my lane. I push in the clutch and rev the engine (this works better for me because the engine is louder than my horn, believe me it gets peoples attention). He notices me after his is in the lane. I share this because if we don’t have that loud horn a quick rev of the engine is a good way to get peoples attention.

This one is just me being young and stupid. I was on a back rode with some friends riding back from getting some lunch. It was a rode I had never been on before. Its a back road between two very small towns near Grand Junction. Well I am the 2nd of three riders so one in front of me in the left of the lane and I am in the right (the 3rd rider didn’t want to take the corners as fast as we were, so we would take a few faster than him and then slow down and wait). I start to take this turn and its one of the turns that starts out at a certain angle then has another turn inside that turn. Well its on a blind corner and I am, or at least I think I am, over as far as I can go when this second turn comes up. I knew I couldn’t ride out the corner by staying at the same angle because that would put me into on coming traffic(which there was none, but I didn't know that) or worse into the ravine or risk not cutting the corner enough and risk hitting the ass end of my friend .So I had one thought, get this bike over further or your dead, I did and as I pulled out of the corner I came within inches of hitting my friend who had slowed down because he had taken the corner too fast two. He could have rotated his foot to stick his toe out and touched my bike that’s how close we were. My advice from this is, if you don't know the road slow down, we were doing about 20 over. Like I said young and stupid.


Another one I have also happened on a back road near Glenwood Springs. I was riding with a friend with a car following close (too close at times). Well my bike suddenly dies. I can't figure out why it did it but I start coming to a stop on a blind corner so I get over to try to give him some space. Well this guy decides that he is not going to slow down or give me room by moving into the other lane. He forces me into the gravel and my bike slips out from me, fortunately I was wearing my helmet. I was pissed to say the least so after I got my bike started again (never figured out why it died) we try to chase him down but never find him. Personally the only thing I can think of that would have changed anything was if I would have stopped in the road, he would have been forced to stop behind me and then I could have moved to the side of the road. I guess no damage that was too bad, some cosmetic damage to the bike and a skinned elbow.

One of the bad intersections I have notice while in Denver is northbound on Sheridan where 36 merges onto Sheridan. Its two lanes over the highway and a few hundred feet off the off ramp but there is a acceleration lane for the people coming off 36 getting onto Sheridan. Rush hour especially people have a tendency to cut from the far right to the far left sometimes cutting me off or almost side swiping me.

[sandboxshooter]

I dumped mine yesterday on College Drive, Fort Collins...(well...actually power stoppie that ended bad), but better than rear ending the car in front of me. Some assclown ahead of the car ahead of me did a brake lockup FOR NO APPARENT REASON...and it was either curb on left, car on right, rear end the car in front of me, or do myself to keep from hitting anything....i chose the latter....boy, I am sore as hell right now...broken left wrist, right side all the way down hurts bad and there is some issue with right shoulder...all in all the bike has minimum damage. Rear cowling took most of it, my body helped cushion it when it came all the way over and scraped up right side fairings some. I rode it home to Cheyenne so I didn't have to leave it down there. Was a great day till then. (Friday the 13th....I just about sh#t when the nice policeman told me the day.......) So, out of commission for a little while till wrist and shoulder heals up and I get bike repaired.

So....close call from hitting other vehicles I guess you can say....I REALLY didn't wanna hit anyone else......

[tarded400]

Screw that man, I'd rather plow into them and make them stop and wait for the cops than dump it and get ran over plus have the vehicle that caused it take off and make you look like a stunnah gone bad. Obviously try to avoid it first, and I probably would have done the same thing, but hindsight... did both vehicles hang around? Who is paying for your hospital bills?

[sandboxshooter]

Several people stopped and helped..and wrote witness statements...it wasn't the guy in front of me that was the assclown...he was cool...it was some assclown in a truck in front of him. No other options for me....the lady to my right almost ran me over....I thanked her for not doing that. I have good insurance, I'm retired military.

[RyNo24]

unfortunately, I do not think you can make anyone else pay for it. 99% of the time when you wreck behind someone, the cops wills say it "your fault" for not being "in control" of your vehicle. Even if an ass clown decides to stop for no reason and you hit them, they will give you the ticket, and you will have to pay for the repairs on their car. It a crappy traffic rule that puts blame on the wrong people.

Anyway, I am glad you came out of it fairly okay, and I wish you a fast recovery. Cars are stupid and the bikers always come out of these situations badly.

[Mel]

I was once coming out of a corner in a canyon, only to discover a rock slide at the exit. Dude in front of me braked, and....oh, wait...that wasn't a close call. Carry on.

[CanAm]

Ya know the thing that makes this thread so worth reading is the lessons learned that can help us avoid getting creamed in the future. I've been following Sandbox's story and the comments to it. What I get from it is to leave enough distance between me and the vehicle in front that I can stop safely if someone unexpectedly slams on their brakes. That means not only not hitting the vehicle in front or doing an endo', but also not being run over by the vehicle behind me. I took road safety training from a guy that teaches both road and track riding skills and he beat into my skull that in traffic I need to have two seconds between me and the vehicle in front. At 35 mph that is 100 ft! That seems ridiculously huge but just watch when a pothole or a rock or something appears from under the vehicle in front of you how quickly you reach it and how difficult it can be to avoid it.
It does not matter shit whether the driver/rider up ahead had a good reason to slam on his/her brakes. You, and only you, are responsible for not hitting the vehicle in front of you. And you are going to pay the price if you don't.

[sandboxshooter]

Yeah...unfortunately on College Drive in FC, you will never get the 100 feet...someone is always jumping in there if there is room.....I was lucky...and damn glad I didn't hit any vehicles or get run over....my survival instinct is too strong to purposely run into someone....I think I did the only thing I could've done in that situation.....who knows?

[tarded400]

I was in a situation around prospect on college last year when I had to stop suddenly from about 45 mph. I was in the middle lane, and all of the sudden it just stopped. I had plenty of distance, so it wasn't emergency braking, but I started looking to either side to see if a lane was clear. I couldn't see anything, and I figured I'd rather sit for a few extra seconds than pull out in front of someone going 50. So I'm coming up to a stop and I hear tires screeching, so I start rapidly looking to each side, but theres no way to tell if someone is coming, so I just got up on the bumper of the person in front of me, and shortly after the screeching tires I hear the thud, and a second or so after that I feel a slight tap on my rear wheel. The driver of the minivan behind me had a relative that was rear ended on a motorcycle and tossed into the oncoming lane of traffic, so she was giving me a bit of extra space. A kid in a jeep didn't see traffic stopping and locked up all four wheels before plowing into the back of the minivan, which just barely nudged my back tire. I stuck around and thanked her many, many times, and filled out a witness statement. Of course I didn't say I was involved, but just as a witness. Gotta keep an eye out. I kept thinking afterwards if I would rather be rear ended and sandwiched or risk getting plowed over by changing lanes into an unknown situation.

[Oldgreen]

Remember, white lining is okay if it saves your ass. Hey Sand, the dude probabley slammed them 'cause someone was tailgating, he had a fight with the gf or some other good reason. Always look for the escape route and remember it changes constantly.

[sandboxshooter]

Yeah, I always assume they're gonna do the worst...and always look for my escape routes.....this one just closed too fast....and I felt the car next to me...so.....just sucked overall......life is always another lesson.....like I was telling a friend today, I can mark off highside on the life list of things.....lol

[IT WASN'T ME!]

I was thinking about all the close calls I have had over the years. I was shocked to realize that every time someone turned in front of me, or cut me off, or pulled out in front of me, I knew as soon as I saw them that they were going to do it. Kind of like ESP or something. Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?

[MetaLord 9]

Yeah, I've had that too. They just get that look about them of "I'm about to do something really really stupid."

[tarded400]

I thought that was the normal drivers expression...

[Squisha]

I was thinking about all the close calls I have had over the years. I was shocked to realize that every time someone turned in front of me, or cut me off, or pulled out in front of me, I knew as soon as I saw them that they were going to do it. Kind of like ESP or something. Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?

Happens to me all the time...(in my car too) I've been doing that for years. I don't know if it's a skill that can be developed or not, but it has saved me from otherwise unknown disaster many, many times.

[IT WASN'T ME!]

/\ /\

[IT WASN'T ME!]

All but one of my wrecks have been due to me riding too fast, or riding too fast and not concentrating, or riding too fast and hitting gravel / water / sand, or riding too fast for the stock front tire, etc. Even the one where a car collected me, I knew she was going to do something stupid, I just didn't listen to that little voice.

[dm_gsxr]

Date: 9/4/08
Time: About 4:25pm
Location: Rt 287 Approaching Lookout Road from Longmont
Conditions: Clear

It's been a few months but it looks like they're starting up again.

The light at Lookout Road was red, two cars at the light. A third, black car with Wyoming tags had shifted into the left lane just before the light. I saw a mail truck coming from the right on Lookout getting ready to make the right turn onto 287.

The light had changed and the cars were accelerating as I approached. The car in the right lane was going faster than the front car in the left lane. Since the black car had shifted left when approaching the light, I was expecting that he was going to shift right because he'd made the wrong choice as to which was the faster car.

As I got closer, I got to the point where I figured it was too late for the guy to make the lane shift in front of me. I'd slowed slightly just in case but started accelerating to get around him.

He did the fake lane shift; start, seemed to see me, and stop. But then he decided to shift into the right lane anyway. Since the mail truck hadn't made the right turn yet, I had an escape ready so instead of a hard grab of the brakes, I hit my high beams, tapped my foot brake for the guys behind me, shifted right and rolled by.

Basically I was fully situationally aware. I'd anticipated the driver because of his earlier behavior and was ready to escape, even when I was close.

Up at the light at 7 west, I was in the left turn lane and he was in the left straight lane next to me. I looked over at him and he pretended I wasn't there. Dumbass.

Be careful and be aware.

Carl

[Dogsbody]

Okay, this is my first post here. Anyway, title this a rookie's mistake, all my fault - about 16 years ago I was riding with 4 friends headed out to Summit point, WVA for a bike race and we were in some pretty heavy Sunday traffic on a narrow country road. After a while the group took off and passed about 5 cars and slotted back in. The road was still clear but curved up and to the left and I thought I had plenty of room so I dropped down a gear and pulled out (lazily - about 70mph) and started to pass the cars. Just as I did a couple of semis, one after the other, came barreling around the corner. I'm on the center lines with nowhere to go. For a fraction of a second I thought about hitting the brakes and getting back in line but that would be chancy at best, especially if the cager's started to freak reacting to me, so I just kept my cool (so to speak) and stayed where I was, frightened cagers on one side, semis on their horns coming at me on the other. The noise and wind was surreal and what seemed like an eternity later the trucks were past and I then got back in my lane.

[Rednarb]

Westbound 470 coming up on Lucent there was ~something~ in the road up ahead. Plenty of traffic but I see about 7 cars up one swerve, and then a couple others behind swerved so I knew there was something in the lane. I could just barely see something in the left side of the lane up ahead so I moved to the right as far as I could. Sure enough the guy in front of me didn't see it until too late and hit it - a huge tire tread. Of course that caused it to fly up in the air, right about chest level. Luckily it stayed in the left lane so it zoomed by and into the car behind me. Had that hit me in the chest I'm not so sure I would have survived the impact much less the carnage that would follow in rush-hour traffic. Whew - glad I was watching my 12-seconds ahead.

[UnoMOTO]

Women....Stop putting your make up on while you are driving!

I had a nice silver durango want share the same lane with me this morning. As I look over to see why the hell my lane was better then hers, she was putting make up on. Damn it, you fat skank hoe! it wouldn't make you look better anyway.

[/rant over]

[MetaLord 9]

I always say I'm gonna die of cancer, well either cancer or I'm gonna get hit by a bus and well, it almost wasn't cancer!I was on 470 in the left lane just ride'n along w/a couple cars in front of me & the school bus pretty far back. Everyone slows down a little, but not suddenly by any means & I casually look down at my mirrors. I was like "damn that bus seems really close." I looked back down & he'd gotten so close I could see one headlight in each mirror. I was like FUCK!!! I looked back to see if my mirrors were somehow off, nope he was RIGHT there. I looked back starting to look for escapes if I needed 'em & traffic slowed down, I thought to myself "oh shit, here we go...."
The bus got close enough to me that his shadow overtook me. and I was IN FRONT of him... When I saw it overtake me I looked back at my mirrors to see if I needed to split lanes to get away, 'cause we were to that point. I saw him finally start backing off as his brakes kicked in. I turned around on the bike, pointed right at him and gave him the OBVIOUS signal for "You better back the fuck off!" He just wasn't paying attention & I could tell it spooked him 'cause he backed off by about a quarter mile.

The irony is, beforehand, as I was riding in front of him for a couple miles, I thought, "man, what if you DID get hit by that bus? I mean not killed or injured, but SHIT could you sue for stupid money."

[Ricky]

My first close call, that wasn't someone else's fault!

I was riding down golden gate canyon on Saturday late afternoon right as the roads were starting to lose sunlight. I was behind another car, so I wasn't speeding or anything. Was probably going about 35. I leaned into a corner and felt the rear end start to slide out from under me. Instinctively, I put my foot down to react to the slide, but by that point it had already regained traction. It happened so fast that I didn't have time to actually react until it was over. Luckily, I stayed up!

[SaShWhO]

that's so fucked up!!!
imagine---a schoolbus driver not paying attention---WTF???
I've seen two scoolbuses(one full of kiddos) running bloody red lights
unfuckingbelievable