Prev: Vector LR 970 Radar Detector (?L01 CAL)
Next: UK considers law blaming driver in all car/bike crashes!!
From: Alexander Rogge on 1 Sep 2008 23:55
> On sunday night It was buick
> SUV diving across from the right lanes that nearly hit me as I was
> completing a pass. I estimate its speed at around 120mph.

Some drivers assume that they're going "fast enough" and that you should
brake to "let them in". They don't seem to understand that drivers in
the passing lane have right-of-way, and that entering traffic must
accelerate to the speed of traffic or wait until the lane is clear.
It's MFFY and they send everybody else swerving to avoid them.
From: Eeyore on 2 Sep 2008 11:37


N8N wrote:

> I agree, but 120+ in dense 70 MPH traffic is not wise, even if that
> speed might be safe in light traffic conditions.

Bikers often appear to have a death wish.

You wouldn't catch me on one, certainly not after some teenage experiences as a
pillion rider.

Graham

From: Brent P on 2 Sep 2008 17:40
On 2008-09-02, DanKMTB(a)gmail.com <DanKMTB(a)gmail.com> wrote:

> This is going to sound stupid, and I'm going to get flamed, but what
> the heck - it's a slow day. I?ve had 2 sport bikes, one of which was
> particularly fast and nice. I HATED riding on the highway. Anywhere
> near the SL or the flow of traffic, that is. It does appear that
> people don?t see you, and some that do will just bully you out of the
> way, knowing you?ll move rather than die. However, when moving
> substantially faster than anything else on the road, it?s not so bad.
> You pay attention, and don?t spend more than a second next to any
> vehicle. No worries of idiots drifting into you or changing lanes
> into you, no worries of the texting teen not seeing you ? you
> basically get to treat other vehicles as stationary objects, which
> takes the scary aspect away. IME riding a sport bike (mind, one
> that?s intended for this type of speed and not an antique or Harley ?
> I?m talking about bikes that are quite comfy at 150+) at twice the
> speed of traffic is a whole lot less unnerving than riding with
> traffic.
>
> Commence flaming now.

The 120mph in heavy but still doing 70mph traffic on the dan-ryan riders
I see coming 9 times out of ten. Anyone who has the intent to hurt one
of these riders has more than enough time to set up to do it. I have
more than enough time to take up a lane location to discourage lane
splitting or at least force them to use the shoulder which they won't do
most of the time because of the debris.


From: Brent P on 2 Sep 2008 17:44
On 2008-09-02, N8N <njnagel(a)hotmail.com> wrote:

> That said, I can't imagine 120+ feeling comfortable in anything but
> very light traffic.

In Germany it's comfortable. In the US, even if done with proper lane
discipline and no lane splitting etc... like you said, it's pretty much
suicidal because of all the idiots out there.


> I know there have
> been instances where I've been coming home after dark, traveling a
> little faster than other traffic, and a bike can appear behind me
> between my initial mirror check and my second mirror check as I'm
> actually moving over to pass someone. At 80 MPH, give or take (this
> was back before I got my current job, where they actually care about
> my driving record) you KNOW they're haulin' the mail to be able to go
> from beyond my horizon of visibility to close to my bumper in that
> short amount of time (maybe 3 seconds?)

Yep. Have had that happen too. but usually it's because they've dived
over several lanes from where my mirrors don't pick up traffic instead
of being obscured by things like hills ;)


From: DanKMTB on 2 Sep 2008 19:03
On Sep 2, 5:40 pm, Brent P <tetraethylleadREMOVET...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> On 2008-09-02, DanK...(a)gmail.com <DanK...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > This is going to sound stupid, and I'm going to get flamed, but what
> > the heck - it's a slow day.  I?ve had 2 sport bikes, one of which was
> > particularly fast and nice.  I HATED riding on the highway.  Anywhere
> > near the SL or the flow of traffic, that is.  It does appear that
> > people don?t see you, and some that do will just bully you out of the
> > way, knowing you?ll move rather than die.  However, when moving
> > substantially faster than anything else on the road, it?s not so bad.
> > You pay attention, and don?t spend more than a second next to any
> > vehicle.  No worries of idiots drifting into you or changing lanes
> > into you, no worries of the texting teen not seeing you ? you
> > basically get to treat other vehicles as stationary objects, which
> > takes the scary aspect away.  IME riding a sport bike (mind, one
> > that?s intended for this type of speed and not an antique or Harley ?
> > I?m talking about bikes that are quite comfy at 150+) at twice the
> > speed of traffic is a whole lot less unnerving than riding with
> > traffic.
>
> > Commence flaming now.
>
> The 120mph in heavy but still doing 70mph traffic on the dan-ryan riders
> I see coming 9 times out of ten. Anyone who has the intent to hurt one
> of these riders has more than enough time to set up to do it.

If you have the intent, probably. However, if the driver of a car has
the _intent_ to hurt a motorcyclist, they've got a pretty good chance
of pulling it off. Probably a lesser one if the motorcyclist is
"hauling the mail" - since they may not see them coming and/or have
enough time to plan or execute the intended assault.


> I have
> more than enough time to take up a lane location to discourage lane
> splitting

Or at least that lane. At high speeds they can likely just move over
a few lanes in a second or two, getting away from you altogether.


> or at least force them to use the shoulder which they won't do
> most of the time because of the debris.

They won't? Most of the riders I rode with and/or know consider
anything paved fair game, including the breakdown lane and the narrow
shoulder on the left of the leftmost lane. I've cringed watching my
riding buddies squeeze between cars and guardrails more times than I
can count. Granted a quick left swirve at the right moment by the car
would squish them, but it hasn't happened to anyone I know yet. I
figure the reasons are multiple
-Most drivers don't really want to kill a motorcyclist.
-It happens so fast, the timing would have to be real good. I like to
think the auto drivers that are that good are even less likely to try
to kill a motorcyclist for speeding - that seems aunt-judyish to me,
and I don't think she has the driving skill or reaction time
-Shell shock. Most of the time I've seen a bike at real high speeds
split a lane, it causes a reflexive swirve _away_ from the motorcycle,
at least for the fraction of a second it takes the bike to be past
them and on their way.

Also, sport bikes like the ones in question stop real well too. If
they see you moving to close their intended gap, and they can't find
another route (rare, in my experience) the bike can come down from
120+ to 70 in a breathtakingly short amount of time.
 |  Next  |  Last
Pages: 1 2 3
Prev: Vector LR 970 Radar Detector (?L01 CAL)
Next: UK considers law blaming driver in all car/bike crashes!!