Accelerating around a curve on my Roadster, perfect visibility, almost home....
There is a guy mowing along the road edge. He is being good, blowing the cuttings away from traffic.
I have all kinds of visibility, and just met a neighbor in the curve.
I'm watching this lawnmower, thinking "don't you do it..."
Then he does it. He makes a U-turn by turning out into the road. He sees me and stops, stretched across my lane of traffic. I stand the bike up, grab a big handful of brake, and try to shave off speed while he makes a decision(stay stopped, or pop the clutch and get on across the double yellow).
After about a half second, he does the latter. I had placed myself to go either way. So I wave and smile as I miss him by inches.
No I didn't flip him off, I didn't berate him verbally, I didn't go back & complain about his ancestry or upbringing.
I did what most folks should do....
I let it go.
We both got a jolt of adrenaline.
Hopefully he will keep his head on a better swivel.
I will continue to play my mental "what if" games since they obviously pay off.

Well done! That's kept me alive for over 30 years of riding.

Everyone is out to kill me, how am I going to get out of it.

Someone told me once that he considered riding a motorcycle to be a very serious, moving chess game where he strived to stay three or four moves ahead of his opponent.

I learned a long time ago to ride like everyone out there is sincerely trying to kill me.
I never have right of way.
The chess game is a good analogy.
I usually liken it more to the opening space battle scene above Coruscant in Star Wars:Episode III....

Nicely done. I am back on 2 wheels after being off for about 5. I stay hyper alert when I'm out and normally try to stay way out in the country.
I like the chess analogy too. Have to put that into practice.

My #1 rule I told both my kids when they started driving. " Never expected the other guy is going to do the right thing". This has worked for me for 50 years.

I played "what if" in federal prisons for 30 years. I probably avoided being shanked 5 or 6 times. I also play the game while riding. It tires me out-where will go go "if", how can I brake "if", etc. 2 hours on the bike and I need a nap, but I am old now. Worse, I'm high mileage.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
I am old now.

Me too, but then I think about it and realize that it's better than the alternative.

Must've been the day for it.

This one was entirely my fault: Secondary road, reasonable condition. One section makes a tight S turn with a bridge in the middle. Did the left, crossed the bridge, working the right on the exit. About halfway through the right hander I looked in my right mirror to check on the daughter on her bike behind me.

Drifted wide, very close to or touching the yellow line. Looked back up and RIGHT THERE is a pickup coming the other way, also hugging the yellow line. 6 inches away, maybe. Wonder I didn't take his side mirror right in the kisser. Leaned WAY over to get centered in my lane again, tucked my heart back down my throat and continued. Paid a bit more attention the rest of the ride.

Complacency can kill ya...

Good call. I look ahead and try to assume everybody in sight is preparing to do the dumbest thing possible, and formulate a plan to handle that. Most of the time, I'm glad I had that plan, as it frequently needs to be implemented.

You've just described what we taught our OTR truck drivers. It's The Smith System of driver awareness.

Drivers who paid attention, took it seriously, learned AND USED IT would come back in and tell us their experiences of how it saved them many times.

Thank you for posting this.

Ride/Drive like they're going to hit ya

It becomes second nature after a few decades.

quote:

I look ahead and try to assume everybody in sight is preparing to do the dumbest thing possible, and formulate a plan to handle that.

Sounds great but it doesn't always work. Last July while travelling down a highway here in NH with not a great deal of traffic, suddenly in front of me a car carrier hauling three cars had a rigid tonneau cover fly off the back and hung in the air. Can't go right, some traffic on the left. Nothing to do other than take it head on and hold on. Fortunately it hit low and I managed to stay on as I went over it.

Totaled the bike. Bent frame and forks, tore the bags, fender and electrical. Dodging debris is the norm by I never thought I'd face that type of incident. Witnesses stopped when I got to the side of the road amazed I stayed up. Poor driver was stopped who didn't know what happened and almost had a hearty attack.

I try to never allow myself to get in positions where if somebody else screws up I'll get hurt. I just assume they're going to do something stupid so when it does happen I'll be ready for it. After 45+ years it's automatic yet still there are surprises as people find new dumb shit to do every day it seems.

Cruising along about 45 on a back road near my house on my motorcycle, there's a cable TV pickup parked most of the way off the road on the right. I'm keeping a close eye on him and he makes a left turn into the driveway across the street as I get near. Full panic stop both brakes on hard, I stop 6 inches from his door looking him right in the eyes. I was in a hurry so I rolled back and got back on the road. He didn't roll down his window to engage in conversation. I knew he was aware he F'd up big time.

quote:

Originally posted by greco:
My #1 rule I told both my kids when they started driving. " Never expected the other guy is going to do the right thing". This has worked for me for 50 years.

Ha! We think alike.

I helped all four of my kids learn to drive and my #1 rule was: Always assume the other driver is going to do something stupid.

quote:

No I didn't flip him off, I didn't berate him verbally, I didn't go back & complain about his ancestry or upbringing.
I did what most folks should do....
I let it go.

I do this also. Usually a quick wave to help them get their head back in the game because they are usually freaked out.
It's much more gratifying and calming for both parties.

I'm out in the sticks most of the time...squirrels, deer, dogs, a horse one night on the by-pass. I actually prefer the car drivers to screw up with me. I can see their faces, read their eyes, watch their front wheels. A deer for example is completely unreadable, and crazy to boot.
There's two types of riders...those who are going to go down and those who have.

A couple of years ago I was riding the twisties in SE Missouri on my BMW R1200GS Adventure. Wonderful country roads but barely two cars wide.

I was riding at a pretty good clip and entered a blind left hand curve. I had just leaned over when a semi started around the curve blocking 2/3rds of my lane. The type of roads I was on, the last thing you would expect is seeing a semi.

I had a stone hillside on my right. I stood the bike up and was focused on squeezing through the space between the semi and rock wall. I had 2 or three inches of clearance on ether side. I remember thinking that I was going to die and be sucked under the trailer.

I believe that the only reason I did not die was because I did not panic. I did not touch the brakes and did not fixate on the truck or rock wall.

Somehow we managed to not hit each other and I rode another mile or two until I found a safe spot to pull off. The adrenaline then kicked in and I got off and sat down for about 45 minutes before continuing on with my ride.

A motorcycle is maneuverable and a lot of people get in trouble by braking at the wrong time and loosing that maneuverability.

Deer are different. If you try to miss a deer at speed and lean over, hitting the deer will put you down. I was taught to scrub off speed, keep the bike upright, and go straight through the deer. The gyroscopic action inherent to a motorcycle will act to keep the bike upright.

I know someone who did this and cut the deer in half. He kept control of the bike and did not go down.

With that said, I also know of someone who taught motorcycle safety classes who got killed hitting a deer while returning from teaching a class.

Life is full of choices. Experience helps with selecting the correct choice. However, There is always some luck involved because in most cases you can't control what the other person or animal is going to do.