quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:
Reminder people. You learned in drivers-ed NOT to swerve or stop on a freaking highway for tiny animals.

Reminder, people: It is your responsibility to follow at a safe distance.

Had you hit him: You would have been at fault. (At least in my state, you would have.)

From the video it appeared you had plenty of time to see he was slowing down and do the same... if you were paying attention. Or you were badly tailgating the car in the right lane. The time for you to pass the light polls on the left was twice that for the car on the left as the right at, and directly after, the time you changed lanes.

Those of you criticizing the driver that slowed for the birds: What if he'd slowed of stopped for a road hazard? Chunk of concrete, big hole in the road, rock, appliance, furniture, big pieces of shredded tractor/trailer tire, other possibly damaging detritus?

For the record: I likely would have done the same as the car you nearly hit. I'm not going to blithely run over animals if I can avoid it.

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:
Ride a motorcycle around for a while and you'll see motorists doing lots of dumb shit.

You mean like cars following too close and nearly ramming you when you stopped or slowed for a road hazard that a car would survive but might well kill you? Like hitting birds in the road?

In 54 years of riding motorcycles, I have never hit "Birds in the road".

Am I doing something wrong?

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:
In 54 years of riding motorcycles, I have never hit "Birds in the road".

Of course not, but, if you'd been approaching those birds on that highway, would you have carried on, at speed, assuming they would: 1. Move before you got to them and 2. Not fly up in front of you? Or would you have recognized the threat and taken appropriate precautionary measures? I know which I'd have done when I was riding.

Maybe that's why I never hit any birds, either?

I hit a turkey once while riding south on WI-35. I was doing 65, saw the turkey in the gravel next to the shoulder and slowed down to 50. I covered the brakes with my hand and foot figuring it would make it's move before I got there. Nope. 10 feet away it jumped up, then out, hitting the right side of my front faring, busting the mirror off, and then into my shoulder. The bird died on impact. Hindsight being what it is, I should have slowed down more and not played chicken with the turkey.

That being said, slamming on the brakes for small animals is stupid. So is following the vehicle in front of you too closely. Great video, looks like you are almost a whole 1 second behind the vehicle in front of you based on when it passes shadows across the road and when you do. What if the person had stopped for something legitimate? Who would be the idiot then and have video to prove it?

People down here stop in the middle of blind corners, get out of their cars, and physically move tortoises across the road.

did his brake lights even come on?

Well done avoiding the accident!

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:
In 54 years of riding motorcycles, I have never hit "Birds in the road".

Of course not, but, if you'd been approaching those birds on that highway, would you have carried on, at speed, assuming they would: 1. Move before you got to them and 2. Not fly up in front of you? Or would you have recognized the threat and taken appropriate precautionary measures? I know which I'd have done when I was riding.

Maybe that's why I never hit any birds, either?

I guess we both look far ahead in order to avoid an emergency and plan/take action immediately.

Plus, I always distance myself from the traffic pack. I'm either ahead of the pack or far behind.

Unlike most motorists who herd together and see only as far the car hood.

quote:

Originally posted by SR:
did his brake lights even come on?

Well done avoiding the accident!

Did we watch the same video? His brake lights only came off, briefly, just before bubba nearly rear-ended him. Oh, and bubba, the guy who nearly rear-ended you? He didn't have enough time to react to the whole thing because you cut off his view off it just prior, and you didn't react as fast as I would have because my foot was involuntarily reaching for the non-existent brake pedal under my desk a good two second before you threw the hooks on. In my opinion, the person slowing for the birds didn't almost cause an accident, and neither did the white car that almost you hit you. You were the one that nearly caused the pile up. We need to be looking for the dashcam vid from the white car titled "Idiot driver cuts me off, almost rear-ends guy slowing for road hazard."

Lane changes for the slightest of gains.... You on the brakes a lot, in general?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P220 Smudge,

It seems as if the driving habits of others cause pretty strong reactions in others even when not drivng an automoblile. The point is for everyone to get where they are going in a safe manner. Both sides have made good points.

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Originally posted by trapper189:
I hit a turkey once while riding south on WI-35. I was doing 65, saw the turkey in the gravel next to the shoulder and slowed down to 50. I covered the brakes with my hand and foot figuring it would make it's move before I got there. Nope. 10 feet away it jumped up, then out, hitting the right side of my front faring, busting the mirror off, and then into my shoulder. The bird died on impact. Hindsight being what it is, I should have slowed down more and not played chicken with the turkey.

I'll see your turkey and raise you a pelican.

I hit it at 200 ft. above the water, offshore abeam St. Augustine. Bird shit and feathers all over the airplane.

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Originally posted by GWbiker:
Plus, I always distance myself from the traffic pack. I'm either ahead of the pack or far behind.

Unlike most motorists who herd together and see only as far the car hood.

I distanced myself when I rode. I distance myself when I drive. I always distanced myself when I helmed boats.

I've had bikes get in my blind spot and sit there. Drives. Me. Nuts.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
From the video it appeared you had plenty of time to see he was slowing down and do the same... if you were paying attention. Or you were badly tailgating the car in the right lane. The time for you to pass the light polls on the left was twice that for the car on the left as the right at, and directly after, the time you changed lanes.

Those of you criticizing the driver that slowed for the birds: What if he'd slowed of stopped for a road hazard? Chunk of concrete, big hole in the road, rock, appliance, furniture, big pieces of shredded tractor/trailer tire, other possibly damaging detritus?

For the record: I likely would have done the same as the car you nearly hit. I'm not going to blithely run over animals if I can avoid it.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
More insulting horse shit fucking nonsense

Sigh. The moron in the left lane (passing lane) was traveling the speed limit for several MILES in the left lane, and refused to get over to the right lane (driving lane). Consequently, there were 8-10 cars piled up right behind the guy. Yes I will admit I was following too closely the car in the right lane. Why? Because I saw an opportunity to finally get around him. My plan was to get in to the left lane, in front of the white car, pass the BMW, and then get back into the right lane, at which point I would pull away from traffic. I HATE being stuffed in traffic. Its much safer to be ahead of it, or far behind it.

Now for your misinformed comment about slowing down- when we show dash camera footage to people in court rooms, they get to watch the tape hundreds of times. They get to analyze each and every detail. They get to watch the video frame by frame. We have to explain to people what reaction time is, how it affects people, why the officer shot someone 3 or 4 times after the person is down and appears to no longer be a threat. The gov says that reaction time for an average driver to recognize a problem, plan for it, decide what to do, and act upon it(swerve and hit the brakes) takes about 2.3 to 3.0 seconds. Give or take.

So while YOU have the benefit of watching a video several times to see what happens, I didn't have that luxury in real time. My reaction time is 100% normal for a regular functioning human. So while it does look like a long time on camera, in real life, the reaction was normal. So honestly, your misinformed comments are just that, misinformed. You are only looking at the video, while failing to account for the bodies physiological response to stress, AND the normal 3 second reaction time that affects everyone. Your uninformed opinion/comments were rather insulting, honestly.

The vehicle in front of you was avoiding a hazard in the road, while it clearly shows in the video you actively attempted to hit the hazard by swerving and accelerating.

The prior aggressive driving behavior (following too closely and weaving) clearly demonstrated on the dash cam video is evidence enough.

Misinformed? I understand how dash cams work, I have one. I also know how reaction time works. I’ve also been in the middle of an 8 car pile up doing pretty much exactly what you did. The video clearly shows you putting yourself in a position to cause an accident. I’m sure you don’t agree, and your reply reinforces my opinion on the matter. You knew you were following too close, and by your own admission, you were speeding. YOU nearly caused a pile up. Since you understand reaction time well enough to explain it in court, you have even less excuse for changing lanes. With a bit more context provided from you, it sure seems like aggressive driving to me.

I'm sorry, but I'm "old school common sense" when it comes to driving.....

But, only a complete fool would stop his/her motor vehicle in traffic, in the same lane on a controlled access highway to help a bird safely cross the roadway.

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:
I'm sorry, but I'm "old school common sense" when it comes to driving.....

But, only a complete fool would stop his/her motor vehicle in traffic, in the same lane on a controlled access highway to help a bird safely cross the roadway.

If Florida is like Michigan: That is not a controlled-access road. It's just a plain old divided highway.

Give-aways: Center turn lanes, maximum speed limit with no minimum speed limit, no entrance/exit ramps seen, no "limited access" signs seen.

The OP, by his own admission, was crowding the car in the right lane, because he was stuck behind him. Been there. Have done just what he meant to do. My wife hates it when I do that, because it's unsafe.

We just saw why. The timing depends on nothing going wrong. I'm learning to stop doing that, no matter how frustrated I may be at being stuck behind idiots.

The OP's explanations about reaction time, etc. aside: If you're following too closely, you're following too closely, and that's that. That is why, in rear-end collisions, the car following is nearly always deemed at fault.

The one exception of which I'm aware (IANAL), is if you cut somebody off, then brake suddenly.

Ironically...

There is no law that says you must smash through a hazard in the road to prevent a reckless driver from crashing into you.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
There is no law that says you must smash through a hazard in the road to prevent a reckless driver from crashing into you.

Your right, its better to break the law by not removing your ass from the passing lane for 4 miles when people want to pass you, causing an unnecessary 10 car backup behind you, and then potentially causing a 3-6 car pile-up where real people can die, causing $40K to $100K in property damage, because you would rather slam on your brakes and let a 10 ounce bird live. I love your priorities.

Get a life.

This isn't a 35 mph neighborhood with no cars around. This is a REAL 55 mph highway, with traffic. Anyone stopping their car in traffic for a fucking bird or a fucking squirrel should honestly be beaten to death by the victims family, should a death occur.

As to your point, I HIGHLY doubt if a death occurred, that ANY jury (criminal or civil) would side with the guy that panic stopped to save a small bird.

No, you would have rammed a car from behind because you didn't give proper clearance for a road hazard. No matter how much you are trying to rationalize your aggressive and reckless driving.

Your fault no matter what.

I don't weave through traffic exceeding the posted, then bitch because someone had to brake for a hazard in the road.

THEY were prepared for a problem, you CAUSED it and plastered the evidence on the internet.

Guys, relax a bit.


Coming from someone who used to handle wreck investigations for a living, he did keep a proper distance. He was a good 6-8 car lengths behind the guy after he switched lanes and the guy in front decided to dump his brakes in the middle of the highway. He stopped with room to spare before hitting the guy.

I like birds too but if there's a chance that I'm going to kill myself or another person the bird's gonna die. One thing I learned in driver's ed way back when that I tell people now is, if hitting an animal isn't going to kill you, then hit the fucker. Don't swerve or stop and risk dying. I've seen people swerve to avoid dogs and hit a tree and get killed.

Two completely separate items here. Driver in front of Bubba was being an idiot. If an accident occurred, it would be 100% Bubba's fault.

Don't drive like this, it's not worth the aggravation. 4 miles traveled at 55mph vs 65mpg is such an inconsequential time difference, it's not worth trying to aggressively pass someone.