Last night I rode to the bike night at Quaker Steak and Lube, it was 77 degrees and could be the last event of the year that is well attended (it was 47 degrees when I drove to work this morning).

I took the back roads as I275 is crazy and dangerous in the evening rush hour.  As I was riding I saw a pickup truck pull up to a side road....and I kept my eye on him to be sure he was going to stop.  He stopped, and as I got within 100 feet of him - he pulled out in front of me.  Luckily I had my eye on him and was ready for him to do this - there was no traffic in the other lane so I applied the brakes and moved over to the left and passed him....and paused briefly along side so he could see that I was magic and could appear out of nowhere.  There is a STOP sign about 1/4 mile up the road, and I stopped and went back to talk to him.  He and his wife appeared to be in their late 70's, and as I suspected.....he didn't see me.  He was not a cell phone user - just one of those folks who scans the road for a car and doesn't really look.  I had on a red jacket, and an 8" headlight with an LED bulb in it - I am not very hard to see!

Then a mile down the road I came up behind a truck pulling a small trailer.  He was going about 10 mph under the speed limit, and he was in a passing zone.  As I got up behind him he slowed even more as we approached a bridge......and then he turned left into a driveway without using a turn signal.  If I had chosen to pass him (it would have been a legal pass) - but I would likely have just hit the side of his truck as he turned.

We really need to ride as if everyone else is going to do something stupid - because they do stupid things all the time!

YEP

Thanks for the warning Dave. I have to admit I do not ride much at night. I also have to admit that I am not bashful about using my horn or flashing my lights. Yes, I believe every car is out to get me.

I was following an ambulance,bright red, yello reflective stripes, and a pickup stopped at a sign and pulled out in front of him. He was on the horn and brakes as he dodged. I was glad that ambulance was in front of me.
There's really no way to distrust the other guy too much.
I've walked back to talk to a guy who ran a stop sign,on the phone. He was still on it while I was telling him to lay it down before he killed someone. He was older than me.

EVERY other driver/rider out there cant see you
I had a biker in the same rally I was riding in cut me off from the left of me getting to the side of the road
good thing I was staggered with new front brake pads
he was clueless
no signal, no looking back, just cut over from the left part of the lane to the roadside..

While not the most fashionable, wearing bright (fluorescent) colors does seem to help a little.  There's a guy I see around here occasionally who painted his Harley safety orange.

Serowbot wrote on 09/30/17 at 10:01:26:



That's awesome!!


A mate of mine was riding a Honda 750 through some mild twisties, through farm land. He was coming to a slip road (had a clear road ahead). He did a head check over his left shoulder, looked back up, and there was a bull standing on the road!! He hit it at 80 km/hr. Straight over the handlebars: Broken wrist, dislocated shoulder, twisted ankle, and damaged hips!

As I left the house this morning it was daylight and leaving the driveway the road is dirt/gravel for 0.3 miles before hitting the pavement.  Half way down the gravel portion I see some Ginneys (cousin to chicken) on the left side of the one lane road.  Chickens are not too smart and Ginneys even less.  As I approach at about 35 mph they are just watching me and as I pass them the in ONE who jumps across the road right in front of me and somehow manages to to escape being run over by my wheel. I would have gone down if I had hit him straight on.