I've had my 2006 S40 for almost seven years. In all that time I have never seen another one out on the road. Until yesterday afternoon. And I almost ran over the kid who was riding it.
My wife and I were in the car on a local road that runs through a commercial/industrial area. This road has a forty mile per hour speed limit, has very few actual cross streets, but there are stop lights every three or four hundred yards or so, so people can exit the parking lots on either side of the road.
I was approaching one of these intersections - I had the green light - , and saw three motorcycles coming the other way with their left turn blinkers on. Traffic was very light. Most of the businesses on this stretch of road are closed on weekends.
As I approached the intersection the first of the three bikes turned left in front of me. That rider, on a little sport bike, had enough room to safely make the turn, but just barely.
Something told me that the second bike was going to turn too, and I was already on the brakes when the front of my car got to the first of the two crosswalk lines. Sure enough, the rider on the second bike started to slow - I saw the forks compress - then did a little weave, and then turned right in front of me. I stood on the brakes and stopped about halfway into the intersection.
The rider on that bike must have realised she wasn't going to make it, panicked, and stabbed the brakes right after initiating the turn. She stalled the bike right in the middle of my lane, probably two feet in front of my hood, dead center between my headlights. She looked at me with eyes as wide as dinner plates, pulled in the clutch and paddled the rest of the way across the lane. That's when I realised that the bike was a fairly new S40.
The rider on the third bike had the presence of mid to stop in his lane with his left blinker on. Since I was already stopped. and there were no cars coming up behind me, I waved him through so he could turn into the parking lot and join his friends. Then I continued on my way. I remember my wife, who rarely swears, yelling "Holy Sh*t" sometime during this little drama.
The girl on the Suzuki was very lucky I think. I believe that the only reason I even noticed those three riders was because I have been riding motorcycles myself for a long time, and I have trained myself to be very aware of what's going on on the road around me, even when I'm in my car and not on a bike. I hate to think about what might have happened had she - I'm almost positive the rider on the Suzuki was a girl - turned in front of someone who was daydreaming his/her way down the road, had the green, and was oblivious to what was going on. Which is unfortunately the way a lot of people drive.
Hopefully the next Savage I encounter out on the road will just be cruising along and my interaction will be nothing more than a friendly wave.
This one was a little too close for comfort.