Just thought I'd start a thread where we can talk about "Near misses" and such...... On my previous bike (not the beloved VFR) I was taking a short trip to fill up with gas, sunny day, low traffic, aterial road (two lanes in each direction) ... you get the picture. Not in any hurry when I notice an on-comming car signalling he's gonna turn in front of me. As I get closer he pulls across...... "MMM that's a bit rude " I thought, braked and no worries .... that's when I see there's another car behind him that is also turning!!!! Sheeet!! The driver of this car see's me and there is absolute terror on her face.......it's then ... I see ... the tow-rope! (this poor woman is being pulled into the path of an on-comming vehicle - namely me :frown: ) Now funny thing I can recall in minute detail that tow-rope .. bright orange nylon , two knots in one end, sligtly frayed etc. etc... Any way somehow I went between the two cars over the rope (where the ladie's front bumper just perceptively grazed my boot) and pulled over feeling really sorry for the woman and really pissed at the guy. And guess what?? they just went down the side street, and I waited and ...no show! They just kept going. Needless to say when I finally got to the gas station - boy I had trouble holding that nozzle still!
Like yours, my closest was on my other bike. I was out early one Sunday morning. I was just sitting at a stop light. Nothing in front, nothing in back except a minivan stopped at the light about a block behind me. Just waiting for the light to change, and I hear tires screaming. Snap my eyes to the mirror again, NOTHING! Next thing I know see is this damn minivan sliding past me on the shoulder of the road. The damn woman driving it wasn't STOPPED at the light behind me, she RAN the light behind me and the one I was stopped at was next. Moral of the story: Don't just GLANCE around you, LOOK around you. I should have seen her coming but I didn't. We learn from our experiences, and in my case this one worked out in my favor. Next time it might not, so I look at things a lot closer now.
Fortunately for me (touch wood!) the only recent incident happened about 2 weeks after I had picked up my much cherished VFR (which is now over two years ago). I was out for a ride with a mate and had been visiting a location near Canberra thats on a narrow, twisty road. We had just left the parking area and my mate was out in front.'Cos I didnt know the road, the weather wasnt great and the bike was new to me I wasnt much over the speed limit which at that point was 80 km/h. And there it was - off to the left, parked right off the road and facing in the direction I was travelling - one of those compact SUVs. Old habits (good and bad) come back when your back into an activity (I'd been off a road bike for about 15 years) and in this case it was me instinctively covering my brakes. Surely this guy would see me if he was considering moving - what with it being an overcast day and my headlights on and him/her having a side mirror. Before it quite registers on me the git in the SUV has swung out onto the road and is completely blocking it from traffic in both directions - all at a distance of about what was less than 20 metres (50 ft?) . Thats when I learned to appreciate the linked brakes. Front and back came on hard, short of locking up and with the bike squatting down hard onto the road. By this time the brainiac in the car probably had their own sphincter tightening moment and had the presence of mind to keep the car moving/turning so that my right elbow grazed the doors before coming to a stop. So there we were both stopped with pulse rates that were probably sky high. I looked back and shook my head and kept going, not trusting myself to confront this idiot. Hopefully the lesson it should have taught wasn't wasted on them. Ride safe!:smile:
Hey you Aussie guys can't have all the fun I was riding down Esplanade ave coming out of the French Quarter in New Orleans. the avenue goes from One lane to 2 just before the Interstate. the light changes I am three cars back. I signal to pull into the right lane to go thru the 1st half of the intersection a moron in a pickup decides he needs to go right and no signal, he turns right from the left lane. I was going straight thru. I see him turning and think to myself Oh $%# this is going to hurt and my bike, The 86 VFR700F2, will be destroyed. I guess he finally decides to look and see if he is clear to turn and sees me as his truck contacts my left leg and arm. I instinctively am leaning away from him and the bike fades to the right just enough and i clear him and go through the intersection. I pulled over on the side of the rode and stopped I had to pull the seat of my bike out of me Arse.. Truck moron pulls up rolls down his window and apologizes for trying to run me down claiming he didn't see me until he had almost run over me then he drove off on his way straight ahead. I guess he really did not want to go to the right if he could not run over me. I sat there for 5 minutes before I felt calm enough to continue on.
