Quote:
Originally Posted by DETRoadster
Continuing on the "WA drivers are the most inept in the country" theme, because you are 10,000% correct....
Came closer to certain death today than I have even been in nearly 30 years of motorcycle riding. 
Was in the right lane of I-5 South heading into downtown at about 6:45 AM. My lane is exiting so I need to get over to the left 1 lane. Traffic is heavy and all lanes are moving at about 45 MPH. I put my blinker on and check my mirror. There's a white SUV in the lane I want to merge into but he's way back there. Hard to judge in the mirror but it's like 10+ car lengths. Crazy, there's rarely a gap that big. Cant sit and stare at the mirror too long as the car in front of me has a 50/50 chance of locking up the brakes for no reason as dreamingat30fps correctly pointed out. Check my gap between me and the car in front. All good. I turn to the left and do a physical head check for that white SUV. Nothing. Cant twist far enough back to even see him so all's good. I start my merge into the next lane over and right about the time I hit the painted lane stripes that white SUV absolutely blows past me doing at least 20 MPH more than the rest of traffic. There's a very faint "tick" on my helmet like a little pebble hit it. I seriously think it was his mirror just ever so slightly clipping me. He continued on to tailgate the car he ended up behind and then aggressively change over 3 lanes without signaling or looking. Worst of all, he was in a BMW X4 or X6. Way to live up to the stereotype, dick.
So my PSA is two-fold. For the 4 wheel crowd: Don't drive 20+ MPH faster than everyone else in heavy traffic and put yourself in a position to kill a motorcyclist who is changing lanes. For the 2 wheel crowd: Never assume typical closing speed. |
Your first mistake was using the turn signal, everyone knows the purpose of which is to indicate you wish to challenge the vehicle in that lane to a battle of wits!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickFLM4
Another...
Ride / keep you bicycle in the bike lane, single file if necessary, when there is a bike lane. If there is no bike lane, don’t block cars traveling 2-3x your speed by riding side by side with other bicycles. Better yet, consider riding somewhere there is a bike lane (there are more than enough nowadays) or less car traffic. Don’t look at your phone while riding a bicycle on a street where cars are driving and remember to follow traffic rules, including not cutting in front of a car by blowing through stop signs. A special bicycle outfit does not bestow super hero powers. Believe it or not, you might live longer exercising a little common sense.
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Don't get me started on the bicycle people, I was about to just plow through a whole field of these bastards driving through Napa or Sedona or some shit in CA. Pretty windy mountain roads with barely enough space for the two lanes of traffic. Double yellow the whole way (for good reason) and these fuckers are taking up half the lane, riding side by side, wobbling all over the fucking place looking like they were about to have a fucking heart attack. Sure they may be in the right to ride there or whatever, but at the end of the day it will probably be their family in court, because bike vs car won't end well for the bike.
I gotta give them credit though, they got balls riding that shit on these roads with cars coming behind them 50+ mph. Maybe they feel they have to compensate for their horribly gay choice of sport/activity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FCobra94
5. If you're on a multiple lane road and a lane on either side of you is completely stopped...don't go driving at some insane speed just because your lane is clear. You can almost always count on a car coming from the opposing direction being let in by stopped traffic asking to get t-boned.
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Ahhh this one is super fun back home, especially in Miami where they have those express lanes. When they first put that crap up the poles were far apart enough that cars could get through from the regular lanes. So traffic would build up in the regular lanes while the express lane was clear and cars are going 70-80mph+ then all of the sudden you get one of these mental midgets popup in front of you from basically a stop.
They have since put the poles closer together but half are all messed up and the people down there don't give a shit what it may do to their car and still come through. That's why I never drive on the right lane of the express lanes when there is traffic on the other side.