Ok, so I am on my way to re-register for college (yea I'm old, but what the hell). I figure since it is all the way on the other side of the county and it's a nice day, I'll ride.

So I am cruising down the expressway and traffic starts to slow for a light (yes we have lights on our expressway[:@]). I am in the far left lane (no turn) and in the far left track. Car in front of me brakes, and I am leaving about a 1 1/2 carlengths like I always do. I catch a glimps of white out of the corner of my right eye as a jackass in a minivan decides to SHARE MY LANE WITH ME. No Joke! He just rolls right past me into the space in front of me like I am not even there.

I pull the clutch and crack the throttle open, banging it off the limiter to let him know of my displeasure. Was he suprised? No. Looked right at me like this was the friggin mcdonalds drive through and he was going to make an order.[8D]

I pull even with his drivers door since we are now stopped at the light and he has me almost totally on the shoulder. I flip my visor up and knock on his window. He rolls it down and the most civil thing I could think to say was "what the f@ck are you thinking?" He shrugs and rolls his window up. OooooHHHH!!! I feel that fire rise up into my cheeks.

Traffic starts to move and I get in behind him. No way in hell I am going to be in front of this tool. Nothing big on my schedule so I decide to see where he is going and have a little discussion with him. I was secretly hoping he would call the police on me so I could explain about his little driving maneuver that almost clipped me. He goes to the post office and stops. So I have calmed down a bit, but still want to have a discussion with him.

I **** you not, he spoke like a just off the boat middle eastern (turkey etc.) halting english. He actually seemed embarrased about the situation, but that almost made it worse. He basically said he had no idea why he did it. I am guessing he just didn't see me (silver bike, gray/white/black jacket, silver helmet with orange flames, and a bright *** LED taillight?). Thankfully I stay far enough off to the side to not get caught between two cars if someone comes barelling through.

The Moral of the story? YOU ARE F@CKING INVISIBLE OUT THERE!!!!! Ride defensively even when you are stopped.

Now I am going to have to buy one of those ICON Military Vests in safety orange.

 

i laughed real hard when i read this.

sucks that situations like that happen but good to hear that you didnt take any BS from some soccer dad.

 

Sorry to hear about that, but congrats on going back to school. It has only taken me 11 years to get a 2 year degree....[:'(]

 

Sorry to hear about that but i think if more of us biker do that well it depens on a sitiation maybe those freaks would pay more attention who they wana share the road with.... glad to hear everything is ok

 

I had something kind of similar happen last night. It was really nice out, so I went for a quick ride at 2 am. The streets were barron...almost. I'm sitting in the left lane of 2 left turn lanes waiting for the light. I always check mirrors while stopped just in case, and I see a car coming up behind me in the right left turn lane and I see him come into my lane about 3 feet and he's like 20 feet behind me. I'm ready to launch just in case and I snap my head back and watch him and then he goes over into his lane. Some old F'er that was probably drunk.

 

you think it was maybe spicey food that did it?

yea...john...it's all good mang...i used to have all yellow gear to match the bike...but i don't think it never made me more visible...cause cars still almost hit me...unless...it did make me more visible and they were trying to hit me??!?!?!? now i just wear whatever colors...

remember frogger mang...that's what we all gotta do!

the frogger style is taught at TMSF course...it's a bit more advanced than just the MSF.

 

that happens to me every single time i ride. oh yea see that car ahead of you with no turn signal on, hes gonna turn left too.

 

Yeah I'm sure everyone here knows that there are a lot of crappy drivers out there. Have to assume they are going to do something stupid at any given chance.

I was following a car down a scenic drive where sometimes drivers like to drive slow and look at the scenery, all good.
So he slows down a bit and moves his car all the way to right hand side of the road (fairly wide road). So I figure ok, he's letting me pass. Other cars have done it in the past.
I give it some gas and start going by him and guess what.. He's pulling a U turn! No blinkers no nothing!

Lovely thing about riding a bike is that I was able to accelerate and go by him in time with no danger but ****, that was unexpected!

 

I wanted a BLUE 06 F4i But the more I thought about it Mabe They ( cars & trucks ) would see me coming if I got YELLOW so yellow it is and I have grown to really like it.

 

Cagers and their wacky U-turns!