Close call today

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Close call today

Postby MikeVA76 » Tue Jan 15, 2013 9:48 pm

I was traveling eastbound this morning on I66 from Haymarket on my morning commute. HOV lane was wide open, all other lanes virtually stopped. I tend to run about 45 mph when that happens just in case. A little bit past Gainesville a car pulls into the HOV lane abruptly and with no signal. He couldn't have been more then 30 feet away when he made the move. I ran wide on to the shoulder to avoid him. My butt pucker meter tells me my right pannier missed him by less then a foot. He kept his distance afterwards. Traffic came to a complete halt about a mile up the road. I briefly thought about politely asking he be more careful and letting him know that he could've killed me. But decided the potential confrontation just wasn't worth it. Be careful out there folks, danger lurks at every moment.

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Re: Close call today

Postby Unity » Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:42 pm

Fortunately, your attention was better focused than his.

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Re: Close call today

Postby biometrics » Wed Jan 16, 2013 12:30 pm

Glad you were not hurt Mike. Riding a motorcycle (and being a graduate of an MSF course) has made me more vigilant than 50 years of driving cages ever did.

Let's be careful out there!
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Re: Close call today

Postby BMWGirl » Wed Jan 16, 2013 6:32 pm

UGH - I just hate these kinds of posts!!! It makes me so angry that people don't look!!! They "SaY" they didn't see you but the truth of the matter is, they just don't look!!!

I hope you have driving lights on the front as well - just my suggestion.

Good luck and TRY to be safe out there - watch out for the morons!
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Re: Close call today

Postby MikeVA76 » Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:22 pm

I do indeed have a set of aux. lights low and out wide on the cylinder heads. I'm also convinced traveling 20 miles per hour under the speed limit saved my bacon. Had I been doing 65 or even 55 I probably would not have been able to react in time. Not the closest call I've ever had, but still pretty sketchy. I am planning on putting some photon blasters up front on my lower forks because I loved the way they looked on your bike, Tina. I really can't get much more visible between that, the aux. lights, the p3's in the rear and the 3m tape on my boxes. I love to tell my wife it's all in the name of safety to justify the never ending list of farkles, haha.

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Re: Close call today

Postby grownup » Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:02 pm

Are you crazy, 45MPH passed stopped traffic ? If you are going to go that fast, you might as well just ride the speed limit.

At 45MPH, you are traveling at 66 feet per second, and passing 6 unpredictable drivers in 1 second. This is an awful lot of drivers to predict. So, you are probably passing about 2-3 distracted driver every 1 second at 45MPH.

This is like filtering at 45MPH. The California lane splitters recommend you cover your breaks and only go 10-20MPH passed stopped cars.
You should also ride as far left as you can.

So at 70MPH= 110 feet per second . You will pass 10 stopped cars in 1 second. ( This might is not much more dangerous than 45MPH.)

At 25MPH = 36 feet per second. You will pass 3 stopped cars in 1 second. ( I think most can process this many cars without any issues.).

PS. I am not saying I would ride any slower. I might have.
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Re: Close call today

Postby MikeVA76 » Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:33 pm

Guess I'm crazy then ;). At 25 mph I run the risk of being run over by cars behind me. People simply will not tolerate moving that slowly in a wide open lane, regardless of traffic speed in the next lane over. They were virtually stopped, I'm guessing moving at around 10-15 mph. I was left in my lane, which probably attributed to the driver not seeing me. I can appreciate your points, but having a person tailgate me at 25 mph means that if I have to slow down or go wide I run the risk of being hit from behind and possibly driven into the obstacle I'm facing. It may not be ideal, but when has riding a motorcycle in some of the worst traffic in the country in the winter ever been ideal?

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Re: Close call today

Postby grownup » Sat Jan 19, 2013 3:16 pm

Actually, to the seasonal riders, anyone who commutes in the winter and rain is a bit crazy. I am almost though my second year of commuting everyday by motorcycle. It is these errors that you learn from. So, chalk it up to a learning experience and tell us how you will prevent it from happening again. =D>

All my near misses were all caused from speed in places I shouldn't have been going that fast. So, I slow down near parking lots and gas station entrances. The one thing I notice in the winter is drivers do not see motorcycles. This might because all the seasonal riders have their bikes winterized and there are less motorcycles. The result is winter riders are truly invisible, and I would say they have to be crazy.
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Re: Close call today

Postby Mac » Sat Jan 19, 2013 3:51 pm

I don't think 45 is too fast on a freeway. Especially if in the HOV lane there is always the runoff area to the left.
Last edited by Mac on Tue Jan 29, 2013 6:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Close call today

Postby lionlady » Thu Jan 24, 2013 6:25 pm

BMWGirl wrote:UGH - I just hate these kinds of posts!!! It makes me so angry that people don't look!!! They "SaY" they didn't see you but the truth of the matter is, they just don't look!!!
:mrgreen:


People tend to see what they expect to see (cars), and DON'T see what they don't expect to see (motorcycles, bicycles, etc). Failure to look isn't always the case. Extra lights are a big help, but they aren't the complete solution to the problem.

Our best bet is to assume drivers can't see us, and act accordingly. As a rider, I can't "make" anyone see me, but I can be vigilant and allow extra reaction time/space whenever the situation warrants it. I'd chalk the incident in the "win" column, and move on.
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Re: Close call today

Postby henwin » Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:22 pm

MikeVA76 wrote:I do indeed have a set of aux. lights low and out wide on the cylinder heads. I'm also convinced traveling 20 miles per hour under the speed limit saved my bacon. Had I been doing 65 or even 55 I probably would not have been able to react in time. Not the closest call I've ever had, but still pretty sketchy. I am planning on putting some photon blasters up front on my lower forks because I loved the way they looked on your bike, Tina. I really can't get much more visible between that, the aux. lights, the p3's in the rear and the 3m tape on my boxes. I love to tell my wife it's all in the name of safety to justify the never ending list of farkles, haha. Mike

No amount of additional lighting or visibility enhancement is going to help if the moron pulls out in front of you without looking. I was thinking however, that had you been going faster, you might have already passed the a**hole, before he decided to pull out. Perhaps he would have pulled out in front of some dump truck, instead :?: ... and yes, I am aware that dump trucks aren't supposed to be in HOV lanes, but you never know these days... #-o
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Re: Close call today

Postby Yellowjacket » Sat Jan 26, 2013 8:15 am

God bless all the MSF and other motorcycle instructors and fellow safe riders out there! In the last few weeks I had a number of close calls in my cage and only escaped with higher rpm, ABs brakes, and quick reflexes I learned from my motorcycle training. Can't thank you all enough!
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Re: Close call today

Postby gunnert » Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:10 pm

Grownup, I'll apologize in advance for red K1600GT passing you in the HOV lane... :)
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Re: Close call today

Postby eap » Sat Feb 02, 2013 12:16 pm

BMWGirl wrote:UGH - I just hate these kinds of posts!!! It makes me so angry that people don't look!!! They "SaY" they didn't see you but the truth of the matter is, they just don't look!!!...SNIP... :mrgreen:


Good point, maybe a club sponsored moto safety campaign could help http://www.bmwbmw.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=19957.

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