[Eddiepowerfm]

Well I had my first near crash this morning. I have a rear entry garage so as i was leaving for work and a lady in a minivan almost hit me. She was coming from the street, thru the alley entrance, and then left on the alley. When I enter, I almost stop to look left and right to see if a car is coming from either direction to exit the alley since there are wood fences from the people who live by the entrance. She did not, she just came around the fence boring thru without so much as a thought that other people use the alley too. For whatever reason it even took her some time to look up and see me, she was going to hit me head on. I quickly swerved to the right and she barely missed me. She stopped as if to see that she did not knock me over but if I were in my Ranger or my wife’s car I think she would have crashed into me. Hopefully now she will turn around the fences into the alley a lot more carefully.

A word about beginner bikes. I had to swerve hard to the right to keep from being hit and almost dropped my bike (2007 Kawasaki Vulcan 500). I felt the strain in my lower right leg as I pulled the bike back up to verticle. My bike is les than 500lbs, it is considered an entry level cruiser. If I would have had a bike that weighed even 100lbs more I probably would have dropped it. It was at low speed so the bike would maybe just have been scratched up but the point is; If you are a beginner it is a great advantage to have a lighter bike. Heck, if I’d been riding for 20 years it still would have benefited me to have the lighter bike.

Keep Rockin

Eddie

[bigguybbr]

How much gas did you give the bike when you came out of the swerve? My bike is 467lbs but pops right up out of a swerve given enough throttle. Then again I do some PLP everyday before I go out for a ride, a nice benefit of having the BRC course a quarter of a mile from my house.

[Eddiepowerfm]

well, it was not really a swerve. It was a quick lean to the right to avoid being hit. That is why I had to put my right leg down or fall over. Again, I was in the alley not going fast at all, she was coming around the corner pretty fast though.

[BouncingRadical]

I bought a bright ass jacket, and I have noticed a big decrease in people pulling out in front of me. So visibility is key. But if they aren’t looking anyway how does that help? heh. I had one woman pull out in front of me and I had to lock up to avoid being broadsided. Course I got looked like it was all my fault she almost killed me. How dare I be in the way of a woman in an SUV on her cell phone!

[WanderingRider]

I saw a lady in an SUV pull one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen done in a vehicle (and I’ve watched a lot of youtube). I turned left at an intersection, and a lady just up the road began to pull out in front of me and several cars to turn left. She was looking in the OTHER DIRECTION. She continued to look to her right as the traffic in front of her, waiting to turn left at the light, forced her to come to a full stop blocking 2 lanes of traffic. Since I had just turned left I wasn’t going too fast, so I stopped quickly and honked as she finally turned her head to look in our direction. If I had decided to carry more speed through the turn… well, thats why I go slowly through intersections.

I thought it was look left, right, left – not look RIGHT… hold it… keep looking right… now pull out… but maybe I’m just confused about how a turn is supposed to be done.

[Clay Dowling]

My car got hit by a teenage driver doing that. And she pulled a hard enough left out of the parking lot that if there had been a car parked at the curb, she would have crashed into it. I was not amused.

[WanderingRider]

Good thing you weren’t on your bike for that collison. Was there much damage to your car?

I nearly hit a motorcyclist at work (before I started riding). I nearly turned left right in front of him, which would have caused him to hit my front passenger side, but I saw him at the last second. I think the main problems were 1) It was early, the sun was in front of me and a shadow was cast across his section of the road 2) I had my sunglasses on 3) I was tired 4) he didn’t have his lights on.

[Clay Dowling]

The front end on a Honda is a single piece. If you damage a little of it, you have to replace all of it. I might have needed to replace the headlight assembly as well.

Believe it or not, the most damage done to my car was by a rabbit. It leaped directly in front of my car, smashed through the grill (which is under and behind the bumper, and really flimsy) and broke the seal on my air conditioner radiator. That time was also when I was reminded that the good mechanics are at private garages, not dealerships.

[WanderingRider]

Oww… I’ll be sure to watch out for rabbits.

[WeaponZero]

Closest call I’ve had so far was narrowly avoiding a collision with a brand new mercedes that was driving the wrong way down a one way street. If I was certain I could have survived it and without major injury, I probably would have let the bastard hit me and taken him for all he was worth.

[SantaCruzRider]

In all likelihood, his Mercedes is leased, his million $ home has a $900k mortgage and is now only worth $500k and the rest of his money goes to his ex-wife for alimony and child support.

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