Like Spritle, I am driving a Dodge Intrepid. It’s a nice car!
bernse, what you did was take a big risk. I salute you. Be warned however, that if you take risks, you must be fully prepared to deal with the consequences.
John, remember, start the day by doing light mental exercises before indulging in heavy rhetorical thinking. The TV Guide crossword puzzle or such can prevent later serious cramps during heavy brain usage.
I live just outside DC in NO. VA, I am a seasonal rider. (KZ440). Well any who, I was going out joy riding on Sat and this guy behind me at the light to exit the complex decided I wasn’t going fast enough for him. Not that the three cars in front of me were going any faster. We were making a left turn onto a four-lane road; I was keeping tight to the left, as I needed to make a left at the first street. He decided he wanted to try to cut in on my left. He came so close to me I literally kicked his car and screamed “I know you see me asshole” Then I full throttled outa there. Well when I was coming home later, here is the same jerk trying to ride up on me at the light. I followed him till he parked then went off. “You could kill me driving like that,” I said. He laughed at me. “This is no joke asshole, if you were to hit me I’d be dead, get it. This isn’t like a car you dumb shit. We don’t exchange insurance and go home, I die and it’s on your head. Have a little more respect for Motorcycles.” I am only 5’2” and 104 lbs. What was I thinking! But still some people deserve to hear it. The only cool thing about this is that he was apparently fresh to the country and his brother whom he was living with heard the commotion and came out to see what was going on. His brother laughed at him and said “First girl to talk to you in the states and it’s to bitch you out. Gotta love American women.” I thought that was funny. He eventually apologized but I still think I was a bit foolish.
Don’t stop riding, but try not to let your temper get away with you. I understand all to well how hard it is for people in cars to share the road with us. Around here, the laws of bigger gross tonnage apply. My cars bigger therefore I have the right away.
I would have to agree that you should be in your car rather than on your motorcycle. I realize that you have a right to ride your bike. But the simple fact is that people nowadays don’t concern themselves with frivolous trivial little things like traffic law and common courtesy. They are more likely to blow you away than to adhere to the laws of the land. Take for example, traffic lights. Green use to mean GO, Red use to mean STOP, Yellow use to mean caution, or SLOW DOWN AND PREPARE TO STOP. Now, Green means proceed caustiosly into the intersection, making sure no one is coming, Red means drive faster so you can make it through the intersection and yellow doesn’t mean a damn thing. And turning right from a left hand lane is now pretty much standard procedure. Be careful out there!
I have had the opportunity to talk with drivers that were driving very unsafely in the past (when they had an accident and I stopped to be a witness to the accident), and I discovered that telling people what they did wrong makes absolutely no difference to them, because they are convinced they did nothing wrong (in spite of the fact that they caused an accident). I try to remember this lesson while I’m driving now; like Kamandi said, no one thinks they’re the asshole.
I understand you’re in Alberta, bernse. Did you hear about the road rage incident a couple of weeks ago here in Calgary? Drivers got mad at each other, they stopped to argue, and a driver got pulled through a smashed window, resulting in lots of blood and criminal charges, etc. Yes, we are in the big league now for road rage. It’s only a matter of time until we all start driving with guns, I suppose. I try to keep this in mind when I get upset, too. I don’t want to be the person that makes an unsteady person snap. It’s much better to be the person that tries to make another driver’s day a little easier.
Bernse - I can say that I’ve been there.
I was once driving my 750 Supersport down the street and the car in front of me signalled a right turn, moved into the right hand lane, then swung left into my lane and stopped in the middle of the fucking road.
Laying down a 600lb bike and sliding right up to this guys door was a scary experience. The guy leaned out his window and started yelling at me for not watching where the fuck I was going. He looked as if he was going to get out of his car until I took my helmet to his crapmobile.
I know why you have to check your helmet at many bars, they can be an impressive weapon when used correctly. I found out that they leave impressive dents in cars.
This dickwad wisely stayed in his car and sped off.
I think you might get a whoopin’ one of these days. The guys you confronted screwed up for sure. But it also seems from the OP that these guys kind of got a little of the shit you wanted to give the other drivers that almost killed you.
Pulling up to a guy and telling him not to throw stuff out of his car is OK, in my book, but in this day and age the f-bomb might make you seem a little aggressive to some people. Pulling the U-turn on the other guy can definitely be interpreted as aggressive. You might have the misfortune of chasing a really big guy who’s pissed off because he just failed to earn his black belt by this much.
I’m not saying you’re out of control or even mean to be aggressive, but you never know how somebody’s going to interpret it.
This looks like another example of the 5% rule. 95% of the drivers out there do just fine. It’s the idiot 5% who hose it up for everyone. So, if you pass 100 cars on the way to work, the 5% rule insures the 5 of them will almost kill you.
Be afraid…be very afraid 
bernse, no you are not being overly sensitive. You did exactly the right thing. You should understand the ris you are taking. You should never let your anger over take you when riding a bike. Other than that, that was cool. Especially the one with the trash - I mean, what was the guy thinking? “Oh, I didn’t see you. Next time I’ll check for motorcycles before throwing my garbage out the window”? There’s some mysterious set of cirumstances that makes it okay to throw garbage out the window?
By all means, keep the bike. You pulled yourself out of 3 potential accidents - you’ve earned your class 4 (or whatever you call them). Remember, if things get ugly, they are stopped in traffic, you aren’t. Plus, always remember - helmets are bulletproof
Feynn if I drop my bike because of some one does something that stupid, they had better hope and pray I don’t get up. You showed remarkable restraint.
This whole idea that we should, collectively, let people get away with being stupid, self-indulgent, rude, and, in these cases, life-threatening because “they might have a gun and be scary and yell at me” frightens me a lot. Has that always been societies’ viewpoint?
That’s a very interesting question, and I’m afraid I think the answer has always been “yes”. Most people just want to be left alone, not fight battles every day. I, for one, am not willing to take a bullet because of someone else’s sloppy driving habits. There is a problem with dangerous driving, and with road rage, but I don’t think confronting each other is the solution. I’m not actually sure what the solution is.
Oh don’t be ridiculous. All he needs is a red, white, and blue leotard and a plexiglass shield. Captain America don’t need no stinkin’ precautions.
As some of you may know, I’m getting bike lessons right now. September 27 is the day of my final exam - should all go well, I will be cruising along on a second hand Yamaha Diversion 600 (Seca II in the US) from that day onward.
I’ve seen a LOT of nonsense and dangerous behaviour already. I’ll try and name a few.
[ul][li]The guy in the right lane trying to beat me (in the left lane) at the traffic light leading onto the highway onramp. The road merges into one lane 200 meters on the onramp, and it’s a single lane from there until the point where one actually merges. First off, I WILL beat to the merge point, unless you’re driving a fucking Ferrari. Don’t delude yourself, you Opel Vectra driving nimrod. Second, there is a BIG ASS BLUE “L” on the back of my jacket, which everybody in this country knows is the universal sign for “LESSON”. A training bike. The crash bars and the brake light that is held together by duct tape helps you in determining this is NOT a regular biker. Dickhead.[/li][li]Bikers are ALLOWED to ride between the lanes in case of a traffic jam. Don’t fucking cut me off because you’re jealous. It’s dangerous, and if I choose to drag you out of your car, I’LL be the one wearing the helmet. Not you. (Don’t worry, I won’t actually DO that. But I easily COULD be at an advantage in a fist fight, you know?)[/li][li]Check your glasses, grandpa. I just had to burn a few brake pads because you failed to see me coming from the right at that intersection. The bike is BRIGHT RED, and I’ve got my lights on. How the FUCK can you miss it?[/ul][/li]
There’s tons more that I will find about eventually. All I know is this: adopt the attitude that everyone else is a complete idiot, and always leave room to brake (I know that only goes so far, and accident will still happen). Also, when you yell at someone at the next traffic light, you have a few advantages in the Netherlands: people don’t carry guns here, and they also tend to think bikers are trash. In other words: they’re scared shitless if you so much as raise your voice. Wonderful, let them soil their pants - if they cut me off, that’s the least they deserve.
bernse, have you considered the possibility that someone painted your bike with invisible paint?
It’s a common expression in our household to say, “Don’t mind us! We’re in the invisible van!” as someone pulls out in front of us.
Yeah, that invisible paint is great. We have it on all of our cars too.
Coldie.
Learn it. Live it. It sounds like you are already on your way which is good. I’ll save your life. It has mine several times and I live in a small city (40,000 people). I’ve had a rougher time here than when I lived in Vancouver, with a greater metro area population of something like 2,000,000.
Crap! You know, I never thought of that. I bought some wax called miracle shine or something like that… I bet thats it!
Errr… make that It’ll save your life. But, if your life was in jeopardy and I could help, I would honestly save your life too! I’m especially good at something that might involve swearing and cursing people that litter and/or cut you off?
Did you know it came in a personal size spray, too? It’s great it you want to ignored at restaurants or message boards.
Did you guys hear something?
D&R
Words to ride by:
Ride like you’re invisible. If you cultivate the attitude that people operating other vehicles cannot see you no matter what you do, you may live to ride another day.
Yes, the people driving cages are trying to kill you.