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Post by whereiwant2b on Aug 21, 2016 17:41:34 GMT
www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-california-becomes-first-step-to-1471635067-htmlstory.html#nt=oft12aH-5gp2Right up front- I hate lane splitting which is the practice of motocycles zipping between cars running next to each other in traffic. I admit it's taking avantage of riding a motorcycle to get through traffic but I have had the bejeebers scared out of me when I was looking to pull over into another lane when I thought I had an opening only to find a motorcycle zipping between lanes suddenly appear out of nowhere as I started to move over. I know that motorcyclists will hold this in contempt but I classify this practice as one of those things that just because it can be done doesn't mean it should be done. I can hear the complaints of motorcyclists about all their accidents being caused by bad car drivers but sheesh- a motorcycle zipping along at speed where they are impossible to expect is a reason not to allow it in the first pkace.
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Post by partndn on Aug 21, 2016 18:16:33 GMT
Stupid.
Good luck with insurance liability trying to figure who was at fault when someone goes splat.
Here, I hate the bicyclists. They insist on riding on the little country roads that can hardly allow a car and a doolie to pass by each other without dropping off the shoulder. And in town, they confuse and infuriate motorists in the turn lanes and red light situations. They are supposed to follow the same traffic laws as automobiles, but they don't. It's never enforced, and meanwhile they endanger themselves and everyone else too.
My biggest anger is at them who are foolish and end up causing an accident. Even if they are dead, and the motorist is found to be of no fault, they have left a person to live the rest of their life knowing they killed someone.
You can tell somebody a gazillion times that it wasn't their fault, but an accident with results like that effect a person forever. Shame on the bike riders and motorcycle cheaters who put people in that position.
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Aug 21, 2016 20:33:57 GMT
Having put hundreds of thousands of miles on motorcycles, I can tell you that only an idiot splits lanes. The old admonition "Drive Defensively" isn't even close when it comes to motorcycles, it should be "Drive Chicken". If you're on a vehicle that can lose a fight with a large dog, assuming a 4000 pound car is going to stay where you want it is beyond optimistic, it's outright stupid.
I've dirt raced, road raced, toured all over the country and Canada. I've also broken many bones, collapsed a lung, and spent 10 days in intensive care, mainly because I overestimated either myself or my bike. One small wreck on a dirt bike was caused by barely touching a small sapling on a trail that turned my handlebars just enough to send me straight into a tree at about 25 mph - broken clavicle. Imagine just barely touching someone's mirror while zipping between cars at 60 mph.
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Post by blackfeather on Aug 22, 2016 2:43:56 GMT
Some guy in Spain recently got gored to death by a bull. Far be it from me to tell him he can't go into an arena with a bull, it was a risk he wanted to take and it cost him his life. The same goes with motorcycles in traffic. They simply don't belong in the same arena with cars. Far be it for me to tell them they can't use the road. They may like to weave in and out of traffic and win against cars but when they get gored by a car, that is the risk they take and it can cost them their lives.
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Aug 22, 2016 3:07:49 GMT
blackfeather, I think the question should be - is making an extremely dangerous act, not only to the actor, but also potentially to those around him legal an intelligent thing to do? The bullfighter is in the ring alone, no so with someone in traffic. If you're riding a motorcycle and don't assume everyone around you is either high on drugs or drunk, you've got the wrong attitude. I've always been careful to never ride in someone's blind spot, but I can't tell you the times I've had to slam on the brakes or head for the shoulder when someone not paying attention would pull into my lane. The old joke used to be that even if you're not a fault, if you hit a car they can ticket you for leaving the scene of an accident.
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Post by sawmilljim on Aug 22, 2016 3:39:57 GMT
blackfeather , I think the question should be - is making an extremely dangerous act, not only to the actor, but also potentially to those around him legal an intelligent thing to do? The bullfighter is in the ring alone, no so with someone in traffic. If you're riding a motorcycle and don't assume everyone around you is either high on drugs or drunk, you've got the wrong attitude. I've always been careful to never ride in someone's blind spot, but I can't tell you the times I've had to slam on the brakes or head for the shoulder when someone not paying attention would pull into my lane. The old joke used to be that even if you're not a fault, if you hit a car they can ticket you for leaving the scene of an accident. Being legale has never had ties to right or wrong ,sane or insane just legale .Three separate individual concepts . I say if one wants to risk their hide go for it ,if a few get the Dawarn Award ,hopefully if they have any offspring they will learn from their elders. Legalising stupid is just freedom at its highest form. Just because the law says you can never means you should . |
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Post by farmrbrown on Aug 22, 2016 3:43:50 GMT
I know quite a few friends who ride........I haven't got my Sportster running yet.  Last month I almost killed one who did that and the only reason I didn't was having my window down and hearing a motor beside me. I was looking too, but the speed he got there was faster than my eyes. I won't tell you how fast I was going, but we had been riding more or less together for a few miles and it was close to triple digits.......... |
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Aug 22, 2016 17:00:55 GMT
Things happen fast at speed, and there's nowhere to go when you're between cars. If you're riding a painted line, your traction is reduced considerably, even more than riding the middle of a lane where everyone's oil leaks and builds up.
Not to say I haven't done some less than intelligent things myself on bikes. I remember being in a timed race from Dallas to Eureka Springs, entry was $100, winner take all. I was on the Indian Nation Turnpike, crouched down behind my speedometer for less wind resistance, when I glanced at my mirror and saw 3 bikes right behind me. After glancing at my speedometer (145 mph) I said to myself "those guys are crazy", then I realized I was looking back at them.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2016 23:52:19 GMT
Things happen fast at speed, and there's nowhere to go when you're between cars. If you're riding a painted line, your traction is reduced considerably, even more than riding the middle of a lane where everyone's oil leaks and builds up. Not to say I haven't done some less than intelligent things myself on bikes. I remember being in a timed race from Dallas to Eureka Springs, entry was $100, winner take all. I was on the Indian Nation Turnpike, crouched down behind my speedometer for less wind resistance, when I glanced at my mirror and saw 3 bikes right behind me. After glancing at my speedometer (145 mph) I said to myself "those guys are crazy", then I realized I was looking back at them.
I always try to put some distance between my vehicle and motorcycles ahead of me, but you were trying to put some distance between your motorcycle and the motorcycles behind you, and at a considerably greater rate of speed than I typically travel at!   |
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Post by joebill on Aug 25, 2016 16:27:45 GMT
Driving through El Paso during rush hour, I signaled to make a lane change to the left after checking the mirror, then heard both a MC horn and a guy screaming. He was in my blind spot, just cruising along.
Sl;owing and dropping back, I took a look at his situation. he was sandwitched between two cars, front and rear. Hitting the brakes could have killed him just as dead as rear-ending the guy in front of him. He had noplace to go if I had turned into him, except down. The combination could have easily killed him, with a bit more carelessness on my part, and I was being only moderately careless in not trying harder to see my blind spot. Next day, I put convex mirrors on my side mirrors on each truck and car. i also resolved never to ride a MC in traffic.
My SIL had one of those "silver eagle?" hand built Harleys, the toast of the town. Always a cautious rider, and NOT a newby. The town drunk who had lost his driver's license for good rode a BICYCLE out from between two buildings into the street, and my SIL crammed the brakes and swerved to miss him, hit the back of a car, totaled the bike and busted himself up. Some folks shouldn't be able to even ride bikes....Joe
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Aug 25, 2016 19:11:05 GMT
One of my favorite stories is about riding up Harry Hines Blvd in Dallas, in the inside lane with an 8" curb on my left. The road had "pass throughs" about every 1/2 mile, and a guy in the outside lane decided to visit a bar on the other side. No signal, just pulled into my lane and hit his the brakes to turn. I locked up the brakes, and nearly slid into the back of him, but he pulled through to the other side just in time. He parked in front of the bar, so I pulled up next to him and got off. I reached through his window and snapped the turn signal lever off the steering column, put it in his shirt pocket and said "here, you never use it anyway", and left.
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Post by Tricky Grama on Aug 25, 2016 19:22:39 GMT
OMG, TOM!! I love it!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2016 1:06:59 GMT
Nick rides motorcycles, and used to bicycle regularly when we lived in the Chicago 'burbs. He would commute the 15 miles (one way) from Rolling Meadows to Northbrook.
When you ride on two wheels, you have to Ride Invisible. No one sees you, no one cares - unless you're on a bicycle. Then, there are many hostile people who yell stupid things like, "Get on the sidewalk!" which is, of course, against the law. If you're wheeled traffic, you ride on the road.
He always rides according to the rules of the road, but Nick has had people throw garbage at him, try to door him, and scream obscenities. This is a common occurrence for many riders in the suburban areas, and has been documented by helmet-cam. Intolerant people in cars. What is their boggle? Makes me so angry that they would endanger someone's life just to act out their road rage.
p.s. When you're on a bicycle, riding along and continuing to move on the right shoulder is absolutely legal. It is not dangerous. Well, it wouldn't be dangerous if the blankety-blank jerks in their cars, no doubt irritated that they cannot move ahead, did not try to kill you. Bunch of anal orifices...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2016 1:11:59 GMT
One other point: If duallies and cars can make accommodations for each other to share the road, surely they can do the same for other wheeled traffic.
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Post by joebill on Sept 2, 2016 18:00:07 GMT
A few jerks on bicycles make it bad for the majority who are NOT jerks. They have races around Silver City a few times a year and mostly the riders are polite and make an effort ot not disrupt traffic. When they are not racing, they are all over the area, riding for pleasure and looking at the scenery.
Every year, though, there will be one or two who get right in the middle of a lane, speed limit 45 MPH, riding about as slow as they can go and not fall over, back traffic up as far as the eye can see. Maybe 25 carloads of people seething for miles.
That is mostly what makes innocent riders take the brunt of the anger. They have nice wide shoulders there specifically FOR the bikes, and local taxpayers provide the funds for them, but a small percentage of riders feel that they shouldn't be shuffled to the "back of the buss".....Joe
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