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I was out riding today and was behind a left turner who with his left turn signal on and waiting for 2 or was it 3 oncoming cars to pass, then wrenched the wheel to the right for a right turn, just as I was moving (very slowly) around the right rear bumper of his car. A fast BEEP! from my puny horn, a screamed curse inside my helmet, and the guy changed his mind and turned left while blowing his horn in anger at me for confusing the shit out of an idiot driver! Can't be too careful out there.Sorry to OP for the hijack, sad news whenever crap like this happens to any of us riders.
Years ago, when I bothered looking at statistics, it seemed that 75% of all motorcycle fatalities involve either drinking and riding or left-turning on-coming cagers... Consequently, I never drink and ride (or drive), and I am always on high alert for cagers turning left in front of me. I will be on even higher alert after this unfortunate news.
Another good reason to never pass on the right and never pass someone making a turn.
the dump truck was towing a trailer on a LOOOOOOONNNNGGGG tongue -- so long it had flashing red lights on it to bring attention to the fact that it was there. It had been hidden behind the truck in the curve of the road. If I'd committed before looking left one more time I would have been squishy stuff between the trailer tires.
Umm. . . check the indignation there, grebmrof, The errant, idiot driver was you. You're not going to find a lot of support here for anything that happens when you're passing on the shoulder. You made a bonehead move and darn near got hit because of it. Own it. Don't make it the fault of the car ahead of you. One of the few truths about driving is that it's NEVER the fault of the car ahead of you. The sad part is that the lesson you learned is to make the bonehead move more slowly.
Another good reason to never pass on the right and never pass someone making a turn.I had a pucker moment the other day as I was making a left turn into traffic at a T intersection on a curve. I was waiting for a hole to open and saw it happening right behind a dump truck coming from my left. I glanced right to verify the hole, began to roll, and realized at the last possible second that the dump truck was towing a trailer on a LOOOOOOONNNNGGGG tongue -- so long it had flashing red lights on it to bring attention to the fact that it was there. It had been hidden behind the truck in the curve of the road. If I'd committed before looking left one more time I would have been squishy stuff between the trailer tires.
Two things I do in city commute traffic:1) ride the right as I approach an intersection to distance myself as much as possible from left turn motorists, or if I'm lucky, act as wingman for any car that might be alongside me in the left lane as we approach the intersection (assuming a multi-lane roadway)2) do the lane weave as I approach
If you read that huge, comprehensive Hurt report on motorcycle accidents, it's a real eye opener. Along with left turn crap, an amazing number of fatalities involved Harley Ds and alcohol, no helmets.
That lane weave technique and rationale is really interesting. It SHOULD be helpful - any research on it?
I had my first real, and astoundingly explicit example of this only a week or two ago when turning into my neighborhood.I was in a left turn lane, early evening so that headlights in general were necessary and oncoming headlights were washing out oncoming vehicle details.There was plenty of time for me to execute the left - I felt - but given my rather languid fashion in which I drive our diesel, I chose to wait for a clot of cars to pass.As I sit there, I note one of the oncoming headlights separate distinctly from its mate and realize it was a motorcycle much closer than the cars behind it yet its own headlight, for a time, perfectly mimicked the left headlight of a trailing car.Probably, possibly, all would have been alright but then again - maybe not.I'da been that left-turn-in-front-of guy in any case. Very disconcerting, that! Very easy to happen too.It wasn't so much the; "motorcycle that I didn't see" as it was the motorcycle which conditions conspired to be misinterpreted.Todd.