I had a great day today. Bought two new Glocks and cheated death. Couldn't make up my mind between the Model 30 45ACP and model 21SF 45 ACP so I bought both. Also got a laser light for the 21SF. Young girl with a cell phone tried to get me. I think what saved me was I did everything right. A Harley rider was killed a few days ago just a couple blocks from this incident. A 17 year old girl pulled out in front of him. He layed it down, slid under her car and died at the scene. Upon hearing about his unfortunate accident I kept thinking to myself that if I every faced the same thing I would keep the bike up no matter what. Figured a bike will stop or slowfaster with rubber on the ground instead of metal.

Today on the way home I'm moving with light traffic about 60. Speed limit is 45 but thats Florida for ya. There are two lanes going in my direction. There is one car ahead of me in the lane to my right. I see ahead of him there is a car on the right coming out of a housing development waiting to cross traffic and go left. As is my practice I speed up to catch up with the car on my right to use as a shield as I pass the car waiting to enter traffic. At the last minute the car to my right slows hits his right turn signal to turn into the development this car is coming out of. Now it is blocking my view of the car waiting to cross traffic and I sense that car may not see me so I begin slowing just as that car pulls out. I locked up the rear brake and went heavy on the front. Kept the bike up and stopped about a foot from her rear door. When she saw me she stopped dead blocking my entire lane. I'm guessing I may have been doing 45 or 50 when I locked up the back brake. Tomorrow I've gotta go back and measure my skid mark. It's gotta be a good one. With the cell phone still in her ear without so much as an excuse me she took off like a bat outa hell. I began to continue on my way but then had to pull over and catch my breath my heart was beating so fast. Little girls with cell phones are about as deadly as those two Glocks. Ride safe.
Fred
PS: two things I think saved my butt.
1. I was able to anticipate a problem before it actually emerged.
2. I was able to keep the bike up in an extreme braking situation. (more luck than skill I think)

 

glad it wasnt any more than a "close call " story

 

Whewwww...that was close. There's nothing like being able to anticipate what another driver isn't thinking about. Stories like that make me think more about supporting 'no cell phone' legislation. Have you seen the kids who text while they drive? Thats even scarier.

On a not so serious note, which skid mark do you think is longer?...the one on the road or the one on your seat?

 

WTG Fred, glad your OK. Sounds more like skill to me, If you hadda counted on luck you prolly wouda laid it down and skidded under the cage... Good job.

 

Nice quick thinking. Glad you did'nt get hurt. One thing I was taught in a high speed driving school was to prevent tunnel vision. The biggest thing we do when faced with a quick decision is lock in on the target and forget the other options. Scanning a wider vision area can provide other options rather than just locking the breaks up, in certain situations swerving to the left or right may also help avoid a collision. Your anticipation saved your a$$. Good job.

 

RE: Floridafred

great riding tips:

my practice I speed up to catch up with the car on my right to use as a shield as I pass the car waiting to enter traffic. PS: two things I think saved my butt.
1. I was able to anticipate a problem before it actually emerged.
2. I was able to keep the bike up in an extreme braking situation. (more luck than skill I think)
Thanks Howard


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When I see someone talking on their cell phone and driving, it always scares me to stay as far away from them as I can get. Crazy. I'm sure I'm not as skilled a rider as you are yet (may never be) and hope I can react half as well in that kind of situation. I was taught to react to a spooked horse with anger instead of fear. That may serve me well on the iron horse as well, I hope. Nice job. . .

 

I hear and feel ya. I had 3 a$$holes of varying degree while out for a quick 45 minute ride this afternoon. So I decided to bring it home before I either got killed or lost it on someone.You know whats the scariest ones though?The ones who are oblivious to others.I had a dumb s**** almost rear end me and it pissed me off just about beyond my off duty law enforcement demenor demands. When she passed and I called her an a$$hole she was stunned as if she thought she did nothing wrong by her lack of attention and lack of responsibilty causing her to just miss rear ending me. Did you think I thought that was OK?? Well I didn't.......She was in the car alone with no kids or cell phone distractions.It wasn't a fast stop on my partshe was just riding my *** and quite honestly probably justneeds her stupid teeth kicked in to wake the fuc up. Run across the wrongbiker and you just may get it that way.I am a human being with a family and a loud and well lit bike... so pay attention cause if you hit me you better kill me cause whenI get up it ain't gonna be pretty at freakin all. An accident is just that.. negligence is criminal and I will pursue that vehemently for myself or any other victim of a similar criminal act. Driving a motor vehicle is a priveledge that isgranted and revokable by the state thathas venue therein. In the future get aLicence plate and operater description and if you can let it go at the timeas you didand call your local PD and demand that the officer at least make contact with the vehicles registered owner to ascertain who was driving and that a traffic infraction occurred. I entertain complaints like this 3 to 5 times a week and I do follow up becauseI know how differently people drive when I'm off duty or in an unmarked and YeahI do like doing my job andtelling them basically "Hey you can't do whatever you want when your driving--understand??" I then gather all their information and I do ashort incident report and turn it in to beentered. In most States a traffic violation has to be committed in the officers presence so issusing a trafficcitation on information recieved (from a civilian)is not an optionbut allowing the operator to drive away and never be"bothered" by police is not a good way to go either. I am of course glad you came out of it okay but I had to offer some hopefully helpful advice.

 

You weren't at the gun show in Orlando were you? I know they had one at the fairgrounds and it's down the road from me on hwy 50, which is in the nation's deadliest roads.

 

I am a new rider, I had to think about your method of speeding up to get beside the car in the right hand lane, but it makes perfect sense. I am taking the riders edge class in 2 weeks, but wondered if any other good tips are out there? Is there any websites that discuss rider safety?

I use a helmet and a armor jacket.