Avoiding being killed by a left turning cager?
 

I've been riding motorcycle for almost two years now and I still consider myself pretty green although I'm a fairly competent rider overall. I'm a pretty cautious rider but I'm possibly not enjoying it as much as I should.

There's been a number of motorcyclists killed already this summer in my area and the latest one was a 38 year old man who was cut off by a left turning cager on Sunday afternoon just up the road from where I live. The write-ups in the papers are always the same, they tell you that a motorcyclist ran into a car and was killed and that the roads and weather conditions were good at the time and that the cause of the crash has yet to be determined, oh and that the driver of the car was unharmed (that last bit really bugs me, they're always unharmed!).

I find that this stuff is making me more paranoid, almost every car that I see approaching me is suspect and I sometimes pull in the clutch and get ready to brake if a car seems to be going slow enough to start turning left. Or I at least slow down some and keep an eagle-eye on them.

I've had three occasions in the last month where I've been cut off, all by woman oddly enough. The last one, two weeks ago was the worst, at 35-40 mph, I had to jam on both brakes to avoid a young woman who totally cut me off at the very last second. I went into a 10-15 foot long skid but held it together and avoided a crash but man, I was really shaken up by this idiot.

I was wondering if there's anything at all that you can think of to help cut down the chances of getting creamed in these situations? I'm kind of embarrassed to bring this up but if I can get any helpful advice it'll be worth it.

I love riding and wish I had taken it up when I was younger, so I don't plan on giving it up but I'd like to know how you guys deal with it. Do you just ride without a care and not let all of these potential hazards get in the way?

Any good advice would sure be appreciated, thanks in advance!

Slow down in every intersection and stay on the left side of your lane before the junction and move to the right side as you cross the intersection and alway have an escape route just in case they pull into your lane.

Practice you counter-steering, get the book "Total Control" read it and practice more. Take "Total Control Course".

:)

Always keep your head up..

Make eye contact...its a must, that way you know they see you..well... hopefully they see you, or at least you'll see that they don't see you.

Seems like everyone is on the damn phone now a days.

Yup, I'm always very alert as to what's happening in a city intersection but what about when you're going down a rural road with a posted speed of say 50 mph and you see a car approaching you, is there anything that you guys do or look out for in that situation?

This is how that 38 year old motorcyclist was killed on Sunday, he was just going down this very straight country road and the idiot cager cut him off as he turned into a driveway. I thought that maybe flicking the headlights from high-beam to low-beam a couple times from a distance might help get a cager's attention or weave a little bit before you get too close?

I should mention that the young girl who cut me off a couple of weeks ago and sent me into a fishtail was looking my way, I thought that seen me but she must have been fixated on the car right behind me and I was totally invisible to her, but she had her head turned in my direction. Dang!

My absolute best advice, learned in D.C. is in two parts:

-First, I ALWAYS try to go through intersections with a car for blocking. I stay tight and right and try to position myself so a car is going through ahead of or with me. Not too hard.

-Second--don't look at the car, look at the driver's head. Invariably, when the head starts bobbing and weaving something stupid is about to occur. They telegraph their intent big time.

All I can think of to be prepared is to be very alert and ready for anything. I look at traffic and think of the stupidest thing that they could do to impede my line and then mentally plan to take whatever evasive action is needed. When I ride in traffic the radio is off to eliminate any chance of being distracted or daydreaming off you one of my favorite songs...

I was coming up behind a farm tractor last night and was slowing because of oncoming traffic near an intersection where there was a road that went off to my left. When the traffic cleared I was starting to pass the tractor when the tractor started making a left turn. Pucker factor and on the brakes and redirected. Glad that I had already scrubbed the speed off before I got up on it. Tractor driver looked after it was too late and just continued turning. The tractor was equipped with turn signals and lights but none were used.

I always switch from high to low beams and back when ever encountering an intersection or opposite lane turn. And oncoming traffic. Been sorta lucky so far except for that crazy f that cut in front of my wife and I a year ago and stopped in front of us to get in the left turn lane. I was in the middle of three lanes. But then I don't remember any of it, thanks to the concushion among other injuries. Thing is you can't protect yourself from the ones you don't see coming. And they are out there. All you can do is be alert and drive defensively.........and say a prayer if your so inclined. I know that I am now.

I am not a veteran rider and have had more than enough close ones in the few years I've been riding, but to try to minimize these events I do this: first, I wear a yellow (yes yellow, ARAI) helmet, It does not look harley but I see driver's heads do double-takes as I am approaching and that's a good sign. Another thing I sometimes do is when approaching an intersection where a driver might pull out in front of me, I weave the bike a little, I figure the move makes me more visable then zipping along in a perfectly straight line. I dont go nuts over it, just a little lean left and right.

Don't ever stop doing the above.
It will help keep you alive :icon_toast:

I have been riding daily, year around, for 41 years in big city traffic. That is not meant to 'brag', but only to indicate that I have much experience with this problem. And this is also not meant to begin a debate over the different solutions to this problem, only to offer what has worked for me. And that is my horn.

Most of my bikes over the years have been Jap bikes. And some were so quiet and smooth it was difficult to tell they were running. There were countless times over the years when someone would be looking me in the eye, but it was only after a blast (such as it was) from my horn that they really 'saw' me.

And this prevented them from turning left, or pulling out of side street, in front of me.

Ron