I think that most everyone here has had some sort of experience with a close call while out riding. I've read the stories here about close calls and about those not as fortunate to have a close call and actually end up in an incident.

I'm still new to riding. I bought the bike in October and have only put a couple of hundred miles on it. I have recently completed the MSF Course.

Between the weather, work and other obligations I have not had a chance to ride in a while until today.

The weather was beautiful with a crispness in the air. I had to stop and put on a hoodie that doubles as a scarf-thingy to keep my neck warm as that was the only part that was cold. I started out my day riding to get a few things for Christmas.

On the way up a divided four-lane highway, coming up on a traffic light controlled "T" intersection, I saw him pause at the red light. I had the green and was riding in the right lane with the flow of traffic. The guy in the SUV looked right at me (yeah, we were close enough I could see that) and then pulled out in front of me. He really did not accelerate too quickly either. I could not swerve left as there was a car so I applied brakes pretty hard like I was taught in the MSF course. Apparently I applied too much rear brake as I heard the tire start to squeal. The pucker factor went up and I thought - welp, I'm going down because a rear tire locked up is never a good thing. I suppose the bike slowed enough because when I let off the rear brake I was still upright. I don't believe the bike ever became unstable (swerve left or right). I did check my mirror and saw the smoke from the area I just drove though so it must have locked up pretty good. (I went back later in the day on another errand in the truck and saw a nice straight black mark in the left 1/3 of my lane that was about 15 feet long). A short time later he changed lanes in front of another faster moving vehicle causing them to brake hard as well.

I thought about following the guy but started to shake it off.

Not more than a couple of miles down the road a large four-door truck started to merge into me from another intersection. The merge lane is pretty long - I guess he just could not wait. Because of traffic I could not change lanes so I laid on the horn, rolled on some throttle and swerved towards the center (white stripe) of the road. My speed was already above his and when he started to merge I was at about his front door. He moved back over enough for me to get by.

It's just before Christmas and folks are out in droves. I imagine most everyone else has something on their minds besides driving (more-so now than usual).

So today I got to apply basics from the MSF Course to real world scenarios.

I hope I don't have to deal with any more of these any time soon.

Be careful out there and an early Merry Christmas to you all.

CLIFFS - Two evasive-type maneuvers applied today.

 

Congratulations on the new bike and making it home safely today.

 

It'll happen again,unless you quit riding.

 

Just to get something started... Maybe you need louder pipes!

 

Glad you are ok. Too many azzhats on the road around this time of year for my taste. Whenever I look someone in the eye around Christmas, they're usually bleary-eyed and foaming at the mouth trying to get their last minute gifts purchased. You've got guts! LoL

 

Good job keeping the rubber side down and your skin intact.
Our safety meetings at work bring up this very same point about attention being elsewhere at holiday times.

 

After a while you get used to the close calls...It's all part of the 2-wheeled life...When you avoid a front bumper by inches is when you know there is more than luck!!!

 

You can never relax, and you can never let your guard down.......and as soon as you start feeling really comfortable, something will jump up to bite you.
Welcome to the world of 2 wheels

 

Glad you didn't crash. After reading and reviewing your post, I came up with a suggestion. You might want to get a real leather jacket. That "hoodie/scarf thingy could be the problem. Those are for girls. I'm just sayin......
ride safe

 

Glad you came out fine, be careful out there. I've had more close calls in Atlanta than any other place.