Yesterday I was merging and had a senior moment. Won't go into the details but when I looked to my left I was about 12" from the car along side of me. Luckily we were both going the same direction and I didn't go hard left BEFORE seeing the car. I remember seeing the expression on the guys face like, WTF. What is the closest you have gotten without hitting a car or truck? T.

 

Counting the last 30 years about 15 feet. Hit one about 35 years ago.

 

Last summer coming home from work down a two lane county road, I notice a cager bout a half mile up the road with his left turn signal on. We are the only two vehicles on the road and I start processing scenerios in my mind just in case. As I close the distance I start to assume that he sees me and is waiting untill I pass before he turns. The sun is glaring straight into my face so I cannot see his eyes. Just then heturns right in front of me! I push HARD LEFT on my handle bar as I roll on the throttle and his rear bumper brushes my right saddle bag. I recover from the hard swerve and pull over to inspect my ride and clean out my britches. Only a slight rub mark on my bag. I truley believe the only thing that kept me from eating the side of his car was the training I recieved from the Motorcycle Safe Riders Program.
I did not turn and persue this IDIOT, I feel he knows he's an idiot and there would be nothing I could do to change that. When I got home, I hugged my child and wife, thanked God for watching over me, and twisted the top off an ice cold one.

 

The closest was a dumb broad in a car in San Diego that decided she liked my lane so she came over, to my left were parked cars so I locked em up and held it straight as I could. She missed by an RCH my eyes were glued to her rear fender as it came at me... the bumper missed my tire by inches and I almost sh*t myself.... I was shaking so bad I had to stop and sit down and just breathe.

 

About a foot. I was passing and a car decided he wanted my lane.

 

Have rubbed many a mirror in the past....

Then again I do live in California and lane splitting is legal (lol)

 

ive miss judged a stop and came within a couple feet of someones bumper. like the situation with dzldr, I have seen some crazy drivers and never trust a blinker,red light ...ect. even if I occationally ride like grand ma when im around cagers I treat them all like wild savages.

 

I used to get my pinky knuckle's smashed all the time back when I was doing messenger work on a Kz750 or a Honda XL500R in NYC. The cages side mirrors have like a lip around the edge, and while splitting lanes I would sometimes get my pinky caught between my grip and the cages mirror. Just now looked at my knuckles and on both pinky's you can see the perfect shape of the corner of a side mirror! Anything closer than that, and you got to call it a impact....I been there to....just too many times to try to recall this late at night.

 

Long time ago me and a buddy were riding on a clear summer day in the country. Road was 4 lanes, two each side separated by a 20 foot median. We just entered a clearing about a mile long and a couple hundred yards wide. I was on a 350cc and my friend on a 450, both fast and quick bikes at low to medium speeds. From our left front a station wagon appeared, crossed the two lanes of oncoming roadway then stopped in the center median. The driver waited for a few seconds as we approached.
At the last second the car slowly entered our roadway (coming from my left to right). Unbelieveable!
I was to the left of my buddy, riding in the fast lane about 5 feet from him, we were side to side but I was leading by about 7 feet. I figured I'd hit the side of the station wagon and immediately decided to get as far right as I could hoping to hit the fender and maybe fly over the hood. My buddy elected to brake hard. I pushed hard on the right handlebar and cranked max throttle. The little bike first leaned hard to the right then jumped forward as started to accelerate hard. It also quickly righted itself when the acceleration kicked in. The move gained me a few yards to the right but I was now set on my course and couldn't turn the bike any further sideways as it was accerlating hard and I was hanging on with just moments to impact.
The station wagon kept leisurely accelerating. I watched in slow motion as the bike and the car headed to an imaginary spot where I'd hit the car. At first I felt it would be the right fender, just at the right front wheel, then as the bike surged on I felt the impact would be the bumper. As I got to the point of impact I tried to raise my left leg to avoid the crush of the bumper. I will never forget looking at the bumper as it brushed the foot peg as I flew past the car.
I could not believe I had cleared the car without being knocked off the bike! Immediately I went from sheer terror to extreme anger. I jammed on the brakes and slid the bike to a halt and spun it around hard, facing the station wagon, which had come to a halt. At that moment my buddy was skidding past the station wagon. He was standing on the pegs, both wheels locked firmly, every spoke in both tires staying steadily visible in their static positions, with blue smoke boiling from each tire. Once past the car my friend made no effort to sit down, or steer the bike to a stop. Rather the bike skidded slightly sideways as it jerked to a halt. As soon as the bike stopped he made no effort to keep it upright, but merely stepped off the pegs and let the bike drop. He put both hands to his chest as if he was having a heart attack and walked away from the bike.
I certainly knew how my friend felt, but his actions spoke volumes. They also busted me up and I broke out laughing. I made sure he was OK, then caught up to the car, which had stopped at a store up the road. It was a woman driver who claimed she hadn't been the car involved. I didn't bother with her, she was clearly freightened.
I quickly graduated to two larger bikes, the second being a Harley. Never had anyone pull in front of me after that. But after a few years had to raise a family and now I've gotten back on. Still, 10K on this bike and, so far no one has pulled in front of me.

 

Pushed off on a car once,she claims she never saw me,sun in her eyes.don't know how I kept the bike up.