FED UP, CARS SWITCHING LANES

Originally Posted by lynw

I wonder why the persons presuming its the drivers fault with no thought to the fact that on his approach he was constantly looking and knowing the guy hadnt seen him, yet he continued to get closer at a speed that he had to then brake hard. Bad judgement on this occasion imho.
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So they didnt look. You should have anticipated that and rode accordingly not carried on riding the way you were. Its a fact of life of riding on the bike - people will do this constantly for whatever reason - cant see you, see the gap, etc.

Im not saying this in a holier than thou way. Only as someone whos learnt this the hard way and would prefer others not to.

what makes you think i didnt slow down when i was approaching himi wasnt going that fast like i said before, but even at 25-30mph, 1 car length (2m) isnt that long when you have to fit in reaction time and actual braking. i was slowing down gently all the time i was approaching him as there was a lorry or van or somthing a few cars in front of him that was making the pass narrower ahead.

as i have said before, imho he was just a ****e driver who nearly knocked him off and i dealt out what i thought (at the time) was a suitable punishment. might not have been the smartest thing to do but others will know what i mean when you have a bad day and then some tvvat goes and does somthing like that.

TRICK

Originally Posted by trick

i wasnt going that fast like i said before, but even at 25-30mph, 1 car length (2m) isnt that long when you have to fit in reaction time and actual braking.

which means you were going too fast on your approach if you think thats not long to fit in your reaction time and braking. your speed should always reflect your reaction times/stopping time and distance if the worst happens.

these days I usually filter at about 15-20 mph max in slow traffic. too dangerous otherwise if faster and someone does exactly what happened to you.

as i have said before, imho he was just a sh*te driver who nearly knocked him off and i dealt out what i thought (at the time) was a suitable punishment. might not have been the smartest thing to do but others will know what i mean when you have a bad day and then some tvvat goes and does somthing like that. TRICK

I do know what you mean. Ive done it and Im telling you having learnt to just chill and move on these days the latter is a better option. You dont get so stressed and you leave the idiot behind not ****ed off and wanting to take it out on other riders.

as I said, driving standards are appalling and this guy wont be the only one. which makes me suggest you find someway to deal with the red mist because if you commute, it will happen on a daily basis.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by trick

what makes you think i didnt slow down when i was approaching himi wasnt going that fast like i said before, but even at 25-30mph, 1 car length (2m) isnt that long when you have to fit in reaction time and actual braking. i was slowing down gently all the time i was approaching him as there was a lorry or van or somthing a few cars in front of him that was making the pass narrower ahead.

as i have said before, imho he was just a sh*te driver who nearly knocked him off and i dealt out what i thought (at the time) was a suitable punishment. might not have been the smartest thing to do but others will know what i mean when you have a bad day and then some tvvat goes and does somthing like that.

TRICK

You dont give that impression in your orginal post you say "slammed on brakes" which gives the impression that you were going to fast for the road conditions

Like Lyn said if you dont have room to stop then you are going to fast, doesnt matter on traffic or road conditions, you should always try and ride so that you can stop in the distance or space that you have.

To be quite honest situation you describe happens all to frequently, car drivers just dont see bikers it happens, thats why I said you have to plan an escape route and be aware of your surroundings when filtering

[Red ones]

Feeling smug for smacking his car, or being in the right is little consolation when you are in a hospital bed. Swear in your helmet, ask the question "How could I have avoided that?" then get over it.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by SteveH

Sorry Frizz but again we don't know if Trick was filtering through alot of cars (10,20 or miles) how do you give the car driver a wide birth besides hanging back for a bit to see if the guy is going to move

As you mentioned in your post above this one I have spider sense !!!!!

its difficult and without being on tricks bike when this happened its card of hard to work out what I would have done. I guess at the end of the day he stayed on and he didnt have a collision with the BMW, I just think that with a bit more planning and maybe observation then the situation wouldnt have arisen in the first place, but I wasnt on the bike and this is just my opinion.

I think to discuss this one case in isolation is a little pointless as no-one has a video of the incident so it's all going to be conjecture. However though there are roads full of numptiies out there, I'm of the opinion that we should be able to anticipate or avoid situations 99% of the time. So whether on this occasion it was one of the one-percenters who knows?

It's also very easy to get annoyed and mete out what we think is "justice" at the time but on reflection it's rare that we would have done the same thing had we been calm and sober.

Other vehicles pulling out unexpectedly are part and parcel of biking and we should expect it and accept it, difficult though that often is.

Driver sounds like a right **** but unfortunately thats just life - its full of ****s.

No excuse for damaging a car though. Ok, he didn't look and then acted an idiot, you saying you've never acted the idiot? Does acting like an idiot means he should have to pay to get his mirror fixed?

For whatever reason, if someone damages my car then I will be taking their number plate and ensuring they pay for the damages. Just for the record, my car is newish and if you did hit it, it wouldn't 'ping' back, it would come off in your hand and cost over £100 to fix.

well as someone already said. the main point is i didnt come off and probably didnt even damage his car (just **** him off a bit). anyway, just to clarify, it was through about 8-10 miles of traffic moving at about 20 mph (filter speed 30 top). wide lanes with a good 4 feet between cars (so it was safe enough to go a bit faster than the flow of traffic - obviously the point of filtering) either side as most people were dead center in their lanes (which i thought was nice). To whoever it was that said my approach speed was to high for the distance i had to stop in.......I stopped, so there, not to short . anyway, if you take that approach, you could never filter cos as soon as you got to within a few meters of the car in fornt your have to slow down to his speed so your approach speed was coherant with your braking distance in case he/she pulled out. anyway thats a mute point as we all filter and we all know the risks and dangers. as far as im aware im normally well aware of my surroundings when riding and filter regularly at high speeds/low speeds/speeds in the middle and have never crashed (apart from once when i dropped my bike on the drive cos i drove into the wheelie bin - wasnt where it should be!! ). anyway, i dont like BMW drivers and i think there should be some kind of campaign to make cars look for bikers more. i know the government tried with that 'now you see him, now you dont' thing, but that was crappy to say the least. The new THINK campaign from old blair isnt bad but it aimed at bikers to not ride to fast, not cars or that tractor in the advert who doesnt look when he pulls out in front of that duke (anyone spot a trend?).

enogh of my ranting, im off for dinner

TRICK

Originally Posted by Kate

you saying you've never acted the idiot?

All the time

Originally Posted by Kate

Does acting like an idiot means he should have to pay to get his mirror fixed?

Yes, idiot tax. i myself have made some heafty payments for that cause.

Originally Posted by Kate

my car is newish and if you did hit it, it wouldn't 'ping' back, it would come off in your hand and cost over £100 to fix.

my girlfriends car is a 1995 modell 'somthing-or-other' and that has mirrors that you can just clip straight back on if they come off.

TRICK

I am a BMW driver!! tho not the norm as I also have my SV. I only passed my test last year, but I was advised only to filter when you can see that the person you are filtering past is not likely to pull out. That means checking that there is not a gap for them to go into and if it means driving fairly slow to double check - then so be it.....still going faster than them and movign thu traffic anyway, AND not getting stuck halfway past a large truck.[/quote]