careful at stoplights, friend almost got killed yesterday.

[zoltan]

a close friend who rides was sitting at a stoplight yesterday, and had his bike (monster 620) in 1st and had the clutch in. he's just started doing this religiously after finishing the msf course. as he waiting for the light to turn, he hears a loud screeching behind him and sees a car skidding right at him in his mirror, he pops his clutch and gets between the lanes just as the car smashes into car that was in front of him. the collison was so hard that that car hit the car that was in front of it as well.if he hadn't have gotten out of the way, he probably would be dead now, or in intensive care.

moral of the story: keep your bike in gear at lights unless you have cars behind you, stay alert, and make sure you've got an escape route.

[JamesG]

Amen brother!

I do this instinctively now after a similar (but not quite as bad) close call.

[vtlion]

There are all kinds of crazies out there behind the wheel  

After riding around in a summer-break ghost town for months, all 42,000 students descended on State College last week, and it's a whole new ballgame.  It's amazing, but people just don't see you on a bike... I mean they look right past me and just pull out on me!   :x

Good advice about staying in gear at lights.  You can't be too careful.

Stay safe.

[Casimir]

moral of the story: keep your bike in gear at lights unless you have cars behind you, stay alert, and make sure you've got an escape route.

I'm glad your friend is okay.

Don't forget, an SUV can move a car or two if it's moving at a good clip, so don't relax just because the car behind you stopped. I posted a story here of a rider killed when someone rear-ended the Explorer behind him.

[scratch]

Good to hear a survival story with a good ending. Glad your freind is allright.

[powrful1]

I never take it out of gear at a stoplight unless I am stuck in a turn lane by myself after a full cycle....then I am always looking behind me while trying to get the light to change for me.

[dmp221]

Don't remember if I learned this in an MSF course or not...but...when stopped at a light (or for any reason) I will never stop dead-center behind the vehicle in front of me.  I go either to the right half or left half of the lane...whichever is more appropriate to my route and conditions at the time...the important thing is I'm MUCH CLOSER to an escape route in the event of a runaway rear-ender.
Phew!! These near-miss (or is it near-hit?) stories are scary.

[JohnNS]

That was one thing that really bothered me when I took my course (the Canada safety council one..which is our MSF basically). Every time we stopped anywhere they wanted us to put the bike in neutral, then put it in gear before we took off again. I disagreed...and still totally disagree with this for the very reason of this post.

I did it just to appease them till I finished the course, but I always leave mine in gear too cuz the same sort of thing happened to a friend of mine a long time ago too (he got out of the way of a massive rear-end collision).

Any other Canadians have a similar experience? Just wondering if it was just my instructors, or if it's the way they teach it. I have a big problem with it if that's the case. Great course other than that though.  

Glad your friend is ok...bit rattled though I bet!  

John

[pizzleboy]

I took the course at centenial college in toronto.  They say always leave in gear, alway stay to outer or inner 3rd of the lane, depending on where the incoming traffic is.

[JamesG]

I usually prefer the left side of the grease spot.  It (hopefully) puts you directly in front of  the driver's side of a cage, so they can't say they didn't see you.

I also "blink" my brake light (I don't have a Priority Plus installed yet) whenever I see someone pulling up behind me.

[yamahonkawazuki]

yeah, me and frankenbike bout had a good one, older woman, in minivan doesnt see stopsign as i am approaching turn, to go left. she blows it just as i get there. i did the msf panic stop, i was already in 2nd, did the downshift to 1st and both brakes at same time, stopped right in front of her.(i forgot to put foot down, almost dropped it.), she looks up, sees me and about has a coronary. i put sidestand down, and removed helmet, walked to her and explained, with a few expletives thrown in for good measure, that STOP does not mean State Trooper Out Pissing

[Kerry]

I nearly got "tagged" today at an intersection too.  Mostly my fault, of course.

I stopped at the crosswalk in the right hand turn lane.  Traffic was coming through the intersection from the left.  I spotted an empty section in the near lane that was several car lengths long, so I did the right-on-red thing and pulled into the "empty" spot as slick as a whistle.

But it's a good thing I didn't pull out into the middle of the lane.  Before I was all the way up to speed, I was mildly surprised to find a car on my left, right next to me, sharing my lane.  (I say "mildly" because something in the back of my mind said that I should be double-checking just in case this very thing happened.)

I didn't misjudge the speed of the oncoming cars.  What I did was ASSUME that everyone knows not to switch lanes in the middle of an intersection.  Things could have gotten pretty ugly pretty fast, and oh so easily.

Lesson: Never ASSUME any such thing.

From now on I'll try to wait for the green light, and maybe even until the cars in the straight-through lanes run a block for me by entering the intersection.

[Pkaaso]

Kerry, It is my understanding (at least here in CA) that, there is no vehicle code prohibiting changing lanes in an intersection.

Anyone know this for sure.  Is it different in the various states?

The rule of thumb is:  If you do cause an accident while doing this, it's very hard to get out of being at fault.  I know it's the person turning right who has the responsiblity to do so safely.  But, the person changing lanes gets the fault much like a rear-end collision.

Anyone have their state's VC book handy?

Paul

[crmeyer]

A couple of weeks back I was almost killed.  Comming up to a four way intersection my light had just turned green and it ways clear to take a left turn from what I could see.  There was no oncoming traffic so I thought that I could make the turn.  As soon as I get into the intersection and start turning a car burns the red light going close to 100 mph.  If I didn't jump on the throttle he would have blindsided me.  It turns out that he was running from the cops and was killed a few blocks down after hitting a truck.  Now when I come up to an intersection I check all traffic in the area even if they have a red light.

[brandiwine]

It is my understanding (at least here in CA) that, there is no vehicle code prohibiting changing lanes in an intersection.

Anyone know this for sure.  Is it different in the various states?


Paul

in Texas, i'm pretty sure it's still illegal.  back when i took my drivers ed. it was a "no, no" according to my instructor.  however i just pulled up the texas drivers handbook and there was nothing in there about it.  *shrug* who knows...it feels dangerous, so i don't do it.

brandi

[spotswood_suzuki]

All this says is what many people have said before....YOU HAVE TO RIDE LIKE NO ONE SEE'S YOU!!  We always lose in a collision, so we have to ride as if all the cages are out to kill us :guns:.  I just hope we all learn from what everyone is saying and never have to discuss the loss of anyone on this site   RIDE SAFE!

Wayne

[Aerospike]

man, it's even worse when your on a bicycle. I'm in this little college town so we have bike lanes in most of the streets, and almost every time I ride to campus some idiot would make a right turn without looking for bikes. last week that girl got into the bike lane to make it to the right turn lane because traffic was stopped and needless to say she got in right in front of me so I hopped on the curb then hopped back in the lane when she cleared it. Yesterday, some idiot in an SUV made a right turn onto a parking lot  and I almost t-boned him and he still didn't see me. So I chased him in the parking lot, got beside him, as he stopped and told him that he almost knocked me over and he was like I didn't see you. so I said of course you didn't see me. you didn't look!  :x . He probably thought i was gonna whip him with the bike chain I had across my chest, but hey,  maybe he'll check the bike lane next time.

[Cal Price]

Over here you are taught on CBT, which is a compulsory day of training before you can even go near a 50cc scooter and on Direct Access which is to allow you to go directly to a "big" bike to never put your left foot on the ground, always engage first while stopped, and obviously hold in the clutch, it would count as a fault on your test but not, in isolation a fail.
Traffic lights, first gear, clutch held, rear brake on and right hand covering front brake. It's a bit of a pain at first but does make for smoother and safer riding. If only we could find a way of stopping the ****head in front shoving his car into reverse!

[yamahonkawazuki]

Isnt it interesting how they all use the line "i didnt see you?"[/color]

[Cal Price]

Yeah, they always say that despite all the hi-viz yellow crap and lights on etc, but we are always the most vulnerable so we have to think defensive.
By the way I meant never put your right foot on the ground, keeping the brakes covered would be a great balancing trick otherwise.