Nearly hit a pedestrian

[ralph13]

  I can't believe it. I've been riding since Nov '06, in sun, snow, rain...and the closest I get to a collision happens on a sunny afternoon after a rainstorm, riding west. Not with a giant truck, a cyclist, a dog, a deer--But a girl maybe a year or two younger than me. She was right in front of me, and I didn't see her till the last second; I slammed HARD on both brakes, slid a good two feet, and stopped an inch in front of her. She was getting off a bus from the local high school, which I didn't #!(% see either. Please be more careful than me.  I feel like an idiot, but I guess I can only consider myself lucky. 

[cosmiccharlie]

Glad you and the girl are OK, but how did you not see the BUS?

[ralph13]

I hate how it sounds like a classic excuse, but somehow, for the exact SECOND she was getting off, the sun was directly in my eyes. Not the second before, not the second after I stopped. I know what  that sounds like, but it's the truth. I could see nothing.

[TheGoodGuy]

i hate it when teh sun is in your eyes.. ugh

[ralph13]

This is definitely not the first time I've been sun-blinded, but every other time nothing was going on, and I either pulled over or came to an overpass or avenue or some other sheltered piece of road immediately.

I apologized to the girl, but I'm not even sure she heard me. She seemed understandably shocked and left in a hurry.

Edit: I also have to admit that after I apologized, I did just leave. What could I say anyway?

[hotrodstu77]

did you get her number......

[yamahonkawazuki]

Hmm high school, errm maybe jail-baitish. but yeah its happened once to me as well. thank god i remembered teh 2-1 panic stop. usually no sliding involved. but glad it worked out well. i betcha puckered up though

[bucks1605]

did you get her number......

I was thinking the same thing, could be the start of something great.

[shiznizbiz]

I bought a lightly smoked face shield for that reason.  Its tinted enough to keep the sun blindness from occuring and i can still ride at night with it if i have to.  If i were you, id get that a a good pair of sunglasses to wear with the helmet.  Itll keep it from happenign again.  Next time you can pull up real cool like, then get her nuber that way instead of scarign her off.  lol.

[Kasumi]

Theres more than one occasion where i've thought bloody hell if someone steps out in the road there is NO CHANCE of me seeing them. I always ride with sunglasses even if its not majorly sunny as i have polarized ones so they arnt that tinted but cut out huge amounts of glare. Occasionally though you will come around a corner with the sun directly in your eyes and not be able to see anything other than the road a few feet in front of you. Its pretty bad and lasts momentarily but if someone stepped out or a car pulled out you'd be scupered.

Same thing at night in the rain. When your going along and the visor is covered in rain drops (even without competing with visor fogging - progrip visor insert btw to cure this) when a car comes the other way and its headlights light up all the water droplets on the visor you cant see a thing in front of you. Especially when people walk around in black or dark clothing and expect that you will see them. Its rediculously dangerous.

I think weve all been there and you just 'luck' your way through most of these occasions. At least the sun blindness is momentarily but the night and rain thing is constant and very difficult to avoid.

[ralph13]

did you get her number......

I was thinking the same thing, could be the start of something great.

I'm more than sure she was at least 16 ("legal", here at least). But by next May I'll have been taken for four years anyway. 

When I save up the dough I'm getting a set of rx sunglasses to wear under my helmet. I've gone full-face (till next spring, at least), and it's taking some getting used to, but I like the noise reduction and the lack of wind in my eyes.

Knowing that visibility problems happen to other people does make me feel less like an @$$. I probably won't ever see that girl again, and I'm sure she'll be fine. I'm chalking it up to experience, and I think sunglasses will be a lifesaver in the winter to cut the glare from snowblindness.