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General => Roadcraft => Topic started by: ScooterWolf on October 21, 2015, 06:24:03 PM
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The other day I was taking a left, 90 degree turn, at an intersection. Lately, I've been working on my throttle sense with the goal of speed control so that I don't have to use my brakes when executing a turn. As I looked into my turn made I spotted two items on the road at the turn's apex. One looked like a flat piece of metal, and the other was a swatch of cloth. Already committed to turning, I didn't consider the items to be a problem and added power with the throttle. That's when the front wheel slipped sideways causing my heart to jump into my throat. Fortunately, my front tire re-gripped the road again and I continued on, shaken, but still upright.
The experience served as a good reminder that there are no minor road hazards, or items so small that they present no danger. It also made me think about the most dangerous road hazard I ever encountered - a piece of soggy cardboard the size of a Risk game board that I narrowly avoided while taking a turn in a rain storm doing about 40 mpg. Scared the S--- out of me. If I had hit it there's no doubt I'd have been road kill.
The craziest road hazard I saw was in downtown Philadelphia while riding around city hall. It was a queen size mattress that had fallen off a truck and was in the circular road surrounding the building. I was keeping a good following distance behind the bus in front of me so I was able to avoid it, but I thought about other riders who may not be as lucky, or vigilant.
So, anyone have any good road hazard stories? What's the worst, biggest and craziest things you've ever seen?
- Wolf
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Deep, moist leaves on a very, very steep turn in a State park.
Wasn't going much over walking speed....but it was still nearly too much.
These scenic rides are OK in the summer - but kicked myself for being so stupid in the autumn.
Broad daylight, too.
On my dark rides, I :
a) never ride in the evening
b) never travel over unknown roads
c) expect tree debris or a deer in every blind corner
One thing I did to improve my night road vision %100 was to crank the twin headlights way up on my Burgman. Spent no $$, added no additional lighting, did not mess with any part of the electrical system. Just used an 8mm wrench and spent a 1/2 hour on my back. I no longer feel like I'm over-driving my lighting at 35mph. The curb side light is aimed even higher than the left light....for seeing the road edge further along.
In 1500 miles of riding I have never had a car flash at me for blinding them with these twin low beams....so they must be OK. Suzuki had them shining directly in front of the scooter.....Very good lighting - but aimed too low. I fixed that.
Stig
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Sounds like you and I are thinking alike. I’m not a fan of driving at night along unknown roads, and I tend to stick to the center part of the lane once the leaves begin to fall, especially after a rain fall. The edges of a road tend to be hazard spots.
I was also just thinking yesterday that I should adjust lights and aim them a little higher. Thick gravel can be just as bad as wet leaves.
- Wolf
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Sand over asphalt in the apex. Deer carcass in a blind turn. Farm equipment with no lights; good reason for no night riding.
Karl
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Walnuts are another thing that will make you pucker if you hit one dead center and it throws your front end sideways.
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Acorns can be equally as bad, especially in groups. Like slipping on ball bearings. I think someone mentions plastic bags earlier. I had a floating one latch onto my left handle bar, covering my hand and brake control. Couldn't get it off until I came to a stop.
Is it me, or has anyone ever noticed you never get a red light when you need one?
- Wolf
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Worst for me was a 12" piece of railroad track laying in the road.
Was doing about 60 exiting the highway, on a combination off-on ramp, attention focused on splitting the two vehicles merging onto the highway.
Never saw it. Loud bang followed by immediate rear tire deflation.
Got it stopped safely, and on closer inspection found a small ding in the front wheel, rear wheel bent and cracked.
Glad I didn't hit it full on with the front wheel.
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There's something about RR crossing that always make me uncomfortable. Like I've crossed into some horror film and I'm the hapless victim about to get creamed by a runaway train. You'll never see me trying to heat the signal arm going down.
- Wolf
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Only been on my Like 50 for a lil under 200 miles but I go over rr tracks 4 times a day yeah.......no fun........
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Here in the states it's at the height of the Fall/Autumn foliage. Fallen leaves can be both beautiful and dangerous. How's everyone doing with the change of seasons?
- Wolf
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Small animals seem to pop out to me (turkey, squirrel, beaver) but just yesterday I encountered frost on the road where trees shade the road. The roads were dry yesterday but when I got to some wooded areas some sections of road still had frost on them. Esspecially if they are shaded by evergreen trees. VERY SLICK.
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I had those thoughts today as I prepared for my commute to work. One of the coldest mornings to date in our area. Just above freezing, but I thought over the curves and sections that lay in shade and shadow on my ride into Philly. No rain for about a week, so no runoff, or puddles to worry about, but the morning fog told me there was moisture in the aid, and on the roads.
Made it in safe, or else I couldn't have written this post. My guard is up, though. Despite the date, Winter is here.
- Wolf
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Unfortunately, my biggest road hazard is the fact that I live 2 blocks from the local high school. So I have the constant battle of watching for 16-18 year old drivers with no common sense, no spacial awareness, and usually a cell phone in their hand!! >:(
Duke- 8)
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DMblues01 I know what you mean. We live next to our town’s high school as well. If possible, get pictures of the cell phone drivers and send them to the school, or post on the School’s FB page if they have one. Shame goes a long way towards fixing behaviors.
- Wolf
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DMblues01 I know what you mean. We live next to our town’s high school as well. If possible, get pictures of the cell phone drivers and send them to the school, or post on the School’s FB page if they have one. Shame goes a long way towards fixing behaviors.
- Wolf
My brother-n-law is a police officer here in town, so I might have passed along a license plate number for him to screw with once or twice. ::)
But, I'm an A-hole like that sometimes! ;D
Duke- 8)
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If it gets results it’s worth it.
- Wolf
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ROAD HAZARD!! STOP SIGN, I STOPED , TRUCK BEHIND ME ,GOOD LOOKING GIRLS WALKING ON SIDE WALK, GUESS WHERE THE TRUCK DRIVER WAS LOOKING, GLAD I COULD TAKE OFF FAST, IT WAS CLOSE!!!!
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Damn. I'm winching too. Glad to hear you're all right. Hope the driver at least apologized.
- Wolf
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Glad to hear you're okay. Who knew someone not even on the road would be a hazard 😦
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When i was young and dumb 19 yr old, my 18 yr old wife used to wear a miniskirt when we went out to eat at nice restaurants on my Honda motorcycle. It was our only vehicle in LA.
It was a very early form of hi viz on two wheels...as we always had a couple of cars protecting our rear ends....watching her's !!:-)
We wore helmets and thought we were being safe!
Crazy...
But we got away with it.
Stig
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We get that when my wife wears skorts on our rides. Lot of perverts
out there.
- Wolf
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The only road hazard that ever caused me a crash was a really good looking woman on the sidewalk. Looking at her, I rear ended the car in front of me. Lesson learned.
Next time I'll stop safely and take a longer look. ;)
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DANGER !!!! CURVES AND SOFT SHOULDERS AHEAD,
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I had to re-read this whole thread 'cause it is a good lively one! Last few entries flashed me back to San Diego in the early '60's: horny young sailor (me) on his new Honda Hawk cruising Pacific Beach and La Jolla (pronounce "La Hoya" for you North Central and Eastern people) just looking around. A couple of near collisions taught me Priorities when on two wheels. Short skirts in SOCAL was the norm as was the resultant crashes. Now I'm too old to do anything about short skirts even if I did see one or more!
Karl
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I had to re-read this whole thread 'cause it is a good lively one! Last few entries flashed me back to San Diego in the early '60's: horny young sailor (me) on his new Honda Hawk cruising Pacific Beach and La Jolla (pronounce "La Hoya" for you North Central and Eastern people) just looking around. A couple of near collisions taught me Priorities when on two wheels. Short skirts in SOCAL was the norm as was the resultant crashes. Now I'm too old to do anything about short skirts even if I did see one or more!
Karl Karl I AM OVER 80 AND THE MIND IS FORE EVER YOUNG,
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Sure is, ain't it!
Karl
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Hitting unexpected Cattle grids on a scooter at 60mph where the warning sign has been damaged or knocked over are an excellent cure for constipation.
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Saw a new one a few days ago. A car floor mat just beyond the apex of a blind curve. I'm glad I was keeping a 2 second following distance with the car ahead of me. Had amble time to spot and avoid, but I hope other 2-wheelers are as lucky.
Drive safe everyone.
- Wolf
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From the "Only In Idaho" department: Last week I was following a guy in a white pickup who managed to dump a large BBQ grill out of the back end. I was far enough behind him that I was able to avoid that large thing spinning in the middle of the road. After pulling over and helping him lift it back into the pickup bed, I was surprised that he placed it on the open tailgate. He then headed to the cab, so I figured he was going to get a rope or something to secure it down - nope, he just took off with it perched teetering on the tailgate. :o I immediately took an alternate route!
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Glad to hear you were well out of the 'Danger Zone' (cue music). Sounds like the truck driver will have a future lawsuit on his hands if he keeps that up, or at least a really smashed up and damaged grill. Maybe it was stolen, so he was itching to get away.
- Wolf
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Riding in SoCal in the late '60s micro-mini skirts caused more than a few distracted rider accidents.
Then along came the Great Hot Pants scare.
Spooky/Happy times to be on earth!@!
Stig
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Today it's yoga pants. Worse of they're jogging.
- Wolf
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Let's not forget the Daisy Dukes! Which would be more distracting, though, yoga pants or Yoda pants? ;D
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Let's not forget the Daisy Dukes! Which would be more distracting, though, yoga pants or Yoda pants? ;D
Yoda pants not me thinks ;)
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......how about great big shop windows where you can admire your extremely cool reflection....... instead of looking forwards and avoiding ramming into the rear of thr giant campervan ahead of you that's stopped suddenly because the old crumblies driving the thing don't know whether turn left or right at the next junction.
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Ouch. I saw something like that, but a different circumstance. My wife and I were in our car pulling out of a hardware store. A car coming down the street on our right decided to stop to allow us out and into traffic. Only thing is the guy behind him ran into his back side so hard his enter car was lifted off the ground and nearly landed on his trunk.
Technically the guy who hit the guy from behind was at fault, but the guy who stopped really had no reason to, except for just being nice, and letting us pull into traffic. Sometimes good intentions and confusion create trouble on their own.
- Wolf
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There's a motor insurance scam going on in the UK based around that. Someone slows down and flashes you out of a junction and then they deliberately run into the side of you, claiming that they never flashed you out at all. To the police, you are to blame & it's difficult to prove otherwise.
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The Ides of March
Being constantly alert will always pay off.
Today I had to catch an early morning train from Philly to Baltimore, Maryland. The weather was finally warm enough (38F) that I felt safe enough to ride into to town (I live in New Jersey) instead of taking the two trains like I had been doing since mid-January. Leaving home around 5 am it was still dark with no sign of the sun anywhere. I was looking forward to a quiet ride with hardly any commuters on the road. As I was heading to the Ben Franklin Bridge on a small highway doing about 55 in a 45, I was in the passing lane with no one to share the road with save a Jeep that had passed me a minute before. To my left was a hip high concrete barrier that separated my side of the highway from the other going in the opposite direction.
Fortunately I was awake enough and not deep in thought when I saw something up ahead. It was just a smudge shape in the darkness welling against the barrier, then when about 50-70 feet away I saw what it was. A full grown German Shepherd was padding down the highway coming in my direction. Resisting the urge to grab a hand full of brake I shifted slightly to my right, coasted into the next lane and avoided hitting the dog by about 5-6 feet. It didn't even flinch, as if walking the wrong way down a highway at 5 in the morning was an everyday thing.
Fill in the obligatory exclamations here - both the biblical and the sailor type. I think I said them all before I coasted back into my original lane. The hardest part after that was to resist re-playing the event over and over in my head least I run into another road
hazard, or any car in front of me. My attention needed to be on the road. I could ponder my close call later.
Obviously I made it to Baltimore, but the event was still unnerving, enough for me to share it here. Despite the date it still could be the Ides of March. Keep alert about there. You never know what dog will be in your path.
- Wolf