Here's what happens when you cut off a motorcycle

[turbodish]

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An awful lot of motorcyclists zip out to the left without a second look too.
In their case they'd be dead wrong, but I've been able to slam on the brakes and let them so far.
Sure I could protect my right of way, but not at all costs.

Which gets back to the original comments by Summerfield. She looked. She looked. Saw nothing. What if the reason she saw nothing was because the rider did in fact dart to the left from a place out of Summerfield's line of sight, say from behind other traffic, and at a speed that would not be reasonably expected by anyone in the traffic flow at that given moment.

If so, why would Summerfield feel any need to apologize for having done everything right only to have that effort thwarted by someone who may travelling at a speed completely unreasonable in respect to that of other traffic on the highway. Her words - "he FLASHED by" says a lot more than some here sem to want to acknowledge.

 

[FullMotoJacket]

What if the reason
did in fact
say from behind
If so
by someone who may have

Move along people. Nothing to read here. Just another turbovision®™ enhanced "what if Spartacus had a Piper Cub?" post.

 

[toysareforboys]

If you're going to ride faster than the general public, then you had better be ready for the "cut off". Cheers!

If you don't ride faster than the general public, then you better be ready to die!

Drive fast, worry less about what's behind you and more about what's in front.

-Jamie M.

 

[Baggsy]

Which gets back to the original comments by Summerfield. She looked. She looked. Saw nothing. What if the reason she saw nothing was because the rider did in fact dart to the left from a place out of Summerfield's line of sight, say from behind other traffic, and at a speed that would not be reasonably expected by anyone in the traffic flow at that given moment.

If so, why would Summerfield feel any need to apologize for having done everything right only to have that effort thwarted by someone who may travelling at a speed completely unreasonable in respect to that of other traffic on the highway. Her words - "he FLASHED by" says a lot more than some here sem to want to acknowledge.

I'm talking more about when I had my Buick that took an hour and a half to get up to passing speed, and then some nice young man on a bike would enter the highway, whip across 4 lanes of traffic, and proceed to putt along at just under the speed limit. The Buick would want to eat him.

If you don't ride faster than the general public, then you better be ready to die!

Drive fast, worry less about what's behind you and more about what's in front.

-Jamie M.

Umm, how about slow down and don't run into stuff?

I have no experience, but I imagine that a head-on at high speed would tend to bring a lot more pain.

I accelerate quickly and then let the traffic catch up. That way they have a good opportunity to see me, and I can cross the intersections along with other vehicles to prevent left turners from cutting in front of me.

 

[Rob MacLennan]

"I had the right of way" makes for a lousy tombstone epitaph.

All I am saying is, if you are on a bike in heavy traffic and someone has their turn signal on to make a lane change you are better off assuming that they are NOT going to see you, ESPECIALLY if you are approaching their position at a high closing speed. Just yield the lane and save your skin. It's not about who has right of way or what you are entitled to - it is about riding defensvely and living to ride another day.

Probably that angry rider flipping the bird went home angry and maybe even ranted to others about the stupid "cager" that tried to kill him. Any chance he spent even a moment thinking about what HE could have done differently to better protect himself from someone else's mistake?

Perhaps it makes for a poor epitaph, but it is the law. We don't know how long her signal was on. We don't know how visible her signal light was or, like oh so many cars I see on the road these days, if it was even functional. We don't know if her sequence of events is correct in that she signalled, checked, and then moved (many people seem to make the signal their LAST action, rather than first).

But, assuming that everything that she wrote was correct, she made a mistake. There's an old adage in the law: He who looks, but does not see, is negligent.

Sure, the motorcyclist might have done something else in order to make himself more safe but, without knowing all of the surrounding circumstances, you're just guessing, as are the rest of us.

 

[Buddhacide]

Which gets back to the original comments by Summerfield. She looked. She looked. Saw nothing. What if the reason she saw nothing was because the rider did in fact dart to the left from a place out of Summerfield's line of sight, say from behind other traffic, and at a speed that would not be reasonably expected by anyone in the traffic flow at that given moment.

If so, why would Summerfield feel any need to apologize for having done everything right only to have that effort thwarted by someone who may travelling at a speed completely unreasonable in respect to that of other traffic on the highway. Her words - "he FLASHED by" says a lot more than some here sem to want to acknowledge.

I think you answered your own question Turbo. Why would she feel the need to apologize if it wasnt her fault?

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