On-coming car in your lane, what do you do? | GTAMotorcycle.com

On-coming car in your lane, what do you do?

Thatf4iguy

Thatf4iguy

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In rider training we learn that in a lot cases if the rider had been more defensive the collision could have been avoided. As riders we need to foresee the unforeseen, assume that we have not been seen and always, always, always, take into account the stupidity of others. Some situations are easily avoided, others keep us on our toes (or the balls of our feet) but it is frightening to think there are situations that you just cannot anticipate, like cresting a hill and finding an on-coming car in your lane.

Has anyone here been in such a situation? How do you react?
Do you go right and try your luck at motocross? Do you go left, hug the yellow and pray they don’t swerve back into their lane?

I believe the forum lost a beloved and experienced rider to such a frightening collision last year. I always felt I could handle any situation I encountered, but feel rather helpless in this one…
 
Scary. I'd snap my own neck before the collision and call it a day.
 
i think i'd probably hug right, start slowing down, and if needed run myself off the road and try not to crash my bike if i run off the road.

yea insurance wont cover it, but insurance is no good when u run urself off the road and crash ur bike, but i rather be alive lol.

if u go left, even if the car doesnt swerve back into its own lane, using ur situation that ur cresting a hill, if theres another car behind the idoit in ur lane, u basically avoided a car just to hit another possibly bigger car (he might be trying to pass a slow moving vehicle or bus even though ur not supposed to pass when you dont have a clear line of sight)
 
^ i will swerve to the right...and pray for the best.

Or i would just pull a wheelie and go over the car (not serious)
 
Going over a blind crest, my preferred lane position is the left side of the right tire track. The center of the lane is OK if the pavement is clear. Reason is that I don't want to be all the way on the right edge in case there is a bicycle or pedestrian, I don't want to be on the left edge in case there is a car over the center line. "Blocking position" is not important at this moment.

If there is a car ALL the way in my lane coming over a blind crest then the game's up and there's not a whole lot that can be done.

On level ground the preference is to make sure that I'm visible, not in a blind spot to oncoming traffic behind another vehicle in front of me, this is to make sure oncoming traffic doesn't think there is a space and go for an overtaking move.

If there is no vehicle in front and no vehicle behind then I actually prefer to be in the right side of the lane, further from the oncoming traffic. No purpose to use "blocking position" if there is nothing to block.

You have to think on your feet about what to do to minimize risks, this will be better in the long term than rigidly following a rule that says "thou shalt ride in left tire track under all circumstances" ...
 
A good place to start is hard on the brakes and hard on the horn. All collision avoidance maneuvers start after....
 
I had this exact situation happen to me as some retard was trying to pass 3 cars around a blind corner and was in my lane doing about 150km/hr in an 80/km/hr, Luckily for me there was a bike path space on the right and I had to jump onto the bike path and pray my tires didn't hit the gravel.
If I was in my truck it would have been a head on collision or me in the ditch.
 
don't ever go into the other lane. Get on the brakes hard, move to the right, and if needed, take a ditch, or try to bail off...... Cars hitting you head on are very unforgiving.

If a peson has nodded off, or on a cell phone, or whatever, as soon as they see they are in the other lane, the first instinct is to get back in their lane. They will also do so before they look and see if anything is in their lane.
 
Brian P said:
Going over a blind crest, my preferred lane position is the left side of the right tire track. The center of the lane is OK if the pavement is clear. Reason is that I don't want to be all the way on the right edge in case there is a bicycle or pedestrian, I don't want to be on the left edge in case there is a car over the center line. "Blocking position" is not important at this moment.

If there is a car ALL the way in my lane coming over a blind crest then the game's up and there's not a whole lot that can be done.

On level ground the preference is to make sure that I'm visible, not in a blind spot to oncoming traffic behind another vehicle in front of me, this is to make sure oncoming traffic doesn't think there is a space and go for an overtaking move.

If there is no vehicle in front and no vehicle behind then I actually prefer to be in the right side of the lane, further from the oncoming traffic. No purpose to use "blocking position" if there is nothing to block.

You have to think on your feet about what to do to minimize risks, this will be better in the long term than rigidly following a rule that says "thou shalt ride in left tire track under all circumstances" ...
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+1

I could be wrong but I think even the MTO handbook suggests not cresting hills in the blocking position. Also keep in mind that anywhere a motorcyclist finds interesting in North America, bicyclists will also find interesting. Bicyclist + hill + car = occasional very poorly timed pass. I see this a lot in the Forks.
 
This happened more than few times when I was riding scooters in Vietnam. Dump trucks and 18 wheelers coming straight at me. I took it to the shoulder like everyone else and just tried not to stiffen up on the handlebars, let off the throttle and just try to stay in a straight line.
 
I had this happen to me on the 507 last summer. An older honda accord was passing a group of cars around a turn and was heading head on for me as I came around the corner. I was very lucky that the driver saw me right away and he quickly swerved to the dirt shoulder to my right. I am not sure what I would have done had he not gone to the shoulder.
 
that's one unusual and scary situation..i probably swerve to the right first, then avoid braking hard to make sure that i have enough speed to stay out of contacts with anything after that...
 
Jump over the car and pray your gear will protect you from the asphalt!!! :eek:
 
On the way back from Grand Bend a couple of years ago and idiot coming the other way decided to pass three cars and a small truck. I saw what he was doing and realizing he was not backing I hit my breaks hard! (I was doing 100 kph) Locked the back brake and it started fishtailing. Not a nice feeling when your back wheel wants to catch up-to the front. Anyway, the idiot managed to tuck himself in front of the cars before we collided. Scared? no, concentrating too much trying to keep the bike upright and going straight. After this I decided to go looking for bike that has ABS. BMW F800ST rules!
 
Scudzo_2 said:
A good place to start is hard on the brakes and hard on the horn. All collision avoidance maneuvers start after....
Click to expand...
yes stay on the brakes for sure, however, save the time it takes for you to press the horn... use that time to disengage clutch, shift down, prepare for hard engine braking... if it fails youll be sliding on the road rather than rear ending a cager... id still prefer that than getting launched into someones rear windshield...

Also if possible, hope to god the left lane (oncoming traffic) is empty, and use it to maneuver around the guy who just cut you off... ive done it a few times but only in places where its actually allowed, ie. dashed yellow lines rather than one straight yellow divider.

like previously stated before, a common way to avoid such a collision would be to sticking to the farthest left side of your lane in an attempt for the cager turning to see you. Worked many times for me, however it has also failed many times due to careless driving... woman clearly saw me coming, stopped halfway through her turn, then as i approach intersection she decided to continue with the right turn... i ended up braking enough to maneuver around this old asian lady's car and had a nice stare+horn at her out of my anger!
 
I had that happen to me one time. The idiot coming over the hill was doing at least 160 over the crest of a hill on a 2 lane section of hwy 48 overtaking a long line of cars. I geared down and decided to see what he would do. as we closed he took to the ditch and went past me in a shower of dirt and somehow made it back on the road behind me. It was all over in seconds but if I had panicked and swerved to the right immediately I wouldn't be here now. If I had been just a little closer to the crest it might have had a different outcome too.
 
Armen444 said:
yes stay on the brakes for sure, however, save the time it takes for you to press the horn... use that time to disengage clutch, shift down, prepare for hard engine braking... ...
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Say what? Engine braking? I was with you until then. Gear down yes but, only to stay in the power band in case you need to accelerate out of the way. Screw engine braking, most of your stopping power is in the front brake, drag the rear wheel by engine braking and you've lost some maneuverability. Your only defense on a bike (other than wearing proper gear and remaining alert) is maneuverability.
 
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Tripletrouble said:
I had that happen to me one time. The idiot coming over the hill was doing at least 160 over the crest of a hill on a 2 lane section of hwy 48 overtaking a long line of cars. I geared down and decided to see what he would do. as we closed he took to the ditch and went past me in a shower of dirt and somehow made it back on the road behind me. It was all over in seconds but if I had panicked and swerved to the right immediately I wouldn't be here now. If I had been just a little closer to the crest it might have had a different outcome too.
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Best advice yet I think. If you have the time, wait to see which way the other guy is going while you shed speed (hard on the brakes). You will have to commit to your line so it better be the right damn line!
 
Don't know if anyone ever seen it happen... but here's a video that includes slow-mo. I think the guy showed great skills in avoiding the accident...

[video=youtube_share;XZmE-nCmIr8]http://youtu.be/XZmE-nCmIr8[/video]
 
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