B Road....Long straights.....hidden side junctions.....overhanging trees.......Slow-ish furniture lorry.......I'm coming up behind him.......Not very close.....He's doing 40mph, I'm approaching at 50mph........backed off to match his speed or a bit less........side junction coming up on the left.......Lorry almost on top of it........although I'm well back, I have move slightly out to see past lorry, intending to buzz pass him once we had passed the junction..........just as I move out to the right, I catch a glimpse of a car approaching the B road from the side junction.......Next effing thing, the car has pulled out right in front of the lorry, across his path to travel in the direction we had just come from. How the lorry missed him, I don't know......I saw less than 6" clearance as the car came past the front corner of the lorry on a diagonal path........I didn't have to brake as I had seen it happening and had rolled off the throttle, but if I had have been younger and dafter; closer to the lorry and had made the move to the right earlier, rather than being cautious.......it would have been 'Ta-Ta World'. There are some stupid f-in b*****ds on the roads these days. AL.
Mmmm, good to know there are some benefits to getting old and wrinkly, all I get are aches and pains. Anyway glad you survived that nasty moment.:smile:
I feel your frustration; There seems to be a growing culture of drivers just pulling out even though there is something coming and expecting them to take avoiding action. What you have described is just normal these days and young or old (like me) it is wise to simply EXPECT it to happen. I used to think it was safe to continue past a waiting car at a junction as long as I had made eye contact with the driver but these days eye contact is invariably just what they need before they cut me up and make me take the avoiding action.
Totally agree and ive noticed it on the roads. There seems to be a bit of a fashion for not waiting for bikes to pass on roundabouts but rather pulling out on them right into your lane before you even get to them. I let them know my thoughts on this of course....
Come on you only notice it now first week I was in UK and already driving one thing I noticed is that every one sticks about half of their car on the oncoming lane to check if it is clear. Great if it is what if it is not?
I'm glad your ok Al yes there are some real idiots about. Pulling out . oh indicating or sorry lack of anymore ! My real pet hate is your up to speed limit and some one just drives up your arse trying to push you harder. The other day on A14 I had this .. I was going a good speed in the outside lane when an Audi decided he wanted to go very fast .. I normally would of course get out of the way and move over into the other lane .. except I couldn't due to a slow moving wobblebox and a couple of lorries. No gap.. So I had to speed up while he still kept hounding me until I got a gap and I politely moved over out of his way. I thought nob ... Moved out the way. So after worrying my arse what does he do? As soon as I moved over .. He then moved over into my lane this seems to happen more and more. Sorry to any Audi owners but it's always an Audi when I'm on my bike Hug to Al
Erm, excuse my ignorance, but what's a wobblebox? I've been around for about 300 years and never heard such an expression :smile: I'm guessing caravan?
HAD to speed up !!! Please, next time (and forever after) sit there until there's a gap .... f£$k em ..... it's their problem. How many times do instructors drill into new riders the need to dominate the lane for their own safety! I assumed Audi (which do seem to have taken over from BMW as the weapon of choice for the knobheads) had removed indicators as a weight saving exercise - haven't seen one indicate in years...... oh sh!t - haven't they just bought out Ducati ?
Lucky you are ok Al, in my experience the car driver was pretty lucky too, because I have never driven a lorry that had good enough brakes to do what car drivers would refer to as an emergency stop. I find that most car drivers expect heavy lorries to have the same braking ability of a car, they don't, not anywhere near. Audis are by far the worst cars on the road, I always give them a very wide birth whatever I am using as transport, bike, car or lorry!
Now that Audi have bought Ducati are we going to be guilty by association, this will mean that I don't have to use indicators anymore and can assume that the roads are for my personal use only, must be a bit like being the Queen on the Queens highway.
Sorry Katie.....correction needed. Although Audis appear to be the most aggressive looking cars on the road (from the front anyway) Audi drivers are one of the worst on the road. Mind you if I had been 19, maybe 20 years old with less experience and had made the move to overtake earlier, I would have been head-on into a Peugeot rather than an Audi. AL.
A woman in an X5 made this mistake when she pulled out in front of my mate's Humber Pig and then hesitated. 9 tons of armour with a 5-bar gate on the front does not stop in a hurry, and consequently the BMW got thrown down the road like a kids toy, ending up on it's roof in the ditch.
OK so spelling was never my best class at school, berth would work better. Perhaps I should have gone to school a little longer, but they never wanted me back, it was by mutual agreement that I stayed away. Spell check usually catches it for me, I should read back more carefully before posting.
Just one of the many scenarios described, and therefore how to avoid being killed, in Road Craft the Police Riding Manual. Thoroughly recommended to read and dip into on a regular basis. Motorcycle Roadcraft: The Police Rider's Handbook to Better Motorcycling: Amazon.co.uk: Phillip Coyne, Bill Mayblin, Penny Mares: Books
