Quantcast

Close calls while driving?

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,361
7,760
Relevant story from my commute home just now:

I pride myself on being aware of road hazards--including other drivers!--more than the average bear. Probably every motorcyclist who attempts to be competent prides himself or herself on the same, or at least makes a concerted effort towards attaining it. However, my spidey-sense for what stupid stunts other people might be up to totally failed me tonight, and I almost was clobbered by a car as a result.

Setting: a four-lane road near a commuter rail section on the boundary of a residential and an industrial neighborhood. 9:30 PM, coming back after being in-house on call until 9 PM. Lots of cars parked on the road, somewhat odd, and people stumbling out of a restaurant apparently open for some kind of private party. By stumbling out I meant that they were crossing the road willy nilly in front of cars. Two carloads of people who had exited the restaurant a bit earlier were queued up on the right in a parking lot, waiting to turn out.

I saw the crossing, stumbling pedestrians, gave a warning honk, and steered around them. No problems there. The cars in the parking lot both pulled out simultaneously, one turning left in front of me with plenty of room, and one turning right, now heading in the same direction as me. Fine.

At that point I let my mental guard down. I thought that I was through the danger zone and I relaxed.

That was my big mistake. I'm glad that I didn't suffer any consequences for it.

Up ahead was a little jog in the road as it passes under the commuter rail tracks, just enough to get car drivers to tap their brakes. Unbeknownst to me the driver who had turned right out of the parking lot apparently decided in a drunken stupor that they had gone the wrong way and needed to turn around RIGHT THEN. Rather than pull off the road and figure out how to turn around like a sane human being they stopped right there in the traffic lanes and were about to pull a u-turn from the right lane (again on a somewhat busy four-lane road) as I came through the S-bend myself.

As I passed them and the angry drivers behind incredulous that someone was simply stopped on the road I saw their wheels at full-lock to the left. I quickly did the mental math: if they had started their u-turn 20 feet before I'd reached them instead of 20 feet in my mirrors, as transpired, I would have been toast. I would have plowed right into the side of them, and it wouldn't have mattered a damn bit that they were in the wrong for stopping on the road and pulling a blatantly illegal u-turn in traffic.
 

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA
One incident stands out to me. A few years ago I was driving in the afternoon in winter on (iirc) Rt 17 in Vermont, right near Mad River Glen. I was going downhill- one side of the road had a rock face and the other a guardrail to stop you from flying off a ledge. Hit a bit of ice in a corner and I just remember the car sliding and completely facing the rocks at full speed. I overcorrected a bit and was then pointed at the guardrail but then got it under control the tires hooked up. I had to pull over and sit there for a few minutes, thinking about slamming into a rock face doing 50 when it's 20 degrees out.


I also got an email from my brother a bit ago telling me about almost getting killed while driving. He "had a few drinks" and was driving home (he lives in Islamabad, Pakistan btw), slammed into a concrete barrier that the army had just put up as a checkpoint. It wasn't so much the crash that could have hurt him as the fact that he could have been shot many, many times. Also, a few months ago he forgot to put the parking brake on and his car rolled into and then through his neighbor's guard shack (Pakistan, after all). And a few weeks ago he lost his keys, left his car on the street and the neighbors called the cops thinking his car was a bomb. Good times.
 
Another on Vermont Route 17, headed up the Appalachian Gap on a Kawasaki GPZ - came int the first hairpin way too hot, discovered that there was a bunch of sand on the road. Slid over the double yellow, then over the white and was headed for the trees before the tires decided to hook up again.

Rode the rest of the way over the gap at about 30 mph...
 

BmxConvert

Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
715
0
Longview, Washington
Driving back from an outing in the wood in my '90 2 door XJ the road was wet because well dry roads don't exist in Washington. A dog ran out in front of me while cruising at 45. I slammed on the brakes, the rig spun 180 degrees landed in the other lane in front of a car a few hundred feet back. As soon as the spin stopped I drove away like nothing happened. Dog wasn't hit.

Cruising down a different wet road in my '90 4 door XJ on 3/4 ton full width axles and 37's. Of course Stock XJ brakes are relatively inadequate when trying to stop a rig with big tires so I kept the 3/4 tons as they worked well. Cruising down the road a crack head pulls out in front of me, his car stops(stalled? killed it? I'm not sure) and I slam on the brakes. I've now got a fullsize rig sliding sideways at a dude in a clapped out crack dealing car. The look of panic was priceless as I pulled it under control.

Driving down Hwy 30 towards the coast in my '98 XJ just before Clatskanie there is a really nice up hill passing lane. There was a semi in the right lane that I was passing. Apparently the guy never checked his mirrors. He started to merge in the left lane pushing me into the oncoming traffic lane. Just as the hill starts to crest, a semi pulls over the hill coming head on at me. I'm stuck straddling the yellow lines between the two semi's.

Verdict: I have bad luck in Cherokees.
 

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,698
1,749
chez moi
I drove in India in an SUV for the first time yesterday. Been a long-time since I drove from the right side, too. And my last RHD was a column mounted standard shift, not a floor stick. But mere details, details.

Someone else's driver answered his SMS message while driving us today and nearly got in a head-on; luckily he responded quickly enough to my shout to swerve and almost hit a pedestrian.

And so we then took an autorickshaw with the baby in an Ergo carrier, which ironically seemed the safest way to get around...
 

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
How about a double-impact and a close call wrapped into one seriously fun time?

Driving in the rain on the Bay Bridge one morning and traffic stopped short from about 50 mph. I had enough space to stop in time, but just barely. As soon as I realized I wasn't gonna rear end the guy in front of me I look in my rearview mirror and see a car barreling into me. It smacks me hard into the car in front of me, and I ricochet off 180 degrees and into the other lane, so the next thing I know I am facing the wrong way on a wet freeway with a bunch of cars coming straight at me. There were cars sliding all over the place and they all managed to avoid me.
That's why I try to take the train on any rainy day. You drove fine, but everyone else is an idiot.
 

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
My closest call in recent memory was my response to a road rager.

I was on the Bay Bridge, and I see someone weaving in and out of traffic, cutting off other vehicles without a care if everyone behind him slams into each other.

I decide to play my favorite traffic game, Blocker, when I pass a bad driver, which usually means going over the speed limit, then after I have him blocked in, I slow back to the speed limit and block him behind the slower vehicles around us.

Of course, what makes Blocker possible is my hitch rack. Most road ragers love to intimidate by tailgating, but no one will get on my rear when the rack is down with a bike. They realize that the rack will destroy their front end and my bike will go thru their windshield if they hit me.

If I play Blocker well enough, it doesn't even look like I am trying to f*** with you. I don't even step on the brake pedal.

I can tell the rager is fuming, especially when he can't tailgate me, and he is looking for anyway to pass. I can see a gap in lane 2 (lane 1 is coned off for construction work), so I make a very close merge so that he can't pass me there.

Well, the rager did something I wasn't expecting: he merges into lane 1 through the cones and passes me in the construction lane.

As he was coming up in lane 1, I made a quick mental calculation: I could have gotten onto the gas and kept him next to me, but if he was willing to pass in a construction lane, maybe he would just swerve into me if there was an obstacle ahead.

After he pulls back into lane 2, he then gives me the hardest brake check I have ever witness. Again, I knew he was going to do something like this, so I have no problem slowing down, but I wasn't able to make the calculation if cars behind us would be able to do the same.

At this point, I made another calculation about what would have happened if we did collide. I pictured throwing this driver over the side of the bridge.

As much I would have liked to have keep messing with this guy, the calculus was not in my favor and I let him drive off at 100mph.

I know, I know, I've just opened myself to the Court of Ridemonkey. But this is what I like to do, screw with assholes.

Should you not get involved with a douche driver? I suppose. But I think guys like this drive like this because they think other drivers will just let them.
 
Last edited:

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,637
7,303
Colorado
Had a guy who couldn't merge properly try to run us into oncoming traffic on the golden gate about a year ago. He had his window down screaming at us while trying to force us over. At one point he actually stopped in front of us, blocking traffic, and started to get out of the car (on the bridge). One cup of coffee through the window into his car (and all over the wife) and a fast car later, we were on the horn with CHP. After discussing with the CHP for about 45min, and making it clear that we were not the aggressors (notably due to the knuckle impressions in our hood from the guys son hanging out of the car at 50 to hit the car), CHP let us go.
the guy wanted to file charges against us, but the CHP told him nicely that we could file the same charges back. They would also charge him with reckless endangerment of a minor, stopping on the bridge, and a few other miscellaneous charges all under the cloud of road rage.

It really helped that the Sargent on duty (yes it got that involved), owns a Mini too, and we were discussing the custom work James had done to his car and the custom mini parts he was designing. The officer even took one of James' cards to follow up. We talked motos for a while (moto cop) and about going to the track, how we were going up to Infineon to watch the classic car races. We were very calm and if anything freaked out that this guy was going to chase us down when we left, while the other guy kept trying to walk up to our car and cause a scene.

All in, it was a very scary isht show, but we got out clean and safe. Shocking how many bad drivers there are out there.
 

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,698
1,749
chez moi
OK, I really need to post a vid of tomorrow morning's commute.
 

Damo

Short One Marshmallow
Sep 7, 2006
4,603
27
French Alps
5:00am dawn surf patrol. Me and 5 mates in the car with about 8-10 surfboard piled on the roof of my car.

Driving along dark country roads, completely alone to get to Taranaki for a dawny.

A car drove past us and flashed his head lights. We drive on, looking for why he did that.

Another car drives past us with a guy waving his arm out the window at us. We drive on a bit until I say "That was a bit weird. Let's find somewhere to pull over. Something isn't right"

There are deep ditches either side of the road for miles, but we find a small driveway leading off the road. I pull in and 5 seconds later the biggest truck carrying the biggest house on it roars past us.

In NZ, it is not uncommon to transport an entire house on the back of a truck. They usually do this real early in the morning so there is less traffic. The house takes up the entire road and is about chest height off the road.

If we hadn't pulled over in that only spot available, my car would be a convertible and we'd all be headless.

We sat there for another ten minutes just looking at each other in silence.
 

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
Yep. Just what the world needs, more passive-aggressive wankers.
That's what I mean about the Court of Ridemonkey.

Passive aggressive is making some whiny comment. I don't know how you do things, but it must be great to have to assholes treat you like dirt.

BTW, I've been accused of being passive aggressive before. I'm just aggressive.
 

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
Depending on the situation, I have a comeback or a reaction which puts on the other person to deal with his attitude, not me.

I think this situation sums it up: I was on the train and I put my bike on the rack. The bike had no tag indicating where it was going nor was the owner nearby, which is the rules.

Since most riders go all the way to the end, San Fran, I assumed he was going there and I put my bike next to his.

Just I am done tying up my bike, the owner arrives and is getting off at Palo Alto, the next stop. I remind him of the bike rules, and he responds snidely, "One would assume I was getting off at the next stop."

I told him, "So it's my fault?" and then I said, "You must be from San Francisco because I have never heard the word Sorry from someone there."

I don't care if he apologizes but I hope he remembers our little incident, so he doesn't assume other riders know where his unmarked bike is going and that a little politeness goes a lot longer than passive-aggressive remarks.
 

Dog Welder

Turbo Monkey
Sep 7, 2001
1,123
0
Pasadena, CA
Close calls while driving?....I'm Asian. I drive a 30,000 pound fire engine in a city that's a giant master planned retirement home. Every day is a close call.