Rear Ended

[2nd childhood]

No disrespect to other riders but I would say over 90% would have been hit in that situation.

You can count me in that 90 percentile. Fortunately there are very few places I ride that present this scenario. Having said that, that doesn't mean it won't happen while sitting in a turn lane either. Thanks for sharing and getting this in the front of my radar, at least for the time being.

 

[Monica A]

I could be wrong, but I believe here in Washington, if it's a two-lane road, everyone stops for the school bus when its lights are flashing, but if it's a four-lane (or more) road, only the vehicles in the lane next to the bus are required to stop.

In Nevada everyone has to stop for school bus with flashing red lights. Shockingly, we are even required to stop for pedestrians to cross at any intersection whether it has a cross walk or not. Californians will be surprised about this (they never stop for Pedestrians - lol) It's a $250 and up fine if you are caught not stopping for peds and they do sting operations all the time.

 

[2wheelieadv]

Let me preface this post by stating that it is extremely rare that I ever have a close call. The rarity ended last evening when I was on the way home. I was turning left off of a 2-lane highway with moderate traffic. Normally, as I approach my left turn I can adjust my speed to find a gap to turn left without the need to stop, sit and wait. Last evening as I approached my turn, traffic was heavy enough that I had to almost come to a complete stop. As I preach in my MSF classes, always check to the rear, which I did and was keeping an eye on the dipstick coming up behind me in a Cherokee. He was about a 1\4 mi behind me, maybe more, when I started to slow. I had my turn signal on about 1\4 mi before my turn and was using a hand signal as well AND wearing hi-viz yellow plus my brake light is an additional hi-viz LED. While watching for a gap AND keeping an eye on the dipstick I saw that he was not slowing..... not at all - coming full, freaking speed straight at me. When I realized this, I decided to bail on my turn and continue straight to get out of his way. At about the same time he slams on the brakes and skids to the right. I was able to accelerate ahead and avoid getting rear ended, but my rate of acceleration was not as brisk as what I wanted - I had not gone down to a low enough gear because I was not anticipating coming to a stop. Normally, if there is any kind of a gap, I take it rather than sitting on the highway and being vulnerable to being rear ended. I went about a quarter mile down the road and pulled off. The idiot in the Cherokee had come to almost a complete stop and was driving very slowly. I think it scared the bejeevees out of him as well since he apparently did not see me until the last second.

Very scary and I feel fortunate. So, my message here is to reiterate what we teach in all MSF courses, always check to the rear when you're stopping....ALWAYS! And, be sure to downshift to the lowest gear possible in order to be able to briskly pull out. With all of the distracted drivers out there today, I'm afraid this is going to continue to happen to all of us more and more.

Be careful out there :thumbup:

Where exactly have you stopped for a turn? ie in the middle or far left of the lane?
In such cases I normally stop as close to the yellow line, or even in between them.
I read in "Motorcycle Magazine" that another way to do, is to pull over to the right and wait out for traffic to pass, then cross over and turn...

 

[MG-242]

It depends. But, I normally command lane presence or at least attempt to. In this situation I'm close to the middle of my lane. If I give up too much of the right half of the lane, they'll buzz me by running part way off the road and go around me. I try to command my lane to prevent that just because I know 90% of the cagers' driving skills. Plus, I'm surrounded by 3 rock quaries and the truck drivers are freaking idiot cowboys! I may be mistaken but I don't think you are legally allowed to pass in an intersection, but we all do. About 3 miles from my turn off there are signs that indicate no passing in the intersection.

It's a give and take. Sometimes you want to be as big as possible so they see you and sometimes you want to be as small as possible so they don't hit you.

 

[MG-242]

I just spoke with a co-worker who was side swiped from the rear last Friday. He's a relatively new street rider (less than a year) with a new 2014 H-D Fireman's something or other. He was turning left into his driveway on a country road and saw a car coming down on him. At the last instant he decided to bale out on his left turn and pull to the right. The cage locked the brakes and skidded around him to the left catching his left saddle bag and knocking him into the ditch. Unhurt. The cage continued (hit and run!) and our other buddy who was up the road a bit chased after him and got his license plate number.

Distracted driving may just limit my riding to 2 mi road courses!

 

[2wheelieadv]

Well, yeah if the lane is wide enough, then it's better to sit close to the yellow line so the cagers would drive by on right. (many times it's enough space even to pass a car turning left. Passing a left-turning car/bike on a right is totally legal in NJ
If the lane is narrow, then yeah, it can be iffy ether you commanding the lane or moving more leftwards.
Your friend made a dangerous maneuver by crossing left-to-right. Maybe it would be safer for him to stay on the dividing line and wait for the upcoming car to pass?

 

[FZ09Bandit]

Well, yeah if the lane is wide enough, then it's better to sit close to the yellow line so the cagers would drive by on right.

I do this, Even at stop lights i will pretty much pull to the right or left quarter panel of the vehicle infront of my as to not get sandwiched. people get pissed off from the looks of it but whatever, they could very well be the ones that run me over, and I better be incapacitated because when get up its going to let loose..

I will also pull of into the little bike lane if im making a right turn if its clear.

I got stuck at a light the other day and i needed to go about 15 feet up to turn right into the bank parking lot, no one was using the sidewalk so i just politely rode on it lol.

as an LEO once told me. You can do it if noone sees you doing it HAHA,

 

[2nd childhood]

I'll admit to sometimes (when taking a right turn) using the bicycle lane. I've also squeezed between cars and the curb to take a right if the front car obviously isn't turning right and I know it's gonna be a while before the light changes. But both these maneuvers are done at VERY low speed, so (in theory) the worse case scenario is a scratched up bike but yours truly stays (more or less) intact. Not saying any of this is right, just admitting to doing it.