Official idiot driver thread

[omegajim]

if that guy was up here, i'd put a spike strip down the next time he would pass...
down there though... hat moron probably has a gun or two on him...

in that case, we'd be on equal footing.

[ltdave]

ill add to the litany of going too fast for the road... not me but the CAGER...

brand new road for me. out in the country, i figured it would be all straight boring roads with section lines all over. nope it goes along a small river and has some gulleys and some nice twisties. having never been on it before i ran about 25-30mph...

it came out in a small town so i stopped and gassed up and grabbed a burger...

started home along this same road (19 miles +/- to home) and am enjoying the ride while i concentrate on keeping on one line in the lane (down the middle, it felt safe) when around the corner on ITs downhill comes this blue suzuki sidekick/jeep thing. only a little bit over the double yellow but enough to get my attention and kind of startle me...

i got rid of my lean angle and tried to slow enough to keep my turn radius from growing but to no avail. off the shoulderless pavement i went, into a rut the front tire went and over the handlebars i went, but not until my left leg twisted and rotated itself out from under the shift lever...

i immediately fell down when i tried to stand but a couple of other riders came up on me with in a minute or two. the suzuki, i think was going fast enough to get around the curve to not see me dump the bike. of course the roadway sloped pretty good away from the pavement so i was probably below their line of sight anyway...

the other bikers (fellow Legion Riders from the American Legion) stopped and somehow dragged my bike back to the macadam and set it on the sidestand. i dont remember them moving it other than to stand it up...

it still ran so after i fell down a couple of more times (the knee didnt like much weight on an angle) i got on it and rode it home. i nearly dropped it when i got back on to ride into the garage after i opened the door, but i got it in, changed out of my jeans and boots to shorts and sandals, loaded the dishwasher (wife was out of town and i was leaving before she got home) and sorted some laundry before driving myself to the hospital...

she called me while i was gone yesterday and wanted to know when i was in the hospital. she had found the id bracelet. well im still attempting to explain why i didnt tell her i wrecked when i called her 5 minutes of standing back up...

not much damage to the bike but its an 83 seca 750 so parts will have to be sourced off the 'bay. headlight, turnsignals, mirrors (maybe for cosmetics) instrument cluster...

d

[womper]

Originally Posted by omegajim

in that case, we'd be on equal footing.

not i... not many people carry handguns around these here parts..
we just like to yell at each other

[womper]

Originally Posted by ltdave

ill add to the litany of going too fast for the road... not me but the CAGER...

brand new road for me. out in the country, i figured it would be all straight boring roads with section lines all over. nope it goes along a small river and has some gulleys and some nice twisties. having never been on it before i ran about 25-30mph...

it came out in a small town so i stopped and gassed up and grabbed a burger...

started home along this same road (19 miles +/- to home) and am enjoying the ride while i concentrate on keeping on one line in the lane (down the middle, it felt safe) when around the corner on ITs downhill comes this blue suzuki sidekick/jeep thing. only a little bit over the double yellow but enough to get my attention and kind of startle me...

i got rid of my lean angle and tried to slow enough to keep my turn radius from growing but to no avail. off the shoulderless pavement i went, into a rut the front tire went and over the handlebars i went, but not until my left leg twisted and rotated itself out from under the shift lever...

i immediately fell down when i tried to stand but a couple of other riders came up on me with in a minute or two. the suzuki, i think was going fast enough to get around the curve to not see me dump the bike. of course the roadway sloped pretty good away from the pavement so i was probably below their line of sight anyway...

the other bikers (fellow Legion Riders from the American Legion) stopped and somehow dragged my bike back to the macadam and set it on the sidestand. i dont remember them moving it other than to stand it up...

it still ran so after i fell down a couple of more times (the knee didnt like much weight on an angle) i got on it and rode it home. i nearly dropped it when i got back on to ride into the garage after i opened the door, but i got it in, changed out of my jeans and boots to shorts and sandals, loaded the dishwasher (wife was out of town and i was leaving before she got home) and sorted some laundry before driving myself to the hospital...

she called me while i was gone yesterday and wanted to know when i was in the hospital. she had found the id bracelet. well im still attempting to explain why i didnt tell her i wrecked when i called her 5 minutes of standing back up...

not much damage to the bike but its an 83 seca 750 so parts will have to be sourced off the 'bay. headlight, turnsignals, mirrors (maybe for cosmetics) instrument cluster...

d

i'll assume no serious injuries but sore like hell?

hope karma works and the cager wraps himself around a pole somewhere...

think of it this way... it's a good time to upgrade and do some mods

[KD57]

And to think our motto some years back was "Drive friendly, the Texas way". That was before a gazillion out of state folks moved down here. And a lot of road rage incidents do end up w/ gunfire. What is it that makes people go insane when they get behind the wheel of a car? The same guy who waves at you on the lake in a boat will kill you at the drop of a hat if you cut him off on the freeway.

[tricker]

Originally Posted by KD57

The same guy who waves at you on the lake in a boat will kill you at the drop of a hat if you cut him off on the freeway.

That isn't normal?

[womper]

if i ever go to texas, the odds are i won't make it out alive... hah

[KD57]

Originally Posted by womper

if i ever go to texas, the odds are i won't make it out alive... hah

Be sure and rent a car w/ TX plates, it might just up your chances of staying alive, lol. Oh....bring a gun too.

[womper]

car? wtf? i'd be on a bike... guess i'd have to rent a bike or something...

gun... hmm... never had one in my hands, don't think it'd be right... knowing myself i'd probably blow something of mine off doing something stupid

[tricker]

i was looking into getting a 9mm for the hell of it. Then i realized that i'd have to cut back on the food cause insurance is coming up soon.. And for those of you that have met me, I didn't get this big by being shy

[MOTOHOLIC!]

Originally Posted by womper

if that guy was up here, i'd put a spike strip down the next time he would pass...
down there though... hat moron probably has a gun or two on him...

I'm pretty sure he does carry a gun.. he deals drugs and is running from the cops.

[tricker]

so i'm cruising down the highway at about 75mph in a 65mph zone. Out of nowhere this R6 blows past me doing about 90mph, no helmet, no jacket, no gloves. Weaving in and out of traffic. Now when i saw said squid come up fast on me i expected some 20 year old kid. Nope, maybe 45 year old guy. I shook my head and just kept doing my thing.

[chiddly]

speaking of squids.

No charges in two fatal car-cycle crashes
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 07/11/2008 12:44:46 AM MDT


No charges are planned against drivers involved in two separate deadly car-motorcycle crashes, after authorities learned the motorcycle riders were traveling at excessive speeds.

In Boulder County, a 17-year-old driver who collided with an oncoming motorcyclist while turning left in May won't face charges after a review by the Boulder County district attorney's office.

The girl had turned left on the low side of a hill on North 75th Street at Rozena Street in Boulder, when a Suzuki motorcycle driven by Jacob Gonzales, 25, of Westminster crested traveling at between 100 and 130 mph, the investigation determined.

Meanwhile, in Pueblo, a 56-year-old woman who was hit by an oncoming motorcyclist while turning left in June was not charged after experts calculated that 21-year-old motorcyclist Brett Bond was traveling between 124 and 145 mph at the time of the crash.

[Rae]

Why, why, why....why do they have to go that fast? And don't say, "because we can". That's stupid! We all know they can. Doesn't mean you have to. Don't get me wrong, I have had to goose it and get on it to go or whatever but, I don't do it on a regular basis. Pete on the other hand...he is always going fast. I have to lag behind for him to get the point that we are on the ride for the ride, not the speed or the destination.

[intimid8er]

Damn...I'm still amped up. I was I guess the proper term is a "victim" of road rage yesterday morning. Although, I don't like the term "victim", I guess or rather recipient of some asshat's road rage.

I merged into his lane on the Highway runoff to the off ramp (hard to explain....quarter mile of runoff after you exit...two lanes...then a split) two full car lengths (at speed) ahead of him. On the offramp itself or curve if you will, traffic in front of me slows, I check my mirrors in the curve and he's just a few feet off my back. Literally. So I look back, rather, do a head check to let him know I see him. When the curve straightens out, I continue to check. He pulls up, but not as extreme. Traffic goes even slower. I pull over to the right of the lane so I can see what's going on. Then I moved over to the left to get ready for my merge. Again, a stalling of the flow, so I move to the right of my lane to see what's going on, and then again, back to my left. Apparently, that was "against his rules too", and that set him off again. He was back on my butt again.

Realizing I got a kook, moreso, than some clueless idiot, I exited early (crossed the white lines), unfortunately I got stuck behind a lawn service truck, and....the light changed. Soooo here comes Sir D-bag. Pulls up next to me, rolls his window down, and starts screaming that I cut him off, and that reduced his braking capacity. I guess he's trying to justify why he was up my butt.....being that close to my tail made no sense for the second time, and if you could see the road....and the situation, it made no sense for the first time either....sometimes people get a little to hot in that curve, or get distracted and carry a little too much speed in there...it's a gentle sweeper that encourages high speeds, I can forgive that a bit, but not really as close as this guy was....I didn't impact his "braking capacity" at all...two car lengths, at speed, wayyy before anybody needed to touch a brake...I'd say a good two hundred yards before brakes become a factor...

So I calmly informed him, that he was crazy, I didn't cut him off, and I merged with a cushion of two car lengths. (If anything...I put myself in a bit of a spot by merging too close to the guy in front of me so's I could give the guy in the SUV a big margin). He proceeded to work himself into a lather, and began to scream and yell, flip me the finger, call me names, what have you. Meanwhile, his poor wife had to sit there and endure this crap. Luckily, he decides to pull away, and I'm still stuck behind the lawn truck.

The light changes, and I keep my eye on him, as I am sure, he had his eye on me. Traffic, is an organic thing, one lane moves faster than the other, people switch lanes, it's a living breathing organism, and it's never the same from day to day. All of the sudden, I get clear sailing in front of me, the lawn truck was gone, and I ratchet up to 52mph indicated in a 50 mph zone. I start catching up to Sir Asshat, as expected he starts speeding up. So now I'm on alert, and I back off the throttle some. Sure enough, he speeds up, and snaps over into my lane. No biggie, I built enough room for this into it. As luck would have it, it was my time to switch to the lane he just came from anyway. So I switch on the blinker and make the move. There I continue on at my 52 mph indicated. He then begins to "pedal back" to me (slow up to match my pace). So we ride like this....I would slow down as he slowed down so I could keep him where I could see him. There's no way I wanted this maniac behind me.

[intimid8er]

As I mentioned, traffic is organic and alive, I saw that he would be encountering a "pick" (line of slow moving cars moving slower than my lane), and there was nothing he could do about it (except blatantly run me over). So I waited, and as my lane gradually moved past his, and my turn lane was approaching, I raised the old bird (middle finger) up the proverbial flag pole and let it fly, and linger extra long too I might add. Well lo' and frickin' behold didn't he damn near wreck somebody else, trying to get over. I'm guessing he wanted to "teach me a lesson" again. Normally, this turn lane is empty except for folks going to the Shell station or McDonalds. Once they clear those driveways, I got clear sailing for the corner. Not this morning. It was backed up and stopped, seven cars deep. I notice something in my mirror. Yep...it's Sir D-bag again...this time not but a foot or less off my rear.

Now I'm angry. I contemplated just putting the kickstand down, and just calmly walking back and smashing his window out, and punching the ever lovin' dog droppings out of this jerk, but as sweet as that would sound, I realized any case I would have would be weakened. (Although, not in Florida...we have what's known as "The Castle Doctrine"....invade my space or threaten me in anyway, and I have the right to use any force including lethal to defend myself.) I thought about the MSF class, and what to do with these jerks, so I thought I should pull into the gas station, and wait him out, but the way this dude was acting, it could be construed as a hostile act. He kept inching closer, and I was hemmed in. Finally, traffic broke and I was able to get around the corner. Again, I could pull into Mickey D's, a fight, I would welcome, but this unstable jerkoff was likely to be packing. When I looked inside the cockpit before, I could see he was but a wee little man...acting like a rabid Chihuahua, so that had me wondering....someone that size doesn't readily go after someone my size, without some sort of artificial courage. I mean cripes, it's not like I was folded up and hidden in the Z, and I suddenly pop out and tower over the guy. It's readily apparent when you're on a bike how big or small you are. I formulated a plan B, which was to dive into the rat warren like maze of streets behind the Mickey Dees. I know them well, and this jackhole wasn't a commuter (He and his wife were wearing matching outfits of some sort.), and he wouldn't stand a chance against the Buell in tight confines. Sure enough, he followed me in. I ditched him within' two turns. I led him back to the West bound road we were on, and then switchbacked, double backed, flip-flopped, and zabeedahed until I was heading back the way I needed to go. Hopefully, I got him all twisted up and discombobulated back there!

[tricker]

holy macaroni

I've had road rage incidents with my car (taught those little 16 year old SOB's in their stock civic a lesson of sorts) but never on my bike..

[Rae]

Oh, I have had plenty on my bike. People just don't get it and that's the problem If it were mandatory to take some sort of motorcycle awareness class to be able to drive maybe they would undedrstand a little better. But then again, some people are untrainable.

[intimid8er]

Originally Posted by Rae

If it were mandatory to take some sort of motorcycle awareness class to be able to drive maybe they would undedrstand a little better.

Rae...I'd like to take this idea, and expand it out to make everyone pilot some sort of two wheeled conveyance. Make it mandatory.

I know it's unrealistic and extreme, but...it would make folks aware.

[womper]

Originally Posted by Rae

Why, why, why....why do they have to go that fast? And don't say, "because we can". That's stupid! We all know they can. Doesn't mean you have to. Don't get me wrong, I have had to goose it and get on it to go or whatever but, I don't do it on a regular basis. Pete on the other hand...he is always going fast. I have to lag behind for him to get the point that we are on the ride for the ride, not the speed or the destination.

it's not 'because we can'

it's 'because we want to'
there's a certain 'high' you get when going fast... it's not adrenaline... it's more like a certain clarity...

maybe it's just me...

but then again, there's a time and place for it...