Pucker moments....Lets hear about yours and learn from them

[Thunder Johnson]

An area near my house has a lot of accidents and close calls, have had several close calls myself. I'm very careful passing through there.
When I pass by there I'll look at cagers eyes that I know are turning into my lane or across all lanes. Even when they are looking right at me they still pull out thinking I'll just swerve to miss them (the bigger vehicle wins mentality).

Here's the layout.
* It's the only traffic "congestion" area within 5 miles of my house, (I'm near BFE).
* It's a 4 lane road w/median, at a strip mall shopping center, very busy intersection.
* Cars regularly travel 50-55 through the area ("country" roads, I'm near BFE).
* A lot of large bicycle groups on the roads on the weekends.

Here's what is going on in this area...
Within a 1/10th of a mile area, cars are pulling out of the shopping center access roads trying to get across all the lanes while other cars are trying to make it through the light before it changes while other cars are slowing down to turn into the shopping center, while other cars (cars as in the plural, more than one at a time) are stopped in the middle at the median waiting to pull into traffic, while other cars are pulling in and out of the Walgreens on the other side of the road. Add to all this the group bicycle riders on the weekends.

[E'ville Rider]

I had one just last week, and I'm not sure if I was at fault or not. When I pull out of my parking lot from work I have to cross two lanes of traffic into a third, left-turn lane. This is an uncontrolled intersection on a commercial/retail strip. Usually I make a left turn here and cut through the shopping center parking lot to get home. This day, however, I need to make a U-turn as I had to head to the mall. As I pull into the left turn lane I notice a mini-van coming out of the shopping center on my left. She appears to be in the left turn lane with her left turn signal blinking. Further down the road is some traffic starting to head my way from the traffic light that just turned green at the next intersection (I'm noting this all really fast as I'm starting to roll into the intersection). My left turn signal is already on and I figure I have enough time to safely make my U-turn, but I need to keep rolling and not stop for this minivan to clear the intersection or the oncoming traffic will be there. So I start my lean into my U-turn when all of a sudden this minivan makes a right turn directly into my path of travel. I lean REAL hard and pull parallel to this minivan, so close that if I'd turned my right foot on the peg I would've touched it.

I didn't panic or get mad but just let this minivan continue ahead of me, which was a good thing as it immediately moved into the left lane and then proceeded into the left turning lane at the next intersection.

But as I was sitting at that light thinking about what just happened I started questioning whether the minivan really was in the left lane with it's left turn signal on or not. It could be that I just mis-saw what I was looking at as I only glanced at it very quickly. Now I'm much more deliberate about checking and double-checking everything and I try not to ever let circumstances make me rush. I'd rather wait than do that again.

[still.southern]

So almost put this in the recent accident thread, but since there were no serious injuries, I stayed on the bike, and rode the bike away I figure it's a close call. A second caveat is that I ride in a third world city, so traffic is a little crazier (or a lot crazier) than anything in the States.

I've had several close calls in the past, including nearly getting charged by a Bison in Custer State Park, but this was the worst. I was riding down Ahunbaeva (a crowded main street in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan). I figure I was going about 50 or 60 KPH in the left side of my lane. To put it in perspective Ahunbaeva looks like a two lanes each way road that manages to have 2.5-3 lanes each way plus some parking on the side of the road. There are no highways here so it's very crowded. It was the middle of the day on a Saturday...which is still a work day so it's still somewhat busy. Generally the right side is reserved for those turning right, buses, and marshrutkas (small diesel mini-buses usually with about 30-50 people jammed inside and a crazed lunatic for a driver). The center is for going straight slowly merging right or left. The left is for left turns and passing/fast lane.

I was over to the left because I had just hit an open stretch and was trying to get out ahead of the gaggle marshrutkas that had been trying to run me over. As I came up toward an intersection where a very small sidestreet crossed the main road. A car pulled all the way to the right and right before I passed them they put on they left turn signal and instantly pulled a hard left (probably trying to make a u-turn) then stopped directly across my lane to wait for oncoming traffic to clear. Faced with a broadside car my MSF training kicked in and I did a maximum brake and managed to get the bike down to (I guess about 15-20 KPH). My mistake here was to step too hard on the rear brake. My Shadow back in the states had pirelli tires with good grip and a weak drum brake so it was pretty hard to lock. My NX650 here has almost bald knobby dual sport tires with little pavement grip and a much more sensitive disc rear brake. I did a nice rear wheel skid before planting my front tire into the passenger door (I'm pretty sure it was a right wheel steering car). I hit basically square and was able to brace myself with the handlebars so I didn't launch. I did come up off my seat, twist the throttle pretty hard, and the back of the bike skidded to my right catching my leg between the car and the bike. The car almost immediately pull straight ahead and off to the far side shoulder nearly knocking me over in the process. I managed to steady myself and pull up onto the sidewalk near them.

They got out screaming in Russian (which I barely speak any of) and the best I could figure out they wanted me to fix the 12" circular dent and tire mark in the door of their brand new car. I used hand gestures to try and indicate that they were at fault, not me, I was going straight they turned in front of me. This continued until the police pulled up and opened their doors to get out, at which point they jumped in their car and took off, the police did the same (a relief because the cops are extremely corrupt) and then I went on my way. The only damage to the bike was that the front fender appeared to have been tweaked by a couple of degrees. About an hour later (when the adrenaline started to wear off) I also realized that I had a 3/4" wide x 1" long scrape on my right leg at the top of my cowboy boots. The next day my shoulders were sore from bracing myself against the handlebars, but that was the extent of any injuries.

Lessons learned...
1. Pay a lot more attention to cars which appear to be turning right, they may suddenly turn left.
2. Watch closer for right hand drive cars. The driver has a really large blind spot when turning left.
3. Turn on my headlight. This bike, unlike my Shadow, has a headlight switch and my headlight wasn't on at the time of the incident. Headlights make us more visible as riders and hopefully to the inattentive cagers.
4. Maybe slow down a little, speed here cuts both ways. It often can put you ahead of people who swerve left and right without looking, but it can make it harder to stop when someone pulls out in front of you (before anyone says too much about speed, remember the numbers I gave were in KPH and there are 1.6 Kilometers in a Mile).

[PA Dave]

My street comes out onto a state route a short block away from a traffic light to the left. There is one lane coming from the light and two going towards the light. A lot of traffic avoids the light by turning left onto my street.

I came to the stop sign one day. Traffic was heavy and both lanes were full waiting for the light and backed up about four car lengths past my street. I look left...nothing coming, look right...nothing coming. I give a quick look left again (people come quickly from that direction) and start to pull out. At this moment, a guy decides not to wait for the light and use my street to bypass it, so he punches it into the opposite lane...my lane...going the wrong way and on the gas hard. I still don't know just how I got out of his way and around on the shoulder without hitting a pole. All I remember is being close enough that I could have struck a match on his fender. I hope he ruined his upholstery.

[KelKel]

First, let me say that the previous owner of my bike made several modifications to it, many of which are questionable at best. One of which was that he relocated the footpegs forward quite a bit and welded a new "bracket" for them to mount on. They still mount to the bracket the same way and have the same fold away action so I didn't think much of it. In fact, I kind of like the new position. So I was riding over to my parents house for a visit the other say and was making a right hand turn onto a side street. I was still going fairly fast but didn't think it was nearly TOO fast assuming a good lean and countersteer. About halfway through the turn, my right foot felt a sudden grinding vibration and the whole bike got very unstable. I had assumed that I had just dragged a peg but after arriving at my parents house, I discovered that I had in fact dragged the bracket that was attached to the frame. When the previous owner fabricated it, he apparently didn't check whether the fold away peg would would encounter the ground before the bracket would and instead I dragged the bracket. It scared me because had I been going faster and needed more lean to complete a turn, I feel that the bike would have come out from under me. Lesson learned.

[still.southern]

Originally Posted by KelKel

First, let me say that the previous owner of my bike made several modifications to it, many of which are questionable at best. One of which was that he relocated the footpegs forward quite a bit and welded a new "bracket" for them to mount on. They still mount to the bracket the same way and have the same fold away action so I didn't think much of it. In fact, I kind of like the new position. So I was riding over to my parents house for a visit the other say and was making a right hand turn onto a side street. I was still going fairly fast but didn't think it was nearly TOO fast assuming a good lean and countersteer. About halfway through the turn, my right foot felt a sudden grinding vibration and the whole bike got very unstable. I had assumed that I had just dragged a peg but after arriving at my parents house, I discovered that I had in fact dragged the bracket that was attached to the frame. When the previous owner fabricated it, he apparently didn't check whether the fold away peg would would encounter the ground before the bracket would and instead I dragged the bracket. It scared me because had I been going faster and needed more lean to complete a turn, I feel that the bike would have come out from under me. Lesson learned.

Yeesh...that is a freaky feeling...especially with your brackets because they don't move. I used to drag the pipes on the Shadow in my signature, but they were just 2" automotive exhaust pipe, so they flexed...don't want to think about dragging hard brackets!

[gop rider]

My worst wasn't riding my bike.
I was driving a Bronco, hauling a trailer, family on board, we are moving.
We lost our brakes doing 60 on a interstate going down a steep decline. After I gulped my heart from my throat, I put her in neutral and applied the emergency brakes, Not much. I see a 2 lane exit ahead, big sweeper that goes into an incline. I go for it. It over passes the highway, with a traffic light on the other side. She's slowin down from the incline and what little I had of the emergency brake, I was able to come to a stop at the light. My wife who is half asleep turns an says to me, "why we get off here"?

I said, "I'm havin a heart attack and our bronco needs repairs"!

[Shadow ghost]

Now THATS a pucker factor!

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/82927680/