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

[Hondaguy]

Been reading about "accidents" lately but we all have pucker moments or as I like to call them after the fact ELOs " Extreme Learning Opportunities" People share their get offs but few share their close calls which are successful educational moments.

I had a very close one yesterday. Completely my fault no bad drivers, texters, just me. I am the one making a left turn.

Car pulls out from where I intend making my left turn and stops in the middle between the lanes waiting to enter his left turn into the flow of traffic blocking my view of oncoming traffic.

I glance over his hood and see an oncoming car in the inside lane of two and decide I could make the turn safely. So I pull out completely unaware there was a car in front of the car I was making my judgement on "hiding behind the car in the median turnout. Sooooo I make the turn and I looked to my right in the middle of the turn and now see a "different" car coming at me within 30 feet...... the guy is standing on his brakes.. I am in first gear into the turn and I have learned many times acceleration is far better than braking so I twisted the throttle to its stops to clear his front end and made it by inches. In the process the rear is starting to slide out and I am "discoing" into my destination lane under full acceleration and decided not to brake until bike is straight and under control. Nearly got me a tank slapper.

I was lucky:
1. He was not travelling faster
2. I could accelerate as there was no one in front of me
3. I didn't "brake panic" and lose the bike.

Surprised myself at my unusual lack of awareness of a blind spot and further my calm under extreme pressure. A couple minutes later my mouth went dry and I got off the bike and took a timeout.

I was fully geared up for the weather and I am convinced the gear makes me more aggressive and at the same time because I was unusually geared up in a "protective cocoon" I was able to confidently ride it out. I doubt I would have even turned in front of the car I initially saw had it been August. I am far less aggressive with exposed body parts. My ELOs seem to come more in the cool weather when I am geared up.

Its not only drivers that do stupid things.....

We read about the get offs and everyone has "armchair advice" Lets hear about your close calls and how you managed them safely without incident.

[David Edwards]

I had one of those moments a few weeks ago on my way home from work. The road
i travel on has many cross roads so i have to be very cautious. As i approached one of those intersections being on high alert, something to my left caught my eye for a second, so as i pass the crossroad i look in that directions and it was just a car coming down the road. This cross road is at the bottom of a hill, so as i take a quick glance at the car ,making sure he is slowing down, i look back up the road and all i see is the front forks of a combine coming into the road on my side. The combine driver could not see down the road because his view was abstructed by a tree line, im running 55-60 and all i could do was to get on the brakes!! My tires never locked up and i came to a complete stop in the road! i am Thankful that i learned how to make an emergency stop!!! and Thankful no one was behind me. I was truly puckered up!!!!! So close. I learned that day that i just need to slow down in those areas...

[David Edwards]

OH, and another time on my way home from a long day at work, after dark, i came to an s curve and negotiated the first curve and came to the second and felt the bike slip a little, (that got my attention) i was looking down the road around the curve so i didnt notice that a home owner had just mowed his yard and threw all the grass out into the road!! in the curve!!. My lane was completly covered in wet grass. I slowed without hitting my brakes and was able to get the bike upright and straight just long enough to get through the curve...another puckerd moment.....lol

[barncat]

Man, where do I begin...A few years back while on my Goldwing we were riding rather "spirited", and when I left off my throttle, I developed a VERY SERIOUS speed wobble. So bad, that traffic stopped behind me. I was able to correct it by dragging the rear brake, and then powering out of it. But could never figure out what really caused the wobble.

Then in August I hit the deer on a Hwy. Not sure of the speed, but after I clipped her, I remember the wobble then i blacked out. Judging by the damage done (very little to the bike) and the fact that I didn't go Over the bars and no black marks, I'd guess I tried to ride it out.
Which leads me to this weekend, I just picked up this Shadow, and rode it 40 miles home in the dark(deer season in full effect). I get to my home(I live in the country) and 2 deer were standing at my driveway. I just sat there and let them do their thing

I've had too many encounters with cars to count. If it's a "close one" I normally chuck a marble at there cage.

[Earthling789]

I've had several little pucker-moments this year... mostly from people pulling out in front of me. The most recent was an elderly gentleman pulled out from a stop-sign, maybe 50-yds in front of me. I was running 35-40. Pulling out in front of me wasn't the bad thing... if he had actually GONE, but he stopped, blocking both lanes... giving me that deer-in-the headlights look as I skidded to a stop inches from his door (nowhere to go but a ditch or a fence).

The biggest pucker-moment this year for me was on I-75 near Renfro Valley.

I was heading South on I-75 to meet up with my wife and son for a picnic by the lake. She was not following me, she was coming from her mother's... the other direction. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, traffic was light for that time of day, and everyone was running 70-75mph. After cruising about 30-miles, I was anticipating my exit at Renfro Valley, so I moved from the left lane to the right lane, about 2-miles from the exit.

Still running 70+, I noticed the cascade effect of brake lights out in front of me. I hit both brakes gently and started to slow, but the Buick in front of me was getting closer... FAST. I checked for my out to the right, but the shoulder was full of gravel and debris... and the left lane was full of panic-stricken drivers, too. I ended up giving too much rear-brake (not use to the disc-brakes on the Sabre) locking the rear and riding the skid through a straight line - feathering my front to keep from going down. I stopped only 5' from the Buick in front of me.

The scariest part was after I stopped. I could smell burning rubber and hear the sound of a diesel engine... and it was close! The guy driving the big-rig that was originally 10-12 car lengths behind me, was now only 10-15' off my rear tire, and all 18 of his wheels were smoking!

A few minutes later we were moving again... the cause of the issue, you ask? There was a classic-car parade from Renfro Valley to Cumberland Falls, and the parade route was directly in front of the exit ramp... which the local police dept thought it was a good idea to BLOCK ALL TRAFFIC from exiting so it didn't interrupt the parade!

[BoomBoom]

Not having my bike very long I just had a pucker moment yesterday. It was nice and dry and i just came back from riding the natches trace so i was feeling good. When i was making a right turn onto my street,and maybe going a little fast when my front tire caught a patch of pine straw and slipped toward the curb so i instinctively put my right foot down hard and it was enough to keep me up and then i caught traction. Foot was a little sore but im a big guy and i now take corners like there is ice on the road.

01 honda shadow sabre

[DarkSpirit750]

Only ever had 2 pucker moments. One was riding by myself in the right lane coming up to an intersection (we were coming up to a red light) to make a right hand turn and the lady next to me in a big ol' 80's Cadillac decided that she needed my lane and couldn't wait for me to turn. Luckily I kinda had a feeling she was going to do that and was able to speed up and get through the turn.

The second was last month, riding with my wife. I let her lead because its easier for me to catch up to her if we get separated. As we were coming to a stop she decides at the last second to turn without signaling or motioning at all and damn near took us both out. Helmet-to-helmet blue- tooth is on my Xmas gift list to help solve that one.

[Scrapdog2grand]

Had a couple, the most memorable is probably when the Wife and I went out on our own bikes, shes always to my Right, and usually in front of me.
pulling into my neighborhood I almost always take the shades off and hang them from my bars. So wifes about 10 feet in front to my right, and looking down at my bar to hang the shades for a couple seconds, I look up to see her making a left turn directly across my path of travel. I only had one hand on the bars/throttle but managed to lock the front tire up, gave me a nice little scare. she said she wanted to take a ride by her friends house. oh boy!!
needless to say, she doesn't make any lefts in front of me anymore , unless she got a few car lengths on me, and shifts to my lane with plenty of time before the turn.

[GPSchmidt]

Had a flatbed truck in front of me loose its load of rebar all over the road. One of those moments you don't have time to check what's around you, you just lean hard and avoid it. Then consider what might have happened if a vehicle had been beside you. One of those moments you get away with although you had no right to.

[Hondaguy]

Sometimes not having time to "think" or make choices and just reacting through instinct is the best way out of a jam.

Brake lights are always scary because we cannot judge speed of travel of those in our line.
I was in my truck and came up on brake lights and a completely stopped pick up on a freeway and had to pull off the road over the shoulder , down and then up a grass embankment to avoid a collision. The car behind me smashed into the truck I avoided. I moved out of the way and it was "just there" I could hear it as I was going down the embankment not daring to look back.