Close calls?

[SpyderSkeets]

Perhaps we can have a thread on any of our close calls that we may have had while riding our Spyders. Maybe knowing others' experiences may help others to possibly anticipate and avoid a potential tragedy.

Today was my first one. Was riding down a 2 lane road that had an oncoming right lane merge. Saw that several cars were coming on to merge onto the road that I was on, so I moved over to the left lane. Instead of merging onto the right lane like you're supposed to, one of the cars merging onto my road decides to merge all the way into the left lane where I was! I had to hit my brakes, honk my horn, and swerve a little, but thankfully nothing else.

Stay vigilant!!

Ed

[Chupaca]

Have had many..most I don't care to think about. What I am thankful for is the manual clutch and the cable throttle without them this post would be much shorter...

[ARtraveler]

Most of my close calls have been the result of drivers not paying attention. Glad I was driving defensively at those times.

[asp125]

Two weeks ago I was following a box truck down a two lane rural highway (50mph). I got impatient and went to pass it once the dotted yellow appeared on my side. As I pulled out and committed to the pass, the box truck suddenly moves over on me.

If not for the Spyder's small size, quick steering, and throttle, I would not be here today. As I came around the front of the truck, out of the corner of my eye I saw that the truck was moving over for a cyclist on the shoulder.

The takeaway here - I was following two seconds behind before making the pass, but the size of the truck prevented me from seeing the cyclist. Also.. I probably should have been content following the truck as he was doing the posted limit. But I wanted to be in front since we were approaching some twisty fun bits.

[canamjhb]

I was rear ended by a driver who fell asleep doing 50 on my Goldwing several years ago. Was run off the road in a 65 MPH highway going to Red Rock this year. And, came close to going off the road several times by oncoming cars this year. You gotta stay aware all the time.....

[vampyregirl]

I've had quite a few cagers pull out in front of me over the years. This summer I had a few that seemed to be purposely trying to get me to rear-end them!! Speeding up, slowing down, hitting the brakes for no reason.... Very annoying, but I always stay a few seconds behind folks just in case....

[DGoebel]

They're probably too busy looking in the rearview mirror at the Magnesium RS to pay attention to their own driving.
Personally, I just imagine their all texting while driving and attempt to avoid them at all costs.
While at Spyders in the Ozarks, I had a sweet little old gray haired lady pull her Suburban head on into my left turn lane (She was NOT even using a cell phone). Luckily, the Brembo's did their thing, and we just ended up staring each other in the eyes for a second before she got in her lane and let me turn....

[gnorthern]

I was hoping with all the lights a Spyder would be more visible than a regular motorcycle. This gets me nervous since with the extra wheel I can't hug one side of the road or the other to get extra response time to take my escape route. Is this not the case?

[loisk]

Yes I think the spyder is more visible than two wheels ---- IF people are looking...

[PistonBlown]

I've actually been surprised with the Spyder how visible it must be over a bike. I've only had one "Sorry Mate I Didn't See You" incident in the last 5 years, riding motorbikes they are a common occurrence.

I've also found lane hoggers do tend to move over as well when you come up behind them.

I don't know if this is just because they are still pretty unusual here and so they stand out i.e. not part of the of familiar background. However I also remember reading an article years ago about motorbikes that had a more 'insect like' appearance from the front tend to get noticed. The RS does have a bug like appearance from the front so maybe that's why.

[Gordo]

Well I can add one here...I was in a town that I was not familiar on a sight seeing tour. I turned off a side street making a right turn on to a main street. I no sooner turned and a car was right in front of me, coming at me.. I put on the brakes and stopped in a hurry as the car swerved to avoid me. As the car went by I noticed it was driven by a older gentleman so I just put out my hand and shrugged my shoulder giving him a WTF look. He just starred at me....and drove by. I then looked up and seen a whole line of traffic heading my way...yikes...and there it was in big red letters....Wrong Way.. Yep I was on a one way street and somehow missed the warning. Lucky for me there was another right turn available and I took it in a hurry and headed out of town...feeling a little...err..less than. Yep it can happen in a hurry.

[Bob Denman]

I was hoping with all the lights a Spyder would be more visible than a regular motorcycle. This gets me nervous since with the extra wheel I can't hug one side of the road or the other to get extra response time to take my escape route. Is this not the case?

Yes I think the spyder is more visible than two wheels ---- IF people are looking...

The unusual light configuration (With the outboard markers...) does make a Spyder more "noticeable".
IF they're in the mood to notice you!
That's why I always add more lights to the package.

[Wrongway]

I'm very please with the lack of close calls on the Spyder compared to when I was on 2 wheels.
My 2 wheelers always had driving lights and the headlight on high beam during the day but it didn't seem to make me visible to the cagers.

With the Spyder I ride with the hight beams on as well as the fog lights during the day. I don't ride at night very often.

I'm actually shocked at how many people who are coming onto my road from side roads wait for me to pass. I always give them a wave of thanks. Not sure if they know why I wave but I'm sure that some do.

[Navydad]

Other drivers do seem to notice my Spyder (extra lights) more than they did my two wheelers, but you still have people getting hit by TRAINS because "I didn't see it." My first farkle on any bike is more lights on the front, usually down low to make an odd or different pattern that will catch the eye. I also wear colorful gear, but that has been proven to be of little help unless a driver is attentive in the first place.

My latest scare was Jane Soccer Mom in her mini van coming over into my lane with her face buried in her phone. What made this especially scary was the fact that we were going in the same direction and she was BEHIND me a bit. All she had to do was look up and see her right front fender was going to get me. My wife saw her and told me to watch out. I hit the throttle and pulled away as she finally looked up and corrected her vehicle. After 40 years of riding pillion my wife makes a very good set of extra eyes and ears. She has spotted things that I haven't and that is a tremendous help. They walk and DRIVE among us.

[BigGuy66]

...an old guy in a huge Buick... plenty of signs war ahead of "right lane closed ahead." Plenty of time to merge over to left for him... nope - he was coming fast and I saw him in my mirror and said out loud he's not going to stop! Kept coming and I was slowing down from 50 mph while he was still coming and squeezing me out... he was NOT going to hit the orange barrels... he was going to hit me if I hadn't used evasive action... passengers in car, all old white haired folks. I don't excuse him for his age... he knew what he was doing and didn't care. After he was in front of me he tailgated my friend on a bike in front of me and then almost clipped her rear as he sped out around her... like everyone has said - ride defensively and expect them to drive unsafely.

[Roadster Renovations]

Good idea for this thread! The wife and I try to practice situational awareness when we ride and this really hit home a couple of months' ago. We were stopped at an intersection for the light. These were two highways that intersected. Single lanes with right turn lanes only. An 18 wheeler was waiting to turn next to us, the wife was leading, and her vision was blocked to the right because of the truck. The light turned green and rather than taking right off going straight, she eased out slightly so she could see around the rig. At least 3 seconds had passed when I saw this teenager laughing with his buddy as he totally blew the red light. Thought it was funny. What an idiot.
Point was, the wife, a new ryder of less than a year, did the right thing and kept us safe. Very proud of her!!

Stay safe!!

Also, any of you cooler weather ryders out there, remember since not many 2 or 3 wheelers are now on the road, the cages will do forgetting about us soon. Stay vigilant!

[UtahPete]

All three of my scares have been situations where a cager is attempting an unsafe passing maneuver on a 2 lane road. Once it was someone coming at me trying to pass a long line of slow trucks and RVs; in that case I had to pull onto the shoulder or he would have hit me head on. He was still in my lane trying to get ahead of the column of vehicles when it passed me.

Most recently, I was caught driving at night in the desert. I was riding slower than the 65mph speed limit because it was pitch black and I didn't want to be overdriving my headlights. A truck came up behind me and started overtaking me. It was a double tanker. As the first trailer passed me, suddenly another truck's headlights were visible as he crested a hill. They were closing on each other at a combined speed probably of 140mph and the other truck began flashing his lights and laying on the horn. By now the second trailer was alongside me. I rolled off the throttle and I guess so did the oncoming truck because just as the passing truck pulled back into our lane the oncoming one roared by, horn blaring. I followed that jackass for the next 100 miles to Wendover, letting him run interference for me,

[WA5VHU]

I've had quite a few cagers pull out in front of me over the years. This summer I had a few that seemed to be purposely trying to get me to rear-end them!! Speeding up, slowing down, hitting the brakes for no reason.... Very annoying, but I always stay a few seconds behind folks just in case....

You might want to check the adjustment of your low-beam headlights. My 2013 RS headlights were adjusted way up too high so to other cars it didn't make any difference if they were on low or high beam.

If the low beams are adjusted just a little bit too high they will appear to "flicker" between high and low beam to the other cars. This "flickering" can also include some rainbow colors at the edge of the shutters in the headlights. To the car in front of you this can make it look like you are flashing your headlights at them which, after a bit, can become very annoying to them and might be why they start brake checking you.

Just a thought.

[UtahPete]

Any more stories about close shaves (not related to beavers that is...)?

[slick999]

As I posted back in August I was rear ended,was only minor and broke the rear fender but jolted me.After 40 years of riding this was my first and hopefully last.Since then I added custom dynamics third brake light and led's from tricled onto the rear to really light it up.I do notice now cagers stay back further when I am stopped.Anything to make yourself more visable is good.Still I have to say the driving out there gets worse with all the distractions people do while behind the wheel.

[PistonBlown]

Other drivers do seem to notice my Spyder (extra lights) more than they did my two wheelers, but you still have people getting hit by TRAINS because "I didn't see it."

A couple of years ago a saw a car pull straight out in front of a 18 wheeler that had more lights on it than a Christmas tree - road was straight, it was daylight and weather was clear.

The car driver had been parked sideways on the verge while leaving some flowers at a white cross - obviously bad driving was a family trait.

To this day I have no idea how the truck driver kept control and managed to go from 100kmph to 0 in the space available.

[mark4Jesus]

...an old guy in a huge Buick... plenty of signs war ahead of "right lane closed ahead." Plenty of time to merge over to left for him... nope - he was coming fast and I saw him in my mirror and said out loud he's not going to stop! Kept coming and I was slowing down from 50 mph while he was still coming and squeezing me out... he was NOT going to hit the orange barrels... he was going to hit me if I hadn't used evasive action... passengers in car, all old white haired folks. I don't excuse him for his age... he knew what he was doing and didn't care. After he was in front of me he tailgated my friend on a bike in front of me and then almost clipped her rear as he sped out around her... like everyone has said - ride defensively and expect them to drive unsafely.

Sounds like the way my dad used to drive. NOBODY wanted to ride with him!