Jerrycan
Race Dog
I know this kinda post puts the gloom on the day but I have to share so you can also be aware...
Less than a kilometer after leaving home en route to client, song in heart for life's good on a bike. Corsa bakkie ahead just disappeared from view around upcoming corner, following distance good, doing around 55kmh. Into corner, Corsa bakkie back in view, almost stationary now, still slowing down and moving over to the left, leaving slight gap between him and solid line, no brake lights to indicate itâ??s sudden deceleration and no indicators. Without any course of action, time to impact with back of bakkie equals about 3 seconds @ 55kmh, distance to impact +- 50meter. The fact that his brake lights did not work robbed me of .75 second and at least 10 meter of my following distance, thatâ??s how long it took in absence of his brake lights to figure he was decelerating and not just traveling like he did before the corner cut him from my view.
Curb height to left and right 30cm vertical concrete, solid white line to right, no upcoming traffic. At this instant the question arose that could change my life for ever and would determine one of two things: I end up on a thread here with â??sorry to hear, get well soonâ? and me replying with a chopstick in my mouth tapping the keyboard for everything else is in plaster of Paris, or the following 3 seconds could just pass by as yet another annoying 3 seconds on the road to a client and I get to shout abuse at an inconsiderate cager.
a) Do I strip my moer, swerve nonchalantly and "gooi" it past him while shouting befitting abuse, or;
b) do I grab a handful and try scrub off as much speed as possible then stop about where he is, "gooi" first gear and then pass him going all the way from naught to 55 again also shouting befitting abuse for just stopping for no apparent reason without working brake lights?
Even though the road ahead was clear to shoot past him my â??survivalâ? mind did the following in under half a second: It referred to a discussion I had with an oke on crutches at a Chinese take away about 5 months ago who t-boned a u-turning cage on his Buell and shattered both his knee caps, it noted that the driver was not visible since the bakkie had a canopy on, it referred to the 190 hours I have spent on a TW seat in specific and all the times I braked hard, it referred to the fact that I was on DS rubber on tar and the standard knobblies were stored away in the garage, it noted no one on the sidewalk that might have given the Corsa reason to stop, it measured the curb height and the speed I was doing and the distance to the Corsa, it decided FOR me that I was NOT going to "gooi" it past the Corsa but rather grab a handful.
Then it tuned me to alter course, moving over the white line, and then aim for a line past the Corsa BEFORE grabbing a handful. I would do my emergency stop in a straight line, and I would not cross the slippery white line with a close-to-locked front and rear wheel, and in case I did not make it, I would be going PAST the Corsa and not into itâ??s rear.
And so I did as my â??survivalâ? brain told me. Then, 5 meter later I realised my brain made the right decision for me, the Corsa proceeded to make a u-turn, now blocking the gap where I would be flying through the air, TW splattered to the Corsa's door, still shouting abuse at 55kmh if I decided to "gooi" it past him.
I stopped 10cm short of his door and looked the driver in the eye through his open side window. He was clutching a cell phone with one hand which explained the absence of indicators and the expression on his face told me he only now became aware of my existence on the road with him. He was blocking both lanes at 90 degrees and searching for reverse gear to complete his maneuver.
I calmly tuned him through his open window,(the TW is not a very noisy bike),while searching for neutral with a shaky boot tip: â??You are trying to kill me, Iâ??m going to have to shove your phone down your throat now.â? (Thinking afterwards, what a daft thing to have said, but it must have been my â??survival mindâ??sâ? logical conclusion, cause doing that would have solved two problems that just threatened my life, he would not be able to use that phone again, and he would not be able to speak on any phone again). He probably misjudged my emotional state by the calmness of my voice as he could not see my facial expression behind the helmet and sunglasses so he thought it surprisingly appropiate for such a small oke to reply: â??So get someone to write me a ticket.â? Then I let loose 'cause by now my â??survival mindâ? handed back to me-self: â??I'M GOING TO SHOVE YOUR FAARKEN PHONE UP YOUR FAARKEN ARSE AND YOUR INDICATOR UP YOUR FAARKEN NOSE!â?,I tuned him very loudly, and then shut up as I ran out of orifices and to check his face to see if he now understood me. He now got the message allright and I thought of the blind corner behind me and standing in the middle of the road so I started to maneuver the TW backwards. He took it as a sign of me trying to get off the bike and making space to get him out the door so he forgot why he was searching for reverse in the first place and decided to negotiate the aforementioned 30cm solid vertical concrete pavement with his low profiled Corsaâ??s front end. I heard various tearing and fiberglass shattering-like noises as I found my way around him to continue en route to the client.
It became obvious, he was driving looking for an address on live cell phone instructions, he did not see me because he did not look for me, headlight on and wearing Think Bike neon green vest, riding in his side mirror for I favour the right hand car track when riding traffic. China on phone told him he missed a turn off, must make u-turn and so he did, not having enough hands and brain cells to both talk,indicate and look behind nor check that his brake lights worked. You know what, even if I was in a cage he would still have done the same to try and kill me or whom ever was in the cage.
We had a discussion somewhere on the forum not long ago about the mind using pre-conditioned references for survival situations, this was it. It was not me thinking, it was my â??survival mindâ?. Me?, I wanted to "gooi" it past the â??stop in the middle of the road for faark-all idiotâ? and give him an earful as I did so,(shouting I mean, the TW zorst only whispers at it's best).
He broke four traffic rules knowingly, so yes, he was out to kill me, pre-meditated as far as I'm concerned:
Unroadworthy vehicle (BOTH brake lights not working).
Using phone handset while driving.
Failed to indicate right turn.
Crossed a solid white line and then proceeded to block both traffic lanes while attempting to reverse.
Very much the same thing happened to me on a national road once, R80GS with pillion and kit, 120kmh and the cage in front moved unnaturally slowly for no apparent reason, inviting me to overshoot on it's right, only that time the farm gate in the fence to the right gave the nitwit away who proceeded to turn without indication and close the overshoot gap. I saw that one coming and the decision was easy.
The death trap the u-turners set for you; they "pretend" to pull over to the left while slowing down to lure you into thinking they are "making way" for you to pass, then they cut you off and kill you in the gap they "allowed" you to pass through, catching you by not using indicators. Many a good biker has fallen into this trap.
Ride safe bro's and sisters, and THINK CAGE for they donâ??t Think Bike, or they don't think at all when they have a phone stuck to an ear..
Less than a kilometer after leaving home en route to client, song in heart for life's good on a bike. Corsa bakkie ahead just disappeared from view around upcoming corner, following distance good, doing around 55kmh. Into corner, Corsa bakkie back in view, almost stationary now, still slowing down and moving over to the left, leaving slight gap between him and solid line, no brake lights to indicate itâ??s sudden deceleration and no indicators. Without any course of action, time to impact with back of bakkie equals about 3 seconds @ 55kmh, distance to impact +- 50meter. The fact that his brake lights did not work robbed me of .75 second and at least 10 meter of my following distance, thatâ??s how long it took in absence of his brake lights to figure he was decelerating and not just traveling like he did before the corner cut him from my view.
Curb height to left and right 30cm vertical concrete, solid white line to right, no upcoming traffic. At this instant the question arose that could change my life for ever and would determine one of two things: I end up on a thread here with â??sorry to hear, get well soonâ? and me replying with a chopstick in my mouth tapping the keyboard for everything else is in plaster of Paris, or the following 3 seconds could just pass by as yet another annoying 3 seconds on the road to a client and I get to shout abuse at an inconsiderate cager.
a) Do I strip my moer, swerve nonchalantly and "gooi" it past him while shouting befitting abuse, or;
b) do I grab a handful and try scrub off as much speed as possible then stop about where he is, "gooi" first gear and then pass him going all the way from naught to 55 again also shouting befitting abuse for just stopping for no apparent reason without working brake lights?
Even though the road ahead was clear to shoot past him my â??survivalâ? mind did the following in under half a second: It referred to a discussion I had with an oke on crutches at a Chinese take away about 5 months ago who t-boned a u-turning cage on his Buell and shattered both his knee caps, it noted that the driver was not visible since the bakkie had a canopy on, it referred to the 190 hours I have spent on a TW seat in specific and all the times I braked hard, it referred to the fact that I was on DS rubber on tar and the standard knobblies were stored away in the garage, it noted no one on the sidewalk that might have given the Corsa reason to stop, it measured the curb height and the speed I was doing and the distance to the Corsa, it decided FOR me that I was NOT going to "gooi" it past the Corsa but rather grab a handful.
Then it tuned me to alter course, moving over the white line, and then aim for a line past the Corsa BEFORE grabbing a handful. I would do my emergency stop in a straight line, and I would not cross the slippery white line with a close-to-locked front and rear wheel, and in case I did not make it, I would be going PAST the Corsa and not into itâ??s rear.
And so I did as my â??survivalâ? brain told me. Then, 5 meter later I realised my brain made the right decision for me, the Corsa proceeded to make a u-turn, now blocking the gap where I would be flying through the air, TW splattered to the Corsa's door, still shouting abuse at 55kmh if I decided to "gooi" it past him.
I stopped 10cm short of his door and looked the driver in the eye through his open side window. He was clutching a cell phone with one hand which explained the absence of indicators and the expression on his face told me he only now became aware of my existence on the road with him. He was blocking both lanes at 90 degrees and searching for reverse gear to complete his maneuver.
I calmly tuned him through his open window,(the TW is not a very noisy bike),while searching for neutral with a shaky boot tip: â??You are trying to kill me, Iâ??m going to have to shove your phone down your throat now.â? (Thinking afterwards, what a daft thing to have said, but it must have been my â??survival mindâ??sâ? logical conclusion, cause doing that would have solved two problems that just threatened my life, he would not be able to use that phone again, and he would not be able to speak on any phone again). He probably misjudged my emotional state by the calmness of my voice as he could not see my facial expression behind the helmet and sunglasses so he thought it surprisingly appropiate for such a small oke to reply: â??So get someone to write me a ticket.â? Then I let loose 'cause by now my â??survival mindâ? handed back to me-self: â??I'M GOING TO SHOVE YOUR FAARKEN PHONE UP YOUR FAARKEN ARSE AND YOUR INDICATOR UP YOUR FAARKEN NOSE!â?,I tuned him very loudly, and then shut up as I ran out of orifices and to check his face to see if he now understood me. He now got the message allright and I thought of the blind corner behind me and standing in the middle of the road so I started to maneuver the TW backwards. He took it as a sign of me trying to get off the bike and making space to get him out the door so he forgot why he was searching for reverse in the first place and decided to negotiate the aforementioned 30cm solid vertical concrete pavement with his low profiled Corsaâ??s front end. I heard various tearing and fiberglass shattering-like noises as I found my way around him to continue en route to the client.
It became obvious, he was driving looking for an address on live cell phone instructions, he did not see me because he did not look for me, headlight on and wearing Think Bike neon green vest, riding in his side mirror for I favour the right hand car track when riding traffic. China on phone told him he missed a turn off, must make u-turn and so he did, not having enough hands and brain cells to both talk,indicate and look behind nor check that his brake lights worked. You know what, even if I was in a cage he would still have done the same to try and kill me or whom ever was in the cage.
We had a discussion somewhere on the forum not long ago about the mind using pre-conditioned references for survival situations, this was it. It was not me thinking, it was my â??survival mindâ?. Me?, I wanted to "gooi" it past the â??stop in the middle of the road for faark-all idiotâ? and give him an earful as I did so,(shouting I mean, the TW zorst only whispers at it's best).
He broke four traffic rules knowingly, so yes, he was out to kill me, pre-meditated as far as I'm concerned:
Unroadworthy vehicle (BOTH brake lights not working).
Using phone handset while driving.
Failed to indicate right turn.
Crossed a solid white line and then proceeded to block both traffic lanes while attempting to reverse.
Very much the same thing happened to me on a national road once, R80GS with pillion and kit, 120kmh and the cage in front moved unnaturally slowly for no apparent reason, inviting me to overshoot on it's right, only that time the farm gate in the fence to the right gave the nitwit away who proceeded to turn without indication and close the overshoot gap. I saw that one coming and the decision was easy.
The death trap the u-turners set for you; they "pretend" to pull over to the left while slowing down to lure you into thinking they are "making way" for you to pass, then they cut you off and kill you in the gap they "allowed" you to pass through, catching you by not using indicators. Many a good biker has fallen into this trap.
Ride safe bro's and sisters, and THINK CAGE for they donâ??t Think Bike, or they don't think at all when they have a phone stuck to an ear..
