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Some tried to kill me today

K

kurth83

New member
Joined
Aug 6, 2010
Location
San Jose, CA
Moto(s)
Honda CB500X, BMW F700GS
Ok, I know its old hat for most of you here, but it happened to me for the first time today.

I have been commuting from Santa Cruz to Palo Alto for 3 months now, while waiting on a move to shorten my commute. It isn't a long-term commute I want to do on a bike.

I have been seriously cut off only once before where I had to brake hard, this was in the car pool lane on 85S and a lane diver jumped in front, it wasn't that bad, not a life threatening thing with the huge shoulder and the great stopping power of a bike.

But today, when merging onto 280N from 880N, I did a normal smooth lane change from lane #4 to #3, and after I was in the lane, a lane diver did a sudden, rapid lane change right into me (from #2 to #3), without signalling. I moved over into a lane split automatically. This is the first time for me while riding if I hadn't moved out of the way I would have been creamed.

In retrospect, he/she was slightly in front of me so yes, I was almost in their blind spot. It is hard to avoid blind spots in packed traffic like that when you merge a lane - but definitely something I will to try to avoid in the future. In less packed traffic I always make sure the adjacent two lanes are clear before a lane change.

I consider that series of lane changes (to get to the carpool lane) the most dangerous part of my commute (worse than 17 actually), and today confirmed it.

Is such a move reckless driving on their part? Or is it merely lane changing without signalling? Wish I could have cited them right there, but I am not a LEO.
 
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They did not try to kill you. They did not see you. Their driving was negligent.
 
I meant it euphemistically (and a little sensatonalism in the title).

But that's a good point to clarify, I am not accusing someone of road rage actually trying to murder me.
 
You allowed yourself to not be seen.

I will admit i never go with the flow of traffic. If i must i will slow or speed up so i am always transitioning forward or back so i cant get stuck in a blindspot.
 
BEN-ZX-14 said:
You allowed yourself to not be seen.

I will admit i never go with the flow of traffic. If i must i will slow or speed up so i am always transitioning forward or back so i cant get stuck in a blindspot.
Click to expand...

This. You put yourself in peril so that an inattentive driver had the opportunity to harm you.

If you're going to commute on a bike, you need to be ready for these occurrences. Ask yourself, "What could I have done differently to avoid this increased level of risk?"

DO NOT RELY ON OTHERS FOR YOUR SAFETY.
 
It happens. A lot. As Ernie (kind of) said, you are invisible. As you noted, it's hard to not *ever* be in someone's blind spot. I frequently use Ben's tactic for not dwelling in them, but it happens.

Sounds like you have a relatively good attitude about it, know what you'll do differently, and just wanted to share a frustrating and alarming experience with some folks who've been through the same.

It's dicey out there. Stay alert. Nice job in not getting hit. With time, the "tried to kill me" reaction (and I know you didn't really mean it) will turn into constant affirmations of drivers' negligence and complacency.

Hooray for riding to work! Let's all do it!
 
Good news is it jolted you. Be thankfull that metal didn't meet metal.

Now...what do you do to improve your ability to move quicker? There will always be drivers not seeing you. You can Not allow yourself to be a victim of a drivers mistake...and stay healthy, at the same time.

Alameda Sheriff's cone practice? Advanced rider school? Move up to bike that can do more...after you learn to do More?
 
You have to haul ass; be polite be cautious, but haul ass. If you sit in traffic w/cars you'll get caught up in this car drama.

Keep moving, drop in a spot if you have to but otherwise keep on the gas and keep passing folks. Don't focus on them, focus on your line watch cars in your prefieral(sp) vision.
 
Ive concentrated allot on become a defensive rider. Always watching and making sure not to put myself in bad situations. Keep safe out there!
 
kurth83 said:
I did a normal smooth lane change from lane #4 to #3, and after I was in the lane, a lane diver did a sudden, rapid lane change right into me (from #2 to #3), without signalling.
Click to expand...

so it sounds like you made a lane change from lane #2 when there was a car parallel with you in lane #4, if this happened so quickly. assuming that's the case, i'd say in general to leave yourself that extra buffer and wait to change when it's clear not only in lane #3 (your destination) but ALSO lane #4 (the neighboring lane to your destination). even in my cage, i drive very defensively and choose my spots carefully. signalling or not, plenty of times have i seen two cars try to fill the same 'destination' lane at the same time. for that reason i make sure not only is my destination clear, but the surrounding area next to my destination.

not that this was your fault in any way, but this is a great example of what ppl always refer to as 'driving defensively'. good job on avoiding it though.
 
I am satisfied with my reactions, they were crisp and exactly correct, better than that guy in the r1 video in the other thread - that was exacty what happened to me, but quicker and no warning.

But reaction is always an inferior safety tactic to anticipation and avoiding risk.

So the next thing is how get over to lane #1 safely?

Some options I can think of are:

1) stay in lane #4 longer, traffic usually speed up a few miles down the road, and spacing between cars opens up, making it easier to wait for openings where the adjacent two lanes are clear. Nobody is diving into lane 4 since there are no exits there. This would lose me a few minutes on my commute every morning.

2) continue with the merges I use now, but be satisfied with a relatively small window of safety, meaning the adjacent two lanes must be clear, but only for a car length at best. Even this much margin would have prevented what happened this morning where I had no window of safety other than a lane split. This is takaaki44's sugestion if I understand him right.

What do you guys think?
 
Ironbutt said:
You have to haul ass; be polite be cautious, but haul ass. If you sit in traffic w/cars you'll get caught up in this car drama.

Keep moving, drop in a spot if you have to but otherwise keep on the gas and keep passing folks. Don't focus on them, focus on your line watch cars in your prefieral(sp) vision.
Click to expand...

This!

A couple of months ago I was cited for "unsafe lane change". Foster City LEO had watched me filter up through traffice on 92 before the bridge. I was going over the limit and "sharing" in order to do so.

Contested it via trial by declaration. Pointed out that cars were blocking others, changing lanes for no reason and varying their speeds etc. Considered it less "unsafe" to share and speed than stay in a vulnerable position. Found not guilty probably because the officer did not respond. He is also a rider and no doubt cut me some slack. Thank you Sir.

Was talking to a couple of moto CHP officer that work in the same building I do and told them about the citation. Asked if it was just the price of admision. Their response was to just keep doing what I am doing.

Was an article in the Ventura Star a number of years ago written my a Ventura Co. Sherrif moto officer. She said essentially the same thing Chad did but was a bit less blunt.
 
kurth83 said:
1) stay in lane #4 longer, traffic usually speed up a few miles down the road, and spacing between cars opens up, making it easier to wait for openings where the adjacent two lanes are clear. Nobody is diving into lane 4 since there are no exits there. This would lose me a few minutes on my commute every morning.
Click to expand...

A few minutes? Probably one minute. It feels like an eternity, but I've employed both of your proposed strategies, and found it doesn't impact my arrival time.

You know what would impact my arrival time? Impact.

As others have said, ride defensively, ride through the blind spots, stay alert, and keep riding. :ride
 
Sounds like I just wait for a safe spot, both lanes clear, long or short space is less important, just so long as they are clear. If that takes a minute or two, so be it.

thanks everyone.
 
I see this EVERYDAY on my commute. I go 880-237 in the carpool lane which merges onto 237 from an overpass on the left side and turns into lane #1. This is BY FAR the most dangerous spot in my commute. Every day people decide to pull over the double white lines into the carpool lane from a DEAD stop without checking (or with complete disregard) whats coming in the carpool lane (traffic moving much, much faster). I've witnessed 2 rollovers and another 3 t-bones in this spot.

If you survive this merge, there are still people trying trying to get into carpool, I don't split ever when carpool is moving freely and normal lanes are backed up. You just never know who wants to sneak into the carpool lane. I know i piss off some motorcyclists behind me who want to split so i have to move over to the left and let them by.

Again today, i was stuck behind a slow van in the carpool lane, big gap in front of him and could easily have passed EXCEPT for the fact that there IS a gap in front of him that every other cage on the road could have slipped into. Sure enough, right as i decided not to pass, a car darted out in front of the van. No signals and right where i would have been. I later passed the car when exiting and they were in a very heated cell phone call, completely oblivious.

You HAVE TO prepare yourself for ANY situation. Make yourself known to others around you and treat Murphys Law as if it were the 11th commandment.
 
itisagoodname said:
I see this EVERYDAY on my commute.
Click to expand...

Me too but...


42360_logo.jpg
 
kurth83 said:
What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
Be patient and don't hurry your merge. You can accelerate and change lanes quicker than a car, and you can fit in a much smaller space. And drivers ahead of you will see you only in their mirrors. Because you present such a small profile and can move quickly, you may not be visible in the limited time a driver has to check the mirror.

Don't merge into another driver's blind spot. When merging into vacant space where a driver in the lane opposite the vacancy could merge simultaneously, do it either behind or ahead of them.

Watch for merge interference as and after you merge. Remember, that space was open just a second ago, and someone else may be trying for it at the same time. Be prepared to accelerate or decelerate to make space for a simultaneous merger.

Riding in congested commute traffic is harder than it looks. Don't underestimate the mental difficulty of doing it safely. And don't attribute to malevolence or gross negligence actions more reasonably explained either by another driver's ordinary carelessness OR your own.
 
kurth83 said:
Ok, I know its old hat for most of you here, but it happened to me for the first time today.

I have been commuting from Santa Cruz to Palo Alto for 3 months now, while waiting on a move to shorten my commute. It isn't a long-term commute I want to do on a bike.

I have been seriously cut off only once before where I had to brake hard, this was in the car pool lane on 85S and a lane diver jumped in front, it wasn't that bad, not a life threatening thing with the huge shoulder and the great stopping power of a bike.

But today, when merging onto 280N from 880N, I did a normal smooth lane change from lane #4 to #3, and after I was in the lane, a lane diver did a sudden, rapid lane change right into me (from #2 to #3), without signalling. I moved over into a lane split automatically. This is the first time for me while riding if I hadn't moved out of the way I would have been creamed.

In retrospect, he/she was slightly in front of me so yes, I was almost in their blind spot. It is hard to avoid blind spots in packed traffic like that when you merge a lane - but definitely something I will to try to avoid in the future. In less packed traffic I always make sure the adjacent two lanes are clear before a lane change.

I consider that series of lane changes (to get to the carpool lane) the most dangerous part of my commute (worse than 17 actually), and today confirmed it.

Is such a move reckless driving on their part? Or is it merely lane changing without signalling? Wish I could have cited them right there, but I am not a LEO.
Click to expand...

This happens a lot with cars too. It's happened on me (in car or on MC) and I've observed it while driving fairly often. Usually you'd see 2 people wanting to change into the same middle (empty) lane; and usually ends up with 1 person (or both) suddently noticed that the lane is occupied and swerving back to their original lanes.

Nobody's out there to get you, they just don't see you that's all. (Ok, some people is outthere to get you, that's why you must stay alert.)

Commute for a few more months, and all this becomes normal. Not sure if it is a good or bad thing though..
 
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