ABS Brakes Did Their Job Today

[phil]

Coming off the 4-lane onto a 2-lane state road today, I was running about 65. I saw an old pickup truck coming head-on, and he appeared to be coming to a stop, waiting to turn left after I went by. But at the last minute, he VERY SLOWLY turned left directly in front of me. I grabbed a handful and stomped the right pedal, but instinctively let back up a little to prevent lockup. Of course, I didn't need to, and nearly center-punched the fool, who appeared to have a beer in one hand, and wheel in the other. As I got shut down, he continued to make his turn very slowly and deliberately, and gave me a look like, "Man, what's your problem?" This is the first time I've had to use a ton of braking, and am very thankful for such great brakes on the FJR.

 

[FZ/FJR Mike]

Glad you safely avoided that knucklehead. Left-turners are the bane of motorcyclists. I'm especially vigilant when I see two types of cagers coming at me; old drivers & teeny bopper girls.

 

[Kevin Daly]

Welcome to the club brother! Always watch the the driver and front wheel if they never look your way they usually dont know your there. the first thing to move noticably is the rotation of the wheel... And never be ashamed to honk before your go past someone at an intersection if you havent confirmed that they are seeing you (not just looking).

 

[Jazzzzz]

I nearly center punched someone today too, also coming off the highway (turning right from the off-ramp). There are two lanes that turn to the right; I was in the curb lane, and there was a car turning next to me in the next lane over. Some ***** in a donk (think a huge American sedan on a lift kit with 24" chrome wheels worth more than the car) started pulling out into traffic from a cross street, stopped, looked right at me, and then CONTINUED PULLING OUT far enough to block my entire lane before stopping again and reversing back onto the cross street.

Yesterday an ******* yakking on his cell phone and weaving in and out of traffic on the freeway tried to merge into me while I was running parallel with his driver side door - he never even looked. Luckily he heard the horn and I had left enough space ahead to scoot out of the way. Maybe I need to invest in a neon yellow paint job and some flashing lights for the bike, because the hi-viz safety vest doesn't seem to be enough.