Lane Sharing question for Cali

[wheatonFJR]

I Always carry a pocket full of change just for the idiots that ride to close......

R

Well, atleast they weren't ball bearings.

 

[James Burleigh]

I'm always surprised to hear about the kinds of things riders say cagers do to them when lane sharing (respects to TWN). I never run into any of that stuff. I mean, my lane sharing reality is so wildly different from what I'm reading here (spitting, squeezed into trucks, weaving, arm coming out, etc.) that it almost sounds apocryphal to me, like what out-of-staters with no sharing experience would imagine the daily life of a Cali commuter to be like. LA cagers must be some real nutsoids. And they call it LAX....

On the subject of throwing sh*t at people, or just generally even making eye contact with aggressive drivers, I've got another reason not to do it: because getting into shit with cagers puts the rider into such a frantic emotional state that he or she (though you probably need testosterone to get into shit with cagers) abandons all the important accident avoidance strategies, from perception to speed, and bad decision-making climbs exponentially. I guarantee you, if a cager wants to run you down and kill you, he or she will succeed, because they will run everyone else off the road to "win."

And finally, I would not give a DA fodder by asserting in a public forum that I throw "missiles" at other vehicles. I think the best defense is that you took the high road, and I don't mean literally.

 

[puppychow]

Not much to add to whatever has already been said. I have been squeezed before when lane sharing. If I can escape I do, if not, then I wait it out till I can escape then get the hell away. Granted I have given the one finger salute occasionally, but it was only when I was getting away clean! Still in retrospect, I shouldn't have taken it so personally. My dad always says, that when your heart is racing and blood is rushing to your head when you are on the motorcycle - reevaluate - you are doing something wrong! Getting into a confrontation with an enraged cager with me on a motorcycle is just plain silly, besides I don't fight fair and I don't fight unless the odds are in my favor. None of those two apply when I am on a motorcycle and my adversary is in a 3 ton projectile hurtling towards me.

 

[Potential]

I've certainly had people slowly squeeze me or try somewhat to cut me off, but that's it. Nothing actually blatantly malicious and nothing that actually prevented me from passing. I've never had anyone actually touch the dashed white line for example, and frankly for all I know they may just be drifting left to better see around the stopped traffic and are unaware of me.

What I really hate is 101 in LA. Those lanes are so damn narrow that lane-splitting, even on my svelte FZ1, is very nerve-wracking to me. **** that road.

 

[madmike2]

I have had a cage driver nose up next to me after I shared a lane to get past them. I was temporarily blocked by a bus in the commute lane and trapped. I simply backed off to yield the position to the aggressive lady driver until it was clear to pass both she and the bus. There would have been little point to physically fight for the lane against any car....I would lose in a collision.

If some want to block there isn't much any of us can do but wait for the opportunity. I have had an aggressive driver chase me on the freeway. I took an off-ramp and he followed. I went between the cars to the head of the line (4 or 5 cars) and he was cutting in and our of them once the signal turned green. He was trying to catch me so I found a busy public parking lot and pulled in to a space where he could not get to me or my motorcycle. He pulled up and was yelling and screaming...which I could not hear because I was wearing earplugs in my full face helmet. I know others were paying attention because several turned and looked at the man. I'm sure the child (4 or 5 years old), safely buckled into the passenger seat, was duly impressed!?!? I surely wasn't going to have this offensive driver follow me home or trap me at a place of his choosing. After a minute of yelling, he rolled up his window and drove off. It must have been a bad day for him and I'm sure he was upset because he couldn't block me on the freeway. Had I seen a cop, I would have pulled up next to them with the man chasing me....alas...

Of course, I witness stupid occurances daily in my chosen profession. I will agree that throwing objects at a cage, regardless of provocation, might be interpreted against any motorcyclist by the police and the courts. If not deadly, likely considered assault. Evasion is still the best maneuver.

 

[James Burleigh]

Another good reason not to get into sh*t with aggressive drivers is because you can get innocent people killed. As the parent of three adult children drivers, and a spouse, I hate the idea that a provoked enraged driver might hit one of them in an effort to go kill a motorcyclist or someone else. If the Jekyll-Hyde metaphor ever applied to anything, it's gotta be to how one's personality changes once road rage kicks in.

 

[TomInPA]

I have had an enraged driver chase me only once. It was while driving South on I-71 in Cleveland starting about Fulton Blvd. The driver was in a full-sized van and started messing with me. Speeds reached well north of 100 mph and I remember taking a hard left curve in Brookpark near the airport/ Ford foundry, and as we rounded the curve, the van in my rear-view mirrors spin-out and hit the inside K-rail. I never slowed down.

 

[Big-D]

I Always carry a pocket full of change just for the idiots that ride to close......

R

When (if) someone in a 4-wheeled vehicle crowds you in your own lane, they are in essence saying, "I am willing to kill you because I don't give a **** whether you are dead or alive". They may as well pull up next to you and stick a gun in your face. I tend to get real angry when something even close to that happens, to the point I wish I had a trailer hitch ball in my pocket! I have not experienced a deliberate act like what you describe here, but when I'm in my 4-wheeler and someone trail gates me and any of my kids are in the car, him (or her) and I are going to have face to face conversation.

 

[Fairlaner]

Just to clarify things i never mentioned "throwing" things, i was only talking about dropping a few coins in their path.........

R

 

[SacramentoMike]

Just to clarify things i never mentioned "throwing" things, i was only talking about dropping a few coins in their path.........

R

And here I thought you used that cash as kind of a peace offering so they'd like you.

 

[Fairlaner]

its change for the parking meter......

R

 

[Spook]

Just to clarify things i never mentioned "throwing" things, i was only talking about dropping a few coins in their path.........

R

If you rode a harley you could just drop a few hex nut and the would just think it was normal shedding of shook loose parts.