Never thought to watch out for. . .

[fretbender]

So I went out for a ride on a beautiful day today, making my way down the road just a bit faster than most traffic on the two lane twisty blacktop. I came up behind a black midsize SUV at a perfect spot to pass, no traffic, good sight distance. I get in the left lane from quite a ways behind the SUV and when I get within about 1/2 car length, the driver tosses an empty soda can out his window, with the trajectory just right to hit the front of the FJR. *******! :angry2: I didn't even try to dodge it since I have a friend who's wife drove off the road trying to avoid a bunny rabbit. I did give him a 1 fingered salute on my way by, which I think was very appropriate given the circumstances. I hope his wife & kids realize what an ******** they have driving them around. I mean what. . .you can't even take a look around you before you litter??? <_< You guys think that's overreacting? I know road rage can be a killer, especially for the guy on the bike, but man that cheeses me off.

 

[Knifemaker]

No, not a good idea to take on an SUV. But you can do this...

Get his licence number and call the police. Tell them you think the driver purposely tossed the can meaning to hit you. This is considered assault.

The cops will go question him...and even if they believe the driver when he says he did not see you there and did not know the can would hit anyone or any vehicle...he would be admiting to littering in front of a police officer, and they would have to at least give him a ticket for that.

KM

 

[Jagermeister]

That sort of **** REALLY pisses me off, too. Riding while pissed off is a bad idea. I'm learning to just take deep breaths and let it go.

 

[Calimus]

Had this happen a few years back when I had my Vmax. No SUV in my case, just a stupid young girl in a small honda. Soda can can cam first (still partially full) and then came the fast food wrappers. I managed to dodge the can, but one of the wrappers landed right on my visor. Was very interesting not being able to see on a 3 lane highway at 70mph. I managed to get the damn thing off my visor without panicking, but whatever grease was on that wrapper still made it hard to see so I moved to the slow lane and backed off. Hit the next exit so I could go to the gas station and clean the visor and guess who's there?

Gave her a bit of a lecture but kept it short as it was everyting I could do not to smack the hell outta her (was raised to never hit a woman). I doubt it did any good, but the blowing off of the steam allowed me to head home with a cooler head. Todays kids have to be the worst lot of all

 

[Silver Penguin]

Highway litterbugs are one of my pet-peeves. Who do they think ought to be cleaning up their mess? If you don't want your greasy fast food wrappers in your car, what makes you think I'd want to share the highway with them?

Not such a big deal these days, but some folks used to empty out their ash trays at stop lights. Yuck! I guess it's good that they were using the ashtrays rather than tossing their butt ends out of the window while moving.

I'm ticked off with drivers as a whole today. It was one of those rare occasions that I had to drive a car myself, and park on the street. Two people parked, each within two inches of the ends of my vehicle. WTF? any ideas on how I was supposed to get out? I'd parked at the end of a line so I'd be able to drive straight out, but the non-marked space between the end of the line and the corner was just too attractive for some dumb truck driver. Fortunately I had a bicycle rack on the back of the Jeep, which juts out by about two feet. It was tempting to just use low 4WD and reverse that into the hood of the *****'s car, but instead I removed the rack which allowed a back and forth movement, and eventual exit.

My mood was improved by getting back on a bike later in the day but the idiots are still out to get us.

Jill

 

[fretbender]

That's an interesting take on reporting as assault. I'll have to remember that for possible future events. I'm leaning to Jagermeister's approach on this particular episode for now. Hell, this event probably doesn't even register in the outermost periphery of his subconscious any longer. For now, I think I'll go for a ride and pick up the can he tossed out the window for recycling, just to put a positive spin on the whole thing and move on.

 

[Tenchi]

It's always great to get one back at them though. I saw something fly out at my face, lifted my hand to block it and ended up catching it instead - half empty bottle of Fanta. Dump it back in their car through the open window, watch expression. They definitely knew what they did wrong.

 

[Low Level FJR Pilot]

I heard a story from a San Diego Motorcycle Cop a few years back when I was in the Navy and we were getting the pre holiday safety lectures. He was talking to us about diversions while driving and told us about a nice little ticket he gave. He had just gotten onto the freeway and came up behind a Volvo with the driver not paying attention to what was going on around her and messing with something in the back. He pulls along side and sees that what she is doing is reaching into the baby car seat, with the kid unstrapped and changing a diaper while driving at freeway speed down the road. He decides that it wouldn't be good to startle her, so he backs off, gets in behind her and waits until he thinks she is finished before hitting the lights and siren.

Well, low and behold, she is done, he see's the drivers side window come down and before he can move, out the window comes the diaper. It hits the right side of his shield and his right hand, busting open and flinging crap all over his brand new gloves. :assassin: He hit the lights and siren, pulled her over and not only wrote her for littering, but child endangerment and had the car towed. :angry:

 

[FJRBluesman]

FB - GLad you're OK and nothing happened.

Wild story cop story out of SD. How people justify this type of stupidity is beyond me.

KM - I like your tactic, I'll have to remember that.

 

[Bike Effects]

I heard a story from a San Diego Motorcycle Cop a few years back when I was in the Navy and we were getting the pre holiday safety lectures. He was talking to us about diversions while driving and told us about a nice little ticket he gave. He had just gotten onto the freeway and came up behind a Volvo with the driver not paying attention to what was going on around her and messing with something in the back. He pulls along side and sees that what she is doing is reaching into the baby car seat, with the kid unstrapped and changing a diaper while driving at freeway speed down the road. He decides that it wouldn't be good to startle her, so he backs off, gets in behind her and waits until he thinks she is finished before hitting the lights and siren.
Well, low and behold, she is done, he see's the drivers side window come down and before he can move, out the window comes the diaper. It hits the right side of his shield and his right hand, busting open and flinging crap all over his brand new gloves. :assassin: He hit the lights and siren, pulled her over and not only wrote her for littering, but child endangerment and had the car towed. :angry:

Well, part of that is a good story. I wonder if she learned anything from the experience??

 

[FJRMGM]

get the plate number and description of vehicle and drive and report it.

In many states the fine for littering is high, like in Arkansas where it is $1,000 per incident.

I hate littering.

 

[Geezer]

I agree with the folks who say to report the plate number.

I keep telling myself to invest in a bike mounted camera.

 

[keithaba]

get the plate number and description of vehicle and drive and report it.
In many states the fine for littering is high, like in Arkansas where it is $1,000 per incident.

I hate littering.

For some reason, I expect that an LEO isn't going to actually act on a report like this. If they didn't see it, they have no evidence anyway.

Not a shot to LEO's, but honestly, I think they have some more important things to attend to.

I have been tempted in the past to pick up their item, then walk up and kindly say, "Excuse me sir, I believe you lost your soda bottle. Good think I was behind you and able to return it."

 

[Kevin Daly]

I am kind of surprized that no one has mentioned the cigerette's people toss. back in the day (when almost everyone still smoked) I remember being hit by a "flare" or two.

ITs too bad you didnt get the licence plate, I'm sure that they could ahve got him for something more than littering

 

[gregory]

+1 on the smokes issue, I just love the "ashes" in the wind when I am at slow speed with the shield up getting some air.

 

[Bounce]

thank goodness my cigars are 100% natural and biodegradable.

 

[NoCage]

It's always great to get one back at them though. I saw something fly out at my face, lifted my hand to block it and ended up catching it instead - half empty bottle of Fanta. Dump it back in their car through the open window, watch expression. They definitely knew what they did wrong.

That's hilarious, I'd pay money to see that.

 

[RAVENRIDER]

I did give him a 1 fingered salute on my way by, which I think was very appropriate given the circumstances. I hope his wife & kids realize what an ******** they have driving them around. I mean what. . .you can't even take a look around you before you litter??? <_< You guys think that's overreacting? I know road rage can be a killer, especially for the guy on the bike, but man that cheeses me off.

I would have beeped at the guy from behind or confronted him when stopped at a light, but I think it's a bad idea to react when beside or worse in front of an irresponsible cager. That's a recipe for winning the battle but losing the war.

 

[jmarran]

Back when I pedaled my bike, was thinner and helped bring up the rear in some races, I had an interesting experience which may also provide some decent input.

A friend (who is one of them skinny assed, strong, fast racers) and I were finishing an evening ride, when a ******* teenager decided to throw a 2/3 full water bottle out the window of his girlfriend's car at us. The bottle glanced off me and then hit my friend Mike square in the back.

Mike snapped, shifted to a big gear and flew after the car. So now I'm thinking - damn I have to try to keep up in case he needs someone to "get his back". So off they go turning right onto a sidestreet (with a good incline) and then there I go somewhere in between keeping up and cardiac arrest.

Then the girl, not thinking too clearly, pulls into the left turn lane and ends up stopped at a red light. So now at everyone's surprise, Mike catches the car. He was smart about it and just got the license plate # and didn't put himself in too vulnerable of a position.

Soo, we picked up the bottle as evidence and rode to the police station to file a report. They almost didn't do anything about it, because we didn't see the kid that threw the bottle's face to positively ID the little prick. However, it did have a happy ending, because they went to the girl's house and waited with her VERY pissed off father for her to get home and she confessed it was the now ex-boyfriend that threw the bottle, thus putting her in a very bad situation involuntarily (I know she could have just not run but she was a kid after all). Turns out he had some other charges currently against him, so they just added them to the list.

So, my advice is if you want to be able to press charges, you need the license plate and you should get a visual ID of the ******-bag so there is no doubt.

PS - glad you didn't panic and crash.