New Hazzard to add to the list...

[stig]

I've had a couple of days to cool off but thought I'd share the story,

I was traveling up a steep incline, in the suburbs, behind a car @ ~40km. They decided I was following too close and preformed an emergency braking maneuver to a complete stop. I got enough braking done so it wasn't a hard impact, stayed upright. They drove off again and I single wheeled past them and pulled over. They got out to say they were "Going to report me" (?) and said they did it to "teach me a lesson"
In my newly aquired mood I managed to fit 'idiot' and 'trying to kill me', into a colourful sentence.
I thought it was so flaming dangerous it would have tested the patience of even Gandhi himself. 3 outta 4 of my limbs managed to stay in control, that'll have to be good enough for me on my trip to enlightenment (or theirs).

I really wasn't close but I think the noise and high headlight made it seem that way. I never saw the brakelights due to combination of checking slow speed on dash and evening sun. I think the KTM's extra suspension travel saved the forks from any damage.

I had wondered before if someone was silly enough to do this to a biker, now I know.

Anyway, safe riding everyone, and keep you wits about you... :)

[Jantar]

...it wasn't a hard impact, stayed upright. .....

I really wasn't close but I think the noise and high headlight made it seem that way. .....

You hit them? You were too close. The only way to learn from this is to first off admit that you were in the wrong, then to ask yourself what you can do to avoid this in the future.

[The Baron]

Sorry to hear your story but it is a reminder to stay away from idiots like this.

Good to hear you are OK.

[Virago]

you hit them? You were too close. The only way to learn from this is to first off admit that you were in the wrong, then to ask yourself what you can do to avoid this in the future.

+1 .

[jetboy]

Yeah sounds like you were a bit close, HOWEVER what a complete hairy, sweaty nutsack for slamming on brakes to "teach you a lesson".

Also, I thought men had 5 limbs

[Squiggles]

For all the OP knew a 4yo mighta just ran infront of the car... he wouldnt of seen and would've still hit the car :msn-wink: Cars have always been a hazard, so theres nothing new about it

[stig]

You hit them? You were too close. The only way to learn from this is to first off admit that you were in the wrong, then to ask yourself what you can do to avoid this in the future.

Boring.
Technically a lot of things, 40kph is hardly an unsafe speed. At some point you have to assume people aren't going to deliberately try and endanger you and cause an accident.
It wasn't like I sat their ass for 100's of metres, I came up behind the driver and started preparing for a slow pass.

The logic of "You looked like you might hit me, so I thought I'd slam on my brakes so... you have an increased chance of hitting me" hardly washes. Is that how you drive? offensively?

[Usarka]

Yeah the other guy was not in the wrong at all. Shame on you stig it's all your fault.

/sarcasm

[stig]

For all the OP knew a 4yo mighta just ran infront of the car... he wouldnt of seen and would've still hit the car :msn-wink: Cars have always been a hazard, so theres nothing new about it

The 640's pretty tall and I can see plenty far ahead of one car. Part of the reason I got it.

I know where the logic comes from and do try and ride to suit. Just convincing people that I don't ride like an ashole is kinda hard on a forum so I'll just take the hits.

[cmoore]

chill......if there is one thing riding a bike teaches you.....no matter how much you believe your in the right......you hitting them don't hurt them....

[Deano]

You hit them? You were too close. The only way to learn from this is to first off admit that you were in the wrong, then to ask yourself what you can do to avoid this in the future.

They are both in the wrong. You can't do an emergency stop and endanger someones life just to teach someone a lesson FFS.

[Jantar]

They are both in the wrong. You can't do an emergency stop and endanger someones life just to teach someone a lesson FFS.
Oh, I agree. And I hope if Stig is ever lying on a hospital bed waiting for an Xray he can say to himself, "Well the other driver is just as much to blame as I am".

At 40 km per hour, a 2 second gap would allow him 22 meters of seperation, or if he was in the process of overtaking as he suggested in a later post then he should already be further to the right and able to avoid a collision. The car driver is an idiot for trying to teach a lesson to a motorcyclist in such a dangerous manner, but the motorcyclist should be prepared to avoid these unexpected situations.

[wickle]

I dislike tailgaters and find that a large % of NZ drivers(bikes cars trucks) do follow to close behind , following distance is about five metres approx per ten km's per hour,

[onearmedbandit]

They are both in the wrong. You can't do an emergency stop and endanger someones life just to teach someone a lesson FFS.

+1. Both were in the wrong. Rider for being too close to stop safely, driver for performing emergency braking with no legitimate reason.

[Usarka]

+1. Both were in the wrong. Rider for being too close to stop safely, driver for performing emergency braking with no legitimate reason.

Even worse, performing emergency braking with intent.

[onearmedbandit]

Very true. Intent to cause an accident.

[stig]

I'll concede that I wasn't 22.22m behind, and sometimes at 50kph Iv'e been less than 27.78m behind people. (hands up who hasn't in auckland traffic) but I also wasn't 2.2m.

If they got out and said 'Thought a kid was running out' etc, then I would have apologised, etc.
no drama to be found there.

The admission that they deliberately did it is the difference here.
Though, I already knew this as I could see a long way up the otherwise empty street.

[onearmedbandit]

Regardless you were still too close. Even if you're in the right, it won't help fix a bent bike.

[Bend-it]

Yup... morally, both were wrong.

Legally, YOU are in the wrong. If you took him to the police, he'd just say he *thought* he saw something, (kid, cat, whatever) cross the road and braked.

It's always the fault of the vehicle behind for following too close. Doesn't matter if it's a car or bike.

[Deano]

Even worse, performing emergency braking with intent.

Hell yeah - the judge would throw the book at em.

[WuZards-Eugene]

Ride to the conditions, when the conditions change, increase your speed. In other words, if you're going to pass, then pass; dont wait around some idiot numchuck cage driving assholes bumper. Seeing as you ride in Auckland, you should be completely able to dodge metrosexual cage driving morons with ease.

Bummer about the accident tho, shoot the cunts I say.

[stig]

Yup... morally, both were wrong.

Legally, YOU are in the wrong. If you took him to the police, he'd just say he *thought* he saw something, (kid, cat, whatever) cross the road and braked.

It's always the fault of the vehicle behind for following too close. Doesn't matter if it's a car or bike.

Morally?? wtf?
I hardly had bad intensions following a car too close, vs them performing the braking with intent.

Legally, well YOU wouldn't rock up to the police and tell them you braked deliberately to teach someone a lesson would you?

Regardless, both sins can only go bad for the bike in this case. So lesson learned for me.
Would be nice though if people didn't have reckless disregard for other people in the name of their personal pissoffs and egos.
I know my intensions were never bad and I don't see how a rational person could ever interpret it to be.
I think there are plenty of angry pricks out there just looking for an excuse to act out, and I got unlucky.
Im will to bet they'd have tried something else if they saw me starting to overtake as well.

[Mystic13]

The deal is real easy on this one.

The car would be charged with dangerous driving. What they did is illegal.

As for the people shouting you must stop in time in reality we never expect a car that breaks will come to a complete stop for no reason and many people would initially slow and lose some gap before having an "Oh Shit" realisation.

I appreciate as a car driver a headlight straight in your mirror ain't fun and don't like it. Bikes always appear on top of you when following. I can understand cars being concerned.

So Stig did you hit him?

Personally it's better just to let it go and be more aware.

[MDR2]

And to the hard as nails crew that say 'just farkin overtake the carnt!' something else to take into consideration is...

are they travelling at less than the speed limit for a reason... ie are they looking for a driveway and are they likely to turn infront of you as your going around them... too many variables too calculate out there... just chill the fuck out and enjoy life.

[Mom]

Ever experienced the situation where you are stopped behind a car at an intersection? Imagine if you will, you are turning left. You are watching the traffic and the car in front. All of a sudden the way becomes clear and the car starts off, so do you. You are looking right to cover the idiot that appears out of nowhere and miss the fact the the car in front has had second thoughts and stopped again.

:gob: You are taking off into a stationery vehicle! You stop! You dont collide, you simply stop. It was close, but no harm done.

If you cant stop to avoid colliding with the vehicle in front you are too close, or travelling too fast.

If you scare someone into braking hard to teach you a lesson then you really are travelling too close.

[Mom]

The deal is real easy on this one.

The car would be charged with dangerous driving. What they did is illegal.

As for the people shouting you must stop in time in reality we never expect a car that breaks will come to a complete stop for no reason and many people would initially slow and lose some gap before having an "Oh Shit" realisation.

I appreciate as a car driver a headlight straight in your mirror ain't fun and don't like it. Bikes always appear on top of you when following. I can understand cars being concerned.

So Stig did you hit him?

Personally it's better just to let it go and be more aware.

I think you might find that you will receive an infringement notice for failing to stop in the distance required, or something similar. There is no black and white around this. If you hit someone that has stopped you are at fault. Learned this the hard way once. Cost $75 as I recall. Came around a blind bend on the open road to find chaos in front. Almost, but not quite stopped. The poor bastard that hit us was closer to the blind corner, he did not stand a chance. We both got tickets for failure to stop. The idiot car that casued the mayhem was charged with dangerous driving, it cost him his license.

Talked to the cop about the situation, he agreed it sucked to get a ticket in that circumstance, but...

[stig]

So Stig did you hit him?

Personally it's better just to let it go and be more aware.

No, I did hit something, kinda regreted that quick as I noticed a school kid in the back after that. Hopefully it was a one off and not the norm.

Agree, didn't kill me so a good reminder to be alert and expect anything.

[Mom]

No, I did hit something, kinda regreted that quick as I noticed a school kid in the back after that. Hopefully it was a one off and not the norm.

Agree, didn't kill me so a good reminder to be alert and expect anything.

3 out of 4 eh?

[Rayray401]

Well, legally you would still be wrong for following too close, but you could complain to the police for the cage driving dangerously cant you? personally i'd just ride on eh, too many arsehole drivers in auckland these days anyway.

[stig]

If you scare someone into braking hard to teach you a lesson then you really are travelling too close.
Scare? that they wern't


3 out of 4 eh?
yeah, shying away from expanding on that.

If some people are happy to be ramed of the road every time someone thinks they make a mistake, then, well...

[Molly]

Rule number one: Be able to stop in the distance you can see to be clear.

This bloke was a cock for sure but I too get pissed off with people driving right on my arse.

[YellowDog]

I'll concede that I wasn't 22.22m behind, and sometimes at 50kph Iv'e been less than 27.78m behind people. (hands up who hasn't in auckland traffic) but I also wasn't 2.2m.

If they got out and said 'Thought a kid was running out' etc, then I would have apologised, etc.
no drama to be found there.

The admission that they deliberately did it is the difference here.
Though, I already knew this as I could see a long way up the otherwise empty street.
Let's just get this straight, some on here consider 'Stig' to be in the wrong because someone deliberately hit the anchors to teach him as lesson?

Stig could not have hit a child as there was no space for it to run into. The offending car had more chance of hitting a child as the driver was focussed on the bike behind him (this is not wrong?).

But yes, don't ride too close. If you want to overtake, you should start your accelerating manouevre a lot further back.

Well done for not hitting the cnut (in the face).