Near miss: Which way?

[XP@]

A lesson for the road:

It was dark and raining a fair bit. Just coming in to the 70 zone at the start of town - nearly home.
Headlights pulling out from the left in the distance, heading the opposite distance to me.
Ease off throttle and cover brakes & clutch
Checked nothing else on-coming he had clear way.
It's a truck with a few dirty lights on the side diagonally covering my lane, lights pointing towards me
There is room behind him to go through.
Positioning to left to fit behind truck
Notice truck not moving much.
Eyeball driver - WTF he is looking backwards
White light goes on at the back of the truck.
Mental image of self splattered on side of truck.
Max effort on brakes
My gap is gone
Found self in 1st gear at walking pace with a few meters to spare
Shook head at driver and rode around the front of the truck.

I was initially convinced that he was pulling out - road position and everything told me he was. But then at the last minute I was nearly toast (or something you would spread on it). Observation skills learned from Roadcraft and Mike Waites video probably saved my life this time. Had I not been looking out for the small signs I would have reacted much later, if at all and would not be typing tonight.
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/121651-Police-riders-handbook-to-better-motorcycling-Motorcycle-road-craft

[PrincessBandit]

Good skills to be here to tell the tale.

Moral of story - always expect the unexpected. Probably many accidents out there where one or both parties have fallen into the trap of predicting the behaviour of the other only to find that this one time out of a hundred it didn't work out how they expected.

At least you were already prepared for "something"; if you'd been traveling at speed expecting to just sweep around the end then we'd be reading a completely different thread this morning.

Pleased you're still here.

[Urano]

good job :niceone:

especially in the dark, with low and filthy visibility, take a second more to understand completely the situation, it doesn't worth to rush and choose the wrong end of the "truck"...

it has surely made you a better rider.

[munster]

I think I would have done exactly the same . . and then gone home to change my undies. Good skills.

[MarkH]

A lesson for the road:

It was dark and raining a fair bit. Just coming in to the 70 zone at the start of town - nearly home.
Headlights pulling out from the left in the distance, heading the opposite distance to me.
Ease off throttle and cover brakes & clutch
Checked nothing else on-coming he had clear way.
It's a truck with a few dirty lights on the side diagonally covering my lane, lights pointing towards me
There is room behind him to go through.
Positioning to left to fit behind truck


I think that the lesson here is that when you see the lights up ahead you should be dropping speed, when you get closer and the truck is still across the lane then instead of positioning to left to fit behind the truck you should be slowing to a stop, putting your feet down and waiting for the truck to get the fuck out of your way. Don't assume that the truck is going forward - he would already be gone by now if that was the case. For all you know it is stopped and the driver or his mate is about to step out behind the truck and open the door to unload it - even though the truck is stopped across the road. Until you figure out what the fuck is happening it is better to lose a little time and stop then to risk your life trying to go around the truck. An ounce of caution and all that . . .

Never forget that on a bike you are the one that is vulnerable!

[puddytat]

Good skills man...
Ive had the same happen twice,both times I took the going left option one which resulted in hitting a ute's back wheel & flying for what seemed like ages.Bounced & rolled a few times but got away with a grazed knee & fucked jeans. What I did find helpful was advice I read somewhere from Roger Freeth that basically said that if you were going to hit something to unhook youre thumbs from the bars & put youre weight on your feet so as to avoid breaking thumbs etc as you fly over the bars , & while in the air to try & look at youre feet so that when you hit the deck you roll & not go splat. Wont help if its a truck though!But certainly helped with the ute:yes:
I have stopped with the left option when it comes to cars as they generally stop at the last second when they see you:eek5:, & now go right if possible, round the front of 'em
Best close call was on the main drag in Taupo, on me brand new CX500 Euro with a mate on the back. Car did a u-ey to turn into the Mobil gas, saw me, stopped. Well I was younger then & didnt know then what i know now & target fixated:eek5: Hauled on the anchors, mates weight trying to push me over the bars, bikes back end going from one side to the other , me thinking " Ohh fuck",if i dont hit him Im gonna drop it....then for some reason the CX did this nice slide so that when I (we) came to a stop I was parallel to the drivers door with this blokes face inches from my shoulder with his face looking like this:eek5:
Definitely more good luck than good management!!:sweatdrop

[p.dath]

Well done. As you say, observational skills are very important.

[Robtharalson]

The scene: eastbound Pacific Coat Highway 1/2 mile after widening to three lanes, about 7:00 AM, medium heavy traffic going about 35 mph, splitting lanes roughly 10 mph faster than traffic. No problems -- in fact was setting a record for cars moving over to let me by. The driver in the black SUV to my left was just hanging up his cell phone, the mid '80s green Volvo to my right was being nondescript, the silver Scion next to him was weaving slightly as the driver was looking for something on the seat next to him, and the dark blue Camry to my left I had just passed started to move over to a gap in traffic in the lane to my right. (It's amazing what you notice when you're concentrating). Two bicyclists to the far right were riding nose to tail until the one in the rear decided to pull up next to the other, swinging a bit wide in the process. The Scion swerved unnecessarily to avoid him, causing the Volvo to swerve as well, right into my path, and the SUV reacted by slightly steering left as well, then back right to avoid the center divider poles. The Camry was about 25 feet behind me, making braking an iffy proposition, so I gassed it and pointed toward the rapidly closing space in front of me in preference to being squashed. The knee of my riding pants started sliding against the fender of the Volvo so I leaned my body slightly right to prevent catching the peg on the front of the wheel well, my right handlebar was over her hood, and the left bar had just cleared the hood of the SUV when my foot lightly contacted its bumper as I went by. Thankfully, the Volvo was slightly ahead of the SUV, so as soon as I felt my left foot leave the bumper I started to cut left to clear the Volvo and I squirted out from between them like a watermelon seed at a Sunday picnic. One last thing to do -- cut right to keep from rear ending the Volkswagen just ahead, and continue splitting lanes. Whew! Never touched the brakes.
I've heard of situations like this causing everything to slow down, but it didn't happen to me: it was a situation to be dealt with, so I did.
There was some luck here, primarily the SUV having just hung up his phone and reacting in time to give me enough room to get by. If he had not it could have been disastrous.
In my 50 years of riding and racing I have learned to be deadly accurate in placing the bike exactly where I want it to be, and brother am I glad for this -- otherwise you would be reading a post written from a hospital bed.
Will I stop splitting lanes? Get serious!
Will I slow down? HA!
Will I get more attentive? I don't see how.
It just wasn't my time, thanks to skill and dumb luck.

Rob