chasio
11th April 2013, 17:00
Heading back over the bridge about 4:30pm yesterday, an interesting event occurred.
Traffic was moving well (80kmh) but was pretty full in all lanes for that speed. As usual, following distances were a bit close but nothing unusual. It did mean the roadway was not that clear.
I was heading north and roughly at the crest I moved from lane 5 to 4. I was in a nice "bubble" - holding a good distance from the car in front and the van behind (which I had moved in front of) was a safe distance behind. Or so I thought...
An Audi Q7 that had been behind me in L5 overtook me and settled a bit close up behind another car. He was probably 30-40 metres diagonally ahead of me when I saw the broom (a fairly hefty wooden one) lying on the lines between lane 4 and 5 just before he reached it. I just had time to think "don't you fucking clip th...." when he did and it took off straight at where I was about to be. I say straight, the trajectory was direct but it was spinning around and end-over-end in a rather disconcerting way.
I am not sure if I moved left in my lane but if I did, it wasn't much. I neither braked nor accelerated. I tried to look up the road and not straight at the broom. I did lift my right foot off the peg and hoicked it up as far as I could. I felt the thing hit my boot (probably the head of it) and I have no idea if any of it hit the bike, although I didn't hear it. I'd say this was all over in about 0.5 to 1 second.
I looked back over my shoulder to see it lying in the middle of the carriageway. There was an HP wagon on the toll plaza so I pulled over to give him the good news and carried on home.
So I was trying to think what I could have done differently. The fact I made it home shiny side up suggests it was not all bad. If I had gunned it as soon as I saw it, it might have gone behind me although at 80 in top gear my thumper is not that swift. If I had braked hard, maybe I'd have dropped it (very bad in that traffic) or maybe I'd have been collected by the van behind (v v bad indeed) or maybe it would have passed in front of me. I probably could have counter-steered left a bit more as I was in the centre of the lane so had some room for manoeuvre.
What I have mainly been wondering was if it was a failure of observation. I did not see any vehicles up ahead make a notable effort to avoid it (and the Q7 certainly didn't - almost the opposite seemed true) and the volume of traffic in front of me meant it would have been hard to see, but not impossible. So I think I have to knock marks off for not seeing it earlier and getting over to lane 3. So my lesson will be: I need to actively scan all of the roadway ahead, not just my lane.
Any other suggested lessons welcome.
Traffic was moving well (80kmh) but was pretty full in all lanes for that speed. As usual, following distances were a bit close but nothing unusual. It did mean the roadway was not that clear.
I was heading north and roughly at the crest I moved from lane 5 to 4. I was in a nice "bubble" - holding a good distance from the car in front and the van behind (which I had moved in front of) was a safe distance behind. Or so I thought...
An Audi Q7 that had been behind me in L5 overtook me and settled a bit close up behind another car. He was probably 30-40 metres diagonally ahead of me when I saw the broom (a fairly hefty wooden one) lying on the lines between lane 4 and 5 just before he reached it. I just had time to think "don't you fucking clip th...." when he did and it took off straight at where I was about to be. I say straight, the trajectory was direct but it was spinning around and end-over-end in a rather disconcerting way.
I am not sure if I moved left in my lane but if I did, it wasn't much. I neither braked nor accelerated. I tried to look up the road and not straight at the broom. I did lift my right foot off the peg and hoicked it up as far as I could. I felt the thing hit my boot (probably the head of it) and I have no idea if any of it hit the bike, although I didn't hear it. I'd say this was all over in about 0.5 to 1 second.
I looked back over my shoulder to see it lying in the middle of the carriageway. There was an HP wagon on the toll plaza so I pulled over to give him the good news and carried on home.
So I was trying to think what I could have done differently. The fact I made it home shiny side up suggests it was not all bad. If I had gunned it as soon as I saw it, it might have gone behind me although at 80 in top gear my thumper is not that swift. If I had braked hard, maybe I'd have dropped it (very bad in that traffic) or maybe I'd have been collected by the van behind (v v bad indeed) or maybe it would have passed in front of me. I probably could have counter-steered left a bit more as I was in the centre of the lane so had some room for manoeuvre.
What I have mainly been wondering was if it was a failure of observation. I did not see any vehicles up ahead make a notable effort to avoid it (and the Q7 certainly didn't - almost the opposite seemed true) and the volume of traffic in front of me meant it would have been hard to see, but not impossible. So I think I have to knock marks off for not seeing it earlier and getting over to lane 3. So my lesson will be: I need to actively scan all of the roadway ahead, not just my lane.
Any other suggested lessons welcome.