Potential u-turn: Evasive action?

[Stella]

OK, so you see someone pull over to the left, or just hovering there, happens all the time. They may do a u-turn in front of you without indicating or noticing you are there.

What should you do?
Road positioning?
What to do if they do u-turn?

Thanks :)

[Lil_Byte]

Just slow down to where you can comfortably stop - centre yourself and be prepared to go either direction :scooter:

[discotex]

First thing I do is check the on-coming lane for traffic etc. Generally people don't u-turn into on-coming traffic so if there is some you're pretty safe.

If there's no on-coming traffic I position myself basically on the centre line so that my headlight should be clearly visible. At the same time I'm starting to slow and have covered both brakes.

Ideally I've slowed enough that I'm not passing them while they're still moving. I'll be watching their head the whole to see if they do the half arsed mirror check which is a dead giveaway that they're about to do something.

I always make sure I pass them with as much space as I can. If that means crossing into the other lane so be it.

[Filterer]

.....Check the on-coming lane for traffic.....

.....Position myself basically on the centre line......

....Covered both brakes.....

....I'll be watching their head the whole [time]....

....Crossing into the other lane so be it.....



Nice post, yea all those things are vital, I especially make use of watching their head and also spidey sense comes into play, If you don't trust it get somewhere safe as qucikly as possible

[twinkle]

you can often see their hands moving on the steering wheel too, which is another good indicator of what they are going to do next.

[Usarka]

Not a solution by itself, but while your sorting out your positioning and speed and observing and reacting to the situation give your horn a blast might make them look twice.

[westie]

Looking at peoples faces is a great indication of what they are doing(or not doing) however I like to look at the front wheel as it tells if they are starting to move or turning.

[James Deuce]

There's a lot of assumptions in the previous posts. You can't assume anything about another road user's potential actions, nor can you model a particular set of circumstances and develop a "standard" response. Every incident is different. People do U-Turn into oncoming traffic. Don't assume they won't. You shouldn't be following so close that you can't avoid or predict the "swerve left, mighty heave to the right U-turn".

The standard course of action should be making sure you are riding in a way that anticipates as many of the bonehead moves happening in front of you as possible. That way you'll stop having "moments".

The best thing you can do is try to practise the things you can think of, get some training every couple of years to help you with the things you haven't thought of, and get to know your machine and what it is capable of. Even the most humble of motorcycles can be made to do very surprising things.

Couple the above paragraph with always making sure that your bike is as mechanically sound as possible, and you should be able to avoid most things.

Whatever you do, don't develop habitual responses to perceived threats. People are great at coming up with new and terrifying ways to surprise you.

[breakaway]

+1 for Slow down and cover brakes.

[JimO]

dont do what i did and fly through the air after slamming into the car

[Cynos]

I slow the hell down, and flash my headlight a few times and/or honk the horn to advise them of my presence. I also do the same when approaching an intersection with some numpty who looks like he wants to drive in front of me.

[beyond]

When you have done everything right and it still turns to custard, best to thrust yourself upwards from your footpegs in that split second you know nothing will prevent a crunch and hopefully clear the car before hitting it with your soft wee bod.

Unfortunately it happens so quickly that one is likely not to have time to think about leap frogging the said cuplrit and one will find themselves watching the gound and sky pass before their eyes in rapid succession, generally still clearing the car, hitting the ground reasonably hard and bouncing and rolling somewhat. Hopefully when all has come to rest, one will find all their faculties still intact and hopefully most of their muscle mass and bones will still be operative enough for one to crawl off the road and seek immediate medical attention.

[delusionz]

what i used to do is just drop my speed a little bit, swerve to the right as close to the centre line as i can get, and as im about to pass i'd pin my throttle and get out of there.

this is almost similar to how i was taken out thread here (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=55906) except i was turning right and the driver was going straight before deciding to suddenly pull a u turn into me.

now i think i'll try to more actively avoid getting side by side with a car, but some situations its impossible to avoid and you just have to hope for the best

[90s]

I slow the hell down, and flash my headlight a few times and/or honk the horn to advise them of my presence. I also do the same when approaching an intersection with some numpty who looks like he wants to drive in front of me.

Yeah invent your own road rules mate.

Flashing your lights generally means "I'm giving you way". Certainly any of the 400,000 (ex)Poms in the country will read it that way.

I've been in a car that flashed a 16 wheel artic to "warn them not to change lanes", which they then did instantly on invitation.

It was not fun.

[90s]

OK, so you see someone pull over to the left, or just hovering there, happens all the time. They may do a u-turn in front of you without indicating or noticing you are there.

What should you do?
Road positioning?
What to do if they do u-turn?

Thanks :)

When you ride keep a safe distance from cages ...





































When you ride keep a safe distance from cages ...

[breakaway]

I JUST got home from a morning class, and just as I came around a blind left hand corner, at 40km/h, and some douchebag pulled a U turn, RIGHT in front of me. It was wet, I thought I would T bone him right there. But he saw me coming and shot forward, and I was able to go around him.

Sigh. Dumbass cagers. If they are gonna get you, they will get you. There's not much you can do about it.

[Dave-]

I had some doll do this to me a few months back, I had anticipated her getting out of the car without looking.

I was on the right, if i had been on the left I may be slipped around the back.

problem is you break the road code by riding passed recently passed traffic on the left side of your lane...

[Roj]

Alot of what has been said can be summed up with a few words, "experience" is a good one, as you get more expereince you get a better idea of what is happening around you, and are better able to react.

I have found that I travel slower now than when I was in my teens / 20s, but also can anticipate better now than back then.

Keep your eyes open and if you aren't sure what someone ahead of you is doing, slow down, this immediatley gives you more time to deal with the situatiuon.

[avgas]

Make sure you go through the window cos if you hit the a pillar it bloody hurts.
Some things cant be taught on a web thread

[babyblade250rr]

First thing I do is check the on-coming lane for traffic etc. Generally people don't u-turn into on-coming traffic so if there is some you're pretty safe.

If there's no on-coming traffic I position myself basically on the centre line so that my headlight should be clearly visible. At the same time I'm starting to slow and have covered both brakes.

Ideally I've slowed enough that I'm not passing them while they're still moving. I'll be watching their head the whole to see if they do the half arsed mirror check which is a dead giveaway that they're about to do something.

I always make sure I pass them with as much space as I can. If that means crossing into the other lane so be it.


Good theory i do roughly the same!! kept me out of trouble so far fingers crossed!!

[klyong82]

Alot of what has been said can be summed up with a few words, "experience" is a good one, as you get more expereince you get a better idea of what is happening around you, and are better able to react.

I have found that I travel slower now than when I was in my teens / 20s, but also can anticipate better now than back then.



Agree with you. Experience is the thing. This thread reminds me of that bright enginnering student riding his new Honda in front uni (symond st.) and a chinese student without a NZ licence made a U-turn without signalling.

Biker dead and he had community service as one of the punishment...still pisses me off when one of his reason was "I did not understand what it meant when the office said I was disqualified" or something like that.

[Raelynn]

aside from slowing down... someone else also mentioned look to the front wheels, this is an AWESOME indicator of a cars intended path - which frankly is not always under the conscious control of many cage drivers. If the wheels are pointing parallel with the road - it's going to be a lot harder for them to pull into your path. The moment they're angled out towards a possible collision, that's when you know to be extra vigilant :/

mentioning Symonds they thought the effect of the over hanging trees impaired the cagers ability to even see the rider (if he looked..) when you get alternating shadows and sunbeams, it's hard to see SUVs sometimes let alone bikes especially on longer stretches of road

it's just all about being aware on the roads and assuming everyone else is blind, deaf and stupid right?