Lessons in E-Braking

[Bren]

Well, went to work this morning (Otaki to Porrirua)...was a rather sane ride down, no complaints.

Well I hook into the road that my work is located on and start heading up. There is a works ute in front of me and a Works van parked across the road. The ute indicates and pulls to the left, then when I am almost alongside he pulls out and does a U Turn right in front of me. I had subconsiously anticipated this and had both hand and feet on brakes. Good test of my reaction times and braking...I Passed! Missed his tail end by a whiskers breath whilst swearing and cursing...

Arrived at work needing coffee!!!

Thank you to the Driver of the ute for that inpromptu lesson on Emergency braking!!!

[slofox]

I might have been tempted to fisticuff his illumination out...

[p.dath]

Cages always seem to have trouble executing safe U-turns. Even the Police kill motorcyclists performing U-turns.

I wonder if the Ute driver even realised that they almost caused an accident.

[Bren]

I might have been tempted to fisticuff his illumination out...

I was tempted to do that too....but his workmate looked like a 250 lb gorilla

[Mom]

I was tempted to do that too....but his workmate looked like a 250 lb gorilla

Ring his boss. Those vehicles are all fitted with GPS traking, and they will be able to tell who was driving at teh time. Seriously, they take that sort of thing very seriously. It is actually a Health and Safety issue for them as well.

[slofox]

I was tempted to do that too....but his workmate looked like a 250 lb gorilla

Ahhh...I see...discretion etc...good call!

[Milts]

I wonder if the Ute driver even realised that they almost caused an accident.

I'm always curious about this. It makes me want to type up a nice polite letter and leave it on their car when I see a driver do something stupid. At least if they realise they've done it there's a chance they'll learn...

[Chrislost]

Well, went to work this morning (Otaki to Porrirua)...was a rather sane ride down, no complaints.

Well I hook into the road that my work is located on and start heading up. There is a works ute in front of me and a Works van parked across the road. The ute indicates and pulls to the left, then when I am almost alongside he pulls out and does a U Turn right in front of me. I had subconsiously anticipated this and had both hand and feet on brakes. Good test of my reaction times and braking...I Passed! Missed his tail end by a whiskers breath whilst swearing and cursing...

Arrived at work needing coffee!!!

Thank you to the Driver of the ute for that inpromptu lesson on Emergency braking!!!

It always surprized me how easy it is to pick people who are about to do that, once you see it happen a couple of times.
Only sucks if the first or 2nd time it happens the guy that does it is 2m in front of your bumper!

good work on the save!

[YellowDog]

Well, went to work this morning (Otaki to Porrirua)...was a rather sane ride down, no complaints.

Well I hook into the road that my work is located on and start heading up. There is a works ute in front of me and a Works van parked across the road. The ute indicates and pulls to the left, then when I am almost alongside he pulls out and does a U Turn right in front of me. I had subconsiously anticipated this and had both hand and feet on brakes. Good test of my reaction times and braking...I Passed! Missed his tail end by a whiskers breath whilst swearing and cursing...

Arrived at work needing coffee!!!

Thank you to the Driver of the ute for that inpromptu lesson on Emergency braking!!!

I guess it serves you right for being invisible or something!

Well done on the e-braking. It's always nice when they do as expected.

I think I do agree about letting his employer know.

I suspect that he doesn't care about you and motocycles however he would care if his boss said "Open your eyes before you damage my vehicle"
(and lose your job)

[Toffee]

Snap - had the EXACT same thing happen to me - a works van pull into a driveway on the left and then at the last minute swing out for a u-turn. Luckily I had also anticipated and had reduced speed to 50 ish (this was on the open road) First instinct was to try and pass behind the van - but he saw me and slammed on his brakes blocking the lane. Tried to do the progessive braking thing but it is hard to avoid the temptation is to grab a handful of big handful of front brake - almost completed a successful emergency braking but the front wheel kicked out at the last second and I slid the last 3-4 metres on my side stopping half a metre from the van drivers door. Fortunately my saddlebag (good on ya K-Drive) kept the weight of the bike off my leg and I was wearing full gear. Hence no injuries and very little damage to the bike..

Learned some really valuable lessons though...
Be very afraid of white vans
Anticipating the unexpected is essential all of the time
Wearing full gear is a good thing - an unprotected leg scraping along between the gravel and a hot exhaust pipe would have hurt a bit
My e-braking is not what it could be and some advanced rider training is on the agenda!

[Laxi]

I'm always curious about this. It makes me want to type up a nice polite letter and leave it on their car when I see a driver do something stupid. At least if they realise they've done it there's a chance they'll learn...

whos got time to type a letter? just key the note into the drivers door! bet they wont just screw that up and throw it away!

[Danae]

When a car is dawdling to the left or even indicating left (not into a side street) I try not to shoot up the side just in case this very thing happens.

[Katman]

I had subconsiously anticipated this

Those words should be tattooed on the foreheads of the people who repeatedly claim that "There was nothing I could do".

[carver]

Well, went to work this morning (Otaki to Porrirua)...was a rather sane ride down, no complaints.

Well I hook into the road that my work is located on and start heading up. There is a works ute in front of me and a Works van parked across the road. The ute indicates and pulls to the left, then when I am almost alongside he pulls out and does a U Turn right in front of me. I had subconsiously anticipated this and had both hand and feet on brakes. Good test of my reaction times and braking...I Passed! Missed his tail end by a whiskers breath whilst swearing and cursing...

Arrived at work needing coffee!!!

Thank you to the Driver of the ute for that inpromptu lesson on Emergency braking!!!

if he had his flashers on, you should prepare yourself.