Wake up, fuckwit (me)

[pzkpfw]

This made me want to post an "I confess" thread. Flame me or whatever.

I don't think you can and I just think undertaking advanced skills training of any sort for motorcyclists just means you'll be highly trained and skilled as well as injured, maimed, or dead when one of the complacent morons who hasn't used his indicator for 30 years to change lanes on a motorway finally SMIDSY's you.

My name is pzkpfw, and I am a (insert*)

* fuckwit
* complacent moron
* normal fallible human
* menace on the road
* all of the above

So on Thrusday I'm heading to hospital where my boy is. They think it's an appendix they need to turn into an extract. (He's home now, after two nights it turned into "just a virus".)

I'm going around the basin in my car, my head is in "worried parent" mode. And the guy in the car to the left of me (on one of the lanes that goes to the tunnel to the airport) has his right hand wheels over the line between our lanes. I'm watching him, worried he may be wanting to go into my lane. I then see he's watching the guy on his left. I'm thinking "fuckwits" - without realising I'm one of them.

And I'm half-way through the next lights (where the cars from the airport tunnel come from) before I even notice the lights - and they are red.

I could have killed people.

(From what I saw in my rear-view, I think I must have well "beaten" the cars who just got the green, but that's just "luck".)

Complacency? It could have been two ways. I might have been on my bike and gone for it when the light went green, hitting or being hit by a car that ran the red.

Made me do some thinking.

(P.S. Just realised I missed a right-turning station wagon on a around-a-about about 4 months back. SMIDSY!? Maybe I'm not learning?)

Wake up, fuckwit.

[.produKt]

I don't think you deserved to be flamed but rather the opposite.
Your heads in the right place man because you realise where you've fucked up rather than being oblivious to it all and as you say "I could have killed people."

[jaffaonajappa]

Yeah - agree with previous poster.
I havent yet met the perfectly skilled biker. We all have room to improve - many of us dont tho.
The key to improving - doing what you are doing. Thinking, analysing, and understanding you are still able to make potentialy fatal mistakes of your own. Let alone them other road Users.

dont beat yourself up so hard.
Glad to hear it was only a viral thing.....

[Virago]

Meh. A real fuckwit would have laid the blame squarely on the other drivers, and convinced themselves that they're still a great driver / rider.

I did something similar recently. Driving in the car with the wife, along Portsmouth Drive in Dunedin. She says "Wow, look at the kite surfer." I look over to the left, and take a couple of seconds to see what she's talking about, then look ahead - in time to see the red traffic lights whiz past. My initial reaction was to blame the wife, but the reality is that it was 100% my fault.

We all make dumb (and potentially lethal) mistakes - the real fuckwits don't learn from it.

[Fatt Max]

Meh. A real fuckwit would have laid the blame squarely on the other drivers, and convinced themselves that they're still a great driver / rider.

I did something similar recently. Driving in the car with the wife, along Portsmouth Drive in Dunedin. She says "Wow, look at the kite surfer." I look over to the left, and take a couple of seconds to see what she's talking about, then look ahead - in time to see the red traffic lights whiz past. My initial reaction was to blame the wife, but the reality is that it was 100% my fault.

We all make dumb (and potentially lethal) mistakes - the real fuckwits don't learn from it.

+1 for that, well said mate

[BMWST?]

i get nervous i f i dont have a "learn from" incident every now and then

[Maha]

Yeah - agree with previous poster.
I havent yet met the perfectly skilled biker. We all have room to improve - many of us dont tho.
The key to improving - doing what you are doing. Thinking, analysing, and understanding you are still able to make potentialy fatal mistakes of your own. Let alone them other road Users.

dont beat yourself up so hard.
Glad to hear it was only a viral thing.....

But he was in car, does the skilled biker thing still count in this instance?

[jaffaonajappa]

But he was in car, does the skilled biker thing still count in this instance?

Your right - I didnt read that bit.

But. Have you come across a biker having lessened road craft just cos theyre in a car? I think of myself as a good car driver - not too fast (relatively speaking lol
) , but safe and 'aware'. This is due solely to learning on a bike, and using the bike courtesy skills when im driving too.

[James Deuce]

Umm, thanks for making that look like I posted that directly in response to something you said or did Matt, however nice work on the self-awareness.

[James Deuce]

We all make dumb (and potentially lethal) mistakes - the real fuckwits don't learn from it.

Mistakes aren't accidents. Just so you're clear when one of your mistakes results in something unpleasant.

[Maha]

A super hot curry springs to mind.

[unstuck]

My name is Darren and I am all of the above.

[PrincessBandit]

I think there would be very few of us who haven't done something like that ourselves on at least one occasion.

Thing to do is learn from it and be very thankful that there wasn't a messy end result.

p.s. good to hear you fella is home now and hopefully parental concern can be dialed down a notch or two.

[tigertim20]

Meh. A real fuckwit would have laid the blame squarely on the other drivers, and convinced themselves that they're still a great driver / rider.

I did something similar recently. Driving in the car with the wife, along Portsmouth Drive in Dunedin. She says "Wow, look at the kite surfer." I look over to the left, and take a couple of seconds to see what she's talking about, then look ahead - in time to see the red traffic lights whiz past. My initial reaction was to blame the wife, but the reality is that it was 100% my fault.

We all make dumb (and potentially lethal) mistakes - the real fuckwits don't learn from it.

well said!!!!