Glad I didn't overtake!

[rocketman1]

Was out riding west of Hamilton the other day.
Rounded a bend slowed down behind a Holden car, in front of that was a milk tanker.
They were travelling probably 60-70km/hr, so I slowed for a while
Rounding the next bend was a bit of a straight bit of road, nothing coming the other way.

So we do we bikers do ...OVERTAKE aye.

I indicated to over take the Holden, then saw the milktankers brake lights flick on for a split second.
This put a wee bit of doubt in my mind, so I held back.
A couple of seconds later a large dual wheeled tractor turned right, out from in front of the milktanker, straight across the road into a farm entrance.

I had no idea this tractor was there.
Any vehicle (car or motorbike) overtaking this milk tanker would have been toast.

I said to myself in my helmet "well I wasnt expecting that"

I hope at least one other person can learn something from this, as well as me.

I thank the milktanker driver who flicked on his brake lights.
Thanks buddy whoever you are.

[Ulsterkiwi]

thanks for sharing. A good example of why its helpful to give yourself enough of a following distance that you can see whats ahead of you.

Easiest thing in the world to sit up the ass of whatever is front of you getting ready to overtake. Sounds like you were well clued in to the warning signs!

[carbonhed]

Oooof! Easy to get sucked into something like that.

Seen a couple of mates launch themselves down a big row of cars only for the horse float at the front to turn right.... i couldn't watch.

[haydes55]

Look cassina! A magic future seeing rider who avoided an unavoidable accident by using their spidey sense!

[scumdog]

Had almost the same thing happen to me - only the tractor turned left into a driveway and the tanker moved to the right to get around it so I ended up on the narrow bit between the fog-line and the gravel verge at a great rate of knots as I passed the tanker.

I had followed the tanker for a few km so its driver SHOULD have realised I was (a) there and (b) was in the process of passing him just before the tractor peeled off into the drive.

[EJK]

Funny I had a similar situation this morning in Prebbleton on my commute to Lincoln.

Was stuck behind a centipede of cars on an open road which were all behind a granny behind the wheel. Had a thought of overtaking them but decided not to cause I felt lazy and I was near Lincoln anyways. Soon later a car pulled out to right from Robinsons road because he saw how slow the granny was traveling.

Good call I said to myself and pat myself on the back for avoiding an unnecessary risk.

[Jin]

Glad you are okay

[AllanB]

Holden - that was the problem.

An alternative could have been if you had initially nailed it past them into hyperspeed you would have been past the tractor before it pulled out......


But, I think you did the right thing been in similar situations recently where not nailing it past has been the right decision.

[rocketman1]

Yes After years of riding we tend to think we know it all aye.
Its situations like this that really wake you up to question your mortality.
I have thought about this a bit more, and figured had I been on my old GSXR I would have probably tried to pass the truck.
Its just the bike I was on was not quite as fast. Could have saved my bacon.

[RGVforme]

[/I]

Look cassina! A magic future seeing rider who avoided an unavoidable accident by using their spidey sense!

now that's pure gold....

[Banditbandit]

Yeah .. shit can happen in an instant ... the decision NOT to pull out when the tanker touched the brakes was the right one - good road awareness on your part ... that was not luck - that was well done on your part ..

[OddDuck]

Good call. Blind sight lines and shooting gaps - gotta be aware of what you can't see as well as what you can...

[OddDuck]

Near miss today - coming up to traffic lights, three lanes. Left lane is a mandatory turn left, there's a pickup truck in it indicating left. Car in the right lane. Middle lane's empty and going straight ahead.

Straight ahead is where I want to be, so that's what I aim at. Lights change to green, but only for straight ahead. Still a red arrow for turning left. I'm a car length behind the pickup and about to accelerate the gap when the dumb fuck at the wheel takes off and moves a lane right so he can go straight ahead.

No checking behind. No indication. He just did it. If I'd shot the gap I'd have been collected by his flank - or run into the corner of the tray - almost certainly an off, possibly into following traffic.

Following this incident I decided to take it easy the whole way home, which lasted about half the way home. Didn't stop me from noticing that a few car drivers really do drive as if they won their licenses from a box of cornflakes about two decades ago... some of them really are just fucking idiots!!

Glad I didn't overtake.

BTW: Ute driver was a mid-fifties white male tradie type, I didn't have a word. He knew he'd fucked up. I could see it. Decided a while ago that I was only going to do positive reinforcement on the roads, so far it's working out very well for me.

[Drew]

Toast? Sounds quite definite. Wish I could see into the future.

How fast did you intend on traveling by the time you reached the front of the tanker? Sounds to me like you were gonna ride like a fuckwit and thankfully thought better of it.

[Duncan74]

Glad I didn't overtake.

BTW: Ute driver was a mid-fifties white male tradie type, I didn't have a word. He knew he'd fucked up. I could see it. Decided a while ago that I was only going to do positive reinforcement on the roads, so far it's working out very well for me.

See, those blimin' foreigns are getting tricky now. After the key seizing of last year then they're avoiding campervans and 'juicy' rental cars in favour of stealth utes.

But seriously, good call by the OP, not jsut for avoiding the accident but using it as something to start a discussion here that may just help others.