[Wovoka]

Yesterday I was driving my cage up Fort Campbell Blvd. when a lady driving a Ford Excursion cut across 2 lanes and decided I was in the way.

My cage is a '72 GMC and as such I had a light scratch and I had to adjust my right mirror back. Her left mirror was broken off and shattered and her front clip had quite a bit of damage. There were no injuries but she was scared. I'm not even going to make an insurance claim as I don't need to add insult to injured pride.

Here's why I write. She told me she didn't see my white '72 GMC with lights on when she darted across 2 lanes. If I were on the bike, I would either be dead as a stump right now or spending the rest of my life licking windows. That realization woke me up a little. In my days of driving double 48' tractor trailers on the NYS Thruway I had folks claim they didn't see me and I was 120' long which those of whom have been on the Thruway and seen those trucks would mostly agree they are huge and rather slow.

I don't quite understand folks' compete lack of understanding they are operating a machine that can kill someone. Is that turn they just can't miss really worth someone's life? Wonders just don't cease.

 

[K2V2]

Glad you weren't hurt. It's amazing what people do.
I've often said I'd like to have an early 70s Chevy PU truck for tooling around town. No air bags, but they used to put real steel into those babies.

 

[Wovoka]

Glad you weren't hurt. It's amazing what people do.
I've often said I'd like to have an early 70s Chevy PU truck for tooling around town. No air bags, but they used to put real steel into those babies.

I love old Rocinante but she really is a battle axe. I was glad for her yesterday though.

 

[bmetrob]

What’s all important is that you were lucky enough to be on 4 wheels this time and are ok; IT IS all too sad that people are in such a hurry now days that they just don't really think things out. The mind is truly amazing piece of “equipment” given the chance to use it properly, to which most people don’t as we all can attest to.

 

[Goatlocker95]

Glad you're safe and made it through relatively unscathed. We use the same term, keep your head on a swivel, on the Flight Deck.

People do see you because they don't take the time to really look. I know I've been guilty of it a couple times myself. I've driven up to a corner and, because I'm in a hurry, I glance left, right, left, and thankfully left again just as I'm pulling out because that's when I see the vehicle that was really there all the time; I was just in too much of a hurry to notice it before.

While I'm out on the bike or cage I try to watch others actions. If they look like they're in a hurry then I expect them to do something stupid and try to anticipate what that is so I am ready to deal with it if and when they do it.

 

[greystone]

I've never understood why a drivers license isn't tougher to get, much less keep. When driving a car, you're wielding a weapon. To me, the excuse "I didn't see the other vehicle" is direct evidence that that person is incompetent to operate a car, and the driver should not have a license. To me, inattention while driving a car (texting, not looking, etc), not to mention impaired driving, is a willful and malevolent act. If the same person were unsafely using a different kind of weapon, you can bet there would be significant ramifications.

This sounds really harsh until you realize that driving is a privilege, not a right. Way too many people are killed or seriously injured by bad drivers every year. This number far exceeds violent crimes, including gun crime. Worse yet, when a bad driver hits you (or almost does), and you've got your family in the car, your whole family has been assaulted.

I'm not a particularly litigious person, but I wish "accident" related penalties were far more severe. A crash where a bad driver is involved is not an accident.

 

[Ironbutt70]

It’s pure and simple selfishness. Reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw years ago.
“As a matter of fact I do own the road.”

 

[clif02]

Glad you are ok and have minimal damage. 41A is tough to drive on when it is dry and clear, add rain and poor visibility like it was yesterday and it is a very dangerous road. Tiny Town Road, the 101st Parkway and Peachers Mill Road is just as bad. Like you said, stay alert with your head on a swivel or you'll get run over.

 

[jdmatthew]

Sounds like it worked out ok--glad you're not hurt.

I've known people to run into a 72 passenger yellow school bus and say they didn't see it. With a flashing strobe on top. Kind of amazing--I have to wonder if they're driving with their eyes closed.

 

[Wovoka]

Glad you are ok and have minimal damage. 41A is tough to drive on when it is dry and clear, add rain and poor visibility like it was yesterday and it is a very dangerous road. Tiny Town Road, the 101st Parkway and Peachers Mill Road is just as bad. Like you said, stay alert with your head on a swivel or you'll get run over.

Funny you say that, I needed my wife to sign something for my retirement and she works on Wilma Rudolph. I was coming back from the whole trifecta and that happened. She readily admitted she was at fault but I requested a police report to account for lost time. I hate that whole area to begin with. I'd be willing to move just to be far away from that mess.

 

[greystone]

It’s pure and simple selfishness. Reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw years ago.
“As a matter of fact I do own the road.”

I think it's part selfishness, but I think main issue in our society is that people aren't made to take responsibility for their actions.

 

[simplesam]

Glad you weren't hurt. It's amazing what people do.
I've often said I'd like to have an early 70s Chevy PU truck for tooling around town. No air bags, but they used to put real steel into those babies.

i once hada 72 ugly dodge truck but it was tough one ! i think there was enough metal in one fender to make a new truck today

 

[Wovoka]

What bothers me the most is the fact that I'm expected to have more lights on my bike than Las Vegas and wave a flag to announce my presence while being dressed for walking an airport runway but no one is expected to see me. I'm sharing the road with the Lord of the Flies.

 

[Largeandy]

Glad all were ok. Lots of selfish AHoles out there in cages, most of them on cell phones..ALL THE TIME!!!!

 

[simplesam]

Cell phones, in dash touch screens, eating, yelling at kids, driving drunk or stoned, you name it and they're doing it while driving. Usually with the windows rolled up in a sound proof cocoon. Often with a stereo drowning out what little noise does get through.

bout the best one i recall was a lady curling eyelashes in rear view mirror on interstate at 75 mph and heavy traffic---gheezzzz

 

[Wovoka]

In my trucking days I got to witness all sorts of extracurricular activities people would do to avoid actually operating their cars, my favorite was a lady making a sandwich on the steering wheel.

 

[FetalEcho]

I consider all drivers to be idiots and I'm invisible. Unfortunately, one second of day dreaming and not reading the traffic and the idiots on the road could mean a disaster.
Glad you were on 4 wheels

 

[HINK]

Great reminder. We see it every day.

 

[Wovoka]

Great reminder. We see it every day.

View attachment 381584

ERMAGERD!

 

[Rusty Arse]

So many people on the road today with no insurance, no tags, driving on a suspended license probably because of a drug or alcohol related offense know they won't be held accountable unless they kill someone. The "you can't squeeze blood out of a turnip" ideology.