Topic: I lost it this morning - My Extreme Road Rage and First Bike Mishap!

[bluezboy]

              Well it finally happened this morning, as I was headed home after my morning school bus route, a car that I KNOW DAMN WELL saw me turned left into a college parking lot as I was approaching the entrance. I slammed on the brakes and skidded about 8-10', and missed the back portion of the car by inches.   I was f#cking livid, so in rage that surprised even me,  I  yanked my bike to the right and followed the car into the parking lot, but  I was going too fast and that's when I actually hit her car in the back when it came to almost a complete stop to go over a speed bump, whimp ass!
           I had grabbed more brake as I realized that I was going too damn fast and the car was stopped, so  I skidded into the car's bumper going about 5 MPH,  the bike fell on its left side, well actually I stopped it from doing that and eased it down. Now my blood is really boiling at this point, mostly from my own stupidity for hitting her car with my baby when my only  real intention was to confront her about almost killing me!
        "Didn't you see me back there?", I said.
        " Didn't you see me?" she shot back. touche'!
          I picked up my bike and moved it out of the way so we could exchange information. Luckily for me this happened on the college's property and not the city street, otherwise I'm sure I would be getting a ticket for ramming her car.
       She swears she didn't see me even though  I had my high beam on. I saw her behind another car that did turn into the same lot before her and I was sure she was going to wait for me to pass the entrance.  Oh yeah, I had my finger on my horn the moment I saw her front wheel turn and she just kept right on turning in front of me like I wasn't there!
          There's no damage to my bike except for a small scape on the left cover plate and her car just had a skid mark from my tired and a small abrasion from my fender, I think. Of course she'll probably try to milk the insurance company to pay more than she's entitled to. I did calm down enough to apologize to her, I can't remember if she said she was sorry though.
       This happened when I let me rage/exhaustion get the upper hand, in the past I'd let those near misses roll off of me, but this morning was too damn close for comfort. After a year of riding I've reached the point where my confidence in my riding ability has made me more impatient at times of traffic and of morons like that, so I'm going to park my bike until next Friday when I ride to Barbers. When I first bought this bike, one of my rules that I made my self stick to was that I would never ride angry, now that I've passed this milestone, it's time to give it a rest and get my head back to a safer frame of mind. Sorry for the rant!  Whepw!!!!!!!!!

[70CB750]

Easy to understand.  I had few similar encounters with drivers when on bicycle. 

One moron in mustang tried to push me off the road with his side mirror, actually he did get me in the ditch,   another one hit me in the left leg with the fender of his trailer - I followed this one and got very close to breaking his nose and ribs and what not, the memory still gets my blood boiling.

Right or not, I always - hmm most of the time - drive to get back home in one piece. If somebody pisses me off now, I just imagine explaining to the judge why and how it happened - it is not worth it, trust me 

[bluezboy]

 Amen to that brother, I think I dodged a bullet this time. I'll behave myself when I do get back on it, after my cooling off period!

[Bluto]

Vern.........

Brother i am sure glad it wasn't worse! 5 mph accidents beat the crap outa those faster ones.

For what it's worth.......I find that Xanex and Makers Mark takes the edge off of a case of road rage better than ramming the idiot driver.

See ya Friday!

Bill

[Blueridgerunner]

One thing that has helped me has been carrying a concealed weapon. I find myself answering a "higher duty" to avoid those situations. Besides, I figure that if I started in with every idiot I encountered out there, that's all I would get done as apparently there are a great number of them.   

[bluezboy]

Blue, I would not trust myself with a loaded weapon since I'm too sleep deprived sometimes, I'm a lot more calmer these days since that near miss.
 
   

.

[Dyrden]

Better to lose a minute in a life than a life in a minute...  that being said, I usually voice my anger through straight pipes and 10k RPM in the drivers window.  Flames sometimes accompany for added effect.

[arblebang]

Its good that there was a lesson learned in all this, but you certainly aren't alone. I too have let my nastier side emerge form time to time especially in response to old senile drivers who overpopulate my town down here in Florida. Once, I was riding my bike in the slow lane, with two lanes to the left of me filled with high speed dense traffic. For no reason at all, a lady coming down a side street decided to turn right without stopping for her stoplight, and she turned right into me. She noticed it as she was merging into me, I was going about 45 and squeezed as far as I could against a box truck traveling the same speed in the center lane. I should have slowed down, taken the mature route, and fallen in behind her. Instead, I pulled the clutch, revved the engine, and mashed the horn. This was on my GV1200, it can get quite loud in the upper register, and she was noticeable terrified, despite being safely encased in steel.

We proceeded like this for 100ft or more, at which time she apparently decided to avoid me. Rather than slowing down or stopping at any point during this adventure, she decided to veer right. This sent her over the curb and onto the sidewalk, where she bounced to a stop against a soft grass hill.

Vindication was briefly mine, until the thought crossed my mind of what would have happened if a child was walking down that sidewalk. It would have been her fault but I could have prevented it by acting like an adult.

Liva and learn, indeed.

[Randy]

I have kicked in two doors on cars that almost hit me or tried to run my off the road..

[catseye]

NOt many people would share an experience like this, you are to be commended for your maturity (at lest the maturity displayed here  ). I think we all could be easily put in this position, and it was helpful for me to read thses experiances and think about it. Hopefully I will remember these stories before I blow up and do something I would regret on the road... outweighed by a couple of thousand pounds........ thanks for sharing.

[Really?]

I have kicked my share of car doors during my long riding life and have had that rage come upon me.  Good thing the rage did not take me to anything physical.  Carry a gun on me while riding?  Nope, won't do it because there might be that chance I would use it.

A buddy of mine had a M1 Carbine and we would go shooting when we were young.  He kept it strapped to the side of the bike in plain view.  People did keep clear of us when they saw it.  How we never got pulled over by the cops is beyond me.

Glad you got out of this one on the easy side.  It was good experience really.  Really!

[bluezboy]

I have kicked my share of car doors during my long riding life and have had that rage come upon me.  Good thing the rage did not take me to anything physical.  Carry a gun on me while riding?  Nope, won't do it because there might be that chance I would use it.

A buddy of mine had a M1 Carbine and we would go shooting when we were young.  He kept it strapped to the side of the bike in plain view.  People did keep clear of us when they saw it.  How we never got pulled over by the cops is beyond me.

Glad you got out of this one on the easy side.  It was good experience really.  Really!

 Yeah, I still replay that incident in my head and it scares me to remember how much I really had lost it that day. It just shows me how much potential I have for violence at times, though it's been 35 years since I've been in a real fight.  Guns + me on my bike with morons in the way would be a bad mix!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cb650]

Just strapping a ball bat to the seat tends to keep people a little more respectful.

[mickey6]

Better to lose a minute in a life than a life in a minute...  that being said, I usually voice my anger through straight pipes and 10k RPM in the drivers window.  Flames sometimes accompany for added effect.

+1

I was lane splitting in LA and came up on a stopped car with their door open. I slowed down. When I saw the door close I punched it, just to have the door swing open and hit my bars. I hit my shoulder on a car on the otherside of me (kept me upright). I came to the light gave the guy the finger and reved my engine (like a jackass). I pulled out quick and stopped on the side of the road to see if he'd stop... sure enough. I got off my bike huffing and puffing ready to kick some ass. When I got to his rig it was a frail old guy who could barely breath. He apologized up and down as did I for flipping him off. He asked if my bike and I were ok. I told him my bars were bent but not a big deal had new ones on the way. I asked him if his rig was ok. He said it was fine. Then I wished him a good night and rode home.

Sometimes stupid things happen on accident..... for the rest of the time carry a bunch of 1" bearings and throw them hahahaha