Riding along the A453 on the Burgman 125 from the M1 to Nottingham the other evening and cruising at a comfortable 60 mph, I came up behind a silver 4x4 plodding along at around 45mph. I proceeded to overtake the vehicle, getting to a point where I was just passing the front of his car, whereupon the driver who must have been offended by the effrontery of having a scooter overtake him, increased his speed and delayed the point at which I could complete the manoeuvre with a by then oncoming car approaching in the distance. Having finally got in front of the idiot, he then had the childishness to flash his headlights. Do some of the drivers of these overgrown Tonka toys have their brains transplanted with a lump of shit? It makes you wonder sometimes.
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Oh Bother! I Dropped the Bike
@ 2008-08-15 – 12:55:57
I was a bit of a numpty this morning on the GSXR when attempting to move out from a side road into a main road. I needed to sharpen the angle from what I was originally going to pull from. I stalled the engine and over the bike went. It was right at the front of a line of traffic too. I felt a right idiot. I was wearing full leathers so no injuries and I was able to cushion the bike’s fall with my leg so no damage was done to the bike.
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...And Again!
@ 2008-07-16 – 12:53:21
I was pulled over again last Thursday night at around 10:00 on the way home from work on the Burgman. The traffic policeman, in a marked car, had followed me for quite a distance without me noticing. I had noticed a car following me but I thought it was someone playing about as his nearside headlight needed some angle adjustment.
I had been exceeding the limit but as it was not more then 20 over the limit and the roads, 40mph limit dual carriageways, were empty he was not too concerned about my speed. He did take issue with the fact that I had undertook a slower moving car that was in an outside lane. Actually I did the lane change to filter off to the left and the other driver was going straight on but I suppose that is classed as undertaking.
He would have given me another £60/3 points but as I said I had 9 already, he did not think the offence was worth a disqualification. I just got my fortune told again.
It shook me up a bit getting stopped again so soon after the last time. It made me aware that my road discipline has gotten lapse and needs some work, though.
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Oh God, not again!
@ 2008-07-01 – 15:54:29
No not another off, fortunately.
The police were having a blitz on the Small Heath dual carriage way in Birmingham this morning. I was caught doing 56 in a 40mph limit on the Burgman 125. They pinged me from 700 feet away. I could have been doing that I suppose. The sunlight makes the speedometer hard to read at times. Not that I spent that much time staring at it anyway as I thought I was riding at a safe and appropriate speed.
I somehow feel like I fell foul to that situation that has to allow for the lowest common denominator, the driver who can’t judge an appropriate speed for the conditions himself and has to be told by signs that have to be set at a limit to cater for the most stupid of them. It’s a long straight road with no side turnings except towards the end of it.
Cheeky beggars weren’t that noticeable in the distance. Though the guy that stepped out to wave me in was wearing a Hi Viz vest, the guy behind the tripod and camera wasn’t. He was in black.
The PCSO who filled out the form made a mistake stating that the scooter was a manual and it is in fact an automatic, lol… hmm, wonder if that makes the ticket invalid.
I had a few panic stricken moments after one of the multitude of police persons there, about 10 I think, asked for my tax disc and I pulled out an out of date one for the c*r from my wallet by mistake. There followed a hurried search for the proper one, hoping to God I had it in my wallet.
I’m not complaining though as I had it coming. I am, while I think safe, definitely no saint when I am riding. So that’s 9 points now. 3 of those dropped out the totting up range a year ago and three more will drop out of the range in September.
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Morning Road Rage.
@ 2008-03-18 – 22:00:22
You don’t half get some idiots on the road. The other morning on the way to work on the Burgman 125, I happened to filter to the front of a queue of traffic on the A45 out of Birmingham and angled the bike slightly across the bows of a light green hatchback in the inside lane of the dual carriageway so he would see I was there.
The lights changed and I pulled away only to have this clot immediately race up close behind me blasting his horn. I pulled away at a fair old speed so I couldn’t have held him up. He continued this childishness for a 100 yards before pulling sharply out into the outside line to overtake me but came up close behind a slower moving car shortly ahead of him. Fed up with all this I pulled away to try and leave the idiot behind. Fully thinking he’d soon catch up, as the Burgman tops out at 70mph, but glancing back in the mirror I saw that another biker, who was alongside me at the lights, seemed to have slowed down to hold him back about a hundred yards behind. Thanks whoever you are if you did.
The idiot did manage to catch up finally on the off ramp to the airport, where he pulled up alongside and tried to swerve into me. This left me only one option and that was to undertake the car in front using what looked like a cycle lane so as not be squished. Apologies to the person in that car whoever you are. As for the idiot in the hatchback, it was probably the wrong time of the month for him.
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Close call.
@ 2008-03-15 – 21:02:56
I nearly got wasted this morning on the bike. Commuting to work on the Burgman, I pulled up at some traffic lights. Then I heard a car screeching and skidding behind me. Looked around and some muppet in a blue saloon was inches from my back tyre.
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Motorway scooter commute.
@ 2008-01-01 – 23:40:16
I thought for the hell of it, I'd ride the scooter home via the M42 last night and what an interesting experience it was too. It is definitely something I shall not be making a habit of in the future. It didn't help matters that it was raining and blow a gale at the time.
Though the scooter managed it OK at a steady pace of 65 mph, I will be happy to battle it put with the cross city traffic from now on
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Nearly caused an accident the other morning.
@ 2007-12-09 – 22:38:07
I did something this morning while riding to work that I shall not be doing again in a similar situation. Seeing an oncoming car that had stopped momentarily to let someone out of a side road on his left, I stopped myself and nodded for him to come out as no oncoming traffic was in motion. Someone had to or he would never have gotten out. At that point, a car that had been waiting behind the car that had stopped, got bored with waiting, darted out and overtook him, narrowly missing the car that had just start to exit the side road. Felt a right idiot that I nearly caused an accident. Lesson learned and yes, I know… poor obs.
Curiously enough I was caught out by something almost the same when I was in West Germany. I was the one coming out of side road. Another driver needed to enter the side road but couldn't until I came out as it was too narrow. He waited, I came out and was hit by a car overtaking him. They don't have the caveat of not overtaking near junctions as we do here and I was the one deemed at fault.
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A case of road rage?
@ 2007-12-09 – 22:32:17
I saw something I thought was odd yesterday whilst out in the car on the M42. One car, a red Mini, pulled out in front of another car, a black BMW. The BMW driver braked and sounded his horn in one short blast, followed by two long blasts. The Mini driver replied with, one long blast, one short, another long blast and finally another short blast. The BMW driver, obviously a tad miffed, then proceeded to tailgate the other up the road, repeating the same sequence of blasts. Whilst thinking what a pair of tossers, it occurred to me it sounded like Morse (code, not the TV detective) with the BMW using the code for "W" (w*nker perhaps) and the Mini driver using the code for "C". Could this be another way for drivers to express their irritation? Suppose it would make a change from the odd angry toot if it was.
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The morning aarrgh!
@ 2007-12-09 – 22:29:16
Why do some drivers stop and wait at the beginning of the slip road to join the motorway instead of using the full length of the slip road to merge in gradually. I see it every morning. A car is stopped waiting to join, no one will let them in front of them and the traffic just to piles up behind them. I guiltily undertake the whole queue where I safely can and merge into the motorway lane easily further up.
In Germany. They have something which they call the Reißverschluß, literally zipper feed, which states that both lanes feed into the continuing lane, alternating cars from each lane. No one lane has priority over the other. Would make much more sense as the traffic keeps moving and everybody gets where they want go.
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