watch your 180 while stopped..

All,

A gentle reminder: watch your 180 while stopped on your bike. This morning I was out on my Guzzi riding westbound on highway 90 west of Sugar Land. Light turned red, lots of traffic, I was at full stop. As usual, I aimed my bike towards the gap on my right between lanes, and gave myself significant room behind the car stopped in front of me.

Watching my mirror...sure enough a car tearing along coming up behind me, very fast, no signs of slowing. So, I did the emergency flick out of his way into empty right lane. And yes the car barely stopped for the car that was in front of me.

Lesson: watch that 180 with your mirrors. Also, leave bike in gear, with clutch in, and pick lane position when you can move to safety from cars coming from behind. Be vigilant, do not assume cars/trucks can or will see you, or they are paying attention to traffic. High profile trucks are particularly prone to huge blind spots in front of them.

It was pretty close. They taught this lesson in Basic Riding School. Paid off for me one more time. No, I did not digitize him. But a good reminder.

Otherwise a very nice cruise on the Goose.

Be careful out there.

Lucydad,
Thanks for that reminder. Glad your defensive riding paid off.
Ironically, in the city, seems as if the slower we go, the more danger we are in. The only time I've ever been hit is at traffic lights where cagers aren't paying attention (texting).

Always watch your six! Now a good story: In my 12 year old van that I was about to try to sell for $3000. Stopped in traffic. Cars in front and on both sides. Lady coming from behind. I hit hazard flashers. She slows at the last minute. I let off brake to ease impact. She hits me. I hit brake and stop short of the car ahead my inches. The good part? I then had a van that was worth $2800 because of the 2 small dents in the rear doors and the slightly bent bumper. I also had a check for $1800. Back to bad. My brother wanted the van so he could haul all of his grandkids in one vehicle. Wife sells him the van for $500.

I tend to sit at lights with the bike in neutral; I have to remind myself to keep it in gear. Never had an issue on the bike, but I couldn't tell you how many times I've been rear ended in a car at a light. 5, maybe 6 times over 49 years of driving.

Sitting in a left turn lane freaks me out. I will run a red light if there is no on-coming traffic.

Frac trucks and gravel haulers wizzing by at 60 mph give me the willies.

Well evaded. When i was getting started riding, a friend was telling me a story about being on his XS1100 somewhere in West Texas on US-287, at about 2am on his way back from a run to Pike's Peak on a bet, stopped at one of those red lights in a town where the speed limit goes 65-55-45-35-25-redlight-35-45-55-65 and the town Roscoe sits behind the building at the red light watching for speeders. He saw headlights in his mirror approaching quickly, and no signs of slowing. He let the clutch out, slid over onto the shoulder, and kept watching. An 18 wheeler hauling hay blew the intersection without ever slowing down, didn't even brake after the light, and kept going. P.D. never even looked up. If my friend hadn't moved out of the way, he'd have been a grease spot on some trucker's bumper.

It's enough to keep my attention focused rearward in some ratio all the time, but in a majority while slowing/stopping/stopped.

That is my fear. I typical stay in gear pointed like that until I get a few cars stopped behind me then shift to neutral until the light changes. Thanks for the reminder.

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Good reminder. Thanks for sharing.

I will always flash the brake lights as the vehicle approaches if it wasn't directly behind when I stopped. I added a brake light modulator to enhance the effect.

stop signs are the worst cause no body stops.
last week at a stop sign almost had a car go up rear fender. I stopped completely, the car behind me didn't. I had to blast out of his way. The ******* even honked the horn at me. It could have been a Glock moment!

I've never had a car or motorcycle hit at a stop sign. I have, however, been knocked down twice while running -- once by somebody who rolled into me at a stop sign when I was well into the intersection before they arrived, and once at a light when I was in a crosswalk (with a walk light) and a car nearly stopped, then rolled into me. I wasn't injured either time. Nor did the driver bother to stop either time.

Yes, it was a conscious decision to set at a light with the bike in gear and check the mirrors. I had to force myself for a bit, but do it most of the time now without thinking. Always spot your exit.

http://www.proridermc.com/Dallas.php

I did this class back in May and I highly recommend it. This scenario was one or two of the drills we did. Evasive maneuvers from a stop light. Also evasive maneuvers after an emergency stop.

Watching folks on 900 lb. manual cruisers trying to negotiate that second drill creeped me out a bit. There's no way they would have been able to get out of the way in time. On a lighter bike with ABS and DCT, it was quite easy.

It really drove home to me how hard it is to pull off precise clutch lever/throttle/shifter techniques in a panic/emergency situation without stalling or dropping the bike.

A good reminder.
I was stopped at a light a few months ago in my truck when I noticed a vehicle approaching from behind in the next lane. The driver was distracted by the phone in their hand and rammed into the vehicle in the lane next to me, apparently without braking at all. While assisting the folks involved and making sure everyone was ok, it occurred to me, "imagine what this would look like if I had been in the middle of these two vehicles on my motorcycle?"
It's been many years since I forgot to check my six, but the danger is just as real now as before, maybe even more so.
Stay safe y'all.

Glad your ok Lucydad and appreciate the reminder. I’m surprised to hear that some put their bike in neutral at stops. I’ve always kept it in first, left foot on the ground and right foot on the brake.