Anything annoy you street riding?

[earlfor]

Get that all the time here. They don't want to go any faster, they just want to be in front.

If only I was driving an M60 and could push them as far "up front" as I would like. heh

[mharrington]

I listen to local news every morning. 2 times this week a motorcycle accident occured. No deaths but both accidents were NEAR MY HOUSE! One was the cyclists fault the other was the car drivers fault. These are areas where I ride. Damn.

[Deuce]

1. NOT USING TURN SIGNALS is my biggest pet peeve.
2. Car bumpers flapping in the breeze as the car drives down the highway.
3. Pickups with their tailgate down, with stuff in the back. I once passed a guy on the highway with two big block Chevy heads riding on the tailgate itself.
4. People that have their car seats so far back that their heads are even with the B-pillar. You can't see squat!
5. Slow-azz drivers in the fast lane.
6. Many more that I can't think of till I see them.

The Department of Public Safety was supposed to go after drivers that don't secure their loads in their trucks. I haven't seen it. In the meantime, I dodge mattresses, ladders, sledge hammers, 4x4s, etc.

[Boriqua]

The phone thing has really changed the game out there.

People have been doing inconsiderate crap and there were just poor drivers in all the time I have ridden/driven but long term motorcyclist know that they develop motorcycle radar. I never pull away from a light until I check for the last guy rushing to beat the yellow .. I have a pretty good sense if that guy looking to make the left in front of me is going to go in front of me or wait for me to go past and so on. I know when the guy coming down the entrance ramp sees me or doesnt and should I get on the gas or off.

Most of the long term riders can name a ton of things they just kind of intuit when out riding.

But the phones throw a whole unpredictability factor into the mix. Its kind of hard to gauge a drivers potential reaction when they aren't even looking up. Used to be a guy drifting into my lane was an odd occurrence. It happened but he was usually drunk and it happened infrequently .. now I seem to get visitors in my lane almost every outing .. that or the guy ahead of you drifting onto the shoulder and kicking up road debris.

I dont recall ever having so many people come up so close to my rear end at lights. Its a little nerve wracking. I think once they see the light go yellow they know they are coming to a stop and reach for the phone like its a pacifier. They come to a complete stop while reading texts and IMHO they come a little close for comfort.

I am a libertarian minded kind of fellow and am usually against any new rules and regs but .. that phone stuff on the roads is nuts.

[GSXR7ED]

^^Agree 100%

The cell phone has become the biggest distraction. Oncoming traffic comes into my lane as I drive my Honda Pilot. I use to stay about 1.5 foot from the center line but now I find myself closer to the outside line.

Even in the car when I approach a red light at stopped traffic, I leave myself enough room in case I need to move forward if a car stops too close to the back of my car.

It's become second nature to take all the precautions.That's the best we can do out there for a safe journey to and fro.


Ed

[robertbarr]

I suspect that many of the cell phone / texting critics in this thread do the exact same thing when they are behind a car wheel.

They just don't want anyone else doing it while they are riding. If you own a smart phone..... I can almost guarantee you do it or have done it multiple times.

Never.

Even though my 2018 Mazda has all that hands-free garbage, it's never been used. The phone is off unless the car is parked somewhere safe.

[earlfor]

Never.

Even though my 2018 Mazda has all that hands-free garbage, it's never been used. The phone is off unless the car is parked somewhere safe.

I would have no problem with a law making it illegal to operate a vehicle while using a phone for anything other than calling the police or a ambulance with an on the spot penalty of revocation and confiscation of license and vehicle and crushing of vehicle.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

I find myself riding less and less. I was nearly hit 3 times in the last 4 years and 2 of them would've killed me. I'm seriously thinking of selling the GS and the 14 but really can't start the process. I'd hate to sell them and then find myself missing riding. The traffic is so bad and there is a higher percentage of aggressive idiots to deal with.
And to think of what the future brings, these could be called the good old days.

[earlfor]

I find myself riding less and less. I was nearly hit 3 times in the last 4 years and 2 of them would've killed me. I'm seriously thinking of selling the GS and the 14 but really can't start the process. I'd hate to sell them and then find myself missing riding. The traffic is so bad and there is a higher percentage of aggressive idiots to deal with.
And to think of what the future brings, these could be called the good old days.

I know exactly how you feel Keith. I considered selling the bikes due to the horrible drivers I have to contend with with nearly every ride.
It's rare I can go for a ride-about without having someone being a serious threat and having to take avoidance measures. It used to be that I could ride for months at a time without anyone threatening me with bodily injury. Now, it happens on average about once every 20 minutes.
It seems as if they look for someone to pick a fight with. I still enjoy riding, but it isn't the relaxed time it used to be. It's more a combat mission. I've been at it long enough that I'm not an easy target, but I'm getting tired of having to be always "locked and loaded" on a hair trigger.

I don't think I can quit though. Odds are, I'll probably ride until one of them punches my ticket.

[earlfor]

I find myself riding less and less. I was nearly hit 3 times in the last 4 years and 2 of them would've killed me. I'm seriously thinking of selling the GS and the 14 but really can't start the process. I'd hate to sell them and then find myself missing riding. The traffic is so bad and there is a higher percentage of aggressive idiots to deal with.
And to think of what the future brings, these could be called the good old days.

I understand exactly Keith. It used to be I could ride for months without an incident of someone attacking me with their car. Now, it happens about every 20 minutes on every ride. I mostly ride these days on back roads with little traffic and I pick my times and roads, and I still have to deal with idiots. Instead of a ride, it's a combat mission. Lock and load, crank up the gain on the radar, and hair trigger, 2nd place doesn't count. It gets tiresome. I've considered selling the bikes.

[Carter Turk]

We all know when going for a ride, it's a luxury.
Many folks don't have the means, time or money to enjoy going for a ride or eating 3 meals a day.
Even us cheap GSR's are getting what a lot of people will never have, so for me to whine about something negative, doing a luxurious thing is rather sad actually.
I was just sharing my thoughts after the most recent ride.
I always look for the positive in life, but found when I do decide to go for a ride, the odds these days are higher for a touch of negativity.
I don't think I could/would ever give up street riding completely, but do look forward to doing trackdays 3-5 days a year.
I received over 50 tickets in my 36 years of riding on the street, so I don't buy the argument that trackdays are more expensive.
Doing them won't lead to giving up riding all together either, at least in my opinion.
I admit to have called/answered the phone while driving, though it's usually a family member in need of something.
The rectangle is not glued to me and most friends complain I never answer the phone.

[dorkburger]

I’ve been noticing on my night rides lately that more and more oncoming car drivers are douchey, lazy, or depending on an auto dim function for their high beams.

[Carter Turk]

We're all about roundabouts here in Whatcom County Washington, I guess it's cheaper than traffic lights and supposedly keeps traffic flowing.

I ran a few errands this morning on the ES, usually this time of year students are heading home to whereever they live, (WWU, a community college, tech school 10-15K students?) but the cluster fck, that is King County (Seattle) and elsewhere are causing more people to flock here when student leave or so it seems. Maybe it's the weed, I don't know. Big traffic volumes everywhere, lights that seem to take forever to change, only for the next light 75 yards or meters ahead to turn red after waiting 3 minutes for the last one, burning precious "freedom juice" as my friend calls it, while waiting for all these lights.

Anyway, I go through a round about 2 miles from my home, I'm clearly going all the way around counter clockwise, past where I could go out of the circle. A car entering the roundabout nudges out, she's staring right at me, window down, maybe even a Prius, she gives me the body language and creeping of the car that says, she's going right in front of me broadside. I look straight at her, it seems to me she's saying thru telepathy, "are you going?", eventhough I have the right away, she keeps nudging forward, I say thru my motorcycle, no your not! Figured I'm not going to check up for her when she's supposed to yield. Maybe it'll make her more aware or motorcycles next time and I saw her thoughts way before she wanted me to t-bone her in a motorcycle car way. I continued on like nothing happened, no waving of hands or anything and she wasn't anywhere near me when I completed the circle.

[earlfor]

We're all about roundabouts here in Whatcom County Washington, I guess it's cheaper than traffic lights and supposedly keeps traffic flowing.

I ran a few errands this morning on the ES, usually this time of year students are heading home to whereever they live, (WWU, a community college, tech school 10-15K students?) but the cluster fck, that is King County (Seattle) and elsewhere are causing more people to flock here when student leave or so it seems. Maybe it's the weed, I don't know. Big traffic volumes everywhere, lights that seem to take forever to change, only for the next light 75 yards or meters ahead to turn red after waiting 3 minutes for the last one, burning precious "freedom juice" as my friend calls it, while waiting for all these lights.

Anyway, I go through a round about 2 miles from my home, I'm clearly going all the way around counter clockwise, past where I could go out of the circle. A car entering the roundabout nudges out, she's staring right at me, window down, maybe even a Prius, she gives me the body language and creeping of the car that says, she's going right in front of me broadside. I look straight at her, it seems to me she's saying thru telepathy, "are you going?", eventhough I have the right away, she keeps nudging forward, I say thru my motorcycle, no your not! Figured I'm not going to check up for her when she's supposed to yield. Maybe it'll make her more aware or motorcycles next time and I saw her thoughts way before she wanted me to t-bone her in a motorcycle car way. I continued on like nothing happened, no waving of hands or anything and she wasn't anywhere near me when I completed the circle.

The problem with that is it doesn't matter how many times you "win", you still only have to lose once.

[bccap]

The problem with that is it doesn't matter how many times you "win", you still only have to lose once.

The only place in the world I've seen the " Right of way " work is India. The first time my driver pulled out to pass and there was a car coming the opposite way I damn near crapped myself. But a couple of toots on the horn by both drivers and the car with the right of way creeped onto the shoulder to let us pass. It's a regular thing not to stand on " Right of way " there. Though there are lots of accidents the " right of way " thing is never pushed........