Assured Safe Distance....Saved a life today.

[2ndovc]

Took a different route home today as I had to drop off something at the
better half's office.

Was poking along a two lane road near the Lake when the Motorcycle
in front of me tried to stop hard to avoid the stopped car in front of him.

His back wheel shot out the left, he tried to control the bike but put his
left leg down and both bike and rider rolling over and over.
I hit my hazards and pulled off to the shoulder to block as much as possible.
A kid in another pick up pulled along side me to block off the rest of the lane.

By the time I got to the rider he was up, walking and talking. We got his Victory up and
off the road then helped clean up the stuff from one his saddle bags that had come open.

He was wearing a good set of leathers but only had a do-rag on his head. He got danged luck there!
We asked again if he was ok and he insisted he was. He was really embarrased I think.
Anyway I told him to keep an eye on the stuff that hurts and should get checked out anyway.
He thanked us and started putting his stuff away. The Bike looked ok. Considering.

I sent an email about it off to my Dad. When he tought me to drive almost 30 years ago to always
keep plenty of room between you and the guy in front of you. He always said you never know
what some goofball is going to do! As far as I'm concerned
he saved that guys life tonight. If I had been riding his behind like he was doing to the old gal in
front of him he'd probably be toast right now and I'd be in big trouble!

Thanks Dad!

Be careful out there!

jb

[jnyork]

Two-second rule will keep you out of a lot of trouble.

[FWiedner]

I always give the scooter crowd a lot of room.

There's no protection from other vehicles on a bike unless the drivers of those other vehicles provide it.

[gamekeeper]

Good advice, I wish more folks followed it.

[kevin in nh]

you probably did....one of the best training classes I took as an LEO was skid school.....you can not stop fast enough to keep from hitting the vehicle, or in your case the biker even at 45 miles per hour with 3 car lenghts between you.......AND you know they are going to stomp the break at any second....and you end up beside or past the break vehicle.......every time !

[AJMD429]

I always figure "What if the car in front of me suddenly rear-ended a very heavy truck that I couldn't see, so came to an almost instant STOP...?" If I can't stop in that distance, I back off...

If someone BEHIND me isn't following that rule, I slow down until their distance IS appropriate for our speed, which is typically far slower than they want to go, even though they seem to like being one-car-length behind me. They generally pass me in a huff, and go on to tail-gate the next car. They get to their destination a whole ten seconds or so earlier, too...

[Old Ironsights]

Only problem with ASD is that in Urban Traffic it means you are essentially driving in reverse as the %$#^%$#^&%$^&s keep cutting you off...

[spaceman spiff]

Two-second rule will keep you out of a lot of trouble.

yep....... one thousand one, one thousand two.......



spaceman

[rjohns94]

Glad it turned out ok all around

[Blaine]

Thanks for not killing a Brother Biker.......Man, I always keep tons of room in front of me. (1) I'm getting older, and reaction time might be off, and (2) I can stop slower and the guy behind me has more time to see me stopping.

[buckeyeshooter]

pretty cool weather for riding a motorcycle. Good job!

[2ndovc]

pretty cool weather for riding a motorcycle. Good job!

For Ohio in Feb. it's been freakin' warm. It was in the upper 60's the other day. If I still had my bike I'd have been out too.

jb

[bdhold]

snowstorm crossing the Rockies will cool us all off and remind us its still winter

2 second rule is great where may fit in, but they did a study that if everyone abided by it in urban rush hours, they would create traffic gridlock and no one could get to work. Driving alert, anticipating, knowing where every vehicle is around you, and knowing what is going three or four cars ahead are more important than counting.

[kimwcook]

I always try and keep plenty of distance between me and the traffic in front of me. Sometimes, like driving around Seattle/Portland area, it's almost an impossibility. If you keep that distance someone else is going to scoot in and take it anyway. One of the many reasons I won't live on the westside of either state.

[mikld]

I prefer the older method to determine distance between me and them; a car length for every 10 MPH I'm traveling. I taught my daughters this (how many cars can you fit between you and the guy in front of you?), but their drivers ed teachers taught them differently (one chimpanzee, two chimpanzee, etc). But, I noticed this only 2 second rule only works with older folks. Everybody knows how fast a teen aged girl talks; "one chimpanzee" takes 1/10th of a second.

[Sixgun]

Jason,
Good move dude! I wish others would heed that advice, or at least have the common sense to know the difference. My biggest annoyance is individuals climbing up my butt when I'm doing the speed limit or over and there's plenty of room to go around me. I've thrown more than one tissue out the window at 'em. (works great.--they don't know if its a tissue or a rock)

Remember, when an individual is riding your back bumper, they are also putting your life at risk.----------Sixgun

[Nath]

The times I have to slow down because of muppets that get to close, sometimes down to 20mph and they just sit there. Muppets.

Well done on looking after the biker

Nath.

[AJMD429]

Remember, when an individual is riding your back bumper, they are also putting your life at risk.----------Sixgun

REGARDLESS OF 'TRAFFIC' - I feel the same sentiments towards a 'tailgater' as I do when I see someone with a loaded gun absent-mindedly waving the muzzle at me - they deserve the same 'tolerance'...

[piller]

Sadly, in the Dallas area morning traffic, if you give 10 feet, you probably will have some idiot put his front fender into you at about a 45 degree angle. Most people seem to actually want to drive right, but the few loose cannons cause everyone else to drive the way they do. The idiots who cut in be running over the rumble strips at the on ramps so that they usually miss the concrete divider by inches are the worst of all in my opinion. When the miscalculate, they not only will probably kill themselves, but the other driver as well. I just don't understand why it is always a pickup being driven that way, and the pickup looks like it has never even seen a dirt road, much less been on one.

[Borregos]

Jason,
Good move dude! I wish others would heed that advice, or at least have the common sense to know the difference. My biggest annoyance is individuals climbing up my butt when I'm doing the speed limit or over and there's plenty of room to go around me. I've thrown more than one tissue out the window at 'em. (works great.--they don't know if its a tissue or a rock)

Remember, when an individual is riding your back bumper, they are also putting your life at risk.----------Sixgun

+1

[86er]

Great job! That must have been a hair raising incident.

[JHarold]

At my age I try to observe the 3 or 4 second rule, but someone always wants the spot in front of me.