Cursed Left Turn

[azoomm]

Originally Posted by Curb

i would say that about 95% of the lights here in florida have a left turn signal light and it doesn't do shit. people still turn infront of bikes. if its not at a left turn its up the road a little when they are making a uturn. hell my accident was because the asshole made a right turn into the left lane cutting cross two lanes of traffic

That's what I was thinking In fact, one of the accidents I listed above was AT an intersection. It just didn't have a protected turn light [arrow].

Blood and gore - or showing little Sally without a mommy doesn't work, just look at Drunk Driving PSAs. Maybe making us look more "real", that we aren't just a wild pack of 2-year-old punk hooligans.

[Racerboy]

After surviving one of these head-on crashes 8 1/2 years ago, I have modified my riding considerably....

If there are three lanes of travel, I try to not use the Left lane at all...this way if they start to dart out, they might have a chance to stop or reconsider and if I am not in the fast/left lane, I have that much more of a chance.

I ALWAYS ride with my bright lights on during the day time hours no matter who it pisses off in the process. One man who was doing a u-turn in front of me after a brief hesitation, actually stopped at the next traffic light to tell me the brights might be on....I told him they were and asked him, "Could YOU see me?" He told me yes, and I explained that it was worth it them, otherwise I might be dead.

Speeding in town on local surface streets is just a Russian Roulette game waiting for a location to happen. I don't like to speed when I am in city traffic, too many potential hazards with too many inattentive cager's out there to make it worth while.

[Amorok]

I ride as cautiously as possible, I wear brightly colored clothes and helmet, I have a taillight flasher, and I'm as vigilant as possible. People still try to kill me with their cars. I rode all day yesterday and had four or five close calls. The ones that really piss me off is when someone looks at me and pulls out to try and beat me somewhere. When that shit happens I get right up next to them and point, to let them know I see them. Then I give them the "you've been naughty" index finger wave. I want them to know they fucked up.

Maybe by making ourselves more acceptable to people we've done ourselves a disservice. People aren't afraid of us, so they don't care about pissing us off. Maybe if they thought we were all still 1%'ers they wouldn't fuck about quite so much.

[marko138]

We just did a story last week about a girl who plowed over a motorcyclist as HE made a left hand turn. He claimed to have a left turn arrow. He suffered two broken legs...and no medical insurance...which is another story altogether. As the police arrived the girl who hit him left the scene.

It was being billed as a hit and run.

Come to find out...that the driver of the motorcycle was DRUNK...and the girl had a green light. So the motorcyclist actually turned left in front of HER. Boom. Guying being charged with DUI and girl not being charged.

[HRCNICK11]

Large civil suits get lots of press. If you can sue the city for there inablity to prove a safe traffic light that would get lots of press. But would also cost lots in Lawyer fees. Want to be noticed it will cost you.

I had a cop let a girl go with out even checking her papers after she failed to yeald the right of way to me. She had a stop sign and I did not the cop was behind me and almost smashed me between his front bumper and the girls door. I was pretty upset with the cop and almost got taken to jail as the girl drove away. He had the nerve to tell me if I did not get my bike out of the intersection he would ticket me for impeading traffic. I picked my bike off the ground and rode straight to the police station and filed a report on the officer.

[Curb]

Originally Posted by HRCNICK11

Large civil suits get lots of press. If you can sue the city for there inablity to prove a safe traffic light that would get lots of press. But would also cost lots in Lawyer fees. Want to be noticed it will cost you.

I had a cop let a girl go with out even checking her papers after she failed to yeald the right of way to me. She had a stop sign and I did not the cop was behind me and almost smashed me between his front bumper and the girls door. I was pretty upset with the cop and almost got taken to jail as the girl drove away. He had the nerve to tell me if I did not get my bike out of the intersection he would ticket me for impeading traffic. I picked my bike off the ground and rode straight to the police station and filed a report on the officer.

i asked my lawyer about suing the city since where i was hit is actually a very busy intersection and is extremely poorly lit. they told me that the risk out weighs the reward when trying to sue a city. they have experts upon experts to back them up and if you lose guess who has to pay those experts. but he also said that i should look into how many accidents have occurred there...which are quite a few. as soon as i have a spare minute i am going to go over to the police station and get those figures

[speedylocksmith]

Originally Posted by Racerboy

If there are three lanes of travel, I try to not use the Left lane at all...this way if they start to dart out, they might have a chance to stop or reconsider and if I am not in the fast/left lane, I have that much more of a chance.

I do the same exact thing for the left AND the right lane. If I have a choice, I usually ride in the middle lane because it can happen just as easy from someone making a right turn also. It helps limit the odds IMO. Every car that has an opportunity to turn into my path from a connecting road gets my attention. My eyes are ALWAYS on them until I pass them. I usually cover the brake going through intersections or passing cars that are about to come out into the street I'm on.

[Smittie61984]

Originally Posted by jtemple

Most motorcycle accidents on the street are at speeds of 30 mph or less, and most of those are the fault of a cager.
.

I remember seeing stats (For Georgia atleast) that showed that most motorcycle accidents are riders own faults.

But most motorcycle accidents involving more than one vehicle was almost always the fault of the cage.

Unless we outright ban cell phones, radios, make up, reading, writing, friends, etc. Things are never going to change.

We could do PSAs but how often do we watch a PSA and think nothing about it once American Idol or Sienfield come back on 10 seconds later?

[racedoll]

Originally Posted by 101lifts2

The biker has to be aware of what is going on around him, know how to swerve, how to cut between cars and how to brake. Car drivers are not going to change and most bikes that get a car turning left in front of them are usually speeding.

I agree, but it just sucks that we have to be so over-conscious of our surrounding. We have to be at the height of defensive driving, yet cagers can just be so absent-minded it's pathetic.

Really though, even in a car around this area you have to be defensive. We have people run stop signs left and right.... my sister was a victim of it a couple weeks ago. Someone ran the stop sign, clipped her - CRV totaled... yet the other girl was able to drive her car away.

Originally Posted by Dnyce

make every left turn have its own signal light. not just the big streets, all of em. cant turn left without a green arrow. that would cause alil more to alot more traffic, but drastically stop to completely eliminate that "left turn accident"

Even if they put up left turn lights, you still have to contend with those that turn right on red. I had a green light and some douche turned right on red in front of me. It wasn't even close, but would have been had I not been paying attention.

[pauldun170]

Left turns....how bout instead of relying on the typical American driver to uphold there end of the bargain we just treat any oncoming car as someone who will ignore rules of the road and end up in your path. If you are making the left...Don't make the turn untill you verify the car is either slowing down, (or stopped if appropriate)...and the driver is looking at ya. If this cannot be verified, plan the turn based on the idiots will be accelerating slightly and aiming for you so play a bit of frogger.

If you notice a car bout to make a left..watch the tires...see where they are pointed..look at the driver..slow down a bit (as in speed limit) change lanes, stand up sit down..tap the hi beam or horn until you ARE SURE the eyes of the driver are on you or..if its a two laner...use another car for linebacker.

Until then you can't do a damn thing. you can ask every driver on the road to be be careful..and they wioll respond "it's those stupid motorcycles" and then start off with a rant about stunters or asshats who do 120 in a 40 in flipflops.


in other words

As a biker....if you get in an accident...it's your fault. Your responsibilty to pay special attention.
(excluding fucking deer popping out of nowhere....i swear those fucker use catapults from the side of the road...that and squirrels