bazooki
Registered
For the second time in the past two weeks I have had to take evasive action to avoid being run off the road by idiots who don't bother to shoulder check when changing lanes. Both times I have been in my car. The first time was by a Saturn Vue that was changing lanes and traffic was moving at around 90 kph. They just swerved left without even looking and I had to do the same movement into the open lane to my left in order to avoid the collision. When I was in front of them I did the head tap letting them know I thought they should use their freakin head and a few seconds later the guy in the passenger seat sticks his arm out the window and gives me the finger!!! Well, very few things in life piss me off more than somebody giving ME the finger after THEY almost run into ME! I have never understood this reaction but it seems to be happening more and more often nowadays. So I slow down and wait for this loser to catch up to me and then I rolled down the window and let the passenger know what I thought of their gesture. He drops a few f-bombs and asks me if I want to GO? I say sure and start following their car into a neighbourhood. At this point they are driving real slow and probably realize that I am tailing them and that they aren't sure what to do next. Well they won't stop and are just driving in circles waiting for me to go away so I head home with smoke coming out my ears. No confrontation but I was pissed for an hour afterwards at least.
Today I am driving on the divided highway, four lanes in my direction, I am in the left lane doing about 120 kph and a lady in a minivan (insert stereotype here) doing around 100 kph just starts turning in to me, no shoulder check, apparently no mirror check, just changes lanes without paying any attention whatsoever. So I jump on the horn and use the run-off area on the inside beside dividers as a buffer so she doesn't hit the side of my car. She gets the head tap too but this time the driver looks very sheepish as she knows she messed up.....plus it's Mothers Day so what am I gonna do?
Two instances, two near accidents, both caused by dangerous lane changes from people who are either too lazy to shoulder check or just crappy drivers who don't give a damn. Periodically I take a count of how many drivers actually do shoulder check and the results are scary. Is this a lost art? I am not a perfect driver/rider as I do speed on occasion and sometimes in the car I am a little aggressive (although I don't tailgate) but one thing I ALWAYS do is shoulder check when changing lanes. Maybe this is because I am a long time motorcyclist or maybe it is just a habit I have been focused on since I got my licence at 16. Whatever the reason I always do it and I am gonna make sure my kids always do it too when they gets their drivers/riders licence as well. It's one thing to do a dangerous lane change and swap paint or worse with a car but with so many bikes on the road the consequences of this mistake are often deadly and that is not acceptable.:2cents:
Today I am driving on the divided highway, four lanes in my direction, I am in the left lane doing about 120 kph and a lady in a minivan (insert stereotype here) doing around 100 kph just starts turning in to me, no shoulder check, apparently no mirror check, just changes lanes without paying any attention whatsoever. So I jump on the horn and use the run-off area on the inside beside dividers as a buffer so she doesn't hit the side of my car. She gets the head tap too but this time the driver looks very sheepish as she knows she messed up.....plus it's Mothers Day so what am I gonna do?
Two instances, two near accidents, both caused by dangerous lane changes from people who are either too lazy to shoulder check or just crappy drivers who don't give a damn. Periodically I take a count of how many drivers actually do shoulder check and the results are scary. Is this a lost art? I am not a perfect driver/rider as I do speed on occasion and sometimes in the car I am a little aggressive (although I don't tailgate) but one thing I ALWAYS do is shoulder check when changing lanes. Maybe this is because I am a long time motorcyclist or maybe it is just a habit I have been focused on since I got my licence at 16. Whatever the reason I always do it and I am gonna make sure my kids always do it too when they gets their drivers/riders licence as well. It's one thing to do a dangerous lane change and swap paint or worse with a car but with so many bikes on the road the consequences of this mistake are often deadly and that is not acceptable.:2cents:
