What's the worst close call you've ever had?

sleepless_red

The artist formerly known as "sleeper_red"
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Mine happened at the intersection of Middlebrook Rd. and Germantown Rd. I was heading east on 118 doing the speed limit approaching the intersection. We have the green light and the pedestrian light is not even blinking. So, you know that light is not turning yellow anytime soon. When I was almost at the intersection, an elderly woman made a left turn in front of me. The thing is, it's not yield on green for her. Those two turning lanes have RED arrows. What did she do? She took off while it was still red. I squeezed the front brake as hard as I can without locking it up. The bike fishtailed as I locked up the rear. I was inches away from hitting the right rear of her car. I was screaming in anger. I'm just glad I was able to keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up.
 
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Even reading that scares the sh*t out of me. Lucky you! Iv had a couple of close calls myself.

The traffic here is horrible especially during rush hour. I was ridding 60 on the interstate and a pickup pulled a dead stop in front of me (about 5 car lengths away). I squeezed the front brake and locked up the rear for about a second. I swerved into the left into the carpool lain and barely missed his back bumper by about 4 inches. I didn't even know my instinct and reflexes are that fast. Thank god, because that day I was a moron and wasn't wearing any gear besides my helmet. Lucky me.
 
Day 1 of having my first bike. I was riding through the metropark (25mph...parks for cookouts and that type of stuff) and coming to a trafic light I decided to hug the white line vs the center line...and I heard a car behind me rather loud so I looked and pulled up beside the car in front of me to get out of the way. The car coming from behind almost hit the car in front so I would have been smashed.

#2 Last weekend about 150 yds in front of me...70+ mph on the highway...it looked like a NASCAR wreck 3-4 cars spining out and others locking up the breaks hitting each other. I slowed down checked the mirrors and made it through the BS.

When you least expect it / out of your control stuff happens.
 
here's mine in pics...basically i was riding on some unknown territory and came around a sharp turn (black line) too fast. realising i wouldnt make it and was headed for the rocks-big rocks (red line), i steered off for the dirt road and slid nice few feet (green line).

wrong turn.JPG

wrong turn.JPG
 
When I was living in Anaheim Ca. I was going up an overpass at about 50-60 MPH (yes I was going over the speed limit) when I got to the top traffic was stopped. I knew I could not stop and time but managed to get between the side of the overpass and the cars which was probably about 3-4 ft wide.

Now I am always careful when going over hills you never know what is on the otherside. I know someone that was killed when they were speeding over a hill and hit a slow moving tractor on the other side.
 
one day at the busa bash I was following a goldwing that didn't know how to ride, oh wait no that was a crash, what happened was he couldn't make the turn then he put his feet down and drug them through all the debris on the side of the road, putting rocks and dirt and leaves right out in my path, as I slide sideways to avoid going straight off the cliff and down 400 foot drop off, I aim my bike for a dirt berm, knowing full well I may still go over the berm and down to my death(berm was 2 feet high) I slid sideways all the way into it and then come to a complete stop(still upright) but the momentum the bike carried from sliding sideways when it stopped>> flung me and the bike over and slammed us to the ground on the right side pinning me under the bike and on top of the dirt berm....so although I did fall I consider it a save because that's what I had to do to keep from ramping myself 30 feet into the air and falling 400 + feet down a steep hill, causing everyone to have a bad weekend.... then while everyone is helping me out the gen two rolls forward and falls(breaking the foot peg and putting someones shoulder out of place)

but seriously...3 weeks ago, I was on my own street traveling about 10 mph coming up on a red light and slowing down, I'm so damn handsome a car load of girls honk and scream WOO HOO at me so I turn to look and one of them is waving and flailing her arms and sitting on the door's window ledge, I figure wanting a ride...as I'm watching her I roll right past my white (stop) line and into the intersection, car coming towards me from the left @ about 50 mph, I lock up the rear brake and manage to get the arse end to slid around and stop me sideways right next to the curb(allowing the car room to get by) I then turned the bike off and sat in the grass for 5 minutes before proceeding on....have no clue where the girls in the car went....
:laugh:

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West bound on baseline road in Tempe and some ding bat broad turns left in front of me and stops when she sees me...

I do a dirt bike slide sideways right up to the edge of her bumper and do a stand up stop..

I stopped and my leg was about 3" from the bumper and the bike was parallel to the car bumper.. we are both sitting at a 45 in the middle of the intersection..

It was a brown 1976 Ford Granada and the lady had bad hair, was about 30 years old and had both hands in the air... I think she had a zit too...

she had to back up so I could get my spotless black new 750F Honda pulled away without hooking those gawd awful bumper things...


Oh and I passed DJSIN at bash coming up Hellbender riding two up..... :laugh: (at least I honked)
 
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some ding bat broad
It was a brown 1976 Ford Granada and the lady had bad hair, was about 30 years old and had both hands in the air... I think she had a zit too...

(at least I honked)
I think I have seen that girl....lol
oh and in my defense Randy I was riding with a kidney stone,(drugged up on vikoden):rulez: 2 blown fork seals, a lowered bike, shinko u-soft tires, and 0 front brakes from the fall the previous day
 
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SEVERELY over estimated a turn when up riding the dragon for my FIRST TIME at the busa bash. came in too hot for my skill set and locked up both front and rear brakes. front wheel went off the pavement and stopped just short, just enough so i was looking down fthe side of the mountain.....

it took about 20 minutes for me to get back down to the CROT, i got my helmet and gear off and i was shaking. so much so that i couldnt get back on the bike and watched the .org crew go by when they did their memorial ride for kevin that morning.

Busawhipped's friend(I dont remember his name, but he was recording everyone on thier approach into the dragon, also he has the bike with all the bible scriptures and such airbrushed on it) and my brother were very helpful in calming me down and telling me what i did wrong, but congratulating me that i did not go down and i made it through.

I want to ride it one more time just to make it through with no problems.
 
A friend and I were headed north bound in the normal staggered formation when a truck approached south bound. Just as we were about to pass the truck, the driver turned head on into us. There was no time to react, my friend leading collided head on with the truck and ricocheted off just enough for me to go between them (I still don't know how I didn't hit the truck or his airborne bike).

God Speed Brad, we miss you bud!
 
SEVERELY over estimated a turn when up riding the dragon for my FIRST TIME at the busa bash. came in too hot for my skill set and locked up both front and rear brakes. front wheel went off the pavement and stopped just short, just enough so i was looking down fthe side of the mountain.....

it took about 20 minutes for me to get back down to the CROT, i got my helmet and gear off and i was shaking. so much so that i couldnt get back on the bike and watched the .org crew go by when they did their memorial ride for kevin that morning.

Busawhipped's friend(I dont remember his name, but he was recording everyone on thier approach into the dragon, also he has the bike with all the bible scriptures and such airbrushed on it) and my brother were very helpful in calming me down and telling me what i did wrong, but congratulating me that i did not go down and i made it through.

I want to ride it one more time just to make it through with no problems.
That would have been "CrashTestDanny" great guy!!
 
yup. i am absolutely terrible with names.

heck your name is still foggy in my memory(i want to say randy), and you were the first one i met at the bash:rofl:

i remember #'s really well being i deal with paint codes all day long, but names.....not such much:rofl:
 
I've had 2--The one I had last Saturday where the car behind me plowed into the car in front of me only because I thought to move left as traffic stopped... otherwise he woulda taken me out.

The other one happened when I was in my early 20's. I was riding pretty fast on a 2 lane (one in each direction) curvy, hilly road on Long Islands north shore (the roads were also unfamiliar... a real genius move on my part, but youth breeds bad judgement).:rulez:
I crested a hill that I SHOULD have been going no more that 20 mph or so, but was doing around 50, cause OF COURSE I can ride like Valentino Rossi (:rofl:).
Well, maybe 50 yards after cresting the hill, there was a blinking light at the bottom of the hill at a right or left only intersection, AND there were cars stopped at the light in the direction Im going from the light to within maybe 2 car lengths from the crest of the hill.
It caused me to have to go into the oncoming traffic lane to avoid a bad rear ender with the last car in that lineup. Thank GOD there were no cars coming up that hill, cause for sure I woulda been toast.
El stupido mio...
:werd:
 
1ST Was heading north on 87 from fayettville to sanford from visiting the inlaws... had the wife on the back doing about 60 (no crazy riding with her) The entersection is greenlight my way. I'm about 35-40 yrds from entersection (still green my way) I see a truck approaching the entersection from the right (his light is red). He's not slowing down. Sure enough he turns right out in front of me. By the grace of GOD there was no vehicle in the lane next to us (I was able to swerve over.)
2ND Same type sanareo but I was in town at a slower speed coming from work and no passenger on the back. See the car approaching from the right. (My lights Green his is Red) He doesn't stop, pulls right in front of me. To make it worse it was an un-marked cop car. :rulez:I was close enough to the car when he pulled in front of me to see his lights mounted in the back window. And even worse than that after he almost caused me to wreck he goes about two miles up the road and turns left into a parking lot. All that rush to go to miles up the road. And he didn't have lights or siren on so it couldn't have been an emergancie.
3RD Back country road (going to work in the morning) it's patchy fog out... I have my Highbeams and flashers on to make sure I'm noticeable through the foggy parts of the ride. I get to an entersection and stop. I have to turn left. I look both ways there is a car coming from the right (headlights on) Once he passes I'm clear to turn out behind him. Check again and proceed to pull out... As soon as I'm center intersected of the lane I'm crossing I see the Grill of a grey and blue mack truck pulling a flat bed that I never would have tried to beat out if he'd HAD HIS FREAKING HEADLIGHTS on:rulez:. It's foggy, DUUUUHHHH. I had to gun it just enough not to do a wheelie or burnout but enough to get out of the way.
GOD protected me in every situation :cheerleader:and one thing I learned is if it aint on 2 wheels you can't trust it to see you or do whats right. Any time I'm in my four wheeler I try to make double sure I don't do these stupid things in front of bikes or other cars. Close calls on bikes make you think about how you act in a car.
WebAsh has one where he saw a guy lose it right in front of him. Maybe he'll chime in.
 
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That was where my closet call on a bike came, F-250 came around that bend while I was at the stop sign completely in my lane, he managed to stop about 4 feet shy of the windscreen. He ended up having to back up to go around me, scared me to death.

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Latest close call was a couple of weeks ago when I came up over a right hander at close to 80 and this kid in some green ricer car was doing a U-turn. Brakes and went behind him, missed him by several feet but got my attention. Right over a hill/corner mix, if I'd been a dump truck going the 60mph they would have along there, the ricer kid would have been very sad.
 
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