Modern Vespa

post deleted by Salima

Once again we learn that scooters are invisible. I don't care how reflective your jacket is, or how bright your lights are, we are invisible, like it or not.

I was going to post about this anyways...

Today, I was in your offenders position. I'm driving in the centre lane in the company minivan. I passed a Vespa. I'm head of the scooter club so I always take particular interest when seeing a Vespa. I know I passed him. I keep looking in my passenger mirror but I don't see him. I lean in and out but I can't see. Either he ducked in behind me (it's a work van so there's no centre rear view) or he turned off at some side street.

Then my lane slowed and he zipped by. My lane continued and again I passed him. Again I don't see him. So I really lean forward in my seat and there he is riding in my blind spot along the dotted white line.

I used to have a convex mirror but I lost it at the carwash. I'm going to have to pick another one up.

OK, idiot drivers who don't look are a common breed. No question about that. There are things we've done, we don't wish we had done, as drivers and riders both. And we all must take responsibility for our own actions or inactions.

Aside. One thing that really bugs me is folks who drive when someone is backing up. It's all well and good to suggest they should look before backing up but visability is always impaired when backing up. Just wait so they back up safely. Honk if they're going to hit something they don't see.

As soon as a driver starts to veer into your lane, honk and slow. Obviously they didn't see you were there. Especially if they're gunning for that sweet parking spot with undivided attention. Brakes save more lives then throttle.

If you don't see their mirrors they CAN't possibly see you. 'nuff said.

Never ride in a person's blind spot. If possible try to see the drivers face in their mirror. Generally you want to follow traffic in one tire tread or the other. Riding as close to a yellow/white line will generally place you in a blind spot.

Anyway, I'm glad Salima/Moped are ok. I'm not placing blame. Just having my own little rant-off.

Sounds like a nice save, time does make you a better rider.

Congrats on keeping it up.

SDG

you really like typing huh ?

Thats a good point....invisible or less visible than cars?
As a bit of a newbie I wonder:
Are we more 'invisible' than 'regular' motorcycles?
It could have to do about how the traffic situation is like in general...
In my country there are a lot 'invisible' contestants on the road, perhaps this adds to the awareness of cardrivers (and others).
What about (sport) cyclists in the US, are they a threatened species too?

PS: There are also a lot of lunatics on the road here too

Glad you are OK.

We are always more invisible. Apparently it is a fact that the human eye has more difficulty seeing an upright rectangle (PTW) than a horizontal rectangle (cage). This is what I was taught by a local bike safety course...

Less visible probably. But once you're invisible you can't be more invisible. Kinda like being dead. Once you're dead you can't be more dead.

Except for Bela Lugosi. He's still dead.

Surely increased numbers of bikes creates an awareness mindset. Seems I'm noticing more, but I never noticed Volvo's until I owned one myself.

Also two-wheelers with a narrower profile can hide easier in a drivers field of vision. Never purposefully, of course. But absence of conscientiousness (sp).

Compared to Europe our roads are generally wider. At least in my mind they are. More width to hide in with that narrow profile. Space a driver won't scan in it's entirety

.Motorcycles, scooters, bicycles sportbikes... they're all equally less visible in my opinion. At least the slower two-wheelers are easier to judge where they ought to be, even if you loose sight of them. The Hayabusas could have zoomed around to my other side and be gone.

3569 posts.
Quality, not quantity.

whew-- so glad you're both OK. what a scare.

nice write up on the beauties of the Utah countryside 8)

--Deborah

Glad the two of our are OK. A very similar thing happened to me on my way to work yesterday. I was riding in the curb lane and the traffic to my left was slower than the speed limit. The cab to my immediate left decides that he'll cut into my lane really suddenly, without signaling or looking to the right. Since I'm essentially passing on the right, I have been keeping my eyes out on the cars to the left especially their front tires. So I see the sudden movement of his front tire. I slammed on my brakes and give a very very angry prolonged honk of my Stebel airhorn. Loud enough that the guy jerks back to his lane. Accident averted. I truly try not to stay beside a car while riding, but sometimes in rush hour heavy traffic it is a bit hard not to. I also try not to pass on the right, but again if your lane is moving faster than the one to your left, what can you do but go with the flow of traffic in your lane.

That really wasn't necessary.

Glad you guys are ok.

Generally we don't see something unless we're looking for it. We were all trained as children to look out for cars when crossing the street. When we learned to drive a car, we were told to look out for other cars and (maybe) pedestrians. Two-wheeled vehicles tend to "sneak up" on people.

I love seeing more scooters and motorcycles on the road as it should make us more visible over time.

Remember, they're not looking at you, they're looking through you.

I'm glad you guys are OK.

So glad you're okay. Stay safe!

post deleted by Salima

Glad to hear you all are OK. On my bicycle, I had a lady try to swerve into me on purpose because she thought I was trying to speed up to prevent her from turning into a parking lot (her words, not mine). Nevermind the fact that I was already maxed out on speed and going into a 20 MPH headwind and couldn't possibly have sped up if I wanted to!!!

Regarding the 9000ft peaks: How did the GTS perform up that high going over steep roads? What kind of speeds were you able to maintain? Here in CA, we have several mountain passes that lead from Central California into the eastern Sierra. Each of them top out at about the 9000ft mark. I'd love to know what I'm in for if I decided to go up over them.

Thanks.

So glad that your day didn't end badly! And thank you for posting the details- it is always nice to have a reminder of the things that can happen- and we hope they don't!

Deb

I am very happy that you and Moped are well and I can attest that Moped is very safe behind the wheel when riding his Vespa. Emily and I are having him over for dinner tonight and we will take care good of him until you see him again.

I work for the largest non-union LTL trucking company in the US and every Monday we discuss a safety topic for 30 mins before the drivers hit the road. One thing we can all do when we are riding is to make sure we do not stay in anyone's blind spot for too long. Cars too can hide in a drivers blind spot. They driver see's them drive in and if you are there too long he forgets and starts to come back over and by the time he sees you it is too late. Car/Vans/Trucks also have the same issues with motorcycle/scooters so we all need to be a little more careful. It was on my mind and I wanted to share.

Thanks, Salima, for taking the time to post about this, and thanks also to the respondents for appreciating this message.

From my point of view, I wanted to add that, once I saw that car veering right into us, my reflex was to steer away from him within the space I had left, and to apply the brakes at the same time, allowing him to get in front of me, or me to get behind him, instead of staying next to him (or even passing). As I was doing this, the rear wheel locked and I must have instinctively counter-steered to balance it out and keep us straight. My decades of youthful (meaning wild) bicycle experience helped, for sure.

What saved our butts was the strategy of slowing down to get behind him. I could have no-way applied the horn at the same time, so I did that after it was averted. And I threw some curses and cusses their way too as we later passed them on the left, when he threw up his hands in apologies. I actually had an urge to kick his door (but thank goodness I remembered that my shoes weren't hard enough to leave any traces, so why risk hurting my ankle or toes )

The alpine ride was no problem for Salima (the Vespa). No really steep inclines, just steady inclines all the way to the summit. Never any situation where I felt I was taxing the engine,and it always felt strong. I did hear the cooling fan come on often, though, as we were going quite slow, to be safe on this undivided, narrow, very winding (in other words: beautiful) road. The scenery was just breathtaking. A few pictures to follow later...

post deleted by Salima

Glad you guys are ok. Once the initial shock is over it does make you feel good that you can win one against the idiots Nice pics. Reminds me of Glacier national Park in montana. Did you see any mountain goats?

post deleted by Salima

I'm kinda new to all this scooter business. About 1/3 of posts here make me want to go fix something, about 1/3 make me want to go ride, and about 1/3 make me want to sell my scooter and find a safer way to get around. This is in the last third.

When on the road, the key is to recognize the potential for a situation (that would warrant a thread that fits into that last 1/3) to develop, and remove yourself from it at once.

Even though it was close, Moped did just that in this instance. While we all think highly of our "skillz", I'm sure, I don't doubt for a second that another rider wouldn't have been so fortunate with the outcome.

Masala,
While I agree with your suggestion to train recognition of potential situations and remove yourself from them, in our case here it was no potential any longer. It was an acute situation that I needed to get out of.

Every close call and survivable hit is a learning experience. It's the ones that don't teach us anything that kill us.

Have someone periodically throw a tennis ball at your head while you are watching TV to test your peripheral vision. Did you take part in any sports as a kid? If so those skills will come back faster than you might think.

Oh absolutely... I in no way meant to take anything away from your situation. What I was attempting to do was compliment your ability to remove yourself from the (acute) impending doom that awaited you seconds ahead, and you did just that. Some riders might not have had the presence of mind to pull it off, whereas you did.

Yes, considering my allergy to pain I for once was a quick learner with the TV test. Here I thought that my brother was being cruel at the time, but I guess he was helping me out in his own little twisted way

Thanks, Masala, and Trent, I was never involved much in sports, at any age. I did ride the bicycle extensively, though, and had many situations where I overbraked the rear wheel and had to compensate with the front. I think that, more than anything, helped me to just use my reflexes when I skidded, without having to think what to do in that moment.

Looking at it retrospectively, I have to admit that I could have done a better job steering to the right by pushing the right handlebar. I was more trying to just 'turn the front wheel' and it came slow, like in a dream when you're in goo and can't move. Had the cager veered into us at a steeper angle, he might have hit us. Scary, scary, scary!

OHELLO that pretty much sums it up You've figured it out pretty quick. I like the riding third. Welcome and ride safe. I always have something that needs fixing(have 2 scooters) if your ever on oahu

Salima and Moped
Glad the two of you escaped injury. Accidents happen so fast you just have to act.
Moped sounds like your bicycle riding skills saved the day. I learned a lot riding a bicycle in the dirt where traction is poor.

Wonder if the Fuel injected GT250 runs better in the mountains vs a Carb GT200

I agree

really well done you both for keeping your cool and reacting instinctively but efficiently in this situation. The pic is lovely looks like you had a great time despite this.
glad you're both alright!

Looks like that was a beautiful ride! Glad you two are OK, good driving, Moped. Just proves once again we have to stay alert and practice our emergency manuvers. Art

See, I knew those PM's were going to get you into trouble eventually.

Seriously, glad you two are OK. Feel free to post more beautiful pics.

post deleted by Salima

Thank you all for the supportive responses and the reiterations of how important it is for all of us to be alert and ready for evasive maneuvers at all times.

Dessa, nice avatar. How did you make it?

Edit:
wow, Salima, I just saw your post above mine after I posted mine. Do we think alike or what!

post deleted by Salima