Modern Vespa

So riding in to work this morning, the guy starts to pull over in front of me and you can see him hesitate but then it's like he thinks to himself "Oh, F**k it, I'm going anyway!"

If he had to apply his brakes for any reason, I'd be toast. Video at the following link, was testing video recording on my bike so it's a little shaky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RckgjIUkjUo

Yeah, he about creamed you, and obviously didn't care.

To be fair I'd say you were in his blind spot. Did you see that he had his indicator on when you pulled into the lane that he was pulling into? I notice you didn't slow down at all even when it was obvious he was still going to cross. Technically you might be correct to hold your position but I suspect you'll come of far worse if you crash at that location.

You'd be safer delaying moving across the lanes until after the initial joining of the two roads - that way any oncoming cars have time to see you, most cars will have settled into whatever lane they want and you also get to decide when the safest place is to change into the new lane.

Yes, he was a dick driver. Unfortunately, aside from commiserating about it there's not much you can do about them. You can focus on your riding to prevent being 'toasted' by them. I'm not sure about a lane switch on a curve with a merge/onramp. I would wait until the merge is over, with most drivers not focused on lane jockeying and when you have a better feel of what drivers around you are doing (& who the a$$holes are). Just my thoughts.

Harvey

Whoa! When you caught up to him did you spit on his windshield?

That is the way they drive here in California, and these are exactly the kind of driver we have to look out for. Also why you should ride like your invisible to the cages...
So very glad you did not get hit.. it would have been very ugly if he even clipped you a little bit.

Yikes, I've yet to drive on an interstate highway on my Vespa, and I was nervous just watching your video!

two words:

Stebel Nautilus

Perhaps... but a loud horn at that point could be just the thing that get's him to slam on his brakes... and toast you.

Oh yes,
I reconized the freeway you were on and there are alot of freeway

entrences going every which way, Install a Stebel Nautilus air horn

That horn has saved my ass plenty of times on the 210, 405, 605,

5, 55 there are bad rude drivers every where, when I blast the air horn

people tend to swerve back into there lane bec they are thinking a truck is

barrleing down on them.

I'm pretty sure I would have backed waaay off the throttle if a car got that close to me while changing lanes at any speed let alone at highway speeds. Both the white car and the truck were too close for comfort! Sure, they were at fault for not giving you your space ... but I am of the belief that in an argument like that, the car and truck will win every time! I'm a coward that way.

I'd go through the video frame by frame and see if you can get the plate number.

I don't think sounding a horn would be as good as filing a complaint. You have video evidence of an unsafe lane change. AFAIK, he also should have paused in the lane to check the situation before merging again.

All the comforting you might get here won't get him/her a ticket.

Scary!!
And the sun wasn't fully up yet--that's the most dangerous time to ride

Folks can't see you
or if they can, they aren't awake enough to care

I would have moved to the middle lane when traffic is merging in the right.

And as soon as I saw that cars blinker, I would have slowed and let him in ahead of me. No use in trying to force a point with a car.

Sure he saw you and hesitated and then went for it. But if anything happened, you would be toast and he would be, "uh, I didn't see him..."

It happens. I almost got creamed by a van last weekend. I beeped and beeped my gerbil fart horn, but he kept coming over left. Luckily there was no one in the left lane and I swung over, and gave him the bug eye as I shot passed him, then got back in the middle lane.

I guess I was in his blind spot. But I am seriously considering a Stebel now.

It looks like a white Toyota Carmry
Even from the rehashed video I was able to get two characters from 2 frames. The 3rd character is a space.

Could you send a copy of the original video to me?

All happened way to quick, I should have slowed down sooner when I saw him starting to pull over into my lane, then wobble back as if he realised I was there so I thought he was going to stay put, then it looks like he just thought he'd go for it anyway.

I did catch up on his right side and offer a friendly gesture.

I agree that this guy was being a dick. Any time you violate another driver's/rider's safe following distance, you are being a dick, regardless of whether you are signaling your intentions or not.

On the other hand -- and this is likely to piss some MV'ers off -- there should not be a double standard where PTW riders are cut more slack. Some months ago, I was severely taken to task on this forum for criticizing riders in some videos shot in European cities where the riders were doing the exact same thing. The thrust was that I had no right to criticize because that sort of riding is the norm in those cities, and the cultural differences somehow made it OK.

Well, folks, the Laws of Physics don't respect cultural differences regardless of differences in what might be considered rude behavior. A vehicle requires the same distance to react defensively in either Paris or LA. If one's scooter riding style resembles the behavior of the cager in this video -- and I've seen a lot that do -- you have no right to criticize the cager, regardless of where you ride.

Forgive me for my momentary ascent to the soapbox... this topic triggered bad memories.

We should have a little entry in the Wiki for suitable hand signals to use for various types of driving. Must admit I've been known on occasion to bring vehicles to a stop and "have a polite word" with their occupants.

I have to admit, that being a Brit living in the US, I still use English gestures. I'm sure no one understands why I'm giving them the 'V' sign, and not the Victory one they probably think it is.

Makes me feel better though!

This type of thing happens to me on a very regular basis. As a few people have already pointed out, it is far preferable to decelerate right away and let the car in, rather than risk the driver trying to force the issue and push you into another lane of traffic.

Brendan

+1

Better to let the a$$ in as opposed to being DEAD right... or is that right dead?

I guess one of the benefits of riding in Britain is that the cagers are not likely to be packing heat ! So you can yell or gesture at them without the fear of being shot.

In my neck of the woods, in middle American, someone is getting shot every day.

you're lucky, and personally I feel that you shouldn't have moved right when you're approaching an area with merging traffic. The first is an added lane and then immediately after that (<100yards) you have traffic merging into that added lane and that's exactly when you made your move

A sailing instructor once said to me (when talking about rights of way), "you can argue over who's "right," but in the end all that matters is who's left."

I got the point, and I apply it in my scootering...

It's actually an intersection from the I8 headed West to the I805 heading North so I had to make the change as I was going North, not continuing West. So it's not an added lane but a split.

You're right, at first I was just going off the street signs but I watched the video again this time ALL the way to the end. However it does appear that you could have maintained your lane position and still take the split..or made the lane change somewhere during the next 1.5+ miles that you drove before the split. Not trying to flame, but I've made the mistake and went down by trying to outrun an explorer and got pushed into the center median, I was in my lane and they were coming over, I was in the right, legally but I was in the wrong by not driving defensively.

Visiting the family in SoCal, I have been on that set of freeways often. Flow of traffic 75-80 in a 65, with people lane diving and tailgating with 1/2 car length.

I got to endorse the other opinions that it aint about you being right, but being alive to tell the tale. Good luck with that commute & stay safe!!!

Driving on the left as we do here this looks kinda weird.

If I am wrong, please excuse as this is kinda back to front thinking...

It looks like a 3+3+1=4 junction, ok, instant recipe for disaster.

You are in the rightmost (slow) lane, he is in the leftmost (fast) lane

And merge... um... what braniac in the roads department thought that fun wheez up?

Don't envy you at all, not in the slightest, nope, not at all.

In France and Belgium it is very normal to cut in very quickly in front of people when overtaking or merging. It isn't considered rude or dangerous by them (though it is not what I'd expect in the UK but see the caveat below) - just everyday driving/riding.

In the UK the norm is to not cut in front until you are the two-second rule in front of them - but on or inside the M25 (the 125 mile ring-road around London) that is ignored much as in the OP's video. Again, it just happens, <shrug>.

I don't have much experience of the freeways in America but there didn't appear to be a sense of overtaking lanes on American freeways. Every lane will going the same speed - though it's unlikely to be the posted speed. Everyone just gets into their favourite lane at the start of their journey and gets off it at the end. It does stop people from speeding wildly though. This might not be true all over the country though. This is why in the US action films you always see the the speeding drivers veering from lane to lane trying to make any progress - it's practically impossible to go faster than anyone else on a busy freeway.

That is what I understand also. It's a bit tricky to grasp when elsewhere there is a discipline of always keeping to the kerb-side lane unless overtaking. Not that those in the UK are good at that, they just stick in the middle lane regardless, muppets. Far better on the continent, but beware the sudden cut-in after the overtake.

Thanks mike_bike_kite

I kinda asumed the USA was the same but opposite if you know what I mean.

The way the white pickup crossed 2 lanes does suggest he is in a bit of a hurry, and he was certainly way too close in chopping your nose off.

You're certainly correct there! Lane discipline is practically nonexistent here.

Thanks for all the input guys, interesting reading. Can't wait for winter when we get some rain after months of total dryness!!!!

That is such a pet peeve of mine.

I'm considering making a huge magnet to put on my driver's side door that reads: "Why am I going faster than you in the right lane?" so that those asshats that cruise in the left passing lane might get the idea.

No more blind spots in car or trucks just carless drivers.


http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~gdguo/driving/BlindSpot.htm

http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/mirrors/

I'm sure, coffee, cell phone or texting had more to do with getting cut off.


Gald your okay

I have always wondered why there is no lane discipline here. I was born here. I understand that the right lane should be the slowest, and the left lane should be the fastest/for passing. I love Germany. The lane discipline was pure heaven. I frequently drive fast in my car on the highways in the US. It really sharpens your skills, because you have to constantly look really far ahead into multiple lanes to find empty road. It kind of feels like a video game. I am not sure if that's a good thing or not

It is like a video game GTA III

I thought GTA III was actually quite good for sharpening up your skills on a scooter. My issue was I liked the radio stations in that game so much that I created a few CDs of the music/talk - now I can drive on London streets and listen to love media which always makes me smile - doesn't help my approach to traffic though

I think there are some major differences between Europe and the US, particularly LA which is famous for it's insanity.

In Germany, despite being 80 million, the car density on the Autobahnen is much lower than the states and major cities have variable speed limits that slow everything down to about 40 kph when conditions get snarled or in German, their made-up word "verkehrsmarmalade", literally traffic jam as in the jam you put on toast.

LA and Inland Empire traffic is always crazy (hence the 20-car pileups when it rains or when fire smoke/fog obscures the freeway) and there are tons of places where the freeways split and merge repeatedly and you have to dive across six lanes to get to where you are going.

My personal favorite is the 210 when it splits without warning and you have to dive 6 lanes right, or the Riverside interchanges where you get three car lengths of lane in which lots of people are simulataniously trying to enter and exit the freeway at the same time at 80!

Speaking of GTA III, I do notice quite a few motorcycle commuters on the freeways around here that carry a firearm and make sure it's visible when they are wearing their gear.