I came reeeeeal close to hitting a motorcyclist with my van today.
How so?
Location (I was about where the blue car is in streetview and heading for the stop sign the same direction as that car) https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.0043...TDT6omvuTno-pb-KY0fA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en
While I was approaching the stop sign, someone on a large Harley approached from the right and turned left (towards this viewpoint) drastically cutting the corner - he probably crossed the stop line halfway through my lane.
I slammed on the brakes and stopped short, and the rider (with a van filling his viewpoint!) changed course. And then about half of the riders behind him (in a group of about 6) proceeded to cut the corner and cross the stop line on the way through and had to change course the same way ... even though my big van was surely filling their view.
Is there something about these oversized and overweight cruisers that makes them incapable of staying in their proper lane through an ordinary intersection without cutting the corner?
Are they supertankers that need notice posted a week in advance before a change of speed or direction? (I've never ridden one.)
Or is it ... "If loud pipes save lives, imagine what learning to ride that thing could do."
I kinda suspect mostly the latter, although perhaps with a small dose of clumsiness on the part of the bike ... still the rider's job to ride within its limits ...
If he'd smacked into my bumper, it would have been a minor collision (low speed) but it surely would have done some damage ... and I'd be stopped fully in my lane, short of the stop line, and I'd be leaving the van right there until the cops came so that it would be blatantly obvious what happened here ...
How so?
Location (I was about where the blue car is in streetview and heading for the stop sign the same direction as that car) https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.0043...TDT6omvuTno-pb-KY0fA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en
While I was approaching the stop sign, someone on a large Harley approached from the right and turned left (towards this viewpoint) drastically cutting the corner - he probably crossed the stop line halfway through my lane.
I slammed on the brakes and stopped short, and the rider (with a van filling his viewpoint!) changed course. And then about half of the riders behind him (in a group of about 6) proceeded to cut the corner and cross the stop line on the way through and had to change course the same way ... even though my big van was surely filling their view.
Is there something about these oversized and overweight cruisers that makes them incapable of staying in their proper lane through an ordinary intersection without cutting the corner?
Are they supertankers that need notice posted a week in advance before a change of speed or direction? (I've never ridden one.)
Or is it ... "If loud pipes save lives, imagine what learning to ride that thing could do."
I kinda suspect mostly the latter, although perhaps with a small dose of clumsiness on the part of the bike ... still the rider's job to ride within its limits ...
If he'd smacked into my bumper, it would have been a minor collision (low speed) but it surely would have done some damage ... and I'd be stopped fully in my lane, short of the stop line, and I'd be leaving the van right there until the cops came so that it would be blatantly obvious what happened here ...