I saw a lady almost die this morning.

[Bio]

Ealrier this year I had a guy run right through a red light while I was passing though the intersection on the green. Didn't even slow down, hit me at about 40 mph. I picked up the movement just in time to slow down enough that he hit the front right corner at the wheel instead of a t-bone. He deflected and hit a bank, of all things. My ride was still totalled, but I was uninjured.

I've always tried to check at intersections, now I make sure I do, twice. Saved me from the exact same thing happening a couple months later at the same stinking intersection.

[Malamute]

On the motorcycle, I leave it in gear at red lights and scan my mirror frequently, especially when stopped to turn left, extra-especially if it's not a designated left turn lane. Cell phone idiots are everywhere.

Im absolutely flabbergasted when i see people on motorcycles sitting at lights and are obviously in neutral, and obviously not paying the least bit of attention to whats going on around them, sitting with arms crossed, talking to passenger, looking around at whatever besides traffic.

Im looking into getting a decent dashcam for the bike, with rear facing camera also. Ive had several people do what looked like very deliberate attempts to crowd me out of my lane or turn into me when I was right in front of them. The very aggressive tailgaters are also very dangerous.

[Caballoflaco]

On the motorcycle, I leave it in gear at red lights and scan my mirror frequently, especially when stopped to turn left, extra-especially if it's not a designated left turn lane. Cell phone idiots are everywhere.

The other day I had to tow a side by side ATV for work in a trailer that put the grill and headlights just slightly higher than the tailgate of my truck. I’m so used to checking my mirrors as I slow to a stop that I nearly shit myself a couple of times when I did my mirror check and for half a second it looked like somebody was about to give me the ‘ol smasho.

I understand your thinking here and would
be real worried about my rear end on a bike too. What do you do when the light turns green? Do you cut in front, or do you try to merge behind, or do you hang out until everybody is gone through?

Filtering isn’t a thing here so I always just pull all the way to the front since there isn’t a line of motorcycles. Because I can’t text and ride as soon as the light is green and the intersection is clear I accelerate with alacrity, but not recklessly and then just merge back into a lane usually in front of everybody else. If somebody tries to make it a race I just fall in behind them. It’s the same way motorcyclists do it in the rest of the world, except here and in Canada. It’s funny I’ve had Californians pull to the side to give me room here in Alabama where it’s not legal just because they’re so used to doing it there.

Also, these days it’s not uncommon for people to not even know I’m there between the lanes because they’re all on their phones. I think I’ve had two people give me an angry horn blow, but most folks don’t seem to care.

[NEPAKevin]

[thread-drift] When PA first shut down for the COVID, there was hardly anyone on the roads and it was kind of nice. I noticed some were taking advantage of the open roads and driving faster, straitening out the curves, that kind of thing, which didn't bother me as most of them seemed to know how to drive. It was almost like a perk to being an "essential worker." But when things started opening up, there was this subset of bad drivers that emerged who weren't driving fast because they liked to drive fast but were driving fast because they were in panic mode, cutting corners, blowing lights and stop signs, driving on the wrong side of the road, etc. Then another emerged that would stop in the middle of the road or intersection for no apparent reason and sit there in kind of a catatonic state. I'm surprised that we didn't get more wrecks from these two groups intersecting. [/thread-drift]

[Coyotesfan97]

Sounds about right for this neck of the woods. Given how APD's been skull dragged as an entire dept over dumb shit, I can't blame officers that stick exclusively to clearing calls for service and do nothing else. It's sad, and I have moral issues with it, but I understand.

Or he had the same luck I always did in patrol. You get dispatched to a priority call like a family fight where lights/siren aren’t an option but breaking for a traffic stop isn’t an option. You just have to shrug and wave goodbye to the moving ticket.

[JRB]

Or he had the same luck I always did in patrol. You get dispatched to a priority call like a family fight where lights/siren aren’t an option but breaking for a traffic stop isn’t an option. You just have to shrug and wave goodbye to the moving ticket.

I feel for you, dude.

On my first ridealong with a close friend in APD, he'd pulled over a lady in an old Expedition for turning right at a red light *from the left turn lane* with no less than 10 children under the age of 7-8 years old inside, not a single seatbelt or car seat to be seen. Expired plate too of course.
He was running her stuff in the car and we were both incredulous about it, and he was getting started on throwing a bunch of tickets at her - then dispatch reported an armed robbery with shots fired and he was the closest unit. He handed her shit back and told her it was her lucky day because some asshole robbed someone else up the street and he didn't have time to write her the 14 tickets she deserved.

[Coyotesfan97]

I feel for you, dude.

On my first ridealong with a close friend in APD, he'd pulled over a lady in an old Expedition for turning right at a red light *from the left turn lane* with no less than 10 children under the age of 7-8 years old inside, not a single seatbelt or car seat to be seen. Expired plate too of course.
He was running her stuff in the car and we were both incredulous about it, and he was getting started on throwing a bunch of tickets at her - then dispatch reported an armed robbery with shots fired and he was the closest unit. He handed her shit back and told her it was her lucky day because some asshole robbed someone else up the street and he didn't have time to write her the 14 tickets she deserved.

Oh the details are different but I’ve been there done that.

[Mystery]

After quite a few near hits and one car rear ending my vehicle, I came to conclusion that it is safer to go through light that's turning red than driving from stop when light turns green.

[mmc45414]

I have been meaning to post in this thread since it started, because it was the same time that I had and experience that could have ended much differently. I am a member of a gun club that is about 15-20mi away, and the most direct route is a mix of road types, some of it pleasant. Back when this thread started I was furloughed, and was doing a lot of shooting, and had gone to a Steel Challenge match. I typically drive my truck to go shooting, since it is kind of a mobile gear box and rolling tool kit, but if I am going to an organized even, like this or skeet when I only need my gun and personal gear I take the car.

So I am on my way home, a little bit enjoying my enjoyable (frisky) car, and get caught at a light on the portion of the drive that is surface level highway. Light changes and I start to maybe leave a little aggressively, but reverted back to my more cautious approach for unknown reasons, and sonofabitch somebody blows that light going at least 70mph. Only a slightly larger car, but had I taken that kind of a hit in the driver's side of my little Focus a few of you might be wondering why MMc don't post here any more.

So ~8mo later last night I am coming home from the same gun club, and at another nearby intersection, another car blows a light at, and I am not exaggerating, 65-75mph (not a close call, I was several cars back).

Given how APD's been skull dragged as an entire dept over dumb shit, I can't blame officers that stick exclusively to clearing calls for service and do nothing else.

And I think there is no coincidence to the fact that these two events occurred on my way home from the gun club, because both times it was in an area where the police are kept busy enough they do not have time left for much traffic enforcement. This in a community that was very aggressive about using photo enforcement, and it has come under challenge. I think they probably would be better off focusing that program on red lights rather than speed. That said, the only one I ever got was for a red light violation, but it was me going right on red without coming to enough of a stop to satisfy the computer.

I noticed some were taking advantage of the open roads and driving faster, straitening out the curves, that kind of thing, which didn't bother me as most of them seemed to know how to drive. ... But when things started opening up, there was this subset of bad drivers that emerged who weren't driving fast because they liked to drive fast but were driving fast because they were in panic mode, cutting corners, blowing lights and stop signs, driving on the wrong side of the road, etc.

Recent news story that here in Ohio injury accidents were up in a year when miles traveled (probably estimated from tax revenue) were down.

[DDTSGM]

Doesn't everybody know - look left, look right, look left again, look right again before you cross that lane?