Modern Buddy

Riding home today I was going 35mph on a 35mph road. I ride 2-3 more than the speed limit since I know the speedo is off 2-3 mph.

So I'm going about 35 exact. A prius is behind me. It keeps driving in the turning lane and honking it's horn non stop like crazy for 4-5 minutes straight. Finally, he speeds up, rolls down his windows, and screams curse words and other junk at me.

The he passes me. I was angry.

Anyone else have experiences like this? Third time people have done this to me. The lane paint was 2 yellow lines, it's illegal to pass when it's a double line.

Yeh, some folks just refuse to follow a scooter even when you are at or even a little above the speed limit. I guess I mind that less than the ones that try to follow 2 feet behind though.

(by the way, the couple of Buddy's I have clocked, including ours, read quite a bit more than 2-3 mph low at 35-40 miles per hour)

I keep up with 90% of the traffic going 35-40 exact on my speedo. Then theres always the stupid fast drivers who like to drive 10mph more than the limit.

Kinda which there was a cop following me when these things happen, they'd ticket those fools in a instant.

jfrost2 wrote:Anyone else have experiences like this?

Oh yeah! A guy followed me for miles down a two-lane road on the wrong side of the road screaming at me the whole time. The punchline? His wife was in the passanger seat so he was screaming right in her ear. An older women (mother? mother-in-law?) was sitting in the back seat pretending that nothing was happening. This went on and on until we came over a rise and he almost ran head-on in to an oncoming car because he was on the wrong side of the road.

Sheesh!!!

I have noticed people passing me sometimes, but usually right afterwards I see their break lights pop on as they realize they are far exceeding the speed limit. EVERYONE & their granny goes 8-10 mph over posted (I go about 5-8 over). Going the speed limit (at least in Pensacola) is way more dangerous/likely to get you a ticket than following the flow of traffic...

I don't think there is any street in town lower than 45-50 posted, except in my neighborhood, which is only 40. Now you see why I can never have a 50cc? They would just PLOW OVER ME!

Our neighborhood speed limit is 25 mph, nice for a small cruise. 40mph for a neighborhood would be nice!

jfrost2 wrote:The he passes me. I was angry.

Anyone else have experiences like this? Third time people have done this to me. The lane paint was 2 yellow lines, it's illegal to pass when it's a double line.

A Prius did this? Ass.

I guess I hold them to higher standards than your typical...oh, Hummer driver.

I'm lucky, this hasn't happened to me yet, but I live in a town that is exceptionally nice to anyone driving on 2 wheels. (We also have one of the best MSFs in the state, maybe that's related.)[/i]

when ever someone does something like that to me i just blow em a kiss it makes them really mad

Wow, why not just pull over and let them pass? It's so much better for your stress level and your quality of ride, not to mention your chances of survival. Generally, I strive to be an uber friendly, courteous rider -- to do what I can to spread goodwill towards scooters, not bad. You want the cagers to care about your survival, not want to kill you.

It's just not worth getting in an accident or watching someone else have an accident. I spent a few years living off a two lane (one each direction) road where almost all vehicles pull over to let those who want to go faster pass. It's not only the polite, it's the expected thing to do.

Perspective: I've been the maniac rushing to the hospital because a loved one was dying. (And realize that, sadly, this is a regular event in the world.) I have a friend who got a call from a sibling, in which they realized their kid brother was calling to say goodbye because he had just shot himself. She hung up, called 911, and drove like a mad woman to their house. Do you think anyone on the road guessed why this maniac was tearing through traffic, not giving a damn who she cut off and getting extremely pissed off at anyone who thought they had a right to keep her from getting to her brother? You just never know what's going on with people. And road rage or emergency or just someone who comes up behind you and was clearly going faster than you are ... just let them pass so you can get on with enjoying your ride.

Crotch rocket riders do this all the time to me too if they are behind me. Some times they try to share the lane, which I dont like, but it is legal. Other times they just speed up with their giant yoshamiru pipes and go zoooooooooom infront of me.

But let's just remember. The faster you drive in a hybrid, the worse gas mileage you get. Now who's saving the environment?

Yeah I agree on the pull over thing, in fact that's what DMV and MSF books say to do. But I also tend to try to ride up to the speed of traffic until it's out of my comfort zone. If a car is pushing me to go faster, I will to a point. I believe it's much safer to do that than to let them stay on my rear and maintain the exact speed that I want to go, especially on two wheels. I'd rather get a speeding ticket than ride for any length of time with tons of metal bearing down on me. I've never had a problem with anyone tailing me for long with this policy- I don't speed everywhere I go, but I definitely go with the flow of traffic.

That's why I think it's absolutely necessary to have a good control of riding at all speeds, which includes learning to take quick turns. Cars are just not going to totally slow down for us. We've got to realize that one of the realities of riding on busy streets full of cagers is that we don't get to make the rules.

Ride your own ride definitely, but be confident enough to push it a bit if only for a short time to get away from (or out of the way of) a dangerous cager.

And yeah he was probably just mad because you get twice his milage!

i'm with jmazza. i do up to 10 mph over, which i figure is really 8 mph over which is what cagers do here. i've only been tailed once on a slowish road into a parking lot. i imagine if someone was behind me wanting to go faster than i was comfortable doing, i'd realize if i was in a car and it was no pass zone, i'd give him a good chance to go by when it does turn into a pass zone. on a scoot, though they have this perception which is their reality, so it is understandable that they react as though you are going too slow and that it would be easy to share a lane. tough call. for me it all depends on the sense of urgency coming from the vehicle and her passengers, the speed limit, the speeds of me and the car, the road type, road and traffic conditions, and whether it is an odd or even day of the week.

Pulling over when it is safe is a nice thing to do, but my problems are people speeding up as I pass them or re-pass me and then go slow again. Like some people can not bare the fact that a little scooter just blew their doors off. I ride a 4 lane state highway with a 60 mph speed limit. Most people drive slow in the right lane and even slower in the left.

i dont pull over for anyone i speed most times anyway. my road my speed my way. ha ha ha ha (evil laugh)

vaderscoot wrote:when ever someone does something like that to me i just blow em a kiss it makes them really mad

I thought I was the *ONLY ONE* who did this! I also like to do the good ol' Princess Wave (elbow elbow, wrist wrist wrist).

Sunshinen wrote:Perspective: I've been the maniac rushing to the hospital because a loved one was dying. (And realize that, sadly, this is a regular event in the world.) I have a friend who got a call from a sibling, in which they realized their kid brother was calling to say goodbye because he had just shot himself. She hung up, called 911, and drove like a mad woman to their house. Do you think anyone on the road guessed why this maniac was tearing through traffic, not giving a damn who she cut off and getting extremely pissed off at anyone who thought they had a right to keep her from getting to her brother? You just never know what's going on with people. And road rage or emergency or just someone who comes up behind you and was clearly going faster than you are ... just let them pass so you can get on with enjoying your ride.

In Spain, when you have an emergency and you have to drive fast, you pull a white handkerchief outside the driver's window. People see it and pull over in a hurry to let you go. No hard feelings. Now, you might wonder, well, why don't people just do that all the time . . . well, if you get pulled over doing that, and you INDEED have an emergency, the cops will drive in front of you with lights and siren to open up the way. If you DO NOT prove you have an emergency, God help you. You are in a major shithole of trouble . . .MAJOR ! Thus, everyone respect that unspoken rule and we live happily in our crazy driving ways.

sunshinen wrote: Perspective: I've been the maniac rushing to the hospital because a loved one was dying. (And realize that, sadly, this is a regular event in the world.) I have a friend who got a call from a sibling, in which they realized their kid brother was calling to say goodbye because he had just shot himself. She hung up, called 911, and drove like a mad woman to their house. Do you think anyone on the road guessed why this maniac was tearing through traffic, not giving a damn who she cut off and getting extremely pissed off at anyone who thought they had a right to keep her from getting to her brother? You just never know what's going on with people. And road rage or emergency or just someone who comes up behind you and was clearly going faster than you are ... just let them pass so you can get on with enjoying your ride.

i've been in emergency situations also, but i have never taken the time to roll the window down and yell at slower drivers. i think we can assume the prius wasn't in that big of a hurry.

sunshinen wrote:Wow, why not just pull over and let them pass?

I wish I could do that. I usually do, but we all have days when we just don't want to put up with any BS, ha.

Be careful though, I've been purposefully run off the road a couple of times by people I yelled at, and (worse yet), I've yelled at people who later pulled over to apologize, that makes you feel really dumb if they just plain made a mistake and felt bad enough about it before you screamed at them.

One of my MC friends was stabbed for flipping off a cab driver, so just be careful, you never know who's just not paying attention, and who's on angel dust and WANTS to kill you.

Bb.

illnoise wrote:One of my MC friends was stabbed for flipping off a cab driver, so just be careful, you never know who's just not paying attention, and who's on angel dust and WANTS to kill you.

Bb.

That reminds me... I was riding down the road the other day (maybe 3-4 days ago) and it was a 6 lane road. My side was going down to 2 lanes from 3. There was this cab in the right land right next to me...i was actually slightly in front of him - lined up with his hood and DEFINITELY visible.

you know what the jerk did? he looked at me, seriously, directly at me and just started moving over. Did not care that I was there. Didnt try to speed up OR slow down, just started coming over!

I was furious. I don't think I can even explain how angry I was that he would knowingly push me out of MY lane. I honked at him but it didn't matter b/c I wasn't surprising him...he already knew I was there. He was still looking at me!

Well, I slowed down and let the f-er get in front of me because I sure as hell didn't want him behind me where me might who knows what kind of crazy ideas.

I have names for people like that...all kinds of pretty flowering names.

I don't think there are all that many people who would do that, but the ones that do should be miraculously dropped on a child size bicycle on the highway in the middle lane when there is lots of speeding traffic.

robonz23 wrote: i've been in emergency situations also, but i have never taken the time to roll the window down and yell at slower drivers. i think we can assume the prius wasn't in that big of a hurry.

Yeah, me either, but everyone behaves differently in the face of grief and emergencies. A lot of people lose all sense of decorum (and practicality) and waste time and energy taking their anger out in absurd and ridiculous places. I think you can't assume anything about someone you don't know. You just never know what's going on with people -- whether you would find their reasoning justifiable or not.

How you choose to react has the power not only to escalate or deflate a situation, but to leave you pissed off or leave you feeling generous. Why not take the positive perspective and assume they're having the worst day of their life? Then do what you can to eliminate the annoyance/hazard and get on with enjoying your ride. For me, it's all about reframing my perspective so I'm not stewing mad all day.

illnoise wrote: I wish I could do that. I usually do, but we all have days when we just don't want to put up with any BS, ha.

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I've definitely done my share of really stupid things when I felt like someone was being an intentional ass. Fortunately, no one's stabbed me yet.

As a vintage rider, I am sometimes grateful to always have a glovebox full of old fouled spark plugs at the ready

As my grandmother used to say: It's called the speed limit. you can go slower...

days after i got my scooter i was on a quite windy road and a girl started swerving behind me. i was going the speed limit and she past me yelling agreely at me. she could have killed the lot of us. beee.och.

Remember that cagers are usually only in the cage to get to point B from point A, not to enjoy getting there. Don't be mad at them for being asses feel sorry because they don't understand

for me, it's easier.

Since I work for the Government, I can and have called in their plates and vehicle description, location of the incident and that is enough to get a cop to look them up, and ticket them.

ERik3tb wrote:for me, it's easier.

Since I work for the Government, I can and have called in their plates and vehicle description, location of the incident and that is enough to get a cop to look them up, and ticket them.

wow that's better powers than superman.

louie wrote:

ERik3tb wrote:for me, it's easier.

Since I work for the Government, I can and have called in their plates and vehicle description, location of the incident and that is enough to get a cop to look them up, and ticket them.

wow that's better powers than superman.

No way. ERik3tb didn't say he could fly!

louie wrote:
wow that's better powers than superman.

and the X-ray vision would only get me in trouble.

LOL, not to be a smart-alicky NERD PATROLLER, but even Superman can't fly... He "super leaps". Still, basically he can super leap as for as he wants to, so it doesn't really matter what you call it.

The Prius driver probably had a case of MPG (miles per gallon) envy. Scooter riders remind Prius drivers that they aren't the greenest driver in the world.

I had problems with this when I first started riding last fall. Someone in this thread viewtopic.php?t=2138&highlight= said that the buddy's speedo tends to run about "10% optimistic". I've been riding with this in mind since then and I tend to flow with traffic much better now.

Also you will always have people who assume that you're a DUI offender and try to pass you. Just let em go, but if you have the pleasure of getting in front of such a person at a red light, punch the throttle hard at green and leave them in the dust off the line.

KRUSTYburger wrote:LOL, not to be a smart-alicky NERD PATROLLER,

Too late!!!!!!!!!!!!

But according to the almighty wikipedia, he did develop flying power instead of just leaping at some point:

wikipedia wrote:s originally conceived and presented in his early stories, Superman's powers were relatively limited, consisting of superhuman strength that allowed him to lift a car over his head, run at amazing speeds and leap one-eighth of a mile, as well as incredibly tough skin that could be pierced by nothing less than an exploding artillery shell.[76] Siegel and Shuster compared his strength and leaping abilities to an ant and a grasshopper.[77] When making the cartoons, the Fleischer Brothers found it difficult to keep animating him leaping and requested to DC to change his ability to flying.[78] Writers gradually increased his powers to larger extents during the Silver Age, in which Superman could fly to other worlds and galaxies and even across universes with relative ease.[76] He would often fly across the solar system to stop meteors from hitting the Earth, or sometimes just to clear his head. Writers found it increasingly difficult to write Superman stories in which the character was believably challenged,[79] so DC Comics made a series of attempts to rein the character in. The most significant attempt, John Byrne's 1986 rewrite, established several hard limits on his abilities: He barely survives a nuclear blast, and his space flights are limited by how long he can hold his breath.[80] Superman's power levels have again increased since then, with Superman currently possessing enough strength to hurl mountains, withstand nuclear blasts with ease, fly into the sun unharmed, and survive in the vacuum of outer space without oxygen.

So did I just out-nerd you? Or did I merely prove I am procrastinating and putting off a big project at work?

Your powers to out google Krusty are apparent, but as to being about to out nerd, that has yet to be determined.

sad to admit, I knew the S-Man stuff w/out even having to look it up

Sunshinen sez: How you choose to react has the power not only to escalate or deflate a situation, but to leave you pissed off or leave you feeling generous. Why not take the positive perspective and assume they're having the worst day of their life? Then do what you can to eliminate the annoyance/hazard and get on with enjoying your ride. For me, it's all about reframing my perspective so I'm not stewing mad all day.

This is really applicable to most areas of life. If you can achieve a level of letting the situations you cannot control roll off, you will be much happier.
By the way, Sunshinen, which Zen monastery did you study at?

I must admit, that in the few weeks Ive been riding my scooter there have been a few occasions where I wanted to kill someone in a car. I go atleast 5 miles over the speed limit (I go 55-60 in some 45 zones) cause people just cant stand to be behind a scooter, had a guy cuss me out at a stop light cause I gave him a warning beep not to merge into me. But pedestrians seem to be ok, even if they do act like squirrels when crossing the road. and in general Ive had a lot of nice people ask me about my beautiful "My Little Pony" I did have a parking lot issue, someone hit my scoot, thinking the spot I was in was vacant- stupid lifted trucks- broken brake lever, scratches to top case, not as bad as it could have been.

ERik3tb wrote:Your powers to out google Krusty are apparent, but as to being about to out nerd, that has yet to be determined.

I'll accept that. All hail the mighty google.

No googling here... that's why I'm a NERD!!!

P.S. GOT MY STEBEL TODAAAAAY!!!!

I never liked DC but preferred Marvel as I was growing up.

KRUSTYburger wrote: P.S. GOT MY STEBEL TODAAAAAY!!!!

which one? Magnum or Nautilus??

Apiarist wrote: This is really applicable to most areas of life. If you can achieve a level of letting the situations you cannot control roll off, you will be much happier.
By the way, Sunshinen, which Zen monastery did you study at?

Ha, the monastery of hard knocks. =) (Although, I turn to this article a lot: Scientists reveal the 12 secrets that keep happy people smiling.)

There's just something about losing loved ones that (as cliche as it sounds) truly made me feel that every moment is precious, which came after years of PTSD, anxiety, and depression. I just sort of decided that I was going to pursue happiness on a moment by moment basis... and that has made all the difference.

This one's for you, KRUSTYburger:

The only run-in I had with a Prius driver was when I was stopped at a light. I was in the left-turn lane, and he was next to me. He rolled his power window down and snidely asked me what kind of gas mileage I got. I grinned and told him 100 mpg, and he turned sort of green and rolled up his window. Maybe he thought he'd get better mileage than a Budd?

ECS

redcass wrote:A Prius did this? Ass.

I guess I hold them to higher standards than your typical...oh, Hummer driver.

Why is that? Because they're trying to be trendy and go with what's hot at the moment? I'm willing to bet that a lot of today's Prius drivers were yesterday's Hummer drivers. Feigning social awarenes doesn't make you a better driver.

This is yet more proof that when any human drives, versus rides, they become ---holes the vast majority of the time.

But you must always ask yourself this ... do I become the ---hole I dislike so much when I drive...? it is a valid question to ask yourself.

A 30 year old motorcycle gets better gas mileage than a prius.

Most bikes avaerage 50+ miles to a gallon, and most bigger bikes can hold 3+ gallons. Oh well, I dont care that the buddy only holds 1.2 gallons, I like the bike, it gets 80-90 real mpg for me.

insky wrote:

redcass wrote:A Prius did this? Ass.

I guess I hold them to higher standards than your typical...oh, Hummer driver.

Why is that? Because they're trying to be trendy and go with what's hot at the moment? I'm willing to bet that a lot of today's Prius drivers were yesterday's Hummer drivers. Feigning social awarenes doesn't make you a better driver.

Actually, everyone I know who has a Prius would NEVER have owned a Hummer. In our town the Prius drivers are all about reducing their impact on the environment, and always have been that way.

This is yet more proof that when any human drives, versus rides, they become ---holes the vast majority of the time.

this sorta reminds me of that allstate commerical, where they say something like, "lets treat people more like they're in our homes, and less like they're in our way." i like that sentiment, very much, for reasons i can't really articulate in my current hungover-at-work state. plus who the hell doesn't love president palmer?

Interesting, in my area Prius drivers tend to be older folks who just bought them to save money on gas.

jrsjr wrote:Interesting, in my area Prius drivers tend to be older folks who just bought them to save money on gas.

That is interesting. Lots of older folks around here drive big Buicks. Slowly.