Close call today

[sparty]

This afternoon, I was riding on the left lane of a two-lanes street that has a speed limit of 45mph. The traffic was about medium. I was riding on the left lane because I was about to turn left in a couple traffic lights. Suddenly, a sedan driven by a young fellow started changing into my lane. My instinct was to brake lightly and sound the horn. It had no effect on him and he merged into my lane completely. Luckily, the car behind me slowed down and let me squeezed between him and the sedan.

So my question is... should I speed up, slow down, or pick his door?

Any idea if it's easy to upgrade the horn? Not sure if a louder horn will improve the situation....

I have to say I was a little troubled by the encountere...

[brat]

You did the right thing. You never know if you can speed up enough and you don't want to get inbetween the SUV and a wall or oncoming traffic. Falling back and hoping the person behind you is at least looking in front of them is the safest bet. IMHO

I agreeit needs a louder horn. So if sone one has figure out how to do this and a good replacement horn, please start a thread on how to do it.

Susan

[whattheheck]

Not sure about the horn - there are posts here about that though.

I never like to be unseen, so I would typically speed up to where a car on the side of you sees you, then you can slow down a hair as he/she knows you are there. Either go slower and leave room for a car to move into your lane in front of you, or move ahead of the car if there is room.

Those blind spots are the worst areas to be in. Also be prepared to ride within a few inches of any parked cars. If you do get squeezed over, you need to feel confident enough to ride in that tight spot between the parked cars and the moving car - rarely will a car get so close to parked cars that there is no room at all and this can buy you time to slow down behind the car pulling into your lane.

Confidence is key, the better you can manuever your scoot on a dime, the safer you will be. Practice pushing your limits somewhere safe and be prepared to fall. Those guys doing flips on motorcycles did not get that good without some flops, but they can manuever anywhere, which helps keep them safe.

[vitaminC]

So my question is... should I speed up, slow down, or pick his door?

Seeing as you're riding a 125cc automatic scooter, your options are limited to 1) slow down or 2) swerve. These just don't have the power to speed up quick enough in a situation like that.

Since it worked, sounds like slowing down was the right move! Good that the person behind you was paying attention, otherwise it could have been a bit trickier...

[ebcspace]

you nailed some great points there, whattheheck.

practice, and building confidence, and developing awareness of these things that can and will happen help prepare you to avoid and manuever to keep yourself and scoot out of harms way.

I'm glad to hear that you got out of the way safely, sparty.

and please, somebody post some horn upgrade info...

it's good to avoid a situation, but even better when you get a chance to make an impression by getting the scoot-foul car driver to realize, and hopefully be more aware of more scoots, bikes, etc.

[mlee10018]

I installed a much louder horn and it really helped me a couple of times when cabs are merging into my lane. They stop merging and actually start to look to see what they have missed. I also ride with a thumb on my horn in traffic, and given that I live in NY, that is pretty often.

http://www.bikerhiway.com/index.php?mai ... ucts_id=74

this is the horn that I had installed. I had to do a lot of make shift to make it fit, but this place actually gives you the directions and the wiring kit. I had to buy some more wire to get it all the way to the battery and also some general hardware to mount the horn to the bike.