VERY CLOSE CALL

Raiderfn311 · Post by **Raiderfn311** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:24 pm

Im riding home from work today(got off early) behind a "duelly" tow truck. All of a sudden, what looks like half a rim(bigger than a hubcap!) comes flying off the rear right wheel of the truck. This object starts bouncing 4 feet off the ground coming straight at me. I apply light braking and veer slightly to my right. This object passes me 3 feet to my left at chest level. I could feel the wind off of it. If it would have hit me, whatever it touched would be broken, and it would have certianly thrown me off my bike, with traffic flowing at 50 mph. It made me recall a "Late Night" interview where Lettemen asked Warren Zevon, who was dying of cancer, how his life had changed. Warren replied, "I make sure to enjoy every sandwich". Enjoy every sandwich my friends, because the only garantee in life is that someday you will die.

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:33 pm

Sounds like the locking ring on a split rim wheel. Haven't seen one of them for a while. Was this a real old or real big truck?

Raiderfn311 · Post by **Raiderfn311** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:50 pm

It wasnt terribly old. Just a regular tow truck. What you are saying is the rim split in half? Thats what it looked like but no tire was attached. It my have been a 1980s model.

Edit-Love the signature Syd. Too funny.

pdxrita · Post by **pdxrita** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:52 pm

Phew! Glad you escaped. I had something similar happen to me a long time ago, back when I rode a motorcycle. I was on a freeway going 65 or so, behind a rickety old dumptruck of some sort, when the huge back gate of the truck came flying open right in front of me. If I had been following too closely, it surely would have knocked me out of the park. I guess the moral of both stories would be to always keep a safe distance behind the vehicle in front of you, most especially at a higher speed.

Raiderfn311 · Post by **Raiderfn311** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:58 pm

pdxrita wrote:Phew! Glad you escaped. I had something similar happen to me a long time ago, back when I rode a motorcycle. I was on a freeway going 65 or so, behind a rickety old dumptruck of some sort, when the huge back gate of the truck came flying open right in front of me. If I had been following too closely, it surely would have knocked me out of the park. I guess the moral of both stories would be to always keep a safe distance behind the vehicle in front of you, most especially at a higher speed.

Yeah I was lucky to be at a safe distance. To be honest though, I was so happy to get off early I was day-dreaming a bit. There is a lesson there too. Work trucks in general can be rickety. In N.C. they dont have to pass emmisions so Im sure they can get away with other faulty crap. Its a small business friendly rule which can be great, but this rule could cost lives so Im torn.

skully93 · Post by **skully93** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 5:03 pm

Wowsers! Glad you dodged it!

As always ride safe!

'Enjoy every sandwich". Excellent.

pdxrita · Post by **pdxrita** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 5:03 pm

Raiderfn311 wrote:
pdxrita wrote:Phew! Glad you escaped. I had something similar happen to me a long time ago, back when I rode a motorcycle. I was on a freeway going 65 or so, behind a rickety old dumptruck of some sort, when the huge back gate of the truck came flying open right in front of me. If I had been following too closely, it surely would have knocked me out of the park. I guess the moral of both stories would be to always keep a safe distance behind the vehicle in front of you, most especially at a higher speed.
Yeah I was lucky to be at a safe distance. To be honest though, I was so happy to get off early I was day-dreaming a bit. There is a lesson there too. Work trucks in general can be rickety. In N.C. they dont have to pass emmisions so Im sure they can get away with other faulty crap. Its a small business friendly rule which can be great, but this rule could cost lives so Im torn.

To my recollection of my close call, I was riding on a nice sunny day, during normal working hours. I had been sent to a job outside of my normal work area, and I was just enjoying the ride. So yeah, the old "never let your guard down" definitely applies. When I see something rickety like that now, I do whatever I can to get away from it - either backing way off, or quickly passing if possible.

Raiderfn311 · Post by **Raiderfn311** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 5:07 pm

skully93 wrote:Wowsers! Glad you dodged it!

As always ride safe!

'Enjoy every sandwich". Excellent.

Yoda almost had to go to his cousins funeral.

Scalpel · Post by **Scalpel** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 7:30 pm

My wife and I once had to dodge a truck bed liner. It looks like it had slid out the back of the truck in one piece and was just sitting in the road, a rake and shovel still inside it.

I also passed a TV once on the freeway. It was sliding along on the glass screen at about 45 mph. Scary!

Skootz Kabootz · Post by **Skootz Kabootz** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 7:42 pm

Glad you are ok Raiderfn311! Close call. Must be a Friday the 13th thing. I has someone blow through a stop sign and nearly take me out of existence today. Always a good stop-check of ones riding habits and best safety practices when things like this happen. Because you never know when...

Raiderfn311 · Post by **Raiderfn311** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 7:47 pm

Skootz Kabootz wrote:Glad you are ok Raiderfn311! Close call. Must be a Friday the 13th thing. I has someone blow through a stop sign and nearly take me out of existence today. Always a good stop-check of ones riding habits and best safety practices when things like this happen. Because you never know when...

Skootz so true and good to hear from you!! I commute on a industrial area so its hectic. How are those rollers doing? Man I don't have the balls to open up the trans yet.

viney266 · Post by **viney266** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 10:31 pm

Glad you missed it and are okay.!!

Funny thing. Two days ago I was in the car headed to work and 4 or 5 sheets of sheet metal came off the top of a dumpster truck. They slid down the other lane, but WOW...I thought about being on a bike behind THAT!

DanielPerrin · Post by **DanielPerrin** » Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:51 pm

Scalpel wrote:My wife and I once had to dodge a truck bed liner. It looks like it had slid out the back of the truck in one piece and was just sitting in the road, a rake and shovel still inside it.

I also passed a TV once on the freeway. It was sliding along on the glass screen at about 45 mph. Scary!

I've seen a recliner chair on the highway. I was glad that I was going the other way, and that I wasn't coming up on that on a scooter. If you don't run into the recliner, you still risk running into the car screeching to a halt in front of you, or getting sandwiched by the car in front and the inattentive driver behind you. People don't expect recliners to be on the highway.

DanielPerrin · Post by **DanielPerrin** » Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:54 pm

Skootz Kabootz wrote:I has someone blow through a stop sign and nearly take me out of existence today. Always a good stop-check of ones riding habits and best safety practices when things like this happen. Because you never know when...

Rhode Island was a good training ground for that type of thing. There you can expect at least one person to blow through each red light. It's better here, but I still "look both ways before crossing the street". I'd rather do some extra looking than get taken out (on a scooter or in a cage) by someone whose time is too valuable to wait at the light.

edit: included additional sentence in quote

siobhan · Post by **siobhan** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:56 am

DanielPerrin wrote:Rhode Island was a good training ground for that type of thing. There you can expect at least one person to blow through each red light.

Brilliant! I had a genius stop at a green light on my morning commute on Thursday (in the pouring, pouring rain). I blasted that Stebel horn as I gently and deliberately applied my brakes. The driver looked up into the rear mirror, saw me (hi-viz in the rain, nothing like it). and gunned it through the, yes, very green light.

Welcome to Rhode Island where predicting chaos is a daily exercise.

OP, now that's one crazy story. Glad you're ok!

BootScootin'FireFighter · Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:10 pm

viney266 wrote:Two days ago I was in the car headed to work and 4 or 5 sheets of sheet metal came off the top of a dumpster truck. They slid down the other lane, but WOW...I thought about being on a bike behind THAT!

Those roll off container trucks are deathtraps to ride behind. Any sort of Dump truck or roll off, I try to give them several car lengths and take the first opportunity to get away from them.