Modern Buddy

I was almost rear-ended by a full sized chevy van on the way home today. I stopped at a 4-way intersection, there was a vechile to my left that had the right of way. The vechile was signaling to make a left turn into my lane. While I was waiting for him to turn, I heard some tires screeching behind me. Some guy driving a red van was heading right for me. All I could do is look in my mirror and hope like hell that he could stop in time. He locked up the brakes and I could smell the burnt rubber. He missed rear ending me by about a foot. Either he didn't see me or he didn't notice the stop sign.

And guess what? He was on his cell phone. Thankfully he reacted when he did (if he would have been a 1/2 second later I might not be writing this).

Just goes to show.... You could be the safest rider on the road, but that does not mean some idiot yapping on their cell phone won't run you over at a stop sign.

One thing is for sure I will never ride my scoot again with out my FF helmet (I rode twice this last weekend without a helmet, and now I feel really stupid for doing so). And I'm even considering "gearing up".

GEAR UP!

anything could happen on the road, scooter accidents are just as serious as a motorcycles.

i got into an accident over something so small, i braked too hard and the brakes locked up, which caused me to fall, which goes to show that anything could happen on the roads

Im glad you are OK. I had 3 close calls all in 1 ride over this past weekend. 2 of them were downtown Seattle, both involving Taxis talking on their phones, and the other, I don’t think the guy thought I would be going as fast as I was and turned out in front of me… Luckily there was no traffic in the other lane so I was able to swerve out of the way. I was wearing my FF Helmet, and my Brand New Corazzo 5.0. Made me feel good having the armor…

hanz, when you're at a stop light or sign, use your mirrors to watch for vehicles coming up from behind. also, go on and off your rear brake light to draw attention to yourself.

glad you're alright...shaky, but alright.

scullyfu wrote:hanz, when you're at a stop light or sign, use your mirrors to watch for vehicles coming up from behind. also, go on and off your rear brake light to draw attention to yourself.

And, if you see somebody coming at you who isn't slowing down, don't be afraid to "wag the scooter." Stand up off the seat and move the scooter back and forth from left to right as hard as you can so your taillight looks like a moving signal light to get their attention. I've even done something similar while I was riding on the Interstate (missed a sign in the fog and accidentally ended up on an entrance ramp) to signal a pair of side-by-side 18 wheelers that were closing on me at about a thousand miles an hour. This may not be an MSF-endorsed maneuver, but Self Preservation is a wonderful thing. Speaking of which, glad you're okay!

-John

jrsjr wrote: And, if you see somebody coming at you who isn't slowing down, don't be afraid to "wag the scooter." Stand up off the seat and move the scooter back and forth from left to right as hard as you can so your taillight looks like a moving signal light to get their attention. I've even done something similar while I was riding on the Interstate (missed a sign in the fog and accidentally ended up on an entrance ramp) to signal a pair of side-by-side 18 wheelers that were closing on me at about a thousand miles an hour. This may not be an MSF-endorsed maneuver, but Self Preservation is a wonderful thing. Speaking of which, glad you're okay!

-John

and there's always the last ditch option for self-preservation:

DROP THE DAMN SCOOTER AND RUN LIKE HELL approach.

scullyfu wrote:
and there's always the last ditch option for self-preservation:
DROP THE DAMN SCOOTER AND RUN LIKE HELL approach.

Mmhm. When I was telling my husband about this post today I thought about leaving the scooter, but I wondered if it was one of those split second things, and then whether or not you would be a target for the sliding van and the projectile scooter?. . .Hard call to make.

I'd like to say I check my mirrors at every stop but sometimes one's attention is elsewhere, for good or not so good reasons. Normally, I scan my mirrors well before a stop sign. If someone is behind me, I really concentrate on keeping an eye on them. But, if someone isn't behind me, I'll concentrate on the cars approaching the intersection ahead, left and right. It's especially dicey when 3 or 4 cars approach the 4 way at precisely the same time. Who goes first? This is the time that some idiot behind you is pulling out of a parking lot, gabbing on his cell phone and heading right for you.

Lots of good advice in this thread. Have an escape route, don't be afraid to drop and run, stay alert to everything in front of you and have eyes in the back of your head. Avoid those dangerous situations before they become dangerous.

And sometimes, just hope you're lucky.

This brings up some good advice I got once. When you're at a light most people who have motorcycles or scooters that you shift like to put it in neutral. It's a good idea to wait for the car behind you to settle in before you do this in case you need to get out of it's way in a hurry.

Also here's a sort of entertaining, in an after-the-fact sort of way, story about a minor scooter crash... No injuries...

http://www.pr-inside.com/segel-survived ... 559304.htm

gt1000 wrote: It's especially dicey when 3 or 4 cars approach the 4 way at precisely the same time. Who goes first? This is the time that some idiot behind you is pulling out of a parking lot, gabbing on his cell phone and heading right for you.

And sometimes, just hope you're lucky.

Thats exactly what happened except it was not a parking lot (we were on the street).

Thanks for all the advice. I noticed I was much more cautious during my ride today. I was also keeping some of the tips I read here in mind at each intersection..