Modern Buddy

I had a close call today. The closest I've had yet to date, and I would not have lived though it ahd it turned out differently.

It was at an intersection, of course. I was on a two-lane road that bisects a busier, four lane. I had a green light, and was watching traffic getting ready to turn left across my lane of traffic. The car stopped to let me pass.

Traffic was stopped to the left, a semi truck was slowing to a stop on the right.

Proceeding through the intersection, the semi decided to do a rolling stop and started to turn right, into my line in my direction of travel. I saw him just in time and instinct told me not to stop, but to gun it and get the Hell out of his way. If I'd slamed on the brakes, he would have rolled right over me and my Blur. Probably wouldn't have seen me.

The guy in the truck was totally in the wrong. He ran a red light. I'd be just as dead though.

Here's the twist. This intersetion is about two miles down the road from the Yellow-Roadway headquarters. The truck that almost killed me was a Roadway. On my way back from the errend I was running, I saw a truck following the same route. I noticed in the cab was the driver and another guy riding shotgun.

I don't know if drivers have to go though some type of interview process where they have to exhibit their skills for a company examiner, but I hope the guy driving was taking some kind of test and that he failed.

Oddly, and I've written about freaking out riding WOT, after overcoming my nausea - it felt like my heart was in my throat - I was totally calm. Rode the rest of the way carefree. Even went for an hour ride at dusk before the storms hit.

Just goes to show you how we shouldn't sweat the small stuff. What's going to get us is something totally out of the blue. Why worry about anything?

It sounds like you had The Scooterist's Moment of Truth. Glad you're okay.

Wow, glad your instincts served you well.

I've had to learn somewhat the opposite reaction in terms of what I do automatically. My instinct is usually to power through or swerve and gun it or some combination thereof when I'm in my MINI. It's served me well in the past and has its place in scooter riding. I've had to check that reflex several times on the Blur as there isn't same amount of power available to me and I can't exactly flick the wheel and tuck the back end like in the MINI. it's good to know that the Blur can stop in an amazingly short distance.

If it was a "student driver" I hope he got his ass thoroughly chewed on.

wow... glad you're ok! And it sounds like the scooter-senses are working well. I had a similar close call a few months ago but it was my fault... I too chose to gun it and get out of the way of the car whose path I was cutting off... and it was the right decision.

The Blur has great brakes. In this particular situation I was so close to the guy I could not believe he was going. I mean, inches. If I didn't have the power to hightail it out of there I would have been crushed.

I have no idea what he was thinking. I mean, I'm not easy to miss I'm well over 200 pounds and sit higher than a passenger car (My yellow and balck full-face helmet - size XXL at least). No excuse when you are litterly feet away. My guess is that he was fooling around with the gearbox and looking at the shifter trying to find first or second instead of the looking at the road. Of course, he could have prevented the whole thing if he stopped for the red light.