Myopic Fiesta Driver

The Teutonic Tangerine · Fri May 23, 2008 8:03 am

Yesterday morning I came close to an off courtesy of a myopic Fiesta driver.

I approach said Fiesta following a large luton van doing about 35mph. I am approaching at about 50mph. (Bright Mandarin R1100S , Wearing a dayglo Sam Browne , and sporting headlights on Full chat

I ndicate adn move out and start to overtake said fiesta when she decides it would eb a good time to overtake the Luton van.

There was a Cylinder head / rear door interface and a massive wobble.

I can confirm that BMW cylinder heads are harder than Fiesta doors The driver apologised and I pleaded with her "Wake up in the morning and keep her eyes open"

_IT_ · Post by **_IT_** » Fri May 23, 2008 10:25 am

New pants sir?

Glad you stayed on

The Teutonic Tangerine · Fri May 23, 2008 10:34 am

No new pants.

Metal polish on the Head cover (mine are polished magnesium items not the painted ones) to polish of the Fiesta paint.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s190 ... one017.jpg

And I'll have to repaint the Spark plug cover which got some slight damage.

AJB · Post by **AJB** » Fri May 23, 2008 11:42 am

Well done for not hitting the deck.

I used to ride horses a lot and the golden rule was always keep the horse between you and the ground. Same applies to bikes I think.

I despair of car drivers who do not check their blind spot before moving over. I had a similar incident with a van driver yesterday as he pulled away from the kerb. There was no contact but he was shocked. His reaction when I had a word, was that he had indicated. Well, that makes it OK then. Indicate and pull out simultaneously without looking back or even checking the mirrors.

Maybe the best thing to do is get a bike that is tricked up like a police bike. That might make motorists wake up a bit more.

The Teutonic Tangerine · Fri May 23, 2008 1:33 pm

Quote "Maybe the best thing to do is get a bike that is tricked up like a police bike. That might make motorists wake up a bit more"

My old R80RT had blue Neons set into the fresh air vents on the fairing that seemed toimake folks get out o fthe way I'll have to see If I can mount some on the R11S somewhere, maybe the indicator pods?

horse27 · Post by **horse27** » Fri May 23, 2008 2:23 pm

It does work - the BCR in blue and white and I have a blue LED side light bulb - when I wear my hi-viz belt it's amazing the difference ... you see them (car drivers) think twice at junctions, brilliant.

Which means ... they do see you - they just don't care!

The Teutonic Tangerine · Fri May 23, 2008 2:40 pm

Sounds Like a job for the rainy day unday this weekend. The LEDs I used befor where sold as LED number plate bolts and do take plastic number plate nuts to hold them in bodywork or onto brackets they are reasonably cheap.
http://www.vintage-vee.com/led_bolts.jpg

horse27 · Post by **horse27** » Fri May 23, 2008 2:44 pm

nice work ... or just get a blue LED sidelight bulb (501?) from the Halfords nasty car blingy section ... works a treat (although illegal of course so I could not recommend it

)

Mountain 300 · Post by **Mountain 300** » Mon May 26, 2008 7:40 am

AJB wrote:Well done for not hitting the deck.

Maybe the best thing to do is get a bike that is tricked up like a police bike. That might make motorists wake up a bit more.

It won't make a blind bit of difference, excuse the pun,.
Mate of mine is a bike cop, he was doing escort duty for the Queen mum at Cheltenham gold cup. Blues, twos the lot and he was not the only outrider, woman in a range rover stepped out of the drivers side and walked straght out in front of him. He had to drop the bike to avoid hitting her, resulting in him receiving a broken leg. Her reasoning was that she needed to go to the loo

I reckon she probably went their and then in the road

doghouse · Post by **doghouse** » Mon May 26, 2008 12:47 pm

Sorry chaps but if 8 years as a courier in central london taught me anything it's this, Every other road user is a blind, deaf, homicidal maniac and you should treat them accordingly. Doesn't stop me getting knocked off now and again though !!

Ride safe