Well, actually that happens to a more minor extent pretty much every day that I ride my bike here. You know, someone starts to merge into my lane and realizes before its too late, or they maybe decide to head through an intersection when the light has just turned red and Im in the middle of the intersection turning left and have started moving across the line of traffic (cos the light has now changed). But those are "little incidents" and its usually not too much trouble to avoid them.
Then there are the more serious incidents which seem to happen once every few weeks where someone truely seems to be trying to kill me... where perhaps they just plain run a red light in the middle of flowing traffic, or maybe they pull out from parking right in front of me while Im riding along etc... They really get my heart going and take some serious evasive action to avoid a collision.
And then, once every couple of years (or so it seems), one ofe these later type incidents actually manages to "get" me... It happened again last Tuesday...
I was riding along, running a personal errand befor going in to work. Im on a significant road (though only one lane each way) with no other traffic in my lane within say 50m of me, and a car on a minor side street pulls straight out from a Stop sign right in front of me... The driver then looks in my direction and sees me (now that Im only about 15m away) and now having seen me at last, applies the brakes and comes to a sudden stop completely blocking my path...
Im watching this all happening with some disbelief of course (I distinctly remember as Im seeing whats the other driver is doing "No, Really???")... and of course Im doing waht I can to avoid the developing "situation" which of course means applying maximum braking, locking up the rear and then adjusting my braking to reduce rear and increase front brake preasure... Then Im realizing that, No, Im not gonna be able to stop in time... but its gonna be close... I brace and really wail on the front brake... (FYI, heavy braking and turning at the same time on a bike are extremely difficult to do and if you start braking first you really are just not going to do any turning... Though in this case turning could well result in a far worse head-on collision with oncoming traffic in the other lane, so I didnt even consider it really!)
And so, I end up running into the front side fender of the car... not at too great a speed, but after the bike hits the car and comes to a sudden final stop, Ikinda crumple and tumble forward and the bike topples over sideways and I find myself on the road in-front of the car... I give myself a quick mental integrity/pain check (I seem to be pretty OK), swear loudly, and get myself up... Then the other driver is getting out of her car and having her own emotional reactions to the incident.. then Im picking the bike up and getting it off the road etc, and we set about swapping insurance information etc...
Im OK, She's OK, Her car is slightly dented and My bike is a bit broken (rideable though and certainly not "written off" like last time.
She was really very sorry and did all the right things after the collision. But what gets me is that she simply didn't see me in the first place!
Im on a bright yellow motorbike with its headlights on, moving at normal traffic speed (certainly not "fast") with no other intervening traffic between me and the intersection, on a fine sunny morning!
Now, we are all human of course, and that means that from time to time, we all make mistakes... But usually we catch those mistakes before they become "life threatening". I really am at a bit of a loss as to how "invisible" I seem to be on my motorbike.
I seem to have managed to ride a hundred thousand miles through all sorts of traffic and other countries where the drivers are "likely" to be far worse than in a modern western city, but the only times Ive been involved in accidents with other cars is here in my own home city TWICE!!!
Now I am of course very greatfull that no-one got hurt, but all I can say is that Im dissapointed and getting a bit tired of it!
And now its time to start putting the bike back together ... again!
