[AZroaddust]

First let me state that metroplolitan Phoenix area has got to be one of the more hazardous places to ride a bike. In the past 2 weeks one cop and 2 citizens have died riding their bike.

With that said, here I am cruising down a 4 lane main artery in Tempe and slowing for a red light when this bitch in a car just cruises on along side of me in THE SAME LANE! Since I was of her drivers side, I said "Thanks for not running over me". She rolled down her window and said "What'?

I repeated what I had said and told her she should stay in her own lane and to please watch out for motorcyles. (*) Her retort; "Well I didn't know what lane you were in. Next time ride down the center of the lane and I'll know"!!!!! (*) I'm fortunate that I wasn't clipped, but she's fortunate it wasn't some of the other biker's I know, and you may be one, that would have whipped out the chain and smashed a window as a reminder for her to be more observant in future. I normaally ride with my 9mm IMI Baby Eagle on my belt (AZ is a right-to-carry state), but didn't have it on today.

I learned to ride in Washinton State and was taught when taking my MC drivers exam to AVOID the middle part of a lane since it's the most slippery when it rains. The right side is so far over the idiots in the fast lane on your left tend to move over on you, so I drive, as most people I suspect, In the left side of a lane were a larger vehicles right wheels would normally be.

If your ever bike into Phoenix, PLEASE drive not just defensivly, but reasonably paranoidly and stay alive! (And carry a big chain or come armed)! (Just kidding about the last sentence)

[GreyBear]

I usually just crank it on and get ahead of them. For tailgaters nothing works like lug nuts . Get the nice ones from a truck stop and just bounce a few behind ya.......they back off quick and what the hell those things do sometimes come off trucks......lmao. Used to have a pardner that chewd tobacco that is great also, if ya can stand to chew it.

Ride Free....

[AFNurse]

IF you can hack a lung biscut at will, a well timed launch sorta over you, will hit their windshield also......sorta smears like a bug.... Heard of another guy that used to carry a handfull of spark plugs in a bag easily reached when needed.....chuck a few over the shoulder and watch them back off! course, now days have to sorta watch out.....too many undercover cops AND remember, the auto is STILL going to be a more stable shooting platform for the armed road rage driver that feels his CAR is worth more then your life due to HIS stupidity.......

[SK]

Dang..Las Vegas ain't much better. I know what you mean about the middle being slicker 'n snot. It rained pretty good here last Thursday and I rode as careful as could be home from the hospital (first good rain here since about last February or so). When I ride through Phoenix it's usually on the way to Tucson..so I just stay on the Freeway and avoid the city traffic.

[AZroaddust]

Hmmmm. I'm not sure about lug nuts. I couldn't claim that they "came loose and fell off my bike officer" if I got caught. Now a couple nice 3/4" head 1/2" hex bolts (bottom riser bolts), and a few miscellaneous 1/2" nuts might be plausibly deniable.

Thanks for the suggestions, and SK, be careful out there. Several of the biker road kills were on freeways around here, so please don't get too complacent until you get past the new 202 interchange on the southwest side just past Chandler, or the cutoff to the town of Maricopa.

If you want to visit a great Harley Store, rest your butt, and have a free bottled water, pull over on Chandler Blvd. and go East only about a mile at the most to Chandler Harley Davidson. Fantastic inventory of new and used bikes, accessories, etc. and one of the "honest" repair facilities and the nicest people too! The girls working behind the counters aren't too bad either. (NO, I don't work there)

Open 'er up then and enjoy the ride all the way to El Paso if you want.

[kgc]

I don't know there guys; call me old fashion, but the last thing that I want to do is blind some sucker behind me. Or worse yet get a good case of road rage going. Better off dealing with the problem calmly like you did and chalking the encounter up to stupidity on the cager.

Lost a associate back in August when a woman driving a Toyota rear ended him at a stop light. She claims that she didn't see him. Best thing that we as motorcyclist can do is make ourselves and our bikes as visible as possible.

[maxpower_hd]

My daughter just completed driver's education classes. One of the things they told her was to give motorcycles a little more space and curtousy because they sometimes meneuver within their travel lane to avoid hazards that are not as hazards to automobiles, like oil spots, pot holes, etc. and that bikers don't usually have fender benders.

I think they should do more to educate motorists that are unaware of the extra attention bikers must use when driving to avoid getting in an accident. A flier in the your license renewal envelope, some signs at the registry, etc. would help. Just something so it's in their heads when they come up on a biker. That's one of the reasons I always try to get one of those "Motorcycles are Everywhere" bumper stickers for my vehicles.

I had a women almost run me off the road outside of Boston a few years back. I was on a four lane road and she pulled on from my left into my travel lane. I was lucky enough that there was room in the right lane for me to pull into. I pulled up next to her and wacked the throttle a few times to get her attention. I had a few choice words for her when she responded by saying F.U. which of course led to a few more choice words and her passenger yelling at her too. It was all I could do to keep myself from kicking the side of her car or punching her window out. But somehow I was able to keep it together. With my luck, I would have bounced off of her and crashed or something anyway. Then she would have gone home laughing about it. At least this way her and he passenger might go and tell their freinds what happened.

[AZroaddust]

Originally Posted by kgc

I don't know there guys; call me old fashion, but the last thing that I want to do is blind some sucker behind me. Or worse yet get a good case of road rage going. Better off dealing with the problem calmly like you did and chalking the encounter up to stupidity on the cager.

Oh yes, I do agree with you. I think most of this, on my side at least, is "fantasy talk". I would never intentinally endanger a driver in a car or on a bike by throwing foreign objects at them.

At 75+ mph one could be killed if it hit just right, or at the very least cause a major vehicle accident. I would not want to be responsinle for that, or suffer the consequences.

The next time I espouse something like that I'll put a disclaimer notice on it!

[CD]

I grew up in Phoenix and started riding in 1967. I rode the canals as much as possible because even back then the snow chickens would try to kill you. The first accident I was in was because some snow chickens from back east decided to stop right smack in the middle of a major road and take pictures of an orange grove. It was actually a funny deal after I settled down. I was behind a big old Pontiac that had one of those triangular solid steel bumper hitches and when she jammed on the brakes, the ass end went way up in the air and as I slid to a stop in my little Datsun, her hitch just came down and crumpled the grill. Barely hit it and another 6" wouldn't have been a problem. As to why I was in a Datsun and not my Mustang? Well, that's another tale entirely.....

After I retired from the AF in 1990 I decided to stay in Tucson because Phoenix is just to frigging huge. There are few places that I have ridden in that had my hackles up, Houston, LA, Tampa and Phoenix. Every time I ride or drive in Phoenix I am on edge because they drive like a bunch of Keystone cops.

[maxpower_hd]

I know what you mean. I live about 40 miles out of Boston and I almost never go there because I hate driving there so much. I won't ride there at all unless it's a group of bikes. I've ridden in Tampa and it is pretty bad but not as bad as Boston, at least not in my experience. There is a reason they call Mass drivers MA ssholes. I think it stems from Boston. It is just insane. I don't know about the other cities you mentioned since I've never been to them. I've driven in NYC and Chicago but not on a bike. They suck too.

[bikerjim1]

I think any larger "Metropolitan" type city is going to carry that kind of traffic, and mentality.

[Goose]

What irritates me is when it's rain slick and some idiot is right on your tail and you're being careful because you can feel the tires sliding around. Cagers don't realize a bike is dicy on a wet road and we need to take extra space and caution when it's wet. I slow down even more when these idiots get behind me. It might miff 'em off, but hey, I pay my share of road taxes. They'll pass if I slow enough.

[FLHTbiker]

It seems that every where I ride no matter what large city people drive like there in a Nascar race. Its really getting kind of scary anymore.

Yesterday on my way to my morning home inspection I was on I-205 when all of a sudden it comes to a stop. I finally came upon what was causing the traffic jam. In the left lane were 6 cars all in a row that had all rear ended the car in front of them. They were all standing out on the freeway (mostly young women). I rolled down my window and hollered over to them, good job tail gaiters now there are 6 less of you on the road. I know they heard me as one of the young ladies said FU and displayed her lovely middle finger to me, I just smiled and went on my way.

When I was 16 and had just purchased my first new motorcycle a Yamaha 125CC. I was riding through a town called Wilsonville. Wilsonville then was just a small little town in the country off I-5 and if you blinked you missed it. Well, here I was going around a 90 degree sweeper and all of a sudden a white 63 Impala was directly in front of me in my lane. He was cutting the corner and hit me head on. I really had no time to do anything. I must have went over the top corner of his car. I know I was knocked out and when I came to I was laying in a ditch my bike was off to the side of the road with the forks bent clear back past the motor. Yea, they left me in the ditch and drove off. I was OK physically thank god and walked to where I could get to a phone and called home. First thing my mother said was I knew these dam& motorcycles are to dangerous. Its mostly not the motorcycle who is dangerous, yea there are some who are but the cagers who think they own the road and don't care or take responsibility.

[hdbluse]

This is going back several years, but I was ridin' with a friend we used to call Mad Dog George. Now George was about 250# of chiseled granite and probably the nicest person you'd ever meet this side of Mother Theresea.
Well anyway to make it short the events sorta went like this:
Dude cuts us off in his sedan,we pull alongside at next light, Goerge politely tells dude what he did, dude rolls up windows and flips us off, George looks at me, I shrug, fist goes through window, sedan with unconcious dude goes through light sideswiping cars for about a block, we turn left.

[AZroaddust]

hdbluse: This has gotta be one of those "it ain't realy funny, but I couldn't stop laughing" stories! It's not even 0530 here and you have started my day for sure. Hope you and your buddy hauled some serious ass after you turned left!

[AZroaddust]

[quote=CD;14833] ..........As to why I was in a Datsun and not my Mustang? Well, that's another tale entirely.....QUOTE]

That reminds me. MANY years ago the Japenese had just invented this cool litle car and wanted to get a major marketing campaign going, but hadn't even come up with a name for their product yet. The held a meeting and the top Marketing Manger said: "Let's go talk to the German's. They really know how to market. Just look a the success of the Volkswagon, Porsche, and Mercedes for example: They all agreed and jumped on the next plane to visit a Porsche plant near Stutgaurt, Germany.

When they got there they explained their situation and pleaded for help. The Director of Porsche asked, "When do you need the name by?", and the Japanese said: "We want to get prodroduction rolling as soon as possible - how about next week", whereupon all the German's in the roon replied in unison; "Ach! Dat soon?"

[ridehard95]

I live in Florida and let me tell you in the winter time when the snow birds come done its crazy.Most of them are 65 to 80 years old and don't have a clue what they are doing or where they are going its sick.You really got to keep your eyes open at all times.I was at a store one day leaning on my bike drinking a coffee over buy the edge of the parking lot .And this old man came out of the store jumped in his car and started backing up. I was watching he never looked behind him he just backed up and was coming right for me .I thought to my self is this fool going to stop or is he going to run over me and he kept backing I drooped my coffee and grabbed my bike and started pushing it out of the way as I was yelling at him to stop but he kept going.If I would not have pushed my bike out of the way he would have run it over.At this point I ran up to his car and said what the hell you doing you all most ran over me don't you look at what is behind you DAM man I was all the way on the other side of the parking lot and you never looked you just kept backing. He looked up at me and said you bikers are always in the way I just hit a motorcycle rider 2 weeks ago and got to go to Court over it the cop said I went through a stop sign but I know I stopped I always do if I see some one coming.Then he just took off I stood watching him as he pulled out on to the road and I could not believe what I saw .He pulled right out in front of a car the people where blowing there horn yelling at him and he just drove of he was about 70 years old and should had never been behind the wheel of a car

[Killer-B]

Yup, well I don’t think it really matters what town or city or in, the mindless uncaring idiots are everywhere, you just have to know that ‘their' all out to get you. That’s my attitude anyway. I travel a little faster then the flow of traffic in order not to become a hood ornament, and I assume that everyone to the sides and in front are all out to get me.
Paranoid? Maybe, but it's kept me undead so far.

[ironhorse]

From 18 wheelers to 2 wheelers I've managed to stay alive and in one piece, never had much problems with PHX or TCS, LA, ATL, or HOU, my big gripe is Denver no matter what your in or on you just as well have a target on your back. although I am usually just passing through and my travels are timed for consistant flow, oh ya yuma wasn't a very good experiance with traffic, I was in a big service truck and the "snow chickens" with the dulley and 40 foot luxuriey fifthwheel that they could barely see over the dash had me scared.

[scooter]

Any time I get near any sort of built up area, I go to autopilot and assumer that EVERYONE on the road is trying to kill me. Just makes it easier for me, I guess. And on the backroads, well, that's where the radar comes in hands...go with your guts...if it don't feel right, it ain't. Goes the same for LEO and military work, too.

scoot