Near Miss

[hokoyo]

On the way home last night I had what I will describe as a near miss which I wanted to share with you. Hopefully we can all learn from it, I know I have!

Heading north out of town on the Mitchell Freeway, just after where the tunnel joins there is generally a mêlée of traffic swapping and doing the things that cages do prior to them settling into their herd.

I normally ride in the right lane and lane split all the time. Anyway I was sitting in right side of the lane left of the far right lane, watching the traffic and waiting for it to settle before I started splitting (Most dangerous parts of the split imo are where the bottle neck starts and the cages get twitchy before they settle into their lanes, a head and mirror check is part of my routine). I was just about to split between the two lanes and caught this flash in the mirror in my peripheral vision and a motorbike shoots past me on the right side. It could only have been 1 metres away from me and I think that it was a Suzuki 750 (red and white) with a rear rack.

One thing I am really really careful with is overtaking other bikes, I will either move into another lane to overtake, or wait till the other bike has seen me and acknowledged my presence, normally by moving to the right, before I overtake.

As it was nothing happened but if we had of collided the consequences could have been fatal.

So be careful out there, especially when overtaking other bikes.

[ChOOkiE]

Very good piece of advice! If I see another bike behind me and he looks like he's going a little faster, I will move over to let him split past. Be careful of fellow riders as we do need to stick together!

[Pure Power]

Well on my way home last night we have to stop at the moment on the Sth West Hwy due to some bridge work....it is only one lane over the bridge. I am in the lead and I can see in my mirror a bike....I think a honda and you can see he is getting pissed off due to having to go slow. The traffic coming the other way is banked up as they have to wait for us...so with trucks and cars stationary on the other side of us there isn't much room...well Mr Honda decides 'stuff this' and takes off weaving in between the traffic and only just dodging the mirrors.....takes off once he gets past me and then turns only 3 streets down the road :shock: Silly boy

[Gonzo]

yeah good one Hokoyo. :!:

i ride towards the city on the mitchell some mornings... and i see a fair few bikes, that i pass.

but then my paranoia kicks in when im lane splitting after that... coz i think they could be splitting up where i wanna go... then bang. :shock:

So if i change the lane or side that im splitting i do a major head chack and ease out into the spot while looking.... obviously not ignoring the cars around me. DONT sto watching the car ahead... coz at that time of the morning they do the whole 'start - stop' crap and i dont want to become a decorative piece on the boot of a car - especially when in that situation it would be my fault

just my lil bit ciao

[mastrmage]

A well needed reminder hokoyo. On bikes we're not used to vehicles overtaking us so just be careful as you approach other riders as they've probably not seen you! Especially if you're going quick.

Lets face it, we have more than enough to worry about in what's in front of us to worry about what's coming up from behind, yet you still have to keep an eye on the odd tailgating hero-in-a-hilux or the P plater VN commodore doing 100 in 60 zones. But when it comes to bikes, not always with headlights on, we often dont have the time to study our mirrors, a quick glance is usually all the attention they get from myself and it might not capture that 900 kwaka doing 110 in a 60 especially as they come up so quick.

Be on da lookout