am i an a$$hole?

[Shiv]

I voted 'No' before actually reading the story and well...my decision stands.

Cager got what he deserved. Tries to kill you and you take off a mirror. He's lucky you didn't kick in his door or something.

So, you look around casually to see if anyone saw you, rub off as much of the paint as you can with some spit on your finger and then park on the other side of the lot.

Are...are you stalking me?

[CNF2002]

Sorry for the hard comment, but I hate it if a bike knock my mirror off as well just becuz the biker wanna go faster

I agree with that 100%, but this wasn't such a situation. The cager basically did it to himself. You cant knowingly jump in front of a moving vehicle and then complain that it hit you.

[JustJames]

but anyone who wanna split lane should see it's coming, right? and should judge that it is safe enough or have room enough pass through. If that person doesn't have this judgement then he/she should not manuever splitting lane.

On the other hand, if this happen where he got hit from a nice VW from trying to sharing lane instead. He'd be the one who suffer from both law and injury. I don't want this to happen with everyone out there and don't want to encourage anyone to do so.

[Sev]

I think you were extraordinarily lucky, It seems to me that trying to get between two vehicles at highway speeds is just asking to get killed, and I'd advise against doing it again.

Remember, the goal is to always leave yourself a way out, and passing between two cars like that, there is no way out. Think about it for a second, you hit his mirror with your bars, what if his mirror hadn't snaped of and it was your bars got pushed around. You've dealt with a tank slapper and gone down at 10mph, imagine doing it at 60. Remember you may have the right of way, but that doesn't make you any less dead when a 2 ton car rolls over your body.

[SuperRookie]

I think you were extraordinarily lucky, It seems to me that trying to get between two vehicles at highway speeds is just asking to get killed, and I'd advise against doing it again.

Remember, the goal is to always leave yourself a way out, and passing between two cars like that, there is no way out. Think about it for a second, you hit his mirror with your bars, what if his mirror hadn't snaped of and it was your bars got pushed around. You've dealt with a tank slapper and gone down at 10mph, imagine doing it at 60. Remember you may have the right of way, but that doesn't make you any less dead when a 2 ton car rolls over your body.

+1...but not an "O Ring"

[badfish89]

not a bad thing. People do those things because they are mad that you are getting to where you are going, faster than they are.

[ejshotgun]

I'm not even going to get into "this one".
If your a Biker you automatically get the title "A$$Hole".
Just enjoy!!!:evil3:

[Kal]

Many years ago my partner lost a close friend who lost it while filtering the white line and put his bike under a HGV. R had been a London dispatch rider for years and really did know what he was doing.

Theres times and places for filtering and I suspect that this was not one of them, as you had no escape route if things went horribly wrong and I think you put yourself in the position where the VW driver could do this to you.

However. His actions could have killed you so no I don't think your an "O Ring" for taking his wingmirror off. There have been drivers that have nearly killed me that I wanted to take the mirrors off of.

I could dress it up and say that maybe if a cage driver learns that treating Bikes as second class citizens on the road hurts and costs money they wont do it to another of our fraternity but the truth is that it feels good to hit back at someone who comes that close to killing you.

Conclusion. I don't think your an "O Ring" but I do think you were very silly to put yourself in that situation.

[skoebl]

Definitely not an o-ring...I mean, you didn't intentionally take off his mirror; it was just a perk

I have yet to lanesplit. Even when I have plenty of room at a stoplight, I still just sit there with a planned escape route and whatnot.

Btw, lane splitting is neither legal or illegal in CA. Pretty much the only instance they can get you on (they being the CHP) is disobeying the Basic Speed Law. If you were driving a lot faster than the person you passed (as in much more than passing speeds), or, are in stopped traffic filtering at say 25 mph, then they can get you for that. But otherwise, you are not in the wrong...so to speak...

[Dirtytoes]

okay, so, so far 7 yeses and 5 nos, so i guess the majority of you think i'm an "O Ring" now.

If your a Biker you automatically get the title "A$$Hole".

kinda true, most people HATE bikers, i never found out the reason behind it.

Remember, the goal is to always leave yourself a way out

and i guess i learned my lesson...always have a way out before entering.

for those who said lane spliting is not legal in CA...honestly, i though it was ILlegal...i guess that makes me more of an "A$$hole"...but anyway, this is what it says on the CHP website:

Lane splitting is permissible if done in a safe and prudent manner

source:
http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/motors.html

Even to the point where the biker would wait until the cager was completly stopped and blocked and then get off his bike and invite the cager to wind down his window Laughing Ever bumped a side panel of a door with a BMW boxer motor with header guards fitted.

if i know for a fact that someone is trying to kill me, and if i know i can take the guy(if i'm stronger/bigger....younger ) i would do the same, follow them till they stop and confront them about it.

Many years ago my partner lost a close friend who lost it while filtering the white line and put his bike under a HGV. R had been a London dispatch rider for years and really did know what he was doing.

kal, sorry to hear about your friend.....who was at fault?

P.S. BIG thanx to those who don't think i'm an a$$hole.