Total Motorcycle Community Forums

zeligman wrote:

blues2cruise wrote:
+1....heck....we can barely make lane changes here without someone speeding up to close the gap to prevent you from getting into the next lane.

as long as you've got a clear visor to dazzle them with those baby blues, you can go anywhere you want!

You mean I have to take my irridescent purple one off?

SOUTH AFRICANS are too petty and self-centered to see lane splitting as a way to lessen traffic or ease congestion. They only see someone else 'beating' them while playing the traffic game, and they can't abide that.

If they see anything at all, the level of attention paid to driving by most people on the road is pathetic..... (tHANKS bUZZ)

And that is the ones that have legal licenses, our figures show about one third here have no, or an illegal license

love the comment that they don't have to look out for bikers. i'm guessing they believe they're bigger and have more rights? wonder if they'd take the same attitude towards 18-wheelers? they're bigger, you better get out of their way because they don't have to look out for cars. idiots.

dean owens wrote:love the comment that they don't have to look out for bikers. i'm guessing they believe they're bigger and have more rights? wonder if they'd take the same attitude towards 18-wheelers? they're bigger, you better get out of their way because they don't have to look out for cars. idiots.

yes, yes they do feel the same way about trucks. i drive a truck for a living and the suicidal things cars do in front of me is amazing. it takes my truck between two to three times the distance to stop as most cars. do you know how often they pull ahead of me and quickly slow down or pull in front of me in traffic giving me no where to turn or stop or wile i am changing lanes they cut me off. it is by the grace of god that i haven't killed any one yet. and yet i know that it is only a matter of time before i roll over some fool that didn't give me enough distance to stop killing them.

sapaul wrote:SOUTH AFRICANS are too petty and self-centered to see lane splitting as a way to lessen traffic or ease congestion. They only see someone else 'beating' them while playing the traffic game, and they can't abide that.

If they see anything at all, the level of attention paid to driving by most people on the road is pathetic..... (tHANKS bUZZ)

And that is the ones that have legal licenses, our figures show about one third here have no, or an illegal license

Sounds an awful lot like the US. Though I expect parts of SA are probably worse, I would imagine your rural areas are full of drivers with no license and likely little to any knowledge of how to safely operate a vehicle too.

Jerry D wrote:
yes, yes they do feel the same way about trucks. i drive a truck for a living and the suicidal things cars do in front of me is amazing. it takes my truck between two to three times the distance to stop as most cars. do you know how often they pull ahead of me and quickly slow down or pull in front of me in traffic giving me no where to turn or stop or wile i am changing lanes they cut me off. it is by the grace of god that i haven't killed any one yet. and yet i know that it is only a matter of time before i roll over some fool that didn't give me enough distance to stop killing them.

The general opinion of the educated idiots on our roads is that trucks dont belong on them either, hell there are people in wyoming that want a dedicated route built for trucks to replace Interstate 80 across wyoming, never mind that trucks outnumber cars on I-80 at pretty much any time and already pay for the upkeep of the interstate with road use taxes (that car drivers dont have to pay).

And of course the car drivers complain to no end when a jackknifed/overturned tractor-trailer blocks the interstate because of some idiotic car driver who cut off said truck causing the accident.

Jerry D wrote:yes, yes they do feel the same way about trucks. i drive a truck for a living and the suicidal things cars do in front of me is amazing.

I'll second that. Since I started driving an 18 wheeler back in February, I've been left dumbfounded on a daily basis at some of the antics cagers have displayed around my truck. While it is obvious that I'm way more visible to them than the average motorcycle or SMART Car, that also works against me as they pull the most incredibly stupid stunts to get ahead of me. As an example, for some reason they are deathly afraid of being "trapped" behind me as we roll through a one lane section of road construction; I've had idiots pass me on the right at high speed and at the very last possible minute - inches from the pylons that close the right hand lane - just to get ahead... so they can slow down to the posted construction zone speed limit and get out the other end 0.5 seconds ahead of me.

Some people don't like being behind a truck. It's like I get stuck behind this big ol' truck and it's going slow and then when it pull onto it's exit the traffic in front of it is gone.

Johnj wrote:Some people don't like being behind a truck. It's like I get stuck behind this big ol' truck and it's going slow and then when it pull onto it's exit the traffic in front of it is gone.

Also you cannot see anything when you are behind them. Also when approaching a tollbooth, they completely block the signs and you cannot tell which one is EZ Pass and which one is Cash. It does not matter what distance you are behind them, they completely block the signs.

Gummiente wrote: for some reason they are deathly afraid of being "trapped" behind me

Nothing personally against truckers like you who are making an honest living but you better believe I am afraid of being behind them when I am on a bike! I know a guy that was on a bike and a 18 wheeler in front of it shread its retread and just missed being hit by the road gator by inches. I was once behind a 18 wheeler when some metal piece came off of it bounced in front of me I weaved to dodge it. Luckily I was on a GL1200 at the time with the boxer engine as the unknown metal deflected off the left engine guard in front of the left cylinder. I pulled off the road and the engine guard was completely bent in.

I avoid the interstate like the plague when I'm on the bike because of the 18 wheelers and will always take the Parkway as no commercial traffic is allowed on the Parkways.