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Here it was, bright, sunny, 7celcius and I thought, time to go for a short ride. So there I was doing 90Km in an 80 zone with two or three cars following. I turned on my left turn signal and started to slow down to make the turn onto an intersecting road. Checked the mirror and was about to make the turn, rechecked and there was a cager starting to pass on the left. He went by and I completed the turn. Fortunately no other traffic decided to pass while I was making the turn. Both roads are two lane roads.
Had the sequence of events been a bit different I would have been a hood ormament! And to add insult to injury, if I survived I would have been charged with making a turn not in safety. Even though I had indicated my turn prior to numb nuts starting his pass. If there had been an accident justice would have me go through the windshield and take his head off with my helmet.
Other than that it was a nice but chilly ride.
And how was your day.

They love doing that on one of the roads I drive every day. 55MPH speed limit, but even if you are doing 70 people will try to pull homicide passes in the little left turn-out lanes. Totally illegal, but then again they are drving 25 over the limit in a zone where all traffic fines are automatically doubled so maybe the law doesn't apply to them.

This is going to sound crazy but I think NJ is the road rage/stupid driver capital of the world... Anway, I know this is mentally challenged but I actually won't even use a blinker in many cases on the highway because when people here in NJ see you put on your blinker instead of letting you make your lane change they slam on the gas and speed up so you can't get in front of them for some insane reason! You might slow them down .00001 of a second from getting to where they want to go! So anyway, I look/shoulder check and make the lane change w/ no blinker.

obfg wrote:Here it was, bright, sunny, 7celcius and I thought, time to go for a short ride. So there I was doing 90Km in an 80 zone with two or three cars following. I turned on my left turn signal and started to slow down to make the turn onto an intersecting road. Checked the mirror and was about to make the turn, rechecked and there was a cager starting to pass on the left. He went by and I completed the turn. Fortunately no other traffic decided to pass while I was making the turn. Both roads are two lane roads.

Just asking, so don't take this the wrong way...did you check to see if your turn signal was functional after this happened? It was probably working just fine and the guy was just a douche bag, but you never know and it's worth a look.

That is a good question Zoo. I checked my signals, brake and headlight before going out. I also checked them afterward. All funtioned properly before and after. I think this guy or gal was just in a hurry. A while before this, he had come up on my tail and then dropped back to a more reasonable following distance. Where this transpired it was the first straight stretch where he could see to pass. The fact that I signalled for a turn either did not register or he did not care. What is one more biker more or less!!!

Don't feel bad - I make a habit of rechecking my mirrors as I have almost been t-boned several times in my truck.

Anyone else in favor of an IQ test being supplemental to a driving exam?

Zoo makes a very good point.

This same thing happened to me in my truck a few years back (truck was all of 3 weeks old). Cager behind me tried to pass on the left as I was making a left turn (with proper signals). She took out my door and left front fender. She was cited for improper passing and her insurance company had to foot the bill. If I'd been on my bike, it would not have been pretty.

If that had happened to me, I would have just kept going straight until I could safely make a u-turn and go back to your turn.

I call it the "me first" syndrome. Most cagers have it. They think they have to be in front of everyone else... that they are in a race. Mefirsters don't care about what you're doing... they only care about getting to their destination, because (obviously, duh!) they are more important than you. You just need to realize that these drivers are in the majority. Once you do, you'll likely find yourself riding down the road yelling things inside your helmet like, "For f*cksake, just let the guy in" while following some poor schlub who needs to get over into the next lane but no one will let him. You'll also start yelling things like, "Jesusfuckingchristonaprostitute! Pay attention, you f*cking moron!".

Trust me... I do this all the time.