Who sometimes gets afraid...

Message

nike_soccer · Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:33 pm

...and thinks that they are going to be rear ended or side swipped?

I nearly freak myself out the other day thinking about it, and I wasn't even riding.

Am I the only one?

Got any remedies to the solution, or any past stories of near misses and prevention tips? Obviously, there is no way to prevent someone else from doing something.

DivideOverflow · Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:45 pm

All I can say is stay alert. I am always looking at the other guy. Know your surroundings, and anticipate the other drivers to do something stupid. Whenever I go through intersections, I'm slowing down, and preparing to take evasive action (intersections are where a good majority of cars hit motorcycles, watch those cars making left hand turns!).

Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:48 pm

to take your mind off this kind of negative stuff think about lightning striking you.

#4 Unread post by **Sev** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 2:06 pm

If you went through and catalogued all the possible ways you could die you would be amazed that you live long enough to worry about them.

#5 Unread post by **Jamers!** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 2:44 pm

focus on riding, not being scared, if you keep thinking about being hit or so nervous its affecting your riding you could be in trouble, i had a friend who enjoyed riding but quit cause he was always riding scared, you dont want that. So just trust in your abilitys to ride and be cautioness(SP?) try and learn how to enjoy the ride while still being safe, some of that is not dwelling on negative things, some of that is just experence.

Good Luck

JWF

#6 Unread post by **scan** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 3:15 am

I think you can either over come your fear or not. If you can get on and ride and enjoy yourself, the fear will peel away. If you can't get on the bike, or remain mortified when you start riding, it may not be your bag of tea. I know when I started riding I rode near my house on low traffic roads and worked my way up over the course of a couple months. I now have no fear being in even heavy traffic, but the key is you must feel comfortable and feel you are in control. If you can't get that feeling you might not be chasing something you can enjoy. Not try to discourge you, but I know if you ride in constant fear it may be a self-fulfilling profacy.

ronboskz650sr · Fri Nov 18, 2005 3:26 am

I use to dream my garbage truck would accellerate up this incredibly steep hill, and jump into an even steeper drop off area. Steeper than any reality of a road anywhere. It was terrifying, and ridiculous at the same time. Haven't had it for some time..it was shortly after I learned to drive a truck, and the landfill had gotten steeper and steeper. I believe I just wasn't comfortable driving it yet.

As for motorcycle fears...I believe you get too busy for actual fear when those situations arise, and they do. You just do whatever is necessary to get away. Keeping an escape zone in front of you helps. You should try to always have one. Practice makes you comfortable on the bike. If you need more practice, you'll never be completely comfortable. So practice, practice, practice. Fear, not really..just momentary busy adrenaline, maybe. If you don't want to go ride because of this, it is fear, and you should take aggressive steps to overcome it...with practice. Find out how capable the machine really is. Learn the limits, and don't ride there all the time. keep some in reserve for the emergency situations.

Also, the percentage of rear-ended motorcycle accidents and fatalities is relatively small, so I'd look in the mirrors and cross that one off. A little extra speed fixes that one anyway...even motoercycle cops ride just a little faster than traffic flow. As for side-swipes, the escape route in front give you either time to slow for an encroaching car, or a place to accelerate into when the one next to you starts moving over.

Again, all-around practice, with gear selection, throttle, brakes, swerving...is the key to comfort...get some tennis balls, cut in half and make a course in your scool parking lot. Good luck with this.

flynrider · #8 Unread post by **flynrider** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 7:28 am

9000white wrote:to take your mind off this kind of negative stuff think about lightning striking you.

That's not a negative?

I was struck by lightning while sitting on my bike in '88. Lightning worries me more than cagers. At least with cagers, you can take evasive action.

#9 Unread post by **cb360** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 7:40 am

You can take evasive action wit lightning, you just have to be reallllyyy fast. Just kidding. Were you struck by lightning while riding? care to repeat the story here? Glad you are all right. That sounds scary.

flynrider · Fri Nov 18, 2005 8:09 am

cb360 wrote:You can take evasive action wit lightning, you just have to be reallllyyy fast. Just kidding. Were you struck by lightning while riding? care to repeat the story here? Glad you are all right. That sounds scary.

I'll try and give you the short version. I was returning home to Phoenix after a 5,000 mile ride to Canada and the west coast. Thunderstorms chased me all the way into Phoenix, but I hit the freeway at rush hour, so they quickly caught up. It was pouring rain and I decided to get off the jammed freeway and try my luck on the surface streets. I took an exit, but traffic was backed up all the way to the freeway, so I ended up stopped on the ramp, in the pouring rain with water up to my ankles running down the ramp. While I was standing there, I noticed a blueish glow illuminating everthing and about 1 second later the lights went out. Fortunately, since the traffic was at a dead stop, I had my kickstand down, so I didn't even fall over.

About 15 seconds later my vision started to clear and I saw that everyone had gone back to pushing buttons on the radio and reading the paper. No one had noticed me slumped over my tank. About 12 ft. away, a wooden support on a metal guardrail was charred and smoking. Since I'd been temporarily blinded and deafened by the bolt, I didn't notice until later that I had 1st degree burns on both palms and the soles of my feet. This was the lightning's exit path. As best as I can tell, the main bolt hit the guardrail and I was hit by a splinter bolt that came off the main one.

Traffic started moving after about 5 min., so I just cranked up the bike to try and make it the last 5 miles home. As I was crossing a bridge a few miles later, a bolt of lightning hit a light pole in the center of the bridge, about 50 yards from me. At that point, I was pretty convinced that God was out to get me and hightailed it home as fast as I could. My hearing returned to normal after a couple of days.

I learned two things from this experience. 1. Don't sit on a motorcycle in a thunderstorm. You're protected by the surrounding metal in a cage, but on a bike, the first thing it'll hit is your head. 2. If struck by lightning, get to a hospital fast. I didn't do this. Although my arms and legs were feeling tingly for awhile, I didn't have any apparent injuries other than the light burns. My sister (the doctor) later informed me that lightning strikes can upset the electrolytic balance in your body, and you can keel over from heart failure up to 24 hrs. later.