I nearly killed someone last night...

[Feasty]

Had a long journey to do last night back up the M1 from darn sarf at about 10-11pm. The traffic was really good, all moving fast and no jams - could safely do 90mph all the way!

So I was in the middle lane overtaking slower traffic and coming up to a car in front of me that I wanted to overtake. Check my mirrors and see 4 or 5 cars coming up really quite fast so I slow a little and bide my time waiting for them to pass. I keep an eye on them and notice a bike coming up a way behind them, I watch for a little bit whilst they go whizzing past and see just how fast the bike is going, well it's still a way back so I've got plenty of room to pull out after the fast cars, overtake the car in front of me and pull back in again so the biker can continue without me getting in his way. I start the overtake and see the bike gathering pace towards me as I pass the the car in the middle lane, so I put my foot down and start indicating to pull back into the middle lane not far away from the car but just so the bike doesn't have to slow down too much. Next thing I know the biker is aiming for the gap between me and the car I'm overtaking, despite my indicating and lane changing!! Thankfully being a biker myself I triple checked his positioning and could see he'd already committed himself to the manouvre so I managed to yank the car back into the fast lane before the bike fly's past in the spot I could have been in - and probably just about every none bike riding driver would have been in. I was doing about 90 at this point and I'd guess by the rate at which he passed by and continued into the slow lane before pulling himself back into the fast lane, he was doing at least 120-130mph.

Such an utter idiot, and for absolutely no reason! I've done some stupid stuff in my time but this one really took the biscuit...
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[pa_broon74]

You should change the thread title to 'someone nearly killed themselves lastnight.'

I had some arse on sports bike, possibly a GSXR carrying a pillion hare past me in the same lane, he was so close I could've picked both their pockets.

You get some fannies so you do...


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Didn't catch anything.

[twostroketit]

It sounds like he was attempting assisted suicide to me. I don't think i would have missed him in all honesty,because i wouldn't be expecting him to appear on that side. I might have seen him when doing a mirror check to come back into lane two but i wouldn't have been specifically looking for him.
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sup up your beer and collect your fags

[NexusDragon]

What a tit!

I see other bikers filter and undertake between gaps at 80mph+ on the motorway and wonder how on earth accidents dont happen, just like with cars pulling back in to the middle lane as with you. If traffic is starting to slow down then I'll filter but there's no need to be a dick when traffic is already travelling at a fair enough speed.
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DAS Passed 19th April 08. 07' YBR125 > Yamaha FZ6 S2 '08 > 1998 YZF600R ThunderCat

[1016]

well done beanfeast for such presence of mind... wonder if he even realises how close he was to a big one...

[s44678]

That kind of sh*t is commonplace in Italy. In one section on the A8 heading into Milan I saw about 4 bikes hammer it between cars and the central reservation (concrete wall of death) and many more than that filtering at about 120. Well lairy. But then the more they do it, the more drivers expect it and weirdly the safer it becomes.

[Feasty]

I was between Eastbourne and Brighton over the weekend and some of the bikes (though I don't recognise all makes and models!) were fantastic to look at, the riding was pretty good all round too. It's just a shame that there are a few around who give the rest of us a bad name.

On top of what happened to me with this rider, he was also wearing trainers and most likely I'm guessing his jeans weren't protective! Plus the motorway warning signs had just come on with a warning of debris on the road, normally I ignore these because the debris has always been cleared by the time I get there but it's a bit different when they've just come on! Turns out a trailer was on the hard shoulder missing a wheel!
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed).

[map]

[Flip]

Sounds like it was his/her own fault.

Somewhere on another forum there will be a thread "f*ckin' cager nearly killed me - probably a women".

[Coxyzxr]

It was probably Ghostrider.
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**WAS FITTED "WRONG WAY ROUND" !** CANT ACCOUNT FOR THE STUPID !

[G]

Are you aware of how quickly a sports bike can stop from 120mph? It can bleed off speed incredibly quickly. Also, how quickly a big sports (litre class) bike can accelerate from 90mph to 120mph? Again, very quickly - so could
It may be that the rider wasn't aware of the situation. It may also be that they were fully aware and would have been able to easily stop in time when required.

I, like everyone else, tends to base my own ideas of what's safe or not on my own experiences, but I appreciate that often this may just mean that it's not an environment I'm comfortable with, rather than the activity being black-and-white 'dangerous'.

Beanfeast: were you wearing a safety helmet and five point harness? If not, seems rather 'dangerous' for you to be driving at these illegal speeds .

[pa_broon74]

[Feasty]

[G]

[Mac_Black]

The way you have described it makes it sound quite bad, but hopefully for the riders sake he had more of an idea of what he was doing than you might believe.

I have filtered at up to 112mph on the motorway and sometimes on A roads before and in some situations it can be justified, believe it or not.
Admittedly I have made mistakes as well which have brought me into situations a bit hairier than I'd rather be in and I appreciate that some of maneuvers may well scare the living shite out of the road users I have passed but in allot of circumstances riders that get away with this sort of stuff tend to actually be quite skilled and capable, or just think they are...
I'm yet to find out which of those to class myself as but naturally I'm inclined to think I'm in the former.

Another thing that I've noticed after many more years of riding pillion than I ever have been actually riding myself, is that when a rider does something even half reminiscent of my own riding style I usually feel it's a bit dodgy to say the least.
Really after many years trying to explore the limits in many different ways I'd be happy to say that this sort of riding can actually be done safely, but those concerned must be switched on.

[1016]

[G]

I have been in a lot of situations where I have done stuff I'm confident I am perfectly safe in doing - I have a plan to act on should other vehicles change direction, etc - however I'd be willing to bet other road users have witnessed those actions and considered them 'dangerous'.

Pretty much everyone that rides a bike will have been in this situation - some people think just the act of riding a bike is dangerous.

I wondered if the OP had any experience of the capabilities of sports bikes from his signature.

An indicator, as I hope people on here realise, does not give you the right to move in to a space.
Close passing is discouraged on trackdays, though expected in racing.

Regardless, I was not suggesting the rights or wrongs of this situation specifically as I don't know what the rider was thinking - just offering an alternate possible view on it. It's perfectly possible the rider had the situation under perfect control, as such.

I didn't choose my custom title - it was set many years ago.

[Wozza]

Well done for not killing him

[Feasty]

[pa_broon74]

This thread is interesting in that if it had been a car making a similar manouvre (gaps widened relatively) no one would be trying to justify the driver's actions, indeed; the exact opposite would be the case.

Just the merest sensation of double standards...


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Didn't catch anything.

[1016]

Sorry pa - call me thick, am not understanding here, justifying which driver?

[1016.5]

... you're thick.

[1016]

who's talkin' to you Cap'n Beaky??

[G]

When I had my KLR I can remember seeing someone filtering at maybe 90-100mph and thinking 'whoa, nutter'. To do so on my KLR at the time was beyond mine and the bikes abilities.

As I got into sports bikes and became comfortable to them, I adapted and learnt - to the point I'd say I was more confident and safer filtering at 120mph on a sports bike than I was at 60mph on the trail-style bike.

Pa - bikers do tend to (including myself here) be hypocritical in regards to how they perceive other road users (not counting myself here) an obvious example being push-bikes.

[pa_broon74]