Do you remember your first near miss?

BrokenArrows

So do you remember your first near miss? or if it wasn't your first near miss was it your first accident?

Had my first one today. Totally my fault.
Was too close to the car in front doing about 50mph. He braked and i noticed too late. Ended up swerving into the hard shoulder. Luckily there was one.

I felt the wing mirror of the car brush off my right arm of my jacket.

And just for a bit of fun a Poll to see was it your fault of theirs?

unclebill98

Theirs

My first near miss was a taxi pulling out of a bus lane, his fault. I moved over and then hit the break on the newly painted White line and slammed into the back of a jeep, my fault. Flipped over and got hit by a car coming the other way and landed back at the jeep.

true story

Kev.OC

Theirs

Had my first one today too. Coming up behind a car doing maybe 50mph (i was doing about 65mph). Only have the bike, which is my first, about 10 days, and got a little excited about my first proper overtake. Took a lifesaver, turned back around, and the brake lights and indicator were on. Slapped on the brakes, locked the back wheel, and missed the back of the car by maybe 15 feet. Perhaps not a very near "near miss", but it was my first and frightened me a bit.

Andrew33

I remember my first "offing" 25 years ago!
Alexandra Rd in Dublin port, raining, a lovely layer of coal dust and train tracks! A combo designed to separate you from your steed:D
Got the front wheel over the tracks but the back was having none of it!
Me and bike slid down the road beside each other for what felt like an eternity.
No major damage but filthy from head to toe when I got up. Looked like a fukkin Welsh coal miner.

BrokenArrows

Theirs

unclebill98 wrote: »

My first near miss was a taxi pulling out of a bus lane, his fault. I moved over and then hit the break on the newly painted White line and slammed into the back of a jeep, my fault. Flipped over and got hit by a car coming the other way and landed back at the jeep.

true story

Ouch

amacca

Only ever had one (discounting small lowside on gravel and dropping first bikes - those being hits and not misses in my eyes)

light goes green......so I take off at a slightly more than average pace (not ridiulously fast on the inside left (straight ahead and turning left lane)

car in oncoming traffic is given the go ahead to turn by someone in the outside right hand lane going my way and they dont see me and turns across in front of me (boy racer type ****box - they never even looked to see if anything was coming from what I could remember afterwards)

I jammed on the front brake and in a panic I also jammed on the back - bike slid.....instinctively steered into the skid and managed to keep it upright as it was whipping back level I was standing on the footpegs right out over the handlebars and I had one of those slow motion "oh ****" moments where I seen my front wheel literally within one inch of the side of the rear end of the car.

They just cleared the turn in time to avoid me.....I dont thing they even noticed me then either

I was too shocked to be angry, hunt them down and hurt them....I put it down to inexperience on their parts and a certain amount on mine now....I go slow where traffic is turning across now even though they shouldnt just turn across without checking something is coming

Paparazzo

Haven't had any at high speed, but my closest were 2 similar incidents at different junctions in Dublin City. Both were going through a cross roads, I had a green light and a cyclist was coming straight through from my left and obviously through a red light. The first cyclist i had to swerve and break hard, and almost clipped her back wheel. She didn't even stop, just continued on her merry way. Should have went after her :mad:

Kev.OC wrote: »

Had my first one today too. Coming up behind a car doing maybe 50mph (i was doing about 65mph). Only have the bike, which is my first, about 10 days, and got a little excited about my first proper overtake. Took a lifesaver, turned back around, and the brake lights and indicator were on. Slapped on the brakes, locked the back wheel, and missed the back of the car by maybe 15 feet. Perhaps not a very near "near miss", but it was my first and frightened me a bit.

That happened to me before. Almost hit a taxi once doing something similar. Driving down the road, police car had someone pulled in on the other side, I glanced over but didn't slow down, but the idiot taxi driver had almost stopped on a clear road to gawk at the police car!

7ofBrian

Theirs

First day on the gixxer, i took her up to the twistys for a wee test.
Coming around a sharp left (almost a hairpin) i went in way too fast and took the wrong line. Half way round i found myself crossing the white line right as a car came round :eek:

missed it by the depth of the tread on a racing slick!. Needed new leathers after that!

amacca

7ofBrian wrote: »

First day on the gixxer, i took her up to the twistys for a wee test.
Coming around a sharp left (almost a hairpin) i went in way too fast and took the wrong line. Half way round i found myself crossing the white line right as a car came round :eek:

missed it by the depth of the tread on a racing slick!. Needed new leathers after that!

nonsense.....give the crotch area a good old dry cleaning and you're good to go:D

sleepysniper

On the coast road back from Tramore to Bunmahon, went into a bend quick enough only to find a car stopped on the bend waiting to turn right as there was an oncoming car. No hard shoulder for me to veer into so I had to jump on both brakes and hope for the best, bike stood upright and a lot of tyre squealing and fishtailing. Came very close to getting creamed that day.:rolleyes:

I take it a lot handier going into corners these days...

Please Kill Me

Yep, plain and simple, a twat ran a red light cos he was in a hurry and knocked me off the bike. He kept going cos he looked in his rear view and saw me get up so figured I was ok. I gave chase and got him to stop. He got snotty: "f**king bikes shouldn't be on the road, blah, blah, blah..." so I landed him on the bonnet of his car with a head-butt. I bet he never did that again!! :mad:

davemc180

i had a very close 1, had to bail of the bike to avoid seriously messing myself up..

i was heading home from the city center to finglas on my gilera runner 180, as i was coming up past glasnevin cemetary i was on the thick white line deviding the bus lane from normal lane. traffic was stopped all the way back as it was rush hour. i had full beam on during the day always did so i could be seen.. was doin about 60kmh and lone and behold a white van decides to just fly from the right hand lane straight out in front of me to go into the on the run garage.. it was pissing out and i knew i wouldnt stop in time so i had to dump the front wheel to avoid going straight into the side of him..

and the wanker seen me fall, went in 1 side of the garage, looked at me and shot out down the bus lane!!!!!!:mad:

left a serious hole in my knee but i consider it a close call...

Paparazzo

Remember a funny one actually. Years ago on a 400 virago, going around a left hand bend on a small country road and panicked braked and the bike went straight. Lucky for me there was a gate into a field, and the gate was open! Went about 20 meters into the field.

Please Kill Me wrote: »

Yep, plain and simple, a twat ran a red light cos he was in a hurry and knocked me off the bike. He kept going cos he looked in his rear view and saw me get up so figured I was ok. I gave chase and got him to stop. He got snotty: "f**king bikes shouldn't be on the road, blah, blah, blah..." so I landed him on the bonnet of his car with a head-butt. I bet he never did that again!! :mad:

I hope that's true! Fair play for going after him.

TheUsual

Was stopped at the traffic lights where a bicycle would be, the very far left of the road beside a young taxi driver.

Lights went green and the traffic went forward, when some idiot woman broke the red-lights at the junction on the right, really really late.

Everyone stopped and panicked including me but the taxi driver was frightened and pulled his car over on top of me. Didn't fall over but got a nasty bruise.

Lessons learned :

1./ don't sit where bicycles and scooters are and get in front of traffic at the red light. Block the feckers with your bike at the front in the middle of the lane.

2./ look right and left when the lights go green for panicky mom's breaking red lights before you move off.

BrokenArrows

Theirs

Please Kill Me wrote: »

Yep, plain and simple, a twat ran a red light cos he was in a hurry and knocked me off the bike. He kept going cos he looked in his rear view and saw me get up so figured I was ok. I gave chase and got him to stop. He got snotty: "f**king bikes shouldn't be on the road, blah, blah, blah..." so I landed him on the bonnet of his car with a head-butt. I bet he never did that again!! :mad:

Headbut with or without a helmet on. Lol.

Please Kill Me

Paparazzo wrote: »

I hope that's true! Fair play for going after him.

Yeah it is!! His excuse was that he was late for a flight, he got delayed cos the cops stopped him for speeding! He said he looked in the mirror, seen me get up so thought it was ok to rush off as he needed to park his car in the long term car park as he needed to get the next flight to London cos his GF was gonna break up with him yadda, yadda, yadda....He still got a face full of helmet for his troubles!!! Gimp! :rolleyes:

Luckycharm

Andrew33 wrote: »

I remember my first "offing" 25 years ago!
Alexandra Rd in Dublin port, raining, a lovely layer of coal dust and train tracks! A combo designed to separate you from your steed:D
Got the front wheel over the tracks but the back was having none of it!
Me and bike slid down the road beside each other for what felt like an eternity.
No major damage but filthy from head to toe when I got up. Looked like a fukkin Welsh coal miner.

Go down it every day - those tracks are lethal - came off twice on a bicycle when caught in tracks.

CrazyRabbit

Shouldn't it be called a near-hit instead of a near-miss?

I had a guy jump a red light. Would have hit me except my bike was accelerating poorly since my brother had taken it the night before (without permission) and put some diesel in the tank. Any other day and I would have been directly in his path. And he was travelling about 60mph, so I likely would have been killed, or lost a leg from crush injuries.

BrokenArrows

Theirs

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Shouldn't it be called a near-hit instead of a near-miss?

I had a guy jump a red light. Would have hit me except my bike was accelerating poorly since my brother had taken it the night before (without permission) and put some diesel in the tank. Any other day and I would have been directly in his path. And he was travelling about 60mph, so I likely would have been killed, or lost a leg from crush injuries.

Diesel into a bike. Lol.

positron

Theirs

I have only been biking here since April, and I've had too many scary moments to count!

Right after getting the Fazer, terrified of corners, I ended up in the windy Drogheda-Slane road, and it started raining, and there were two cars sitting on my tail, and eventually they pushed me to go into a corner too fast (still too slow by car standards, it was just me, and the rain etc), and I ended up on the other side of the road, missed the hedge, and luckily there were no other cars on the other side. This running wide type thing has happened a few times since too.

Cars breaking in front me - especially on M1 near airport - I would have seen them slowing down, and I am planning my move, doing the lifesaver and looks back and the car is right there just meters ahead of me. At least twice I ended up throwing the bike into the other lane because I had no other choice, missing the car ahead by millimeters. I still remember the rear end of a red A4 coming right at me - I really need to learn to slow down early.

The worst ever was entirely my own mistake. On R132, coming from Drogheda, I wanted to turn off to Balbriggan (instead of going towads M1), and there was this huge road-cleaning / building type truck, which I thought was moving slowly towards that exit. I decided to overtake him and a few cars over the painted area, and as I overtook that truck I realised they are moving much faster than I thought, and I am going way too faster than I can handle, and it's drizzling and I am over the painted surface. I ended up entering the turn on the outside of the white-line, which was about 12 inch wide, with steel railings flying past me, and this space was getting thinner and I was still too fast to get the bike back on to the road. Then the bike started bouncing off the kerb - this happened 4-6 times - it was the scariest few seconds ever, and I was ready to go over the kerb, thought of how I am going to hit the railing or go over it, and the image of my wife crying holding my 3 months old daughter and looking at me going "Oh Positron". Never been that afraid in my life, EVER! The bike somehow came out of that wedge and jumped back on to the road, and I saw the truck had slammed on the breaks expecting worse... Phew, I was shaking all the way to Dublin that morning.

oleras

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Diesel into a bike. Lol.

Most defense forces use diesel bikes, everything else runs on diesel so too much hassle lugging petrol around just for the bikes.

amacca

positron wrote: »

Right after getting the Fazer, terrified of corners, I ended up in the windy Drogheda-Slane road, and it started raining, and there were two cars sitting on my tail, and eventually they pushed me to go into a corner too fast (still too slow by car standards, it was just me, and the rain etc), and I ended up on the other side of the road, missed the hedge, and luckily there were no other cars on the other side. This running wide type thing has happened a few times since too.

Cars breaking in front me - especially on M1 near airport - I would have seen them slowing down, and I am planning my move, doing the lifesaver and looks back and the car is right there just meters ahead of me. At least twice I ended up throwing the bike into the other lane because I had no other choice, missing the car ahead by millimeters. I still remember the rear end of a red A4 coming right at me - I really need to learn to slow down early.

The worst ever was entirely my own mistake. On R132, coming from Drogheda, I wanted to turn off to Balbriggan (instead of going towads M1), and there was this huge road-cleaning / building type truck, which I thought was moving slowly towards that exit. I decided to overtake him and a few cars over the painted area, and as I overtook that truck I realised they are moving much faster than I thought, and I am going way too faster than I can handle, and it's drizzling and I am over the painted surface. I ended up entering the turn on the outside of the white-line, which was about 12 inch wide, with steel railings flying past me, and this space was getting thinner and I was still too fast to get the bike back on to the road. Then the bike started bouncing off the kerb - this happened 4-6 times - it was the scariest few seconds ever, and I was ready to go over the kerb, thought of how I am going to hit the railing or go over it, and the image of my wife crying holding my 3 months old daughter and looking at me going "Oh Positron". Never been that afraid in my life, EVER! The bike somehow came out of that wedge and jumped back on to the road, and I saw the truck had slammed on the breaks expecting worse... Phew, I was shaking all the way to Dublin that morning.

your post has a ring of 100% honesty to it and is kind of frightening.....I had moments similar to this occasionally when I was starting off (running wide or being just on the edge of running more frequently than anything tbh) and they really make you think so I know what you mean......I used to be much much faster on the straight (where in fairness any fool can go fast) and just about acceptable round the turns to not be holding up cars

it sounds as if you could be putting yourself in real danger if these things are happening frequently on motorways/ busy roads.....

what helped me was practice on roads I know well under no pressure (wasn't a commute to work etc), am familiar with and just pushing ever so slightly beyond what I am comfortable with gradually building up what I feel/am capable of + some advanced training...not with the intention of being a speed demon but just basically trying to get better at going round the turns being aware etc

would you consider some advanced training or maybe some trackday training so you are more comfortable on the bike and you can concentrate 100% on keeping yourself safe?

BrokenArrows

Theirs

oleras wrote: »

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Diesel into a bike. Lol.

Most defense forces use diesel bikes, everything else runs on diesel so too much hassle lugging petrol around just for the bikes.

Wasn't aware you could get diesel bikes.

positron

Theirs

amacca wrote: »

..it sounds as if you could be putting yourself in real danger if these things are happening frequently on motorways/ busy roads.....
.....
would you consider some advanced training or maybe some trackday training so you are more comfortable on the bike and you can concentrate 100% on keeping yourself safe?

I am fairly self-critical type of person, and I think I have learned a good bit from these experiences, especially the last one, and since then I've had lessons which really helped my observation and awareness etc, passed the test too, and I hope I've become more careful. I am better at bends now, way more comfortable on Drogheda-Slane road, but I am also much slower where I should be. I am on M1 a lot, where I am sure you can imagine, everyone is flying one minute, and when something goes wrong or 3-lane narrows to 2-lane etc, and cars are hard on their brakes. I just have to teach myself that cars can slow down a lot quicker than bikes.

However your suggestions are excellent, and I am planning on getting more advanced training + practice once my full license comes thru. Not sure about track day, but definitely more training and practice. And thank you for the concern.

Paparazzo

positron wrote: »

I am fairly self-critical type of person, and I think I have learned a good bit from these experiences, especially the last one, and since then I've had lessons which really helped my observation and awareness etc, passed the test too, and I hope I've become more careful. I am better at bends now, way more comfortable on Drogheda-Slane road, but I am also much slower where I should be. I am on M1 a lot, where I am sure you can imagine, everyone is flying one minute, and when something goes wrong or 3-lane narrows to 2-lane etc, and cars are hard on their brakes. I just have to teach myself that cars can slow down a lot quicker than bikes.

However your suggestions are excellent, and I am planning on getting more advanced training + practice once my full license comes thru. Not sure about track day, but definitely more training and practice. And thank you for the concern.

Yeah, a few bad bends on that Drogheda Slane road.
Learning from the near misses is the key. I see some people doing some crazy things, especially in traffic, and it's obvious they never had a near miss in that situation. Or else they did and they're just idiots.

Alkers

positron wrote: »

I am fairly self-critical type of person, and I think I have learned a good bit from these experiences, especially the last one, and since then I've had lessons which really helped my observation and awareness etc, passed the test too, and I hope I've become more careful. I am better at bends now, way more comfortable on Drogheda-Slane road, but I am also much slower where I should be. I am on M1 a lot, where I am sure you can imagine, everyone is flying one minute, and when something goes wrong or 3-lane narrows to 2-lane etc, and cars are hard on their brakes. I just have to teach myself that cars can slow down a lot quicker than bikes.

However your suggestions are excellent, and I am planning on getting more advanced training + practice once my full license comes thru. Not sure about track day, but definitely more training and practice. And thank you for the concern.

Read up on counter steering also, if you've overcooked it going into a bend and there is no exit option it very well may save your life.

davemc180

positron fair play been so honest and i hope your getting alot more comfortable on the fazer..

1 question is the fazer restricted or full power? if your still learning the ins and outs a restrictor if you do not already have 1 may help..

just an opinion

mikemac

Theirs

I owned a scooter before I owned a motorbike

Practiced a bit around the estate and the park and there I am, Monday morning ready to drive to work. Artane to Amiens St in Dublin if you know it, little under five km

Well I wasn't near ready.
I had a terrible habit of slamming on the brake and jamming open the throttle at the same time.

Stopped in traffic in Fairview and I opened the throttle and fell off. Picked up the bike, had my hand on the throttle again and the bike went skidding down the road
Eventually got to work and had to dismount for the gate at the carpark. And I fell off again and the scooter went skidding down the ramp
What a noob :rolleyes: I wasn't near ready to be on a bike. My leg was cut but my pride was hurt worse

Though I let one of the girls in the office had a go on the scooter one day and she did the same, jammed open the throttle and fell off, must be a beginners thing.

Never had an incident again and eventually got a bike

Got hit from behind once at traffic lights, bike lurched forward but there was zero damage so just left the car driver off. No harm done

eurofoxy

have had too incidents..

The worst was being hit behind by a car at traffic lights, i was in the centre of the lane with rear brake on, idiot claims he did not see me hit me hard as he was braking hard and late for the red light, he hit the panniers of the bike, which forced me out into the junction, as you can imagine this is where it usually gets bad, but i decided to scrap the bike on the near side instead of keeping it upright, ended up sliding across the road with the bike going in front of me being hit by a dublin bus totalling the bike, luck escape for me... thankfully the bus driver stopped and helped me as i was barely able to stand i was so much shock...only damage was the gear and a sore arm from where i tried to keep the bike upright.. oh and the bike was written off thankfully it was a company bike not mine..but i had only being riding about 2 months at this stage so it took me a while before i got back on.....

the second is similar to a story above, riding a country road i overtook a boy racer, he took it as being a race so speed up as i overtook him, luckily i was faster so well ahead, he stay on my ass for the next few turns really frightening me, i slowed when i was out of the bends and he stayed on my ass so i stayed slowing down, he then pulled off into a house, about 2 seconds later i decided to go back as i was seriously peed off, told the guy off and that he was going to die driving like that, then his mammy came out of the house wondering what the commotion was, so i told her her son was going to be killed on the roads as he was a dangerous driver, put on my lid and drove off...

TheFairy

Positron great to see an honest post about where you are bike skills wise. I'm maybe a little ahead of you, but still terrible in the wet especially on corners. I just have no trust on the 650 I am on at the moment, due to only passing the test a few weeks ago and having crap weather since.

I'm hoping that when the weather picks up again next year I can get a real feel for the bigger bike and gain more confidence in the bike. My best advice is slow down, is it really worth taking a chance and misjudging something just to get there 5 mins quicker?

BrokenArrows

Theirs

I'm surprised at the voting so far. I was expecting the majority to he on someone else's fault.