[zippywonder]

Yesterday I was coming upon a stop light that was blocked by construction equipment. By the time I cleared the obstruction, I noticed the light was red. I know I can stop, but what about the person behind me? I tend to favor the left hand part of the lane while riding. I noticed the person behind me was more towards the right hand side. So, my "what ifs" decided not to pull off to the right side and just get as close to the yellow line as possible, but still be prepared to run the light if I had to. It was a good thing I stayed to the left, cause I would have gotten run over had I stopped in the middle of the lane or the right hand side. The person behind me didn't see the light neither and didn't react quick enough to me stopping. That was a phewww!!!! moment.

These are all the things you must think about when riding, so you new riders be prepared to not only keep on eye on what's in front of you, but also, what's behind you. Always keep a way out.

 

[El Guapo]

Nice job thinking it through!
I'm trying to build the habit of paying almost as much attention to what's behind me as what's in front.

 

[MONI]

Good Job Zippy. Keeping your eyes searching everything around you, front, back and both sides is an absolute necessity! Looking for those escape routes seems to become second nature after you've ridden for a while.

I think the closest I've come to crashing was when a pick up pulling a 5th wheel pulled out in front of me. I saw him sitting there in a drive on my right. I got that feeling he wasn't seeing me...kind of like a 6th sense. I let off the throttle and had my hand and foot on the brakes ready to apply. It seemed like he waited until I got almost to him to pull out. I was able to get stopped thank goodness.

 

[hogcowboy]

You gals are doing good!

 

[distantThunder]

agree ... good job Zip.
that was potentially really dangerous. you handled that one really well!!

dT

 

[RonK]

--

Good job to keep lane choice in mind. I do that all the time. It's automatic. I automatically ride left track of my lane when no traffic present. Move to center track when a vehicle is passing from behind. Move to right track (on two lane road) when a vehicle approaches from in front towards me, then back to the left track.

This might seem like a lot of movement, but it's all to keep the farthest from other vehicles that might wander into my lane. It keeps my "close calls" to "nothing to remember" rides.

--