Near Death Experience Today
 

Was doing a climb with another guy up a forested, winding rural road. There was next to no traffic and we were having a nice chat riding abreast (Varia was on to alert me to any traffic approaching from the rear so I had time to move over and ride single file) when on a straight section an oncoming older gray van intentionally moves to the center of my lane at about 35 MPH. The guy on my right, yells, ‘oh f!’ and almost runs into guard rail (no shoulder) as I quickly swerve almost into him (handlebar to handlebar) as the van misses me by a couple of feet. It all happened so fast, there was no way to get his plate. This would have been an opportune time to have a camera. Haven’t had this kind of thing happen in decades.

The rest of the 50 miles was fortunately uneventful and peaceful.

Being BF, who will be the first to try to blame me for this oncoming idiot trying to take me and my friend out? Maybe question me on how I know it was intentional? (I have an extremely bright front flasher which can be seen a couple of miles away.)

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I'm glad you're okay. I hope that driver experiences some type of karma for his behavior. Anyone who acts like that will more than likely get his just desserts some time. Hopefully sooner than later...

It's hard to defend "stupid."

Prejudice & ignorance sucks. In that, it'd be nice if traffic engineers would flex their considerable muscle in shifting design priorities such that it is obvious cars are in people space & not the other way around.

We need wholesale culture change.

I'm glad you are ok. I hope you didn't need to wipe. ;)

that’s terrifying! glad you and the other rider are OK.

a head on collision on a full-lane descent with car across the line (whether because they’re avoiding uphill cyclists or just driving badly) is high on my list of fears.

I don't know why someone would intentionally swerve towards you, but distracted drivers (checking cell phones, e.g.) often drift onto the shoulder or across the center line -- which seems a more plausible explanation. Either way, the end result was the same. I'm glad you and your friend are alright.

Just to add a little more excitement, about three minutes later, my friend and I riding single file up the next hill on a curve were startled to see an oncoming car overtaking two cyclists going his direction and splitting the center line. Luckily there was plenty of room this time but I have never experienced this before either. A two-fer!

Glad you're ok. Don't hesitate. Start shopping for a front camera and a rear-facing camera.

Terrifying, happy you made it. In my retirement I have found retirement communities 5 and 8 foot bike lanes a blessing. I
n the summer up in the Bighorns most all drivers are so nice if a couple are about to cross paths as they approach you in the bike lane (really a 3 foot shoulder outside the solid white line) one of the vehicles will slow down so both of them have room to get into the other lane to give plenty of room for the cyclist.

If I turned a file over to the local Sheriff I wonder if they would do anything? Usually they have to be there to witness the infraction. If the perp did get in trouble I hate to think what they would do to the next cyclist.

One of the most annoying things I've encountered was at Crater Lake. I was descending at about 40 MPH down the middle of my lane. Fairly rough paved roads and a drop off to my right.

And cars coming uphill decided they had to pass other cyclists taking up half of my lane (including the space where I was riding). I'd wave my arms to make sure they saw me, but that didn't matter to the drivers.

It happened several times on that trip.

it is getting bad as the season is coming to an end.

I always tell my friends & family to pull a LIP out on me... they might strike it rich should I get creamed riding the public lawless streets.

Sucks that I didn't see this sooner .... I would have happily been the first to blame you ..... it's in my nature, I can't help it. :D

That's what you get when you ride on a track meant for auto racing.

The pictures were so pleasant they sort of muted the actual horror of the topic. The driver will get his karma, it's unavoidable .... but it would have been nice of you could have been there to see it.

Or maybe .... you owed him from past lives but you have been good enough this time around that he couldn't take full payback.

Or maybe you still owe a karmic debt to Bike Forums .... Post more good posts if you want to leave this world.

More seriously .... the idea of a pair of mini-cameras ..... for that one-in-a-million occurrence ..... I 'd hate to have to prep for near-death before each ride, though.

At least you and your riding buddy have a good scary story to tell at parties.

In PA a motorist is permitted to cross the double yellow line to attain the required 4’ passing distance as long as it is safe to do so.

I don't know why negligence is a "more plausible" explanation than malevolence in this situation. I've certainly been on the receiving end of both as a rider.

Had an a--hole cross the center line to aim at me for fun just the other day.

"Let's make him flinch!"

"HA-HAH!"

Maybe we should bring back corporal punishment, and add electro-shock therapy, and remedial kindergarten as possible sentences. Judges should be able to say it while yawning:

"Five lashes and.." --yawn-- "EST 'n' RK"

"Next!"

I don't believe in Karma happening to others, but i do explain stuff happening to me because i've been doing something wrong, and i can almost always find the blame.
Have You been doing something wrong at that moment ? :D

Glad you ok.

Do many people ride with cameras?

I don't but have considered one. Several accidents have been shown to be the driver's fault that could have been blamed on the cyclist because they were caught on a Go Pro or similar device. Even one that showed a patrol car right hooking a bike if I recall correctly.

3-4% of the general population has Antisocial Personality Disorder.
No small wonder you had this experience.
It is very sadistic to swerve into or drive straight at a cyclist.

I stayed off bikes for 25 years because a man ran me over a curb by crossing over the road in a residential neighborhood and gunning his engine to force me into a crash or risk a headon crash.

He was probably texting. Cell phone need to be programed to shut off if moving faster than 10 mph!!!

When I toured across country in 1990 this was common in Eastern Kansas, Missouri, and parts of Kentucky. I'd be riding along a quiet back road and a car would approach from the other direction. The car would cross the line and aim toward me and at the last second the driver would jerk the wheel back to the right and as he went by he would scream obscenities or spit.

There were 4 of us riding and we would split up during the day, sometimes 2 of us were together, and it happened so often I told my friends they must teach it in school. It happened so often when I would see a car crossing the line I would just think to myself "here comes another one".

When we were in a cafe the locals were just lovely and we would tell them about the drivers they were shocked.

It happened to me once in the mountains outside of L.A. when a punk ass in a monster truck crossed over and got very close to me. This one really freaked me out.

Scary! I mostly commute and have ridden with a helmet cam for 8 years. The one time I really wanted the video from it I failed to turn it on before the ride.

I'm glad everyone's okay.

Sounds like attempted murder, to me. (At bare minimum, aggravated assault with a ~6000 lb vehicle.) He's lucky there wasn't video (fore and aft) recording the act, his flight, and his license plate. :mad: :bang: :mad:

Glad you're both okay, more or less.

If the truck was a commercial vehicle with identifiable markings, you can report the date, time and location of the incidence to the company HQ.

You can send the details to the police too. Whether or not they do anything is a wild guess. There seems to be mixed messages about that. Does the police really need to be a witness when a violation occurs? What about murder, r*pe or other road collisions? Many times police release closed circuit video footages asking for public input for their investigation. And then there are cases where people telephone in and report something and it gets assigned to a police officer to call you back.

There are several stories in which stunt drivers post their speeding on-line only to be arrested by the police later using their videos as evidence.

I had a scary event a week ago, though less personal. A car sped through a red light well after the light change and at well over the 50 mph speed limit as I was about to enter the intersection. I did a panic stop to stay out of the crossing or I would have been clobbered.

I always have the option to turn off and take a MUP trail tunnel under that road crossing but had been in the habit of crossing on the road if the light turns green right as I come up to it. Now I take the trail tunnel regardless, just to avoid the risk.

Otto