via G Zombie, who was almost run over by an oblivious SUV Driver.
A few years ago, I was riding my motorcycle south on 75 towards the DFW metroplex. I wasn’t alone. I was riding with a group of friends. There was probably about 8-10 others riding in staggered formation. I was 5th back, riding in the left part of the right hand lane. We were approaching our exit when a white SUV pulled up right in front of me and the driver put his turn signal on.
It was surprising to me because suddenly, the SUV was right there 10 feet from me. Even though I am usually quite observant and know what vehicles are ahead of and behind me, this white SUV came from nowhere. It is possible that the SUV was in one of the left most lanes and decided to cross several lanes at once in order to make the exit. I know this type of erratic behavior is somewhat common in city traffic, but it is still surprising when it happens.
I was going about 60-70 mph as the exit was one of those long curves that doesn’t (normally) require a reduction in speed in order to merge onto the new highway. There wasn’t much room before the exit ramp and this driver apparently wanted to break a group of riders in the middle in order to exit because he or she did not plan properly and find a spot either before or behind our group of riders.
Suddenly, the driver, getting even more impatient, decided to make his or her own space between us riders. He slowed to probably five feet in front of me and moved half way over into the lane, and then waited (barely) for the rider in the 4th position (right hand side of the lane) to pass before pulling completely into the group. It takes me longer to explain what happened now than how long it actually took the ignorant SUV driver to carelessly execute. It took about 5-10 seconds from start to finish when I had to brake significantly, while cursing the f-ing stupid driver in the white SUV.
The SUV driver could have killed, not only me and the riders immediately around him or her, but riders in back of me who would have had to swerve to try and avoid a multiple bike-SUV accident.
Believe me, if I had had a ‘half-chewed pumpkin muffin’ available, I would have been tempted to ’smear it all over her back window,’ but I really had my hands and feet busy trying to avoid the freak.
Please, if you’re ever in this situation as a driver of an SUV (or any other cager), please don’t try and break a group of riders. It is safer for us to stay together in a group. As a rider, I will try to accomodate the most forgetful of drivers if I can, but I’d really appreciate a little more consideration, especially from SUV drivers who outweight me and my bike by probably 2000 pounds.
Thanks for listening to this entry on oblivious SUV drivers.
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