(Copied from old forum...this happened a while ago)

Ok, so get this. On my way home. Pull up at a red light. Far left of the lane. Left foot down. Right on brake. Car in front of me. Check the mirrors, car behind me pulls up about six feet behind me. All stopped. All good. Next thing I know, I feel a blow to my right knee. I look down and it's the corner of the f**king bumper of the car behind me. I look at the driver and there is NO response. No 'sorry wave'. No change in facial expression whatsoever. I can't believe I held the bike up. I don't know what the hell she was doing or not doing, but she hit my knee pretty hard...my guess is she hit the gas by accident and then managed to get the brake on a little. So, everyone in traffic is looking at both of us like "oh s**t". So, I try to move forward, but my leg is pinned to the bike and I don't want to take a chance on dropping it. So I yell, "BACK UP" (there was plenty of room for her to do so). Nothing. Yell it several more times with more expletives each time. Other drivers are yelling, too. Finally, I can't think of anything to do, so I whack the hood of her car with the back of my armored glove and scream 'Back the f**k up!'. She finally backs up about a foot. I get off the bike and call my wife and tell her to write down the plate # (the driver is still just staring at me). Then I get back on and get one lane over. She passes me. Next light I pull up beside her and tell her to turn right and pull over. She does. I tell her that she hit my knee and if there is any pain tomm, I am going to the doctor and calling the cops. She just stares at me. I look the bike over...nothing...my knee cushioned the impact. I ask her if she knows she hit my leg. She says yes. Blank stare. At this point I am livid. If it was a guy, I would have knocked him on his ass, pacifist or no. Finally, she sees how pissed I am I guess and mumbles 'sorry' like in a 'sorry I took the last cookie' tone. I tell her to be careful and watch what she's doing and we part ways. WTF?!?!

Lessons:

1) I chilled for a few minutes before getting back on the bike which was good...a couple years ago I might not have done that.

2) Even when the traffic behind you is stopped, keep checking those mirrors.

I still can't believe this happened. But it did.

Makes you a sexist don't it, won't hit a woman that runs over you but would a man?

WOW!

I had a chick come up behind me on the Glen Highway (read that 'The Killing Field') two years ago while I'm cruising at 70mph. She rides there for awhile, it's cold so I have the cruise on and am huddled down behind the windscreen with my hands up on the top of the instrument cluster, she passes me on the left then unceremoniously cuts over to the right missing my front wheel by about 6 or 7 feet!

I was at hands on and checking rear views while slowing all at once, I screamed so loud that she heard me - looked in her rear view and then just kinda slouched down in the seat like she was hiding. I do not relax on the highway even at cruising speed any more. That was a first but probably not the last. I don't know what happened in that SUV but the driver just didn't act like I was there. I'm just glad she passed me and didn't run into me from behind at 70.

I was riding a red KLR and wearing a bright red & black First Gear jacket so I guess being visible isn't always enough, oh yeah, I use one of those spinning & flashing LED tail lights to attract attention of people coming up behind me also. If you haven't seen them (the lights) they spin & flash all the while that they are on and only become solid red when you hit the breaks. I gotta add that to my list of mods in the sig line.

Yeah. I just got back from a ride. It is amazing sometimes how many people just don't see bikes. Luckily I always see them. And I think of the worst, stupidest thing they could possibly do and get ready.

Shit, I wrote a post a few weeks back. Woman almost drifted through me. Scary.

I was driving yesterday and my wife asked me while I was so nervous. Cause I was checking the mirrors like a maniac. Oh well. At least I see bikers.

Do you find that you can see deer in the road a lot faster than none motorcyclists?

My parents were biology majors, so I've been looking for deer/hawks/frogs, etc constantly since I was six.

But yeah, I think once you've ridden a bike you see all hazards better. You have to, or you don't ride long.

That is very true, I don't miss much whether I'm driving my Chevy Truck or my scooter.

I was required by the city to take a defensive driving course at the FD where I work. On the day of the road test I took my bike to the station. I'm dressed in a FD t-shirt and blue jeans, no biker stuff. Towards the end of my driving test the instructor asked if I was the biker dood. I said yes, why? He had a mirror set up so he could watch the drivers eyes as they drove and said that I had the best scanning technique of all the city employees. He told me that I checked every driveway, alley, and street, even better than the cops. He concluded that I was the biker dood in constant fear for his life.

If you don't, you don't last very long, how ya doing northeast Arkansas, from central Arkansas.

Frito,

I hear that, I see every squirrel under the car, even every hawk sitting in a tree off the road, every pebble washed out into the road on the turns, and when I see a wet strip I never assume it is water!

"Tom Brown" named this type of observation, 'splatter vision' in that there is no general area of focus until you detect motion or something out of place or symmetry. When the eye makes that determination that area becomes the focal point.