Re: Ride out complete: Being forced off the road by a car

darsy wrote:
BGN wrote:
The BotM Cinque Ports Tour went quite well.

We had a chug around, I ran out of petrol, we all gave the
unfortunate rider of a green Trophy a hand to pick his unhappy bike
off of the side of the road, I threw tea all over myself and we
ended the trip slightly earlier than planned in Samphire Hoe in
Dover due to rain.

I'm sure when Robbo, Whinging Courier and SeanH get back home they'll
expand on it. I'm not in the right frame of mind or mood to go into
it due to a rather bad experience on the way home which I will expand
upon.

I left the group on the motorway a bit early and went to Sainsbury's
to buy Mother some chockies for Mother's Day and on my way home
through Cheriton I turned left at the traffic lights to come down the
road to the right of Saga in Enbrook and under the bridge there are a
set of new temporary traffic lights while some work is going on off
the junction. I filtered to the front and parked myself in front of
a yellow car. The traffic lights changed to green a couple of
seconds after I stopped.

I set off and could see the car in my RHS mirror behind mirror behind
me far, far too close. I accelerated a bit more to increase the
distance in case he had started off more swiftly than he had wished
to but he kept up with me and then moved into the right hand lane to
overtake me. This wouldn't have been a problem normally, but this we
were heading for the opposite set of traffic lights and the Yellow
Car driver must have been REALLY upset that I filtered past him. He
was to the right of me now and approaching the single lane near the
works.

He then started to move left, invading my protected space which would
have forced me out of my lane. I couldn't mount the pavement as a
junction was right in front of me on the left and there were cars
over the white line. I stayed calm and kept the Red Mist away but
my list of options and escape routes were disappearing too quickly
as the single lane and traffic light over the other side of the road
got closer. I doubted that a bike and a car would fit in that lane
and slamming on the anchors wasn't an option due to the proximity of
the Yellow Car and the spilt fuel mixed with the pouring rain. If
he got any closer then we were going to make contact and due to the
unreasonable behaviour of the car driver the Red Mist had already
taken over his reasoning.

I'm not sure whether the following was the best course of action or
not but it was the only thing I could think of doing in the small
space of time before we became one entity.

I stayed where I was, just left of the centre of the lane where I'd
been forced to inhabit by my would-be murderer and waited for the
Yellow Car driver to make their decision. They would either have to
hit me or force me off the road into the side of a car or into a load
of pedestrians on the pavement, go head first into the other
temporary traffic light on the right hand side of the road, or slam
on his anchors and come in behind me.

I'm quite pleased that Mr. Yellow Car decided upon the latter and we
went past the obstruction. I opened up the throttle to get away from
him and was actually quite fearful of checking in my mirror to see if
the car was still there. Through the edge of my vision yellow was
getting bigger.

I'm not sure if you know my mirror arrangement - due to the set up of
the ER-5 and my large frame I can't see anything through the mirrors
unless it's right up my back side.

I considered turning off left into unfamiliar roads in hope of
getting away from him but given his unacceptable behaviour over the
last few seconds I didn't fancy being caught at a dead-end and
having to confront the driver.

I carried on and went around the bends down past Enbrook Park much
too fast considering the road condition (moss) and weather (heavy
rain) and fuel spilt over the roads from the HGV centre nearby. As
the seconds passed I had to make the decision of what to do when I
got to the bottom of the hill and was greeted by a T-Junction. If I
intended to go right (towards home) I would have to cross a lane of
traffic which would mean I would have to stop with the Yellow Car up
my arse. If I turned left then I could just barge into any traffic
that may be in the left hand lane to make my escape.

I didn't wish to lead him to my doorstep but the road looked clear so
I turned right without signalling and was quite pleased that no
traffic was coming in either direction. I looked in my RHS mirror
and he was still at the junction signalling right.

***. If he's stopped for a car then there would be at least one
between me and him so I gave it beans through to the Murco garage in
hope of keeping him as far away as possible, past a front-facing
Truvelo which I didn't feel safe in slowing down for but with his
front number plate having to slow down might bring him to his senses.

For good measure I overtook a few cars, filtered past another set of
temporary traffic lights and skipped the roundabout which would bring
me to my home and went through Hythe. I turned into the High Street
near the canal next to Aldi but there was too much traffic coming the
other way and stayed there for a minute. I was quite shaken up by
this stage and wasn't paying attention to the traffic in the right
hand lane while I was stationary waiting to turn right and I saw a
yellow car gradually approaching in my mirror. It passed me on the
left and I pissed off into the high street sharpish and then went
home the back way more worried about the yellow car which didn't
appear to have followed me.

It's an experience I never wish to repeat again. A stupid situation
to get into due to someone not wanting me to filter past them.

Out of all the 'close calls' I've had I've never ever felt like this
before. I feel quite empty and my heart is still beating far too
fast. I've got pissed off when in the car before, but never has the
Red Mist made me want to run anyone, let alone someone on a
motorcycle off the road with a view to cause serious injury or even
death.

I've got some thinking to do. I don't know if I should inform the
police about it or not - I've got no evidence - apart from a
potential front-facing Truvelo shot of me speeding past it with the
Yellow Car at least one or two cars behind. I didn't take down the
registration number as I was in front of him, but I wonder if Yellow
Car is going to register a complaint against me because of it. It
would be utterly unfounded - I'm quite passive and accommodating but
the whole thing has left me quite upset.

what are you, some manner of poof?

Learn to snip, newbie.

--
platypus

we can do all the bad things


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