I'm on my way home from work this evening and riding along the main road outside Chessington World of Adventures. I've had this big white Transit following me all the way down the road and I have to slow down 'cos a bus is turning right into the Theme Park. As the bus pulls into the park and my road is clear I accelerate to 35mph (I know, naughty me!) and keep a steady pace. About 300 yard down, on the right hand side is the South Exit to the park and there are cars waiting to pull out so I look in my mirror and see that there's nothing behind me for a good hundred yards or so and I slow down to let the car out.

The car takes a little longer than most to pull out so I actually have to stop in the road but as the car's pulling outy it slams on it's brakes in the middle of the road and the driver seems to be looking to my left. I turn my head around and there's a nice big sodding transit with it's front lights less than a foot from my left shoulder.

The driver of the car looks a tad worried but carries on pulling out while I turn to lookat the driver of the Transit. He just sits there, shades on, not a movement. No wave, no apology, no getting out of his van, the tosser just sits there.

I'm counting myself lucky but at the same time I really can't believe that someone sitting a few feet higher than me couldn't see a bike with a bright white "L" plate, Big bright brake lights and a leather jacket with a huge white tribal design on the back (Hein Gericke) from  hundred yards away further down the hill.

So yeah that's my rant, sorry if I bored you all!:P

Don't even get me started on white van man.

Everyones entitled to a rant now and then (ask my boss, poor barsteward cowers in a corner when i get on one.)
The question is do you feel better for getting it off yer chest?

Actually yeah I do... hehe.

I was fuming when I got in.
I have an amazing talent for being able to just growl at something that's pee'd me off when I'm riding, even when my instinct is "Upen her up and dust the git, let him know who's boss..." so I just growl and then when I'm off the bike it hits me and I'm stressed. hehe

Anyhoo back to normal now :P

We're thinking of adding the need for a good rant to the board rules. A good rant at least once a month with stop you getting heart disease. Don't bottle it up. IMHO.  :D

His shades were probably darker than most visors.  :rolleyes:

A good rant once a month BD?
I'm doing it all wrong-i rant at least once a day-the standard of "driving" & i use the term advisidly in the country is feckin APPALLING. see my young love thread.
Black Obsidian, at the last school i worked at (CBT/DAS Instructor you know) the instructors mostly rode Pan Europeans with reflective tape all over them-the bikes not the riders, yellow reflective H belts & white helmets-very like the police riders up here.we had 5 incidents where they were shunted off the bikes at junctions by myopic drivers in one year, one of said drivers was a serving police officer on his radio at the time!
most of the buggers dont see you cos they aint looking m8

It may be polite to slow down or stop to let another vehicle pull out, but if it leaves you in any way exposed or vulnerable, perhaps you shouldn't do it  (unless completely unavoidable).

Am I right, o esteemed gods of riding?

hilts IMHO you shouldnt do it, as you say it leaves you vunerable.
not wishing to critisize anyone, but if you dominate your road space & can continue at a pace with the flow of traffic, mr white van man wont have the same oportunity to run into you(probably)
however it all depends on the circumstances.but this could start a worrying trend,if we all go around letting traffic out from side streets onto major roads, we could end up thinking like the bloody french & we dont want that now do we?
Most car drivers will just be confused if we start being nice to them. so, lets put a stop to this NOW.

Thort so  ::

So a white van is 100 yards behind you, travelling at approx 30mph, there's a queue of traffic trying to get out of a side road, the traffic coming the other way looks busy and you know if you don't be nice they'll have to sit there for another 10 mins.

You still think "feck em" and carry on riding?

Personally I think that if we expect cars to pull over to allow us to filter through traffic (to the point where I've seen riders beeping to tell cars to move) then maybe we should give something back occasionally, e.g. letting traffic out if it seems like a safe thing to do.

If I'd thought the driver would be a dumb feck who doesn't watch the road I wouldn't have done it. If I thought the car I let out would take ages to pull out making me stop in the road I wouldn't have done it. If I'd been of a similar attitude to some riders (e.g. the whole God-Complex so many riders have) I wouldn't have done it but I still don't see why I'm in the wrong...

Maybe I'm too nice and I should train myself into a Bad-Ass Rider who just doesn't give a damn? Any suggestions?

I am a considerate cage driver and I sometimes let traffic out but my question is this Why when you say ONE can go does someone turn the bloody traffic tap on?? Where do they all come from?? Next thing you know you've been sat letting traffic out for ages!!




























Thats that thread killed!!  

You're not in the wrong, just don't expect other drivers to be competent. Sometimes these folk will get out quickly but there's times when you run into the ones that take three weeks to cross a junction. If you expect them to be the latter, you won't be disappointed.

I've been in a similar situation before. A car in front of me had broken down and meant a queue was forming behind us and there was no room to get past. I pulled in at the side of the road and helped push the car off the road. When I got back in the car, the feckers in the queue behind me, wouldn't let me out. The feckers forget that they'd have still been sitting there, if I hadn't helped out. Sometimes, you've just got to look after no:1.

chaps and chappetes
im a bit of both(dont take that the wrong way )
i drive a white van sometimes at work and i even owned one for a few year i also ride bikes. so i see things from both ends.
as a biker ive never had a problem with a van!
as a van driver, bikers can be a bloody nightmare. you cant see directly behind you and you have to rely on mirrors, bikes tend to ride close behind and you cant see them.
when im on the bike behind a van, i ride close to the white centre line so he can see me and nine times out of ten, ive found once they know im there theyll flash me past when its safe!
i then always make a point of aknowledging the gesture.

however, when im in the van ill pull to the left, flash and let bikes pass when its safe. but i get no thanks, kiss me arris nor nowt!
just thought id stir it up a bit

 

B.O.
dont take my post too personally, by all means slow down & let traffic out if you wish, but remember the consequences. as you said you didnt expect the car driver to be a feckwit-but he was, & you didnt expect the van driver to be asleep-but he was.the consequences for you could have been serious, ask yourself-would you do it again if you had ended up with a hospital bed & bent bike?

I'm not advocating a sod em all attitude, just weigh up the situation first.
my dad gave me the best bit of advice ever when i first started riding my fizzie "treat every body on the road like an idiot son, & you wont be dissapointed"
i've used that advice for nigh on 28 years of riding-i'm still here.

i personally never  let traffic out of a minor road onto a major unless i'm stock still & the traffic behind me is AWARE i'm there.
when filtering i'm not overly aggresive & wont sound the horn to get some one to move-i dont expect to have to "give some back" as i use the road in a systematic & safe way-i can filter cars cant-so be it.
last thing, cars have side impact bars, crumple zones, air bags, etc.
you have armoured clothing if you're lucky & a helmet, you're still going to hit the ground wether its your fault or a car drivers.
I'll get me coat........................................................................

I spend a lot of time traveling around in my transit minibus, no it's not white  it's green, but as it already has been said you can not see directly behind you & have to rely on your side mirrors.

I was taken out by a white van in 2000 through no fault off my own  ( illegal U turn on a dual carraigeway ) I have seen the video from the unmarked police car ( that was trying to catch me for speeding ) & I did not stand a hope in hell of avoiding him.

i survived 18 years as a courier in London & around the country, How  Paranoria that is how, As far as i was concerned everyone out there was using me for target pratice this did not make me a nervous wreck  but just very very aware of what was going on around me.

ok my rant over see you all in august

bye

Hmmm... From the few recent posts it seems as though people have read it like I was behind the van.  :no:

I was in fact a long way in front of the van but the driver seemed to be too busy playing with himself, chatting on the phone, fiddling with the radio etc as he obviously didn't see me until it was almost too late. Either that or he deliberately drove up to a foot away from my shoulder. Either way he's in the wrong.

From other posts I've decided that unless I have nothing behind me in the slightest I'll keep going, if there's nothing behind at all and the girl is fit, maybe I'll stop  :D

And to think, this all started off as a rant cos I had a sh!t journey home hehe

ooh can I have a rant too?
Coming home from work last night 10pm after putting in a 15 hour day, slightly tired.
Some git in a citroen summat or other decides to play "the lets let out the clutch then slam on the brakes pulling out of a junction and frighten the poor biker sh!tless trick"very funny NOT. why do they do that?
If he had pulled out i'd have had no chance as i was right on top of the junction in question. What a tosser hope yer fecking wheels fall off.  :swivel:

b.o  i understood ur position matey.
i was just making comments about my experiences as a van driver and how bikes can be as much trouble as vans to the other party.
either way your right tho. he was still in the wrong.

not all white van drivers are nobs tho!
ive found that van and truck drivers can be the most experienced,sensible and curtious  people on the road.(more so to other van drivers tho)
in my oppinion, its all down to the individual driver. theres as many arrisholes on bikes as there are in vans. i think its unfair to categorise for the sake of a few idiots.
unless of course were talking about women drivers, theyre all crackers!
   

christ im gona get shot for that last comment, i was only joking!