~~ Air Bag-Like Jacket Saves Motorcyclist's Life ~~ and LOUDPIPES

On Feb 29, 7:58 pm, "Trippers day time" .>
wrote:
> "Scott in SoCal" > wrote in messagenews:j088s39ujr49f280b6bce6j4mi10ule2aa@4ax .com...> On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:12:29 -0800, " QUEST" >
> > wrote:
>
> >>It is impossible to be cut off unless you are following too close.
>
> > I nominate the above for "True Statement of the Year."
> > --
>
> If you ride about 1% slower than traffic, follow at least 2 seconds and dont
> create
> a so called blind spot by riding there you cannot be cut off

Balls, I've had it happen to me quite a few times. I'm tooling along
in the right lane, and Speedy McSpeederson suddenly realizes that
we're passing the deceleration lane for the exit he wants to take, and
crosses two or more lanes of traffic while braking hard. Suddenly
you're looking at the ass end of his car, brake lights aglow, and you
have to throw out the anchor to avoid hitting him.

And then there's the "swoop and squat" maneuver, where someone
deliberately does the above not because they're missing their exit but
because they *want* you to hit them so they can get your insurance
money. I think I actually had someone try to do this to me, or else
the driver was spectacularly unaware. I was driving down a very long
left turn lane at maybe 30-35 MPH (Fairfax County Parkway NB
approaching Fair Lakes, for those of you in the NoVA area) while
through traffic was going maybe 10 MPH slower. Suddenly and for no
apparent reason a car in the leftmost through lane cut directly in
front of me and braked to a halt; I immediately laid on the horn,
swerved into the other left turn lane (and truth be told, partway into
the grassy median) and let the ABS do its thing. I was so completely
shaken and angry that I yelled at the top of my lungs (my windows were
down) "What the **** is wrong with you, asshole?" The driver of the
other car shrugged at me and yelled back in a very thick foreign
accent "other driver cut me off!" No other driver cut him off,
through traffic was bumper to bumper. So either he was actively
trying to get me to hit him or he simply thought that it might be a
nice idea to turn left exactly as I was almost passing him (although
that doesn't explain the braking.)

So yes, you can be cut off while driving in a perfectly normal,
reasonable manner.

> I'll give you $50,000 if you can cut me off

where do you ride/drive? I'm certain I can do it, I see people a lot
stupider than I doing it all the time.

nate