dduelin
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This was written about a year and a half ago? I don't remember if I posted it here.
Sometimes I think about the potential of getting hurt on a motorcycle. I don't have these thoughts very often but sometimes I do, perhaps to remind me this is an activity very intolerant of carelessness or ego. If I am honest I think it might be a single vehicle accident because I misjudged a corner and ran off the pavement or perhaps hitting wildlife on some back road at speed. Until 2/15/14 I never thought I would be gone in the blink of an eye on the interstate.
I was riding back into Jacksonville, FL after a long day riding rural two lane roads. In the interest of making time for home I got on I-10 eastbound about 15 miles out of town and got in the left lane as is my habit. I like to ride in the inside or fast lane at least at or faster than other traffic to control merging or overtaking situations. Except for having to occasionally move into a middle lane to overtake slower traffic also in the left lane I stayed against the inside yellow stripe or left of center lane position on the inside next to the concrete median divider wall. Speed was about 65-70. Traffic around me was doing 55-65. At the end of I-10 in downtown Jacksonville it gets interesting. Drivers have to chose I-95 North or I-95 South or maybe one of several downtown exits and there are three on-ramps introducing cars onto 1-10 along this stretch. I-10 goes from 3 lanes to 5 and there are always cars swapping lanes as they try to jockey into the correct lane. The posted speed limit drops to 55 then 50 but most traffic was moving faster. I was doing about 60 maybe 65. It was 4 PM and fairly crowded. I passed a slower vehicle that was in the left lane and swung back up against the median. Exactly at that point I-10 crosses a road underneath and the overpass creates a blind rise. Coming over the rise I realized a car was driving the wrong way against traffic - going westbound in the eastbound lanes and it was in my lane coming directly at me. When I saw it my brain didn't immediately grasp the closing speed and refused to believe it was happening....it seemed like a long time anyway. On the interstate we are all moving in the same direction with usually small 5 to 15 mph differences in speed and we aren't used to noting or judging distance based on closing speeds of approaching vehicles. I was doing maybe 65 and it was closing on me rapidly, It's weird in the space of a heartbeat I noted it was a 70s era Lincoln Town Car with a small driver scrunched down behind the wheel wearing oversized sunglasses. In the space of one or two seconds I braked hard then got off the brakes as I judged I could not get over into the middle lane and pass left side to left side (like an ordinary two lane road). Almost without thinking I juked left onto the emergency lane to pass right to right. Also in this heartbeat I realized that if the oncoming driver realized his mistake and swerved into the emergency lane against the median wall he would certainly kill me ........ but if I couldn't get clear across to the middle lane we would collide head-on anyway........ I gambled on the inside and juked left.
Just like that......maybe two or three seconds of my life came and went. I made it around the Lincoln and back into my lane but knew there would probably be a horrific collision behind me. I looked back but couldn't take more than a split second glance. I didn't see anything and hours later I learned there was a head-on collision right there and the wrong way driver was killed instantly. She was a 73 year old woman. The unfortunate woman she hit was hospitalized with severe injuries. Today I drove through that section several times in my car and timed about where I think I saw the car and about where we passed. I came up with about 3 or 4 seconds at 60 mph. The head-on collision behind me was about 15 seconds later.
In 2006 when I started riding again I had a one hour ride I would do lots of evenings after work. One of the roads on this loop ran straight for about a mile and there was rarely any traffic on it in the evening. I did a drill on that road where I would swerve back and forth between the painted white stripes separating the two travel lanes on my side of the 4 lanes. It was a game but also was training for me. As I read different books and took riding courses my skill set included learning how to use knees and feet along with countersteering to swerve. On my evening ride I would head over to Talleyrand Ave to practice dodging the white stripes. I got to where I could do it up to about 50 mph and not run over paint. Left-right-left-right-left until my wrists felt the effort. That's an old game now but I believe all that weaving back then probably saved my life. I also credit the book The Upper Half Of The Motorcycle by Speigel. In the book when he discusses mentally focusing on escape routes instead of obstacles ("finding the gaps!") he diagrams the cross section of an interstate road or autobahn. Given cars are about 8 feet wide, the 12 to 14 foot width of lanes, plus shoulders there is almost always more than enough room to ride a motorcycle between lanes "blocked" with stopped or oncoming traffic.
Plain old luck also gave me a huge break. I was not following or trapped in a pack and being out in front at the "moment" gave me a clear sight line and the longest possible time to see, plan, and execute. Still, I feel like a very lucky man. I have a daughter to give away at a wedding in May.
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Sometimes I think about the potential of getting hurt on a motorcycle. I don't have these thoughts very often but sometimes I do, perhaps to remind me this is an activity very intolerant of carelessness or ego. If I am honest I think it might be a single vehicle accident because I misjudged a corner and ran off the pavement or perhaps hitting wildlife on some back road at speed. Until 2/15/14 I never thought I would be gone in the blink of an eye on the interstate.
I was riding back into Jacksonville, FL after a long day riding rural two lane roads. In the interest of making time for home I got on I-10 eastbound about 15 miles out of town and got in the left lane as is my habit. I like to ride in the inside or fast lane at least at or faster than other traffic to control merging or overtaking situations. Except for having to occasionally move into a middle lane to overtake slower traffic also in the left lane I stayed against the inside yellow stripe or left of center lane position on the inside next to the concrete median divider wall. Speed was about 65-70. Traffic around me was doing 55-65. At the end of I-10 in downtown Jacksonville it gets interesting. Drivers have to chose I-95 North or I-95 South or maybe one of several downtown exits and there are three on-ramps introducing cars onto 1-10 along this stretch. I-10 goes from 3 lanes to 5 and there are always cars swapping lanes as they try to jockey into the correct lane. The posted speed limit drops to 55 then 50 but most traffic was moving faster. I was doing about 60 maybe 65. It was 4 PM and fairly crowded. I passed a slower vehicle that was in the left lane and swung back up against the median. Exactly at that point I-10 crosses a road underneath and the overpass creates a blind rise. Coming over the rise I realized a car was driving the wrong way against traffic - going westbound in the eastbound lanes and it was in my lane coming directly at me. When I saw it my brain didn't immediately grasp the closing speed and refused to believe it was happening....it seemed like a long time anyway. On the interstate we are all moving in the same direction with usually small 5 to 15 mph differences in speed and we aren't used to noting or judging distance based on closing speeds of approaching vehicles. I was doing maybe 65 and it was closing on me rapidly, It's weird in the space of a heartbeat I noted it was a 70s era Lincoln Town Car with a small driver scrunched down behind the wheel wearing oversized sunglasses. In the space of one or two seconds I braked hard then got off the brakes as I judged I could not get over into the middle lane and pass left side to left side (like an ordinary two lane road). Almost without thinking I juked left onto the emergency lane to pass right to right. Also in this heartbeat I realized that if the oncoming driver realized his mistake and swerved into the emergency lane against the median wall he would certainly kill me ........ but if I couldn't get clear across to the middle lane we would collide head-on anyway........ I gambled on the inside and juked left.
Just like that......maybe two or three seconds of my life came and went. I made it around the Lincoln and back into my lane but knew there would probably be a horrific collision behind me. I looked back but couldn't take more than a split second glance. I didn't see anything and hours later I learned there was a head-on collision right there and the wrong way driver was killed instantly. She was a 73 year old woman. The unfortunate woman she hit was hospitalized with severe injuries. Today I drove through that section several times in my car and timed about where I think I saw the car and about where we passed. I came up with about 3 or 4 seconds at 60 mph. The head-on collision behind me was about 15 seconds later.
In 2006 when I started riding again I had a one hour ride I would do lots of evenings after work. One of the roads on this loop ran straight for about a mile and there was rarely any traffic on it in the evening. I did a drill on that road where I would swerve back and forth between the painted white stripes separating the two travel lanes on my side of the 4 lanes. It was a game but also was training for me. As I read different books and took riding courses my skill set included learning how to use knees and feet along with countersteering to swerve. On my evening ride I would head over to Talleyrand Ave to practice dodging the white stripes. I got to where I could do it up to about 50 mph and not run over paint. Left-right-left-right-left until my wrists felt the effort. That's an old game now but I believe all that weaving back then probably saved my life. I also credit the book The Upper Half Of The Motorcycle by Speigel. In the book when he discusses mentally focusing on escape routes instead of obstacles ("finding the gaps!") he diagrams the cross section of an interstate road or autobahn. Given cars are about 8 feet wide, the 12 to 14 foot width of lanes, plus shoulders there is almost always more than enough room to ride a motorcycle between lanes "blocked" with stopped or oncoming traffic.
Plain old luck also gave me a huge break. I was not following or trapped in a pack and being out in front at the "moment" gave me a clear sight line and the longest possible time to see, plan, and execute. Still, I feel like a very lucky man. I have a daughter to give away at a wedding in May.
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