Close call

[JPaganel]

I was almost back at work after grabbing some milk for the coffee. Standing in the right lane, waiting for the construction guy to wave me through.

A van rearended the car right next to me in the next lane over.

I's unpleasant as hell to hear that brake and tire squeal behind you...

[Arnie]

Don't you also find it amazing that they couldn't see something as big as a car?
I was in my van waiting for the turn arrow when a car rear ended me.  Couldn't she see this big white box?  Did no damage to my van, but she rode over my tow ball and caught the radiator on it.  I appreciated the greenish fluid dripping onto the road :-)

Arnie

[red]

Riders,

Yeah, had a few.  I lived . . .  About the worst one for me came from the other side of the problem.   I was coming from work, driving the big K5 Blazer (not one of the S-10 toys).  Stopped at the Stop sign, and looked both ways.  One side had a Sun kinda low in the sky, but not blindingly, yet.  The cross street was empty, both ways, but just as I let out on the clutch, I spotted something low, fat and dark, about the size of a wharf rat coming my way.  It was clocking about 35 mph (55 kph) down the middle of the road.  This was a curious-enough sight to make me lock up the brakes, trying to figure out what this thing was.  I heard brakes squeal, and a motorcycle appeared, right in front of my truck.  There was maybe a yard (meter) between my front bumper and the bike.  He had dropped the bike, and slid to a stop.  Since he was off already, he decided that we needed to talk.  I would have gladly crawled under a rock.  I apologized from the heart, but it didn't mean much until I said that I ride, myself, and that I really did look, but just did not see him.  No blood no foul; he refused my money.  He picked up the bike, and rode away.  I was very seriously thinking about mailing in my driver's license.  My eyes and ears are good.  I really DID see something coming, maybe a wharf rat, but that bike had been invisible, in every sense of the word.

Two days later, I had the address for the DMV, but couldn't find a postage stamp.  I had thought about things, and I had no better answer.  NOVA is a PBS (USA) science-oriented TV program, and I'm always game for more education.  That night, the show was about Camouflage Techniques.  During WWII, Hitler's U-boats had savaged the USA East Coast waters, and they could dive fast enough to evade most anti-submarine patrols, even by aircraft.  The planes were ineffective as a coastal defense, and they knew it.  What they did then was fairly amazing, for their day.  The coastal defense squadrons mounted bright aircraft "landing lights" in the engine nacelles, and in a grid across the noses of their B-25 Mitchell Bombers.  When the attack bomber sighted any surfaced U-boat, the aircrew went to work.  The pilot pulled the throttles down to idling speed, and set the pitch of the props for gliding flight, diving at the U-boat.  The tail gunner had the task of taking a light-meter reading (with a common photographer's light-meter) of the sky behind the plane.  Then he cranked up rheostats controlling the light array, to a similar value.  By trial and error, each plane carried a written table of rheostat values that would "vanish" the plane even in a bright sky, to any lookout on the surface.  Film clips of their practice runs were amazing to watch; the approaching bomber just vanished from the sky.  With no sight and no sounds to warn the U-boat lookouts, they learned they were under attack when the bombs came down, and the pilots throttled up their engines to get out of gun range.  Many U-boats were lost to the "invisible" B-25s.  In another scenario on the show, an armored troop carrier on a ridge line had been fitted with a grid of lights, and just vanished into sky behind it when the lights came on.

All that to say this: The local bike laws here require riding with the headlight on, both night and day.  Most "reasonable" people would figure that this requirement makes us much more visible to other drivers, and that is mostly correct. However, when the sky is bright behind you, it can be worse to have the headlight ON, than OFF.  I had looked for crossing traffic at that Stop sign, and there was nothing visible coming.  That rapid "wharf rat" that I DID see was actually the very bottom of the front tire on that bike, because it was far enough away from the headlight to be seen.  No other part of that "vanished" bike had been visible, though.  Expect to be truly invisible, with the headlight on, and a bright sky behind you.  The "glitter" of the pavement sands had made the ground look as bright as the sky to me, on one very scary afternoon.  At least, now I knew how this close-call had happened.  I put my driver's license back into my wallet, but now I'm extra careful riding, when the Sun is behind me.  For your own consideration, then . . .

Cheers,
Red

[fintip]

Two stories worth hearing. Thanks for sharing, red. My best friend's mother died when he was a child riding a motorcycle into the sunset; a semi behind her ran over her, completely oblivious to her presence. I always get a sixth sense around sunset, being ridiculously over-careful and mindful of the sun.

[yamaha fj rider]

JPanganel glad you are ok and weren't caught up in the accident.

Kurt

[JPaganel]

Thanks.

That metal crunch is one of the sickest sounds I know...

[aviationfred]

Glad you are OK, and was not caught up in the accident.

I have had the unpleasant experience of hearing squealing tires and crunching metal behind me on city streets. It is quite unnerving. I was at least pulling away and was not near any impact zones. Hearing the tires and seeing what happened in my mirrors did give me a pucker.

Fred

[crzyjarmans]

I'm a truck driver by trade, And can't tell you how many times I've heard "I didn't see you"  from someone, How is it possible to not see a vehicle that's 13'6" tall, 75' long, In my opinion, you must have to drive with blinders on not5 to see something that big 

[JPaganel]

I'm a truck driver by trade, And can't tell you how many times I've heard "I didn't see you"  from someone, How is it possible to not see a vehicle that's 13'6" tall, 75' long, In my opinion, you must have to drive with blinders on not5 to see something that big 

Well, one day I was driving to work, looked over at the car in the next lane and saw the driver was playing a trumpet. Really.

[Goetz]

i have seen squids texting from their bikes. Or messing with the gps. Asking for it.

[crzyjarmans]

I'm a truck driver by trade, And can't tell you how many times I've heard "I didn't see you"  from someone, How is it possible to not see a vehicle that's 13'6" tall, 75' long, In my opinion, you must have to drive with blinders on not5 to see something that big 

Well, one day I was driving to work, looked over at the car in the next lane and saw the driver was playing a trumpet. Really.

WOW! stupidity at it's best