Great reminder. I'm watching all the more as we are having rainy days here for the past week almost. People seem to get really stupid when it rains as there are some that want to drive cautiously and that annoys the idiots and makes them drive all the more aggressive. These are the same people who don't realize their stopping distance is greatly increased and will get themselves in a jam and cause an accident.

I constantly watch to the rear and position myself to be out of the way of idiots. I stop to the far outside toward the shoulder in whatever lane I'm in, so I'll have an out if the guy behind me doesn't stop in time. There are situations in all aspects of life, Gen. Patton survived many battles and yet died from injuries from a "minor" traffic accident.

I had a traffic situation the other day where I was in the slow lane passing an entrance ramp onto north 95. I was behind a truck when all of a sudden there was this jerk in a Jeep Commander in the center lane shooting behind me trying to use the ramp runway as a passing lane to get around the truck. He mis-judged and the truck forced him into the shoulder as the lane ran out. Not willing to give in to his stupidity, I layed on the horn as he gave in and come back behind me to the center lane.

I paced myself from there on out to be beside him or behind him the rest of the way to work. Curiously he actually had to go past where I made my final turn off. He was still trying to do manuevers yet he never got too far ahead. I never tried to do anything except lurk. He had gotten well a head of me at the exit ramp but I found myself sitting next to him at the traffic light right off the exit but never looked at him. From there I just put myself in a lane beside him. Just as I was making mine final turn I looked over and you could tell his woman was a little shaken that this motorcycle kept popping up at every turn and he was just looking straight ahead. He looked like a snoop dog wannabe.

That was just a week after I was almost T-boned by a lady running a red light that swore she never saw the light red, yet cars were stopped in the left lane. Had I not have hesitated on my green as I usually do, I would not have been writing this today as she came through as though the light wasn't there. When I made a quick stop in the intersection, the Vision went down on the tipovers with the front literally inches from the vehicle as it zipped by. There was a witness that saw me "drop" the bike and called the police and then followed the truck. I was stopping to get bbq at that same intersection and while I was waiting for my order a police officer came in to ask me to go out and ID the vehicle. It was an senior lady (to be politically correct) that was visibily upset at that the notion she did not see the light and almost had hit me. The police officer wanted to see the damage as they were told she hit me, and I told him I only let the bike go down from stopping hard and the front wheel was cocked. He wanted to see the damage from dropping the bike and I told him there was none as the tip over protection is for just that purpose. Anyway, they took my info and I figured they gave her a running redlight as there was no contact and fortunetly no accident. I have no plans to tell my wife as this was more than just a close call, I believe the hand of God was there. She would tell me to sell the bike immediately if I told her that one. As I was braking I was literally anticipating the impact as I saw no out at all and knew this was not going to be very pretty.

WATCH YOURSELVES - this was an eye opener for me. Prayers for the lady's family in the orginal post, so tragic from something so stupid.

For those who may be interested, here's a link to a petition site that is trying to get increased penalties for this sort of accident (cage vs. bike).

http://www.petitiononline.com/sabiker/petition.html

I've no connection to the people or the site, just interested in the outcome.....