I always thought this may happen sometime with the way some people pack their gear onto the back of their vehicles!
Was on my ride from work this arvo after a bloody long day and was looking forward to getting home. I was following a tradie in a van. This guy had a couple of ladders sitting up on top of a rack on his roof and was moving slower that the rest of the traffic, so I moved into the lane next to him to pass. Just after moving out from his lane I watched as one of his smaller ladders started sliding off the back in what seemed to me like slow motion. It hit the road and bounced - I passed it with a couple of feet to spare as it rebounded off the road and up to helmet height. I watched it bounce two more times in my mirror before it slid a bit along the road and stopped smack bang in the middle of the lane. Phew! Luckily there was no one following closely behind him or me.
At the time I didn't think anymore of it - I sped up to him and let him know in no uncertain terms that he had nearly cleaned me up. The guy driving looked half asleep and I think I frightened him a bit, but he did finally pull up a little further down the road. I just kept riding. When I finally reached home I pulled into the garage and remained seated on my bike for a bit, took a deep breath and reflected on how close I had come. What if.....??
Bloody hell, how hard is it to tie your shit down properly if you drive a van or ute?
Was on my ride from work this arvo after a bloody long day and was looking forward to getting home. I was following a tradie in a van. This guy had a couple of ladders sitting up on top of a rack on his roof and was moving slower that the rest of the traffic, so I moved into the lane next to him to pass. Just after moving out from his lane I watched as one of his smaller ladders started sliding off the back in what seemed to me like slow motion. It hit the road and bounced - I passed it with a couple of feet to spare as it rebounded off the road and up to helmet height. I watched it bounce two more times in my mirror before it slid a bit along the road and stopped smack bang in the middle of the lane. Phew! Luckily there was no one following closely behind him or me.
At the time I didn't think anymore of it - I sped up to him and let him know in no uncertain terms that he had nearly cleaned me up. The guy driving looked half asleep and I think I frightened him a bit, but he did finally pull up a little further down the road. I just kept riding. When I finally reached home I pulled into the garage and remained seated on my bike for a bit, took a deep breath and reflected on how close I had come. What if.....??
Bloody hell, how hard is it to tie your shit down properly if you drive a van or ute?
....and very dangerous for us on bikes!
Labels: Close Calls
posted by Beaker at 9:11 PM
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1 Comments:
two things,
methinks you instinctively knew that the idiot was just an accident waiting to happen and moved out from behind him.
this moving enabled you to react well and quickly to the flying ladder.
so yeah, it's a crime, and the guy is an idiot from the lower end of gene pool....
trouble is, they're everywhere and we must ride accordingly, as if we're invisible and actively anticipating trouble.
I too have had the "shakes" afterwards of a near accident, think of it as the body working off the adrenaline that enabled your quick reactions.
good job!
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