20160513 - Rear ended and not a scratch on me or the bike

All good stories start with "There I was" or "This is a true story," so:

This is a true story.  There I was in Orlando.  The temp was reading 100.7 and I was on E. Colonial, a very busy road with lots of traffic lights and too many vehicles.  There are multiple lanes in each direction.  I was traveling east, GPS navigating to Starbucks to kill some time before I meet with friends for dinner.  In the previous 5 miles, I probably sat through at least 6 traffic lights, each 3-5 minutes.  I was hot, sweating and every time I looked at my GPS, it was telling me that the Starbucks I was going to was just another intersection away...and then it would zoom in a little more and put another 3 intersections between me and it.  It's safe to say I was hot and really wanted to get off the hot pavement.  It's safe to say that I had less patience for the situation than what was called for.

So, I'm in stop and go traffic, inching along and my GPS is calling for a right turn (into Plato's Closet).  I'm looking for the Starbucks and I can't see it...largely because the GPS had it on the wrong side of the street.  Not wanting to miss the turn, just in case I didn't see it, I looked right (much too quickly) and started moving into the lane to my right.  As I started crossing the line, I saw the front end of a burgundy / burnt orange car bearing down on me.  He, or she saw what was happening and locked up the brakes.  At the same time, I let the clutch go and added a fistful of throttle.  We did make contact.  I'm pretty sure of it.  There was no crunch of breaking plastic and it didn't destabilize my bike.  I pulled into the next parking lot to see what damage was done; but, the driver kept going.  I can't say whether or not I'm surprised about that.  It's entirely possible that he/she had no idea that our vehicles made contact.  I think when I wash my bike, I put more pressure on the plastic parts than that car put on my bike; but, I will say that it felt strangely like my dad pushing me forward when I was learning to ride a bicycle - just a gentle tap.

Now I suppose if you ride long enough, something like this is going to happen.  In all honesty though, that's not good enough and I need to own it.  An argument could easily be made that the car was going to fast.  Traffic was going 10 miles per hour or less in my lane and he/she was going much faster than that.  That said, I know that I looked to my right an appropriate distance for the speed I was traveling; but, did not look far enough back in the lane for the speed he/she was traveling.  I turned my head to look.  I did not check my mirror.  Perhaps if I had, I would not be writing this.  The fact is, I got damn lucky.  Had that driver been heads down texting or otherwise distracted,  I'd have to change the ending to this story.  It was both our reactions that contributed to a positive  outcome.

May is motorcycle awareness month.  I really need to thank motorists that are not distracted and who, I am now sure, have saved many lives by seeing and avoiding motorcycles.  I think a great many riders would like to place blame for traffic accidents with motorcycles squarely at the feet of motorcyclists; but, my experience in this case is that is not always right.