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.
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.
Good review of a bad call... traffic is never easy.
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