Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique Something else to watch out for

We had some major wind here yesterday so I cut my ride short and headed home.

Lots of construction on the various freeways so the usual temporary signs are up.
Many of these signs are the very large diamond shapes that sit on a spring base so they bend instead of blowing around, that's a good thing.

I saw one of these signs (almost too late) that had turned sideways.
As the wind blew it over, the edge was at about a 45 degree angle into the roadway and very hard to see. That's a bad thing.
Watch out in construction zones anyway, but be aware of what can happen with these signs.
Could end up with a new version of the Sleepy Hollow legend.

Oh yeah.
I went to the job trailer and told the foreman on the job about it. Turns out he's a rider too and he sent someone post-haste to fix it. (and gave me a cup of really bad coffee )

Sounds like "Revenge of the Pedestrian Slicer". Glad you spotted it in time!

Way to keep your radar up and running!

A couple of months ago I was headed home with my new (to me) Bonnie and obediently following my wife's 'yota on I-75 in Atlanta when I got the urge to move over one lane to the left. The next thing I knew her car straddled the extension part of a 24' aluminum ladder that was laying in the center of her lane...if I'd still be behind her it would have been a circus stunt act at 70 mph on the interstate. I got lucky and I'm thankful.

Good reason to not tailgate on a bike - yeah , we are famous for our ladders here - on any given day you can go around I-285 and find a dozen or so - really . A ladder flipped up on I-75 on the Southside and came thru the windshield of a 17 year old kid - decapitated him . Lotsa stuff thrown on trucks irresponsibly.

does the ladders have anything to do with Peaches!
Scott

On the North side of the Road that runs along Assembly Inn in Montreat there is a diamond warning sign that has its left corner snipped off. It is that close to the road. I would hate to be riding a motorbike and not be aware of it. You can't see it in this picture though.



Nor in this one, but if you do as the Swan does you may not care!

Riding with my friend in her Trail Blazer on I-70 downtown, she quickly came up on a 4 x 8 piece of sheet metal in her lane. Freaked her out, and started to freaked me too, I wasn't driving. Managed to get around it, but it was hard to see.

Nearest I've come to it was when I was tailgating a car coming into a city with my wife on the back. Yeah, I know, it was irresponsible but.... Anyway, we both saw the hubcap appear from underneath the car in front at the same time. The only choice I had at that time was to over it. No harm done, but I can imagine that I would have lost a few fillings if it had of been a ladder!!

It's one thing when a road gator comes out from under a car, but I had one fly off of a truck!
The guy was taking a load of pallets to the dump and the wind grabbed the top one off the stack, gave it a back-flip, and dropped it right in front of me.
Luckily I guessed right about where it would land.

Gotta Hate it when that happens. I've been lucky - 2 narrow misses and nearly soiled shorts.....

was out for a ride wed. nite and was behind a p.u. truck with a bunch of construction stuff in the back. was in tight traffic and was moveing along at about 45/50mph when out of the bed of this truck comes a pale/bucket flying thru the air. i ducked as it went right over me and slammed into the front of the car behind me. i guess it was empty and did no damage to the car but at the first chance i got, i raced up next to the guy and yelled that he had lost his bucket. he just grinned and sped up while i had to slow due to the car in front of me.@#$%^%&^%$ what is wrong with people??? he had no care at all about what had just happened. he didnt even say sorry or make an attempt to turn around and get it, he just laughed and sped up??? if people would at least make an attempt to retrieve what they have lost off their trucks it would be a wonderfull thing. i understand if your on an interstate, you maybe cant just turn around but on a local street???? and why isnt everything secured in the first place??? if you have a ladder or a bucket in/on your truck, why isnt it secured???

I was riding behind a glass truck one day, went to pass on the left, and as soon as I did the truck hit a bump in the road and a huge sheet of glass fell off the left side. Must of been at least 8x6 like a storefront window. It shattered everywhere and I swerved just in time, looked over at the driver, he's looking in the mirror, and just keeps driving. I'm just glad I changed lanes when I did. I try to ride with nothing in front of me as much as possible, because I see unsecured loads too often. Shouldnt there be laws??

There ARE laws against transporting an unsecured load. BUT, like a LOT of other laws, they aren't enforced, or aren't Primary Offense laws.

A guy I know was behind a truck carrying sheetrock and he was hemmed in on the freeway-couldn't stop, couldn't change lanes. He speeded up and the sheet went over him into the windshield of the car behind. I don't know if I would have the instant brain power power to do the counter-intuitive thing and speed up. I guess that's one reason he's an MSF coach.

Coming into work a few years ago around 5:30 am, a construction crew had just cleaned up from cutting concrete on the interstate. I merged onto the interstate behind a large 18 wheeler, which was producing a spray paint like mist of liquid concrete, that coated my face shield, and the rest of my entire frontal side, rendering me
totally blind at 60 mph...I managed to do an "emergency landing" on the shoulder, and wipe what I could off, and get my heart rate down....