From: rbemben@timewarp.prime.com (Rich Bemben)
Newsgroups: alt.peeves,rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: fucking BDI motorcycle drivers
Date: 10 Nov 92 21:13:08 GMT
Expires: 25 Nov 92 05:00:00 GMT
Organization: Computervision Corp., Bedford, Ma.

In article <5831@catnip.berkeley.ca.us> dre@catnip.berkeley.ca.us (All of our represanatives are still busy; please continue to hold) writes:
>Scene: moi, driving home in traffic on the Lawrence expressway.  BDI
>	motorcycle driver five feet off of my bumper, bright light
>	shining right in my rear-view mirror.
 
This post just kinda makes me wonder WHO the BDI REALLY was but since I 
wasn't there there's no way anyone will know ("I"=collective "we").  
Was this biker REALLY 5' off you tail or were you merely annoyed by the
"bright light shining in" your rear view mirror?  Motorcycle lights 
being what they are (a little higher up and sometimes a little brighter)
could make a bike appear closer than it really is.  Anyway, let's take the
facts that you presented:

1) You said that you were going the speed limit - where?  Inside lane?
   travel lane?  Passing lane?  Was everyone else blowing by on both 
   sides?  Maybe you were creating a dangerous situation for both of you
   and if I were that biker I may have been getting a little peeved at
   that point.

>
>I tap the brakes, re-adjust my rear-view mirror, the dumb-assed guy
>is still 5' off of my rear bumper.
>
>So I do the next thing in my "back off" program: slow down.
>
>Cars are passing us at about 50MPH [the speed limit].
>
>I take my foot off of the petal and let the car slow from 40 to 25.
>
>More cars pass us with plenty of space for the BDI to get out from
>behind me.  
 
2) Okay so you performed all of your "back off program" - you say that 
   traffic is passing you.  (Again, on both sides?)  Sounds to me like the dude
   had his own safety in mind by this point.  Yah, bikes can out accelerate 
   cars but I don't like to stretch my own safety cushion just to prove that
   point.  

>Guy is still on my bumper.
>
>I put my foot on the brake, lightly of course.
>
>Slow to 20.
>
>BDI motorcycle driver then finally decides to pass me, looking at me
>as if I'm crazy.

3) Well, let's see; you're on an expressway and it being Ca. I would immagine
   that traffic is busting past both of you at a fairly good clip...given
   the point I made about acceleration in (2) the biker's safety cushion 
   would be even more strained since at this point you are creating a rolling
   road hazard for everyone on the road.  If I was this guy I might think 
   that you were more than a little crazy...maybe a little suicidal.  Anyway,
   there'a point where the guy finally goes around you - maybe it was the
   ONLY point where he SAFELY could pass.  
 
>What is he wearing?
>
>	1. a full-faced helmet.  we have a helmet law here in california.
>	2. sneakers
>	3. cloth pants
>	4. cloth jacket

Well, not the most superbly dressed motorcyclist but fairly addequate - at
least he wasn't wearing shorts and flip-flops.  What's the point?  How does  
this relate to the situation?


If you want to make this a peeve, then MY pet peeve is people on high speed
roadways that think that slowing to a crawl (no matter how methodical they
are about it) is only going to affect them and "the other guy".  This is 
dangerous in the extreme since you are putting EVERYONE that is behind you at
risk.  I will only perform this manouver when I know that NOBODY but ME and
the OTHER GUY will be at risk, which in this day and age of the auto is very
infrequent!  This might work at 3:00 a.m. but during the day ...(?!)

The point is, if the guy was REALLY crowding your ass then he really was 
a BDI - but what YOU did was even more foolish since when you have ANYONE
tailgating you there are only 2 vehicles at risk; you upped the anti to include
everyone that was overtaking you (including the biker)!  I don't like anyone
that tailgates - trucks, cars, bikes I'm not bigotted (you seem to be however).
If someone crowds my ass then its not my insurance that will go up if there's
a collision (although I don't go out of my way to create that situation) - I
prefer to ride it out and swallow my machismo.  The dolt, whoever (s)he is will 
find their way around you.  Its nice to be a law abiding person and follow the
rules of the road but I don't go out of my way to create dangerous situations.
If I'm in the slow lane I go slow with the rest of traffic; and when I'm in
other lanes I will go with the flow and not be some kind of righteous slob
that thinks that "well the speed limit is 55 so as long as I'm in the passing 
lane here I'll go the limit and the rest of the world be damned".  That person
is as bad as the person you are insinuating the biker was.

Ask ANYONE in this group what WE think about tailgaters - we don't like 'em
since out protection is limited to what we are wearing, not 3,000 lbs. of 
metal.  Most of us will NOT go out of our way to create the situation you 
discribe.  

Just my thoughts and a little reality check for you...



Rich Bemben - DoD #0044                     rbemben@timewarp.prime.com
1977 750 Triumph Bonneville                 (617) 275-1800 x 4173
"Fear not the evil men do in the name of evil, but heaven protect
 us from the evil men do in the name of good"