Crazy Motorcycle follows me, talks trash
11-03-2008, 01:53 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Potomac Falls, VA
Posts: 2,472
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Crazy Motorcycle follows me, talks trash
So I know a bunch of you ride here too, and I curious if you get biker rage like this guy over what happened.
I'm driving home, and there's a lot of traffic, we're going slowly around 30-35mph on Sun Rise Valley Drive heading towards Centreville Road in Herndon, VA. I'm in the right lane of a 4-lane road behind a motorcycle, and he is behind a Civic going rather slowly. I am glancing to my left to watch for an opening, and I look up and I'm getting close to the motorcycle, so I back off -- but I didn't jam my brakes because there are people behind me, so I coast to let off and slowly give him room. I was definitely close to him, but I didn't hit him or anything, I was just close.
He moves over to his left, slows down to ride next to me and says something, but I can't hear him at speed. I know he's probably mad that I was close to his tail, so I wave him an "I'm sorry" and I get back to driving. He's still driving really slow, sort of pacing me -- so I didn't know what he was doing. I was looking for an opening to move left anyway, so I speed up and move left. I pass the civic and move back right. He follows me in hot pursuit and at the red light he stops behind me and begins to talk trash about how his motorcycle is so much faster (I guess he thought I was "racing" him when I moved left to get in front of him, funny thing is I was in fifth gear at 35mph and I didn't downshift! Anyway, I agreed with him that his bike was much faster then me and then he proceeds to yell at me for tail gating him, to which I apologized twice for. He then continues to try to get me to race him, which I blatantly tell him "No", and he continues to say he'll keep following me.
When the light turns green, he revs his engine at me, and I start going real real slow, hoping he'll just move left and drive past me. There's a bus in front of us and it stops at a bus stop -- normally I would leave a lot of room and move left, but instead I pull up behind it and I stop. The motorcycle stops behind me and the guy says "Don't worry I'm following you -- you can't get away" or something to that effect.
I start getting scared that this guy is psycho, so as I get opportunities, I start cutting in an out of traffic to leave him no room to follow me any further. He uses the shoulder and right turn lanes, almost getting himself killed by a car moving right to follow me... at this point I'm really worried and luckily the light ahead is green, so I speed up and go straight and I guess he finally got bored or scared (since he almost died trying to follow me) and he backs off and turns around.
Anyways -- while I completely appreciate the fact that bikes are at a much higher risk when someone tail gates them, I apologized twice to the guy for tailing him. I'm not sure what else I could have done, I didn't purposely tail him, it just happened that he slowed down and I started getting close to him.
While I get road rage from time to time, I usually calm down really quick when the other person acts honestly sorry -- its a pretty easy reminder that while its easy to get mad at another car, there's a person inside the car that may have just made an honest mistake.
My heart is still racing from the encounter -- not really expecting to be followed by a crazy person in just a 3-mile drive home!
And BTW- If the guy happens to be on this board, I really am sorry. I can honestly appreciate what its like to ride -- its gotta be difficult, which is why I don't think I'll be riding anytime soon -- especially not in this area.
What do you guys who ride think?
CLIFFS: I tailgated a motorcycle, he got behind me and started yelling at me, started following me, almost got himself killed.
I'm driving home, and there's a lot of traffic, we're going slowly around 30-35mph on Sun Rise Valley Drive heading towards Centreville Road in Herndon, VA. I'm in the right lane of a 4-lane road behind a motorcycle, and he is behind a Civic going rather slowly. I am glancing to my left to watch for an opening, and I look up and I'm getting close to the motorcycle, so I back off -- but I didn't jam my brakes because there are people behind me, so I coast to let off and slowly give him room. I was definitely close to him, but I didn't hit him or anything, I was just close.
He moves over to his left, slows down to ride next to me and says something, but I can't hear him at speed. I know he's probably mad that I was close to his tail, so I wave him an "I'm sorry" and I get back to driving. He's still driving really slow, sort of pacing me -- so I didn't know what he was doing. I was looking for an opening to move left anyway, so I speed up and move left. I pass the civic and move back right. He follows me in hot pursuit and at the red light he stops behind me and begins to talk trash about how his motorcycle is so much faster (I guess he thought I was "racing" him when I moved left to get in front of him, funny thing is I was in fifth gear at 35mph and I didn't downshift! Anyway, I agreed with him that his bike was much faster then me and then he proceeds to yell at me for tail gating him, to which I apologized twice for. He then continues to try to get me to race him, which I blatantly tell him "No", and he continues to say he'll keep following me.
When the light turns green, he revs his engine at me, and I start going real real slow, hoping he'll just move left and drive past me. There's a bus in front of us and it stops at a bus stop -- normally I would leave a lot of room and move left, but instead I pull up behind it and I stop. The motorcycle stops behind me and the guy says "Don't worry I'm following you -- you can't get away" or something to that effect.
I start getting scared that this guy is psycho, so as I get opportunities, I start cutting in an out of traffic to leave him no room to follow me any further. He uses the shoulder and right turn lanes, almost getting himself killed by a car moving right to follow me... at this point I'm really worried and luckily the light ahead is green, so I speed up and go straight and I guess he finally got bored or scared (since he almost died trying to follow me) and he backs off and turns around.
Anyways -- while I completely appreciate the fact that bikes are at a much higher risk when someone tail gates them, I apologized twice to the guy for tailing him. I'm not sure what else I could have done, I didn't purposely tail him, it just happened that he slowed down and I started getting close to him.
While I get road rage from time to time, I usually calm down really quick when the other person acts honestly sorry -- its a pretty easy reminder that while its easy to get mad at another car, there's a person inside the car that may have just made an honest mistake.
My heart is still racing from the encounter -- not really expecting to be followed by a crazy person in just a 3-mile drive home!
And BTW- If the guy happens to be on this board, I really am sorry. I can honestly appreciate what its like to ride -- its gotta be difficult, which is why I don't think I'll be riding anytime soon -- especially not in this area.
What do you guys who ride think?
CLIFFS: I tailgated a motorcycle, he got behind me and started yelling at me, started following me, almost got himself killed.
11-03-2008, 02:16 PM
#3
Registered User
I ride.
Your account may or may not be biased from your perpective. But, you sound like you were honestly sorry for getting so close. So he probably overreacted.
I've only had one car get right on my ass when I was riding and it is VERY disconcerting to say the least but not enough to cause a road rage incident. Maybe this guy just didn't take his meds today and maybe like many half-assed supersport riders he falls into the "Squid" category. "squids" don't wear much gear, ride only for pleasure and usually ride like complete douches, weaving traffic, doing wheelies, etc.
Pretty impressive to loose a bike in traffic though...bikes can practicly pass staggered cars that have less than 1/2 car length between them.
- J
Your account may or may not be biased from your perpective. But, you sound like you were honestly sorry for getting so close. So he probably overreacted.
I've only had one car get right on my ass when I was riding and it is VERY disconcerting to say the least but not enough to cause a road rage incident. Maybe this guy just didn't take his meds today and maybe like many half-assed supersport riders he falls into the "Squid" category. "squids" don't wear much gear, ride only for pleasure and usually ride like complete douches, weaving traffic, doing wheelies, etc.
Pretty impressive to loose a bike in traffic though...bikes can practicly pass staggered cars that have less than 1/2 car length between them.
- J
11-03-2008, 02:16 PM
#4
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Potomac Falls, VA
Posts: 2,472
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Sleep_TIme,Nov 3 2008, 07:13 PM
next time, NEXT TIME! just stop and shoot him.
11-03-2008, 02:22 PM
#6
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Potomac Falls, VA
Posts: 2,472
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by JLUDE,Nov 3 2008, 07:16 PM
I ride.
Your account may or may not be biased from your perpective. But, you sound like you were honestly sorry for getting so close. So he probably overreacted.
I've only had one car get right on my ass when I was riding and it is VERY disconcerting to say the least but not enough to cause a road rage incident. Maybe this guy just didn't take his meds today and maybe like many half-assed supersport riders he falls into the "Squid" category. "squids" don't wear much gear, ride only for pleasure and usually ride like complete douches, weaving traffic, doing wheelies, etc.
Pretty impressive to loose a bike in traffic though...bikes can practicly pass staggered cars that have less than 1/2 car length between them.
- J
Your account may or may not be biased from your perpective. But, you sound like you were honestly sorry for getting so close. So he probably overreacted.
I've only had one car get right on my ass when I was riding and it is VERY disconcerting to say the least but not enough to cause a road rage incident. Maybe this guy just didn't take his meds today and maybe like many half-assed supersport riders he falls into the "Squid" category. "squids" don't wear much gear, ride only for pleasure and usually ride like complete douches, weaving traffic, doing wheelies, etc.
Pretty impressive to loose a bike in traffic though...bikes can practicly pass staggered cars that have less than 1/2 car length between them.
- J
In this case, I'd really like to hear his perspective, but I probably never will.
I don't know how I lost him in traffic really, I just know I moved over real quick and there was a car coming up on me (since I wasn't going very fast) -- so the car behind may have closed the gap quick enough that he couldn't move over? Or he sucks at riding maybe
I don't know. I did see him in the shoulder though almost getting run off the road trying to follow me!When he first turned onto the road, he did run a red light (it was a yellow light that had just turned red) to turn in front of me before I got the green ... so I would probably agree that he rides like a maniac.
11-03-2008, 02:27 PM
#7
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Damascus MD
Posts: 289
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
i dont have a bike but i ride my buddies (he has 2) and the 2nd or 3rd time i went out this chick bumped the rear tire and i almost dropped the bike. so i was pissed and yelled more then i should, then after asking her to pay attention please (calm and collective) i just rode off
so i dont see why he got like that. bad day maybe but he deff. over reacted
Trending Topics
11-03-2008, 02:29 PM
#8
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Potomac Falls, VA
Posts: 2,472
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I wonder if I was driving with the top up if he would have talked so much. Probably would have been better if I didn't talk to him and just shut up and ignored him -- although then he may have pulled up next to me and tried to open my doors or something ... who knows.
11-03-2008, 02:31 PM
#9
You should have explained to him that you recently had your headlights cleared and there is no way...
NO WAY that you would have potentially sacrificed your headlights by running him over 
.
You definitely got a guy that 'missed his meds'. I think my rage would have come right back at him as far as his wanting to race you and that whole "don't worry, I'm following you...you're not getting away" -- and if I were in no hurry, I'd just let his punk-azz follow me right up to a police car
...even if it took me awhile to find one.
I rode a Honda Interceptor back in the 80s and then a Goldwing for a few years...and I can appreciate that 'pushed' sense of a tailgater. As you indicated, you definitely didn't mean any ill-will. Best to simply take this as its own experience and in the future be more proactive about spacing in traffic.
NO WAY that you would have potentially sacrificed your headlights by running him over .You definitely got a guy that 'missed his meds'. I think my rage would have come right back at him as far as his wanting to race you and that whole "don't worry, I'm following you...you're not getting away" -- and if I were in no hurry, I'd just let his punk-azz follow me right up to a police car
...even if it took me awhile to find one.I rode a Honda Interceptor back in the 80s and then a Goldwing for a few years...and I can appreciate that 'pushed' sense of a tailgater. As you indicated, you definitely didn't mean any ill-will. Best to simply take this as its own experience and in the future be more proactive about spacing in traffic.
11-03-2008, 02:32 PM
#10
Problem around here is that if you try to double the following distance to a motorcycle out of respect, some other asshole is going to wedge in between you two. It's a lose-lose situation. Tell him he's going to need thicker skin to ride this area. He's obviously new...