Mike-in-Orange
New member
....even when the other driver almost takes you out.
I was stopped at a light today and witnessed a couple of vehicles on the cross street make a mad dash to beat the light and make their left turn. There are two left turn lanes on the street and the vehicle in the outside lane was a single rider on a large motorcycle (older Honda Goldwing perhaps) and the vehicle in the inside lane was an old, totally beat to crap Honda Civic (duct tape holding the tail lights in, more dents than straight panels, you know the type). Problem was, the Honda could barely hold the turn at the speed it was going and almost took the motocycle out as it went wide in the turn. Fortunately for the motorcyclist he was able to avoid getting tagged. Unfortunately for the motocyclist, he dismounted and approached the offender at the next stoplight, which was just a few yards up the road (freeway underpass with multiple intersections was the setting for this incident).
I proceeded when my light turned green and ended up being the second car behind the bike and saw the guy approach the drivers door, gesticulate a bit, and walk away. He wore a full face hemlet so I couldn't read his lips, so to speak. A young woman exited the Honda and ran after the guy obviously yelling and screaming, and took a swipe at the guy. He defended himself by pushing her away, and she came back at him with a vengeance. He never appeared to fully strike her, but rather appeared to make defensive moves against her blows. They were about the same height, maybe 5'10", but she was quite thin and he was a large framed man, so he did seem to be keeping himself in check.
Until the woman's two male companions exited the passenger side of the Honda, one brandishing a tire iron, and came at the biker, who somehow managed to relieve the tire iron wielding lunatic of his weapon. At this point the Honda group got back into their car, threw it into reverse and nailed the gas pedal. The Honda lurched toward bike and rider, who threw himself out of the way and into a car stopped in the next lane. The Honda didn't stop until it had slammed into the bike and pushed it a few feet up the road, scattering glass, plastic and duct tape all over. With a little chirp of the tires they drove around the stopped cars in front of them and took off.
Holey crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Apparently I wasn't the only one who called 911 and the police showed up pretty quickly. The biker was fine, but the bike a bit messed up. I gave the police a description of the Honda and what I saw of the plate number, they took my info in case they had any other questions.
Moral of the story: if someone does something stupid on the road but otherwise does no harm to you, let it slide. There are far too many unstable nutjobs out there and you just don't want to find out what they're really capable of.
I was stopped at a light today and witnessed a couple of vehicles on the cross street make a mad dash to beat the light and make their left turn. There are two left turn lanes on the street and the vehicle in the outside lane was a single rider on a large motorcycle (older Honda Goldwing perhaps) and the vehicle in the inside lane was an old, totally beat to crap Honda Civic (duct tape holding the tail lights in, more dents than straight panels, you know the type). Problem was, the Honda could barely hold the turn at the speed it was going and almost took the motocycle out as it went wide in the turn. Fortunately for the motorcyclist he was able to avoid getting tagged. Unfortunately for the motocyclist, he dismounted and approached the offender at the next stoplight, which was just a few yards up the road (freeway underpass with multiple intersections was the setting for this incident).
I proceeded when my light turned green and ended up being the second car behind the bike and saw the guy approach the drivers door, gesticulate a bit, and walk away. He wore a full face hemlet so I couldn't read his lips, so to speak. A young woman exited the Honda and ran after the guy obviously yelling and screaming, and took a swipe at the guy. He defended himself by pushing her away, and she came back at him with a vengeance. He never appeared to fully strike her, but rather appeared to make defensive moves against her blows. They were about the same height, maybe 5'10", but she was quite thin and he was a large framed man, so he did seem to be keeping himself in check.
Until the woman's two male companions exited the passenger side of the Honda, one brandishing a tire iron, and came at the biker, who somehow managed to relieve the tire iron wielding lunatic of his weapon. At this point the Honda group got back into their car, threw it into reverse and nailed the gas pedal. The Honda lurched toward bike and rider, who threw himself out of the way and into a car stopped in the next lane. The Honda didn't stop until it had slammed into the bike and pushed it a few feet up the road, scattering glass, plastic and duct tape all over. With a little chirp of the tires they drove around the stopped cars in front of them and took off.
Holey crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Apparently I wasn't the only one who called 911 and the police showed up pretty quickly. The biker was fine, but the bike a bit messed up. I gave the police a description of the Honda and what I saw of the plate number, they took my info in case they had any other questions.
Moral of the story: if someone does something stupid on the road but otherwise does no harm to you, let it slide. There are far too many unstable nutjobs out there and you just don't want to find out what they're really capable of.
