[LilNinja77]

Ok so I'm late to this thread but thought my input would be somewhat useful. Over on the ninja250 forum not long ago we had a member post about a local rider that was killed. He and a cage had collided (seemed to be a side-swipe) and he did one of the stupidest things a rider can do....he followed them home. Well by time they all arrived, the father of the driver had stepped outside with a pistol and shot the rider in the back while he was riding away. Point is that we as riders can never take idiot cagers personally, despite how easy it is to do so. Molly, if you think it's bad already, just imagine being on a little sportbike around this area.......well, I'm assuming where you live is just as pro-cruiser/anti-crotch rocket as my area., we're relatively close so I just assume. I've had trash and fastfood thrown at me while riding, cigarettes thrown at me, the universal idiot who won't let you over until you drop down a gear and blast past him, and my favorite was a big jacked-up white ford pickup who decided the most amusing thing to do was play "run over the sportbike".

Here's the story for that one: Approaching a turn I yielded to the truck, who had the right of way. The driver waved me on, so I proceeded through the turn and he followed. About time I shifted up in to 3rd gear I noticed this jackass was coming up fast and wasn't gonna slow down. It was at this point that I first revved the ninja up to 12k. Further up the road I put my turn signal on and was gonna go for the first driveway I could find.....no dice, it's hard to slow down and turn when the truck behind you won't slow down to let you. Now this little backroad only has a handful of driveways so I knew things would be difficult. Everytime I would try to slow down enough to turn, I could hear the truck accelerate more (you know those huge mud-covered trucks with no exhaust and 32 inch tires). Now I knew that about a half mile further up the road was a railroad track that I absolutely MUST slow down for on the motorcycle, not doing so will result in lots of airtime followed by lots of pain....I've watched people make that mistake. Coming out of a turn I saw my answer, a driveway on the opposite side of the road that was a straight-shot for me. On this little road there was no physical way that the truck could match my moves, so I swallowed hard and went for it. I tore the hell out of that gravel driveway, but I was safe and didn't drop the bike. I waited a couple minutes and got back along my way. It was about that time that I remembered the faulty lights at the upcoming intersection.....you can sit there all day on the bike and it'll never switch for you, so I decided to run through the gas-station parking lot on the corner and merge directly on to the intersecting road. The truck was parked there and it was then that I noticed the gun rack in the rear-window......and it wasn't empty.

What would've happened if I had gotten too worked up and stopped to yell at them....well I might be dead. So instead I finished riding home, hugged my mom and dad, and drank more than a few beers. Every cager is out to kill you, just remember that only a few of them actually mean to. Be safe and stay cool, nothing's worse for your safety than getting angry and emotional while in the saddle.
Ride safe