Why am I making light of this serious subject?

Because I've heard this brainy idea about throwing ball bearings at people before. It's lunacy. It goes against everything that makes biking so rewarding.

The old rule " If you look for trouble, you probably won't have any trouble finding it" applies here.

Because I've heard this brainy idea about throwing ball bearings at people before. It's lunacy. It goes against everything that makes biking so rewarding.

When I was a kid (15 - 17) and rode a lot I carried a few rolled up newspapers with me at all times. Just toss one up in the air and it'd smack the guy's windshield and scare the hell out of him without doing any damage. Probably not the smartest thing to do but it seemed immensely rewarding at the time.

Last week a gal in a Toyota mini-van roared out of a side road and tail-gated me for about two miles until the two-lane turned into four lane. Then she put her foot to the floor and roared past, just barely missing me. A quarter mile up the road I caught up to her stopped at a traffic light where I proceded to give her the Heavy Glare of Death until the light changed. She never even took her eyes of the light. Just sat there with her foot poised over the accelerator.

The next day this SAME gal in the SAME mini-van pulled out of the SAME side road - this time in FRONT of me causing me to get on the brakes more than I care to. Beats the heck out of me what that's about. But if it happens again I'll be taking down license numbers and having a chat with the local boys.

maybe it's her way of saying, I'd like to meet you....

I have never understood why cars ride so close to each other doing sixty with one car leangth between or doing six with six car leangths is still sixty.
Most people get their licence and forget what they learnedk, so that being said I dno't think they do it because your a biker I think they are just stupid.

I have found 90% of the time if I drop my left hand and waive them to back off they usually do. The few that don't I move over for.

Ron

Big Bear wrote:
Guys..........Never toss anything at the idiot behind you, not worth the possible consequences. Bad advice. Pulling over or waving around the impatient person behind you is good advice. I've found that if you wave them around.......many times it "dawns" on them that they are too close, and they give you your breathing room back.

If you speed up....many people see that as a challenge.....BB

Thanks BB this is great advice. It never crossed my mind to wave someone by for some reason. It is a nonconfrontational way of making them aware you are uncomfortable. My intent here is to find a rational way out of a situation that I have a definite disadvantage in. Now meeting up face to face on the shoulder is another situation all together

I have too much to lose to either A: Piss someone off to the extent they WANT to see me do cart wheels with a 600 pound machine, or B: Lose what I do have to a lawsuit that was prompted by me losing my composure and tossing a brick at the knucklehead and causing those that are unfortuanate enough to have to ride with him/her injury.

TMK wrote:
Somehow the possibility of being really hurt by stupidity and really hurt by intention seems minimally distinguishable. Discretion being the better part of valor and all, I will wave them past...if they insist on tailgating after that I simply slow down to about half the posted speed...figuring that will a: get them to pass or b: reduce the impact levels...

Now, if one is about to be purposely run off the road I suspect one would be justified in responding with deadly force.

JM2C, Ted

I remember watching a defense attorney on court tv a while back who said that if you want to kill someone in the U.S. and get away with it just do it with your car.

Imagine if you were in line at the grocery store and someone started taking swings at you but was just missing your nose...

The rider's manual up here in MN says to slow down in these situations to give you and the cager more room to respond to an emergency. In most cases I will do this and let them pass or pull over myself if space permits.

The rock impacts at something less than 45 approximately 45mph less the speed it has lost due to drag or impact with the road surface. Depending on the distance between you and the truck the impact can be quite severe if the projectile has had time to slow. It is kind of like if you are in a falling elevator and you jump just before it hits bottom will you get hurt. You may jump up, but you will strike the ground now a second later at the same speed less the velocity differential caused by your jump. If you are far enough ahead to have a real impact with a ball bearing you are probably not being tailgated!!! But it is an interesting discussion

IMHO throwing stuff just escalates an already dangerous situation and as a biker we are in the most vulnerable position.

I tend to agree with RIPbiker13 - 80% & 20%. In Iowa it is legal to have oscillating lights which I have thought about. Better yet - why not mount a Hellfire Rocket Launcher aft and possibly a 50 cal. machine gun up front??????

I knew a Guy that used to cary a small bag of Ball bearings hanging from his handlebars when he was in your situation he would unsuspectingly drop one over his shoulder, it would bounce up just about winshield hight and "POW"
Come to think of it, he also carried a 45!