Choosing your battles

[dantama]

Here is a story from Salt Lake. Just in case you don't get to it CJ :)
I certainly have a lot of thoughts on it, what are some of yours?

A father and his son are in the hospital after a scuffle on the road. They were on a motorcycle and got into a disagreement with the driver of a car.

The 50-year-old man had his 9-year-old son on the back of his motorcycle riding near 100 North and 400 East in Centerville last night. Police say the man apparently became angry when the driver of a car threw her cigarette butt out the window.

Sgt. Niles Bartleson says the motorcyclist pulled up beside the car and yelled at her. "It's while they were driving and still moving that this yelling was going back and forth," he said.

The car and bike ended up sideswiping each other. The man and boy were thrown off. The boy was wearing a helmet and should be fine. His father, who was not wearing a helmet, is in critical condition.

Sgt. Bartleson says people need to calm down. "If you are that upset, pull over to the side of the road and call 911 to report the incident," he suggested.

[rksaw]

Keep your emotions in check!!!

I read that story last night. It was a little different but basically the same. I think he needs restriction on his licence: "No Passengers" because he obviously isn't very responsible. You would think a 50 year old would have more sense than that!

[dantama]

CJ just posted this in another forum. Doesn't make the rider look any better.

Apparent road rage over tossed cigarette sparks crash that critically injures motorcyclist
By Lindsay Whitehurst
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 09/05/2008 09:52:27 AM MDT

Posted: 9:51 AM- A cigarette thrown from a car in Centerville Thursday night sparked a road rage incident that critically injured a motorcyclist and left his 10-year-old son with minor injuries.
About 9 p.m., a 32-year-old Centerville woman driving a black Mazda pitched the cigarette near the intersection of 400 East and 100 North, according to a press release from Centerville police spokesman Paul Child.
That apparently angered a 50-year-old Centerville motorcyclist who was riding behind the car. The motorcyclist pulled up alongside the car in the left turn lane to yell at the driver through the open window. The woman sped up to drive away from motorcyclist. The rider also sped up and witnesses heard yelling coming from the direction of the two vehicles just before the motorcyclist lost control of the bike and crashed.
There was "some slight contact" between the car and the bike, but it wasn't clear whether the contact occurred before or after the rider lost control of the bike, the release stated. The man, who was not wearing a helmet, suffered head injuries and was flown by medical helicopter to University Hospital. His son, riding on the back of the bike, was wearing a helmet. The boy was taken by ground ambulance to Lakeview Hospital, where he was treated and released.
The rider's wife, who was riding on another motorcycle, was following her husband and witnessed the crash. Throwing a cigarette is a littering violation, Child said, but not a moving violation. The motorcycle was traveling in a left turn lane during the confrontation, which is illegal.
Prosecutors will decide whether either operator will be cited.

[Yellow Jacket]

Well, as many have said before, "You can't fix stupid."

[Top Cat]

Why would anybody on a motorcycle piss off someone in a car. Your never going to win in that situation.
Keep your emotions in check, you are way to vulnerable on a bike.

[cactusjack]

You scooped me on this one, Dan. I posted the article from the Salt Lake Tribune in the off-topic forum.

I don't care what a driver does, if you lose control of your emotions, you also lose control of common sense and you lose control of your bike. If your judgment is clouded by anger, you are going to get stupid in a hurry. And stupid can kill you, or leave you in critical condition. In a car/truck/bus/tractor vs motorcycle scenario, the motorcycle is going to lose every time.

I was involved in a situation a year ago - I was riding to lunch and after I looked right, signaled and started changing lanes to the right, a lady who did not signal tried to change lanes to the left (we were both moving into the same lane). Her door was within 6 inches of me. I honked and immediately zipped back to the left lane. I yelled something like "why the f!@# don't you look before you change lanes? I pulled up at a light and she pulled alongside. The light went green, and the lady went absolutely bat-s**t on me. I gunned it and got 100 yds ahead of her and she came after me like she was trying to run me over in her Lexus. I am not one to back down from a confrontation, but my middle-aged common sense (MACS) told me I had better get the heck out of there. I abruptly turned into a parking lot, she followed me. I flew through the parking lot and out another exit, and I lost her.

It ain't worth it, ladies and gentlemen. My life is worth more than proving I was right.

[audiogooroo]

Originally Posted by cactusjack

You scooped me on this one, Dan. I posted the article from the Salt Lake Tribune in the off-topic forum.

I don't care what a driver does, if you lose control of your emotions, you also lose control of common sense and you lose control of your bike. If your judgment is clouded by anger, you are going to get stupid in a hurry. And stupid can kill you, or leave you in critical condition. In a car/truck/bus/tractor vs motorcycle scenario, the motorcycle is going to lose every time.

I was involved in a situation a year ago - I was riding to lunch and after I looked right, signaled and started changing lanes to the right, a lady who did not signal tried to change lanes to the left (we were both moving into the same lane). Her door was within 6 inches of me. I honked and immediately zipped back to the left lane. I yelled something like "why the f!@# don't you look before you change lanes? I pulled up at a light and she pulled alongside. The light went green, and the lady went absolutely bat-s**t on me. I gunned it and got 100 yds ahead of her and she came after me like she was trying to run me over in her Lexus. I am not one to back down from a confrontation, but my middle-aged common sense (MACS) told me I had better get the heck out of there. I abruptly turned into a parking lot, she followed me. I flew through the parking lot and out another exit, and I lost her.

It ain't worth it, ladies and gentlemen. My life is worth more than proving I was right.

Well put CJ. You could have been dead right.
If people can't keep their emotions in check, they need to take a break. Especially while on a bike.

[dougster]

It is wiser to see the bigger picture and live to ride another day, than to suffer tunnel vision and eat pavement. People make stupid mistakes while driving (I sure have done my share!); that is a fact of life. But if I allow myself to get enraged over it to the point that I will spark a potentially deadly confrontation, do I still "win" just because I was right?! If I can be gracious (even for really dumb actions) and keep my cool, I can make wise riding choices, and live another day to ride.

[Blue Rebel]

The problem with roadrage, you don't know if the other person may even have a gun. We have had several instances in El Paso, where someone gets PO'd, chases the other driver and starts shooting. On a bike you have no where to hide from a bullet.

[Dave]

What a richard!

[johnb]

....Used to be that you could use a few good ole hand signals to give your opinion and relieve the frustration of someone elses stupid move. Now, everyone is soooo sensitive and can't take criticism and you've got to be careful. They might come after you.

We all do stupid things from time to time and you've got to be able to just let it go.

Life is too short to let stupidity get you down.

[pirate]

There are many times I'd like to yell or make gestures at car drivers, but I know that is an argument that I'll never win when moving. It's best to just let it go and be safe.

[Blue Rebel]

Actually, the name of this thread is all wrong..."choosing your battles". What battle do you want to choose, if you are riding a bike. Far as I'm concerned, there is no battle to choose...get out of the way and move on.

I'm not one to back down from anything, but a bike vs. a cager? nuff said.

[dantama]

Originally Posted by Blue Rebel

Actually, the name of this thread is all wrong..."choosing your battles". What battle do you want to choose, if you are riding a bike. Far as I'm concerned, there is no battle to choose...get out of the way and move on.

I'm not one to back down from anything, but a bike vs. a cager? nuff said.

I'm sure that now the rider is wishing that he didn't make that cigarette butt his personal battle, but in the moment it seemed worth fighting for. The psychologist types call it emotionalized right and wrong. It is where being right becomes an emotional need for you.

Even with his son on the back, this guy's emotions couldn't handle him not being right and he had to try to prove it to this other driver for his own ego. When people get into an emotionalized right and wrong, everything around them doesn't matter. Another place where you see this happen is little league sports, when parents get out of hand and ruin the game for their children while mom or dad makes a fool of themselves trying to prove that they are right.

It's dumb all of the time, but it much worse to do on a bike than at a football game. Not to mention illogical. How often have we been driving, and had a fool come up and start flashing lights, passing and hitting the brakes etc............And it really did change how you drove from there on out?

I drive how I drive, and if I get convinced of a safer way, that still allows the thrill of the ride that I enjoy, I'll do it safer. But somebody honking, flashing lights, yelling etc. doesn't convince me. And you doing it to them won't completely change how they drive either.

So this guy gets into a yelling match with somebody, decides to chase them side by side down a turn lane and blow the intersection so that he can keep yelling, and somehow in an illogical way thought that he was going to convince the person not to litter anymore. He overestimated his powers of persuasion, and endangered himself and his child to do it.

Emotional intelligence and maturity is when you can handle your emotions in a way that doesn't harm you. This guy was willing to take great risk in order to be right, and paid the price.