Hope THAT's out of my system

[bobhamlin]

I-270 and the DC Beltway are among the top-rated 'gray-hair-inducing" asphalts. Three jolts of adrenalin this morning.

First: Fridays are, compared to the weekdays, usually great. A sizable portion of the Federal workforce is on a schedule that permits a lot of them to take every other Friday off. I can usually breeze down the road at posted (or, when keeping up with traffic, above posted) speeds.

My typical protocol is to find a small 4-wheeler that is going my speed, then fall in behind it. That way I can see over, through and around (There is no "open" road, if you are wondering). Today, I found the 4-wheeler, but it had a darkly-tinted back window, which removed one of my "slow-down-alert" channels.

When I saw brake lights ahead, I only eased off the throttle. Suddenly, my escort car braked very hard--and so did I. So much so, that I skidded my back tire, eased off, braked and skidded it again--all the while moving to the left-side median. I ended up with my front wheel past the bumper of my escort car. That's one.

Ten minutes later, where I-270 has just opened to 4 lanes, I was cruising along in the fast lane with traffic at above posted speed -- with a little more distance between myself and the car in front of me. I observed multiple brake lights go on about 200 yards ahead of me. Then, in front of the brake lights, I watched a car move (skid) perpendicular to traffic from the far right lane into my lane. I was already on the brakes and checking to make sure the guy following me knew what was happening (He/she did).

The skidding car somehow didn't smash into the jersey wall, but looped around and headed back to the slow lanes with lots of smoke and dust. My lane was clear, nobody had turned over or hit anything that I saw, so I proceeded down the road, thinking, "Third time's the charm?"

In DC, on a 3-lane one-way street, I was approaching an intersection when the light changed. That would have been no problem if an idiot to my left hadn't decided that he needed to be in the middle lane at the light. He zoomed in front of me, then had to slam on his brakes.

I stopped without a skid, moved close to his bumper and stared daggers into his rear-view mirror until the light changed. I wasn't really mad. His move was chump change compared to the first two.

[sas]

I have a pin on my vest that says..."I Survived The New Jersey Turnpike, 1990". That was 20 years ago and I've never been back on that nightmare! What you described about I-270 makes me want to avoid that section, also. Having said that; have you ever tried driving in New Orleans? Aieeeeeeeeee!

[cactusjack]

I hate it when my morning starts out like that. I kind of enjoy the mental exercise of a hazardous commute every now and then, but not every day. You never feel quite as alive as you feel when you've cheated injury or death.

I have a short section of freeway from my office to my home. It's maybe 7 miles, 2 miles south on the 101, then a flyover ramp to the 202 and 5 miles east to my exit. I find if I can hit the 101 just before 4:00 PM it's usually smooth sailing. After 4:00, it's a crap shoot. Two east bound lanes drop off a mile apart and people cannot deal with the most basic merge.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Lived at Fort Meade, Maryland for over three years and did some driving down to D.C. and it is some of the worst traffic I have ever had to deal with.

[ponch]

At least you didn't have a BMFO.

[unwind2]

Bob if you put that story to the theme music from deliverance that would be pretty descriptive. Sounds like you had a fun commute..........NOT.

[Cajunrider]

Originally Posted by sas

I have a pin on my vest that says..."I Survived The New Jersey Turnpike, 1990". That was 20 years ago and I've never been back on that nightmare! What you described about I-270 makes me want to avoid that section, also. Having said that; have you ever tried driving in New Orleans? Aieeeeeeeeee!

New Orleans does get pretty bad on I-10 between Kenner and the I-10/I-610 split during rush hour. I've endured it several times. I find Houston, Dallas, and the I-240 loop around Memphis to be the worse. I do my best to avoid all three of those even if it means a big detour. I've never ridden the bike in the metro Atlanta but have driven through there several times. That's a nightmare. It's always tough to decide which is the safest lane to travel in. I've come to the conclusion that the inside (fast) lane is the safest when there are 3 or more lanes. None of them are safe for a motorcycle though.

[brote]

I can attest that I-285 around Atlanta is not the place to be during rush hour, one a motorcycle or car. Traffic on I-85 and I-75 are not any better and I don't travel them during rush hour. Funny thing is the traffic can be going 80 mph and in the flash of an eye be stopped. When we leave for anything going south (live on the NE Side of Atlanta) you either leave early 5 AM or wait until around 10 AM. I've driven in many major cities in this country but I believe Atlanta is one of the most dangerous areas.

[ringadingh]

My old manager used to drive all over in North America and spent a lot of time in Atlanta, and Chicago, he said that while traffic was bad, Toronto's was far worse. Here you can have grid lock in certain areas and things just stop moving. And I know all about the full speed and brake slamming as well. A couple years ago I was stopped at an intersection and noticed a car flying up quickly behind me. I figured it wasn't going to stop and jumped my bike up on the sidewalk, that car almost hit the car in front of me, stopping a foot behind it after skidding about twenty feet.

[cheriann]

I work in DC and would NEVER ride my bike to work!!!!! Even the metrobus drivers will cut you off!!!!!

[peterdarby]

I live in Manassas and ride up near the pentagon a couple of times a week as well as elswhere around the DC area. I don't worry much about it. but you do have to have to be used to it and ready for anything. I have had everything from deer t-boning the bike up through the normal nutty driving you see all the time. The biggest problem I have is that I have been riding so long and so many things are in automatic that I found my alert level dropping below the safe riding point. Hopefully I have fixed that

[ridemslow]

Thats a cakewalk Bob. try it in an 18 wheeler, 5 or 6 days a week...10 to 18 hours a day. I know it's a bit more risky on a bike, but if you did that daily in a rig, you'd probaly be a basket case in 6 months. Remember you have to look out for the other guy, they are NOT lookinig out for you.

[bobhamlin]

Originally Posted by ridemslow

Thats a cakewalk Bob. try it in an 18 wheeler, 5 or 6 days a week...10 to 18 hours a day. I know it's a bit more risky on a bike, but if you did that daily in a rig, you'd probaly be a basket case in 6 months. Remember you have to look out for the other guy, they are NOT lookinig out for you.

From some of the things I see cars do to 18-wheelers, you're right. Scarey.