Commuting: The strange. The Odd. And the FUN

Maybe they is just checking out your bike....

Are you not making the same mistake though? Better to look where you are going.

Nor have I though (and of course I look).

they were probably hoping you were clearing the way through speeding ticket land for them.

Hmmm, white helmet, optic yellow jacket, led driving lights...they usually slow down when I get close. That is until they realize I'm not a cop then they get rolling again.

Had a guy in an F-150 doing the speed up, slow down thing on me a couple days ago. I was in my cage which has a ridiculously accurate cruise-control that-according to my GPS-doesn't loose more than 1-2 MPG on even the steepest hills. I did the floor it for a couple seconds, then drop back onto cruise. He followed me. Drove me out of my mind.

IDK what it is, but I'll be cruising in traffic and someone will latch onto my bumper.

...Till I need to change lanes and they latch onto the car that's immediately in front of them again.

OR I'll change lanes leaving them some free space and they floor it to get to the next bumper and then sit there.

I don't get it, but I tend to drive one speed adjusting lanes as needed to keep moving forward.

M

Just like riding a Speed Triple only different.

When one rides a Speed Triple they are always following someone. They pass and before you know it they find themselves following someone else. Repeat.
A.E.

I hate those people - the self made traffic cops. If everyone else is going 5-7mph over the set speed limit, but one of those asshats decide that he's going to go exactly according to his speedo on the the nuts, who is causing the traffic danger now? Yep, it's non-officer assclown with the line of angry vehicles behind him.

A few years ago, I worked a late night shift. I was riding home at 0400 hrs. on my 05 K1200S on a usually very busy freeway in So. California, the 91- Riverside freeway. As I was riding through the Green River pass, I noticed cars, slowing ahead for an accident. I thought, just another drunk driver collision. Much to my surprise, a 5th wheel travel trailer, was partially jackknifed, and a dead horse was laying beside it. The driver appeared fine and was on his cell phone. I passed slowly, and proceeded about 1/2 mile past the collision. Much to my surprise, I came upon a herd of 20 horses trotting East on the 91 freeway. They were wildeyed with fright.

I've owned and ridden horses for many years, so I knew that in their current state, they'd bolt in front of any cars that tried to pass them. Since I was on a yellow bike, I thought they may shy from me, and maybe I could herd them off the freeway, at the approaching SR-71 interchange. This idea became imperative when the lead horse bolted toward the concrete barrier separating the directions of travel on the freeway. There was moderately heavy high speed car traffic on the W/B side of the freeway going into Los Angeles. The lead horse tried to jump the concrete center divider, but fortunately it must not have been a hunter/jumper!

Well it was now time to do something, so I edged my bike between the divider and the lead horse. I slowly rode along side the lead horse and edged the horse closer to the off-ramp of the freeway. Fortunately, the herd followed. There was a wall of cars behind us, which helped the herd stay together. I got the lead horse to run into a grassy area where the off-ramp did a 270 degree turn to the SR-71 freeway. I jumped off the bike and slowly moved around the herd as they trotted in circles in the grass. A lady in a car came up and said she would help me keep the horses "corralled." A while later a Highway Patrolman came and asked if we would keep the horses in the grass area until they could get some wranglers from the local "Hart" ranch to come and tie up the horses. None of them had a halter, so the only thing we could do was try to move calmly around the horses to keep them in the area. Eventually they relaxed a bit and started eating grass. The wranglers showed at day break and I left the scene. At home, the TV news showed a massive traffic jam on the 91 freeway, but that was about it.

Being at night, and after a 12 hour work night, the whole scenario had seemed surreal. But, that was my strangest commute and I was glad to have helped some scared horses and some oblivious commuters to stay safe!

I drive a city bus in El Paso Tx.Most of routes are about 100 miles a day in city traffic.I have seen lots of bad driving, I have decided the worst drivers have Mustangs,Jeep Cherokee's or big pick-ups often small noisy cars with big wings are also very dangerous. bring over some beer and a lot of time I will tell bad driver stories all day.Maybe one riding story.

Good job cowboy! Sounds like fun, if I would have been there on my silver hoss (WeeStrom) I could have joined you

@Madmax, that's pretty awesome.

Got a ticket the other day on the I-94 / 275 interchange.

I'm in the far left lane, check my rear view, and see a Charger pulling fast with the lights on. So I groan, signal left, and start to pull over onto the shoulder. Now, the odd thing is the cop didn't stay behind me and slow down, but pulls ahead of me and shoves me over *off* the shoulder at about 50 mph, so when we stop, my front tire is essentially pointed at his rear door and I'm on the gravel portion of the shoulder.

He jumps out of his car, breathing heavy( donuts? ), and starts yelling at me, telling me to turn off the bike. I turn it off and then he backs up in the left lane of the freeway and then gets behind me. wtf. I'm aware that cops think motorcycles are going to run on them, but cmon. Whole thing was retarded. Is that standard operating procedure nowadays?

Good part was he only wrote me over 10 over. Lasered me at 87. Any Michiganders, watch that interchange. I'm aware of the State cops, who are all over that area, but this was Romulus. Had no idea where he came from.:huh

Romulus cops are currently being investigated for corruption, besides being assholes. They've been running a speeding scam on Eureka Road for quite awhile. The court will allow you to plead to "Impeding" or some such thing that carries no points because it's a city ordinance. Of course, the fine is twice what the speed would have cost, but ALL the money goes to the city instead of having to share with Lansing. You probably could have done that to avoid points.

Unfortunately, it seems that the police, from the chief on down, are suspected of skimming off the police budget. The headquarters was the subject of a search warrant a short time ago.

I usually run out I-96 Sunday mornings, and 87 seems to be the median speed for everyone out there.....

I've seen some crazy stuff these days. I normally hold our NH state troopers in very high regard. My experience has been that they are usually a notch (or more!) better trained and more professional than the local yokals. Yet in recent years they have started doing things that makes me question that.

One of the more interesting stunts is that they will stand outside their cruisers in the middle of a multi-lane, divided highway zoned at 65 MPH where the prevailing traffic is doing well over 70. I have seen them walk 2 lanes out into a busy, 4 lane interchange to flag down a driver in the left lane.

In this day-in-age of texting, phone bound, distracted drivers, that kind of behavior seems retarded indeed. Does not seem like an "if", but rather a "when" will they will get hit.

There is a MA state trooper that haunts my commute. I've not had any personal run-ins with him-knock on wood. But I know others that have. Word has it he has some sort of Rambo complex and is quite intense. He dresses in all black utilities. He mostly seems to bother commercial traffic, but I've seen him with a passenger car stopped nose in, in front, like you describe. Maybe the maneuver was called for, but somehow I doubt it.

Last week, while riding the r65 home from work, I pull up next to a local moto-cop on his Harley. As traffic moves, I end up slightly ahead of him and in the middle lane, while he is in the left lane. Because I don't have a speedometer or tach, I just kept the moto-cop in my rear-view and pace him.

The far right lane merges into my lane and as it does so some young guy on a sport bike, in proper squid attire (shorts, t-shirt, flip-flops and a full-faced helmet) screams by me on the right and cuts off a couple cars ahead of me, weaving in and out between lanes/cars. I immediately glance in my left rear-view and see the moto-cop flip on his lights, so I move over to the right side of my lane and the cop takes that opening and roars by me, in full pursuit. I would estimate 50mph or so (in a 30mph zone).

I watch as they weave in and out of traffic. At one point, a car started to change lanes when the driver saw the moto-cop and when the cop started to change lanes to go around, the car jerked BACK. The cop had to do some quick maneuvering so it didn't end up through the back windshield of the car. I was pretty impressed how the cop tossed that big Harley around.

It ended without drama as the squid eventually saw the moto-cop and pulled over.

I counted 14 motorcycles and 2 scooters on the first floor of my building's parking ramp today. The bikes range from a little wr250 and nighthawk 250 all the way to a cbr1000rr and dl1000. The ramp is free for all two wheeled vehicles with designated parking slots, security cameras and an old security guard who patrols the ramp on a little yellow 50cc scooter.

The stretch of 94 between Willow Run and 275 is the worst, absolute worst stretch for cops. The Romulus PD patrols in innocuous-looking Chargers and Magnums (yes, the wagons). They're ruthless, and that stretch is so wide open and easy to speed on. Watch out indeed!

They are impressive, aren't they? Spent hours watching yootoobe of them doing those parking lot cone course drills and competitions.

Headed home going down High St. in Portsmouth (4 lanes). Some dude in an old Caddy rolls through a stop sign from a side street on my right, and pulls right out in front of me. I dodge to the left to avoid him and continue on my merry way 'til we come to the next light. He's stopped right beside me, so I ask him, "Did you even see me at all when you pulled out in front of me?" He replied, "Yeah, but you should've been in the other lane anyway."
Seriously?! Light turned green, so with a sincere FYYFF, I continued on my merry way. Oh the joy of commuting in Hampton Roads.

That narrows it down to about 98.7% of the entire Mass Statie force