Twin headlights

Thou dost protest too much..........methinks.

And here's your error.

Error that could have cost your and your wife's life.


Like I said, anyone can make a mistake.

But your tries and insistence at trying to rationalize the whole issue scare me a bit.


You fucked the things up. Admit it, accept it and move on.

Here goes my reading comprehension test....

How'd I do ???

Correct Answer: Sit back and enjoy the ride without the pass, 5 mph of speed difference is going to make almost no difference in when you arrive.

not...pass?:huh

Shocking I know....:eek1

The reason I posted. Maybe somebody will benefit from my mistake.

Fixed. Ignore my posts if not interested in the analysis.

Quite well.

Not my nature. It's a character flaw. Besides, 5 mph under is more like a 15 mph difference.

Sorry but you don't sound like you want to analyse it to me. You sound like you want to find excuses.

Absolutely no need to attack the guy. He made a mistake and fessed up to it publically. Could've been a horrible accident - but at the end of the day, it was just a 'could've' experience. I've had similar mental hiccups when tired and/or in strange lighting conditions. It happens to the best of us. A good tale of caution for us all.

I've experienced many optical illusions on the road over the years. Had a similar fake out a few years ago, went to pass a truck out in the middle of nowhere saw the lights at what looked like a long distance. Turned out to be two bicycles with bright headlights riding side by side in the oncoming traffic lane. The small bucket size made them look a long way off. Luckily I just didnt like the spot and stayed behind the truck, although I likely would have been fine, as they were plenty far away and the car I was driving passed well.... The shock was when we tooled by and I saw they were cycles.

was about 2:00 AM btw.. So it isn't like you'd expect bikes 100 miles out in the middle of the high Oregon desert, in November.. Tough SOB's it was about 35 out..

At night, my brother's MTS1200 looks likes a car in the distance. This is just based on observation looking back at him.

Not his bike:


Note that the low beams are spread fairly far apart.

This thread makes me want to get aux lights sooner.

Here's the puzzle. At 65 mph what is the minimum safe following distance behind a semi and five cars? A. 40 feet. B. 192 feet or "One Mississippi Two Mississippi" C. 192 feet plus extra Mississippi distance due to multiple vehicles ahead following too closely.

No hard fast answer to that question, there are simply too many variables:
- Road conditions
- Visibility
- Weather
- Driver behavior
- Speed
- Amount of buffeting coming of the back of the semi

just to name a few...

Hint: It's not the OPs two car lengths.

C's extra Mississippi gives the Navy Chief all the cover his variables need for "safe minimum distance". Variables add, not subtract.

Being from the west I prefer one Colorado, two Colorado, three Colorado. It's an interesting point though. When passing, how close to the vehicle being passed should a person be before moving into the oncoming lane? I don't remember that being discussed at driver's training. The back stretch NASCAR pass is the most exhilarating. Maybe you should start a thread on the topic.

Since were are off topic about motorcycle headlights looking like distant automobiles, here are a couple of interesting items related to motorcycle safety and visual cues.



http://rideapart.com/2013/12/motorcycle-accidents-brain-blame/

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You would enjoy reading The Upper Half Of The Motorcycle by Spiegel.

No mathematicians in the house it seems. This little bit of elementary algebra (from the Arabic al-jebr, meaning "reunion of broken parts") and arithmetic (from the Greek arithmos, meaning numbers) is just a warm-up to the more important question of "Just how close were those Harley's anyway?" Then we can answer DesertTortoise's question " How long will it take for my passengers to see their life flash before their eyes?"

I have 2 semi lengths, 5 cars, and 6 two-car spaces to pass. I'm going 25 mph faster than the line of vehicles so it takes me about 12 seconds (12 Colorados)to get passed. In that 12 seconds I travel 0.3 miles of the 0.8 mile separation and the oncoming car travels 0.25 miles. If everything works as planned there is a quarter mile between me and the oncoming car when I move back into my lane.

But things do not work out as planned. I saw what I wanted (or expected) to see, not what was actually there. On to part two.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

You're kind of new around here, aren't you?

When I'm stuck behind several vehicles and feel the need to pass, I'll drop back farther than usual from the vehicle in front of me. Back a little farther, I can see around them better, and as I see an opportunity to pass approach, I'll get a running start and pick up my speed. If timed correctly, the oncoming car has just passed as I reach the point where I have to either pull around the vehicle being passed or hit my brakes. If I proceed with my pass, I'm already at (or very near) passing speed, rather than counting on acceleration.

Also, since I started with a little more following distance, I unavoidably make it a little harder for someone BEHIND me to initiate a multiple vehicle pass. For me there's always a major pucker instant when someone tries to pass me the same instant I'm changing lanes to start my pass.