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[ST] Close Call this Morning



So I'm on my way to work in the carpool lane (which is left-most) like most 
mornings, doing about the speed limit.  The lane to my right is stop and go.

It's not uncommon to see people in the lane next to me with their left turn 
signals on.  Most of the time people are pretty good about judging how close 
an oncoming vehicle is, how fast it's traveling, and how fast they can 
accelerate.  Most of the time I have a cage a few seconds in front of me 
which is more noticeable than I am.  Most of the time, traffic in the 
carpool lane isn't going 50-60mph faster than the lane next to it.

But today I found myself with no one in front and doing about the speed 
limit, and by the time I noticed that the guy in the sport coupe with the 
left turn signal on has not noticed me and proceeded to change lanes, I'm 
almost upon him.  In the time it takes me to cover the brakes and start 
squeezing I'm already at his bumper and he's half in my lane.  When I saw my 
front tire parallel to his front door I concluded (either rightly or 
wrongly) that he's not accelerating fast enough and I'm not stopping fast 
enough to avoid being pushed by him into the cement barrier, so I flicked 
the throttle and was just able to punch out in front of him.

While I am glad that I was able to escape unscathed, these things keep 
running through my mind:

1. I should have braked harder.  For some reason, I have it in my head that 
had I been a better rider, I could have braked out of the situation.

2. How does one go about practicing emergency stops from 60mph (w/o having 
access to a race track).  Is this even something I should be practicing?

3. Was there anything else I could have done but didn't?

It may very well be that I did the right thing as opposed to screwing up and 
being very lucky, but I don't really trust myself to be objective about my 
reactions in this instance, so if any of you have any thoughts on the 
matter, I'm definately open to opinions.

Thanks,

Paul
'01 BRG ST

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