armstrong750
Moped
Before I venture forth here, I feel the need to admit that I have never taken any riding course. To get my license required only reading the rules for bikes and taking a written test, then a not-at-all-difficult riding test. That was 23 years ago. I've had three bikes in that time that I may have accumulated 15-20K miles on, total. My current ride is my '02 C-10, which I've put about 6-7K miles on in the last 2.5 years. Having said that, I know the rules of the road, and have managed to stay alive by not taking risks, or pissing people off with stupid or rude behavior. Now that that's out of the way...
On a recent ride out to a friends house 65 miles north of me, I noticed construction going on on the opposite side of the highway. It was slowing traffic, but not stopping it. On the way back home, it was stopped and stacking up. People were cutting across the grass median to get to the two-lane access road (traffic going both directions), and I did the same, rather than sit on the bike for ? minutes/hours. Thing were going ok on the access road, but eventually came to a halt about a quarter mile or more from the traffic light at the crossroad. It also happened to be the same location of the main road's construction bottleneck. Because of the construction (and possible wreck - I mean it was STOPPED on the highway down below), and all the congestion, officers were directing traffic through the light. One at a time.
Riding the shoulder is something that I am sure is illegal, and I have never had the need to do it. I've seen it done from my car/truck, and wished I could escape, too. I've seen it done from the seat of my bike, too, but didn't join because I didn't want to be "that guy", and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. But it dawned on my pretty quickly I was in for a very loooooonnnnnng quarter mile+ slog. On a hot bike. Clutching/creeping for a yard or two at at time. And then I realized why those guys would take the shoulder, or split lanes, or whatever to get outta there. My options were the right should which was narrow and not friendly, or the oncoming lane, which was clearly open. Knowing I could wedge back into traffic if necessary, I took left and puttered up the road and got back in line where the off ramp met the feeder, which was 3-5 car lengths before the light. Before I know it, a TX DPS Tahoe was dropped from a helicopter to the gap between me the next car back.
We eventually got a nearby parking lot. He said he was giving me a citation for violation: DRIVE IN LEFT LANE WHEN NOT PASSING OR WHERE PROHIBITED. I couldn't argue, of course. That's the law. But I asked him if he's ever ridden motorcycle at all - Nope. I didn't bother to explain. I can't help but think that a rider wouldn't have given me that ticket.
So I ask: Is it ever acceptable to go around a parking lot of cars moving at .75 mile per hour?
What would you have done?
On a recent ride out to a friends house 65 miles north of me, I noticed construction going on on the opposite side of the highway. It was slowing traffic, but not stopping it. On the way back home, it was stopped and stacking up. People were cutting across the grass median to get to the two-lane access road (traffic going both directions), and I did the same, rather than sit on the bike for ? minutes/hours. Thing were going ok on the access road, but eventually came to a halt about a quarter mile or more from the traffic light at the crossroad. It also happened to be the same location of the main road's construction bottleneck. Because of the construction (and possible wreck - I mean it was STOPPED on the highway down below), and all the congestion, officers were directing traffic through the light. One at a time.
Riding the shoulder is something that I am sure is illegal, and I have never had the need to do it. I've seen it done from my car/truck, and wished I could escape, too. I've seen it done from the seat of my bike, too, but didn't join because I didn't want to be "that guy", and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. But it dawned on my pretty quickly I was in for a very loooooonnnnnng quarter mile+ slog. On a hot bike. Clutching/creeping for a yard or two at at time. And then I realized why those guys would take the shoulder, or split lanes, or whatever to get outta there. My options were the right should which was narrow and not friendly, or the oncoming lane, which was clearly open. Knowing I could wedge back into traffic if necessary, I took left and puttered up the road and got back in line where the off ramp met the feeder, which was 3-5 car lengths before the light. Before I know it, a TX DPS Tahoe was dropped from a helicopter to the gap between me the next car back.
We eventually got a nearby parking lot. He said he was giving me a citation for violation: DRIVE IN LEFT LANE WHEN NOT PASSING OR WHERE PROHIBITED. I couldn't argue, of course. That's the law. But I asked him if he's ever ridden motorcycle at all - Nope. I didn't bother to explain. I can't help but think that a rider wouldn't have given me that ticket.
So I ask: Is it ever acceptable to go around a parking lot of cars moving at .75 mile per hour?
What would you have done?