here's one for reflexes

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today I had to go to take care of some business, return an amp repair, pick up a few more amps, keyboards, pedals etc all to get a kiss and a bandaid then get a new 12 volt gel pack battery , stop at a friends house to return his lap top and cell phone to him , the usual stuff I use to fill my days.

so I leave my house at about 2:30 PM to start my journey I round the corner from my house to see a white pick up truck parked on the road in front of me, I slow down to continue past her ( the driver) and out of the corner of my eye on the right hand side I see a red helmet jettisoning out of the drive way to my right I throw on the slammers my tires screech and I stop in less than 8 feet, in time to see 2, 7 year old boys on bikes launch in front of me with out looking then proceed to to take off down the road riding in the middle of the street and not yielding to one side or the other. I do get past them and proceed on my way.
I finished my business and on the way home I decided to stop to talk to the mother of the young lad who was almost a crap stain on my bumper.
I introduced my self to his mother and relayed the incident , exclaiming that I was not trying to get the young lad into trouble , but that it might be prudent to Teach him bike safety in a rural environment rather than a punishment. She stated that the woman that was parked on the road was her mother who witnessed the whole thing and collaborated my perspective. the out come was ( prior to my visit) was his bike riding privileges had been suspended.

I re-enforced with her that my Adrenalin was just starting to dissipate (at the time of my visit) and that we were less that 4 feet away from a fatality, she brought her son out to meet me and asked him to be careful , that this incident could have very well had a bad ending for all of us .

I was not angry, the kid was just being a kid but scared the hell out of me , I have lost young children and I can tell you this would have devastated me , I'm still rattled, do you think I did the right thing?
 
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Milspec

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Good for you stopping like that, not many would. There are few things more scary than young children on bikes this time of year, even deer aren't as dumb. On my mail route, I see this type of behavior all day long and it amazes me that the streets aren't littered with broken kids and bent bumpers.
 

BluesMann

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today I had to go to take care of some business, return an amp repair, pick up a few more amps, keyboards, pedals etc all to get a kiss and a bandaid then get a new 12 volt gel pack battery , stop at a friends house to return his lap top and cell phone to him , the usual stuff I use to fill my days.

so I leave my house at about 2:30 PM to start my journey I round the corner from my house to see a white pick up truck parked on the road in front of me, I slow down to continue past her ( the driver) and out of the corner of my eye on the right hand side I see a red helmet jettisoning out of the drive way to my right I throw on the slammers my tires screech and I stop in less than 8 feet, in time to see 2, 7 year old boys on bikes launch in front of me with out looking then proceed to to take off down the road riding in the middle of the street and not yielding to one side or the other. I do get past them and proceed on my way.
I finished my business and on the way home I decided to stop to talk to the mother of the young lad who was almost a crap stain on my bumper.
I introduced my self to his mother and relayed the incident , exclaiming that I was not trying to get the young lad into trouble , but that it might be prudent to Teach him bike safety in a rural environment rather than a punishment. She stated that the woman that was parked on the road was her mother who witnessed the whole thing and collaborated my perspective. the out come was ( prior to my visit) was his bike riding privileges had been suspended.

I re-enforced with her that my Adrenalin was just starting to dissipate (at the time of my visit) and that we were less that 4 feet away from a fatality, she brought her son out to meet me and asked him to be careful , that this incident could have very well had a bad ending for all of us .

I was not angry, the kid was just being a kid but scared the hell out of me , I have lost young children and I can tell you this would have devastated me , I'm still rattled, do you think I did the right thing?
Absolutely and without doubt. You handled it well. Those near collision experiences do get the adrenaline pumping , but it’s something I am sure we all would rather not experience.
 

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You absolutely did the right thing. We can only hope the young boy took it to heart. One of the greatest lessons we all learn when we're too young to know better: actions have consequences.
I think he was terrified of his mom even before I knocked on the door , he was already feeling the consequences from this expedition as his grandmother witnessed the events and reported it to the mom prior to my arrival . so the mother brought him out to talk to me , I did not want to see him punished but to see his mom or dad teach him about safety and show him. He will get it, at least it was not on a major street but a small road , there was no traffic behind me.

I was rattled till late last night, but feel better today, one of us had horseshoes up our........
 

dogmeat

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I've had 2 similar. in both cases I was driving normal on the road, below speed limits. one... the kid was on a bike and tried to cross in front of me. he was looking right in my face... and kept coming... I'm locking the brakes and pulling left as hard as I can and yet he is still coming, fortunately there was no oncoming traffic so I kept pulling left... that little bugger kept coming.... finally I hit full power and went into the ditch on the off side of the street and got around him and back up on the road.. all in slow motion.

the second one... I'm on a vintage motorcycle cruising the neighborhood, maybe 10- 15 mph.... he runs in front of me... I nailed the little bastige. broke my headlight, same thing... I'm on the brakes, pulling away but the little dummy keeps coming and runs right in to me
 

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I've had 2 similar. in both cases I was driving normal on the road, below speed limits. one... the kid was on a bike and tried to cross in front of me. he was looking right in my face... and kept coming... I'm locking the brakes and pulling left as hard as I can and yet he is still coming, fortunately there was no oncoming traffic so I kept pulling left... that little bugger kept coming.... finally I hit full power and went into the ditch on the off side of the street and got around him and back up on the road.. all in slow motion.

the second one... I'm on a vintage motorcycle cruising the neighborhood, maybe 10- 15 mph.... he runs in front of me... I nailed the little bastige. broke my headlight, same thing... I'm on the brakes, pulling away but the little dummy keeps coming and runs right in to me
I remember the feeling of invincibility at that age ( about 7) and you want to be super human on a bike or in your mind the airplane or racing car you are driving what ever the imaginary focus, but playing chicken with a 1/2 ton of motor cycle makes you a candidate for a Darwin award and the realization that in the 5 seconds of stupidity or not thinking could equal a life time spent in a wheelchair ( if you are lucky)
 

wulfenganck

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You were absolutely right. It was purely accidental that the driver of the white car was the grandmother and already told the mother. Also your way of talking to her and the kid was well executed. No yelling no screaming, just reporting the details and trying to show the dangers to the kid probably impressed him a lot more than having a raging lunatic jumping out of his car.
 

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You absolutely did the right thing, made a productive lesson out of it. I hope you sleep well tonight
Thank you , it took me a bit to get the palpitations down to a proper rhythmic cycle, but this incident out shone my kids experience of getting out of work and finding a pound of butter melting on her windshield yesterday ( true facts) don't ask! LOL there is no answer
 

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You were absolutely right. It was purely accidental that the driver of the white car was the grandmother and already told the mother. Also your way of talking to her and the kid was well executed. No yelling no screaming, just reporting the details and trying to show the dangers to the kid probably impressed him a lot more than having a raging lunatic jumping out of his car.
I agree ,
Kids are kids , I was not ready to talk to any one immediately after the incident I had to calm down first and think logically not just emote all over a stranger, it would solve nothing other than make me the turd in the situation. I wasn't angry at all just startled , and to be honest I was surprised at how fast my reflexes kicked in I stopped with in 4 feet of the little guffers.
 
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