Riding back from squires cafe this afternoon, if you know the road back towards sherburn village theres a switchback then uphill climb towards the village over a blind crest thats all double white lines. As i crested the hill im faced by a silver mercedes convertible driven by a bald fat faced ba@#%^d (his face is burnt in my mind) overtaking 4 cars at speed and around 4/5 car lengths from me. I truly thought my time was up, braked for all i was worth and dived up the grass verge, he missed me by inches as he swerved in front of the last car. Stopped for a few mins as i was trembling a bit and the kind car driver behind me stopped to see if i was o.k. thought about if i had a camera but to be honest id not want to see it, but i would at least have had his reg number. But im here sat with a glass of wine and happy im still alive. Hug your loved ones folks, your one lunatic driver away from not getting home 
itās always astonishing to me how risky people are in cars and how little awareness they have.
i drove a car today for the first time in ages and almost fell asleep, heater on to demist windscreen, sat downā¦ felt very strange. i can see how it happens, but i opened the window because it felt too stuffy.
I saw some stuff today while car driving that i would have easily avoided on a bike, but felt unable to in a car. I think Iāll stick to bikes only, I feel more aware and alert and thus more safe.
Glad to see that you are able to write about the event and that you enjoyed the wine. 
Iāve noticed the driving standard of motorists (car; have problem referring to them as drivers) has deteriorated over the past 20 or so years. Cars are more powerful offering higher protection to the occupants, giving rise to greater āinsulationā from the outside world and road conditions. Combined with lower levels of law enforcement it leads to greater levels of stupidity.
With double white lines he had no excuse and absolutely no reason to do what he did. We can only hope that what goes round will come round and heāll get to answer for his actions.
Thank heavens youre still here to tell the tale.
What i notice as an all season California rider are the sneaky looking downers on their phones.I see them,and sure we all do.
There was a moment last week when one of them was a third over the white line on a bend coming towards me.
Be alert good people.
Yup. There are certain makes of car that you must be extremely wary of - in order, Audi, Mercedes, BMW and, I was rather surprised to notice, large VW estates. These tend to be desired, owned and driven by people with āa certain attitudeā. Do you know the joke about if you have a BMW you must never use the indicators else it will catch fire? Very occasionally I have witnessed an Audi being driven properly, which is a very nice change. More usually I can only see the radiator in my rearview mirror. 
Congratulations on your sharp avoidanceā¦it illustrates the need of a level of constant awareness ā¦ you could report itā¦the other vehicles involved may have done so qith video footageā¦
Whilst I sympathise, there is a risk of being a little parochial here. I, like most of us, ride Guzzis (confessing to many other makes over 55 years of riding), have a car, ride bicycles, walk, and have even been known to ride a horse. My car is a Porsche. Does that mean that I have a bad attitude, or does being a multi mode traveller make me more aware of the problems facing other users?
Muppet drivers are not exclusively in luxury cars or white vans. Frinstance, the chains of bum up bikers causing mayhem on their way up to Matlock. (Embarrassing to be a biker on the same road).
We are all road users and there needs to be some consideration. Better driving standards would help. Stereotyping will only entrench aggravation.
The best thing I ever did after decades of accident free motoring was to attend bikesafe (West Midlands). Btw: it was voluntary, paid for and not as a consequence of a penalty. The observed ride was educational.
One has to generalise in all walks of lifeā¦the comments regarding Audi drivers is a prime exampleā¦not ALL Audi drivers drive dis respectfullyā¦just the majorityā¦
In my experienceā¦no offence intended, however should youā¦etc etc
Your previous post suggests otherwise, and were I thin-skinned I would take offence.
I think @Sparkieb has it (mostly) right. Anyone faced with a dangerous oncoming driver would agree with his view that āyour one lunatic driver away from not getting homeā, irrespective of the vehicle that the offender was driving. Stereotyping (not generalising; there is a big difference) does not help.
What is needed?
- Better driving/riding standards?
- Compulsory re-test or accompanied advanced ride/drive every 3 - 5 years?
- Better policing?
- Alcohol ban?
- Bans for dangerous driving?
Wups. That is a little close to home, certainly the bald bit. Look at the photos in Gambalunga. Maybe we need some younger blood in the club.
This is of course a vast overgeneralisation. My step daughter drives a large VW estate and is not only a very safe driver but also a police officer.
I fully agree, I went on a course with the Essex Police with a friend of mine who had a serious accident on his GS (he now rides a V85TT) it helped him to regain his confidence on two wheels. But getting the vast majority to drive to a better standard would be a huge challenge, so I ride defensively and try to predict what the numpties will do to surprise me.
In a way the most upsetting thing (for me) about the current situation on the roads, is how the behaviour of the drivers of certain brands of car (yes, Audis are the usual suspects) demonstrates very clearly their attitude to the rest of the population. Entitlement, arrogance, self-centredness. etc etc. and that those attitudes are rife in society in general IMO. My tuppence worth anyway.
I recall a radio programme broadcast a couple of years ago where researchers had found that people with an income that they believe is higher than the average income also believe that certain rules do not apply to them as much as they do to people who appear to be of a lower financial status. In short, for example, the driver of a Ā£70,000 car will, without hesitation, break the accepted rules of the road, speed, ignore road signs and painted lines etc. because their wealth gives them staus above others and an inflated sense of entitlement.
Entitlement :-
In psychology, entitlement mentality is defined as a sense of deservingness or being owed a favor when little or nothing has been done to deserve special treatment.
It used to BMW drivers but now itās VWs, Audis, Lexus and anything electric. ( keep a sharp lookout for number plates with green flashes and their self righteous planet savers because their cars can accelerate faster than the drivers can think).
Sadly i had another driver yesterday come around me as i came off a roundabout, i wasnt hanging about but he ran wide of me over the dust/muck/stones that form the triangles of un-used road and blew them everywhere. As i followed him he overtook cars on a hill and long sweeping bend like a loon. Passed him sat it a junction que about 4 miles later 
Anyway the sun,s out so im going to try the āmonkey potā cafe, thats been recommended to me ride safe everyone
Letās leave the stereotyping at the door please, folks, and focus, perhaps, on the positive learning arising from such instances.
For my part: I found a couple of YouTube channels, offering ānarratedā rider lessons to be particularly enlightening - there are many such, Iām sure, but āRoadcraft Nottinghamā and āMotorcycle Lessons UKā are two that Iād recommendā¦ if only for illustrating incidents and offering solutions to situations that one might not yet have encountered personally.
Agree wholeheartedly! Best example for me was a couple of years ago. A clown in a mobile Halfords (Mitsubishi Evo I believe) had left the circuit to do some unofficial/off track setting up. I was third in a traffic stream behind him on my California 1100i when he brake tested us all.
Unbelievably close for me. I just touched the rear bumper of the car in front. No damage, but me and my passenger were rather shaken. Needless to say the offender cleared off. The drivers of the cars in front and behind were very kind. I got home and thought through the incident. Without victim blaming I came to the following conclusions.
- Was I maintaining correct braking distance? No, by approximately 1cm, but should have been more.
- Did I brake hard enough. No. Swapping from an Aprilia to the linked brake Cali meant that I wrongly did not press the foot brake hard enough and relied on the other front disc instead of both front discs. Remedy - adjust braking effort to the bike being ridden.
- Even if I had braked harder, my passenger was unprepared and we clattered helmets when she was thrown forwards. The extra weight on my back destabilised the bike. Solution - more braking distance.
Discussing the incident with my son taught me another lesson. His Ducati has cornering ABS. All on the handlebar lever. Heavy front braking on bends is alien to me. However, he also has to adjust his braking style when he swaps to his Sport 1200 Guzzi.
Brockettā¦I agree entirely with your comments but also with those in the replyā¦best leave the stereotypical analysisā¦a very good point made about drivers of electric vehicles and their lack of understanding thoughā¦remember, be niceā¦ respect all road usersā¦and beware of all of them too !
This may be a bit ātheoreticalā but I hope itās of interest: If you havenāt encountered āGoals for Driver Educationā (GDE for short), consider Googling for it and having a read.
Based on a study of decades of accident data (not specifically bike), researchers found that the basic test to get a drivers license in EU countries was not addressing the main factors involved in causing accidents. The basic test covers 1. control of the machine and 2. Ability to handle a variety of road, traffic and sometimes weather conditions.
The main causes of accidents were however, attitudinal and nothing to do with what the driving test assesses. The EU introduced a four level system for education of drivers/riders and made levels 1 and 2 those already addressed by the basic test. Level 3 then deals with how the driver/rider deals with a specific journey - e.g. āIāve got to keep up with my faster mates or Iāll look like a pussyā or in a car āI have to show off to my girlfriend how fast I can driveā. Level 4 then dealt with the individualās general attitude to risk in all walks of life. Some people regard laws as guides they can ignore if they choose for instance.
Two common mindsets that came out as key factors in crashes were āAs a motorist Iām much better than most others on the road todayā (canāt be true of all of us!) and āIt wonāt happen to me/I can get away with itā¦.just this onceā type thinking.
Other mindsets that seem to play a part are
- entitlement (Iām driving a fast car, so I deserve to go faster than others or the old one used against cyclists lots āI pay road tax and you donātā (drivers pay vehicle tax, all of us pay road tax).
- Tribalism - e.g. I belong to the subset of road users that drive/ride an XYZ and others are flawed/lesser in some way. At the end of the day weāre all sharing busy, potholed roads and we all make mistakes. Weāre all trying to get somewhere, we all suffer from lifeās stresses and an attitude of helping others on their journey would not go amiss.
- Victim behaviour: That b****rd cut me up so no more Mr Nice Guy to others.
The advanced motorcycle training offered by RoSPA, IAM, BMF etc all take bike training to these levels 3 and 4 (or theyāre meant to!) as GDE is now an integral part of Roadcraft, the bible of advanced motorcycling that the police, RoSPA, IAM etc teach to. Iāve been with IAM and RoSPA for 29 years and the skills they teach have saved my hide on many occasions.
What becomes stereotypical is based on experience and may well have been a benefit to human existence. Not all snakes will kill you but some will. So best be aware of what is likely to kill you if you get too close. Stereotyping snake behaviour does not mean that every snake is a killer but it should ring the alarm bell when one is near.
However the OP was an incident out of the blue, sudden, and unpredictable. Iāve had a similar incident and it left me shaking and wondering what I could have done differently. Best regards to Sparkieb.
Thankyou 
for the kind words. Had a couple of lovely rides out since the near miss, and only had it in my thoughts that first night, so now hoping for more better weather to get more miles on the v85tt