Did a dumb thing today...well, two dumb things.

[OneTrack]

I was in a bit of a hurry this morning when I left home on my FZ6, and suddenly realized about 20 seconds into the ride that I hadn't fastened my RF-1000's chin strap. (that was a first...). Anyhow, at the first opportunity, I signalled right and pulled over to the side of the road to fasten the chin strap. Once it was fastened, a quick shoulder check and off I went. I then realized that I hadn't zipped up my jacket outside pocket with my wallet in it, so rather than pull over, I slowed down and felt for the zip. While I was doing this, a van stopped at a stop sign about 100 feet ahead of me (from the right). As I was zipping up the pocket zipper, the van driver looked right at me and pulled out half into my lane before he realized (even though I was going quite slowly, probably about 30 kph) that I was going straight on.....I gave him a look in the old style and then realized....yep....I had not cancelled my right flasher from when I pulled over to fasten my chinstrap. I felt an absolute idiot, and felt sorry for the van driver. From his perspective, my right flasher was going and I was slowing down; therefore I was going to turn right. I really can't blame him for pulling out. He did stop immediately when he realized that I was going straight on, but must have been PO'd that I gave him a dirty look.
They say confession's good for the soul, right?
Moral of story: NEVER be so much "in a hurry" that you forget things like fastening your helmet up....In my case, mistakes began to accumulate that could have had a very different ending. My bad.

[sportrider]

I'm guilty of the chin strap. I've gotten side tracked gearing up and ride off to feel it whipping in the wind.

[wrightme43]

Yep, me too. Both of them but at seperate times. Dude was all nice and didnt kill ya, and you give him a dirty look. I guess you owe that guy a amends. Lol. He has probley forgotten about it by now.

[2-stroke]

Anytime I am in a hurry to get on my bike i forget my chin strap. It tends to whip me in the neck to remind me. One time I tried fixing it at a red light. Took off my gloves, fixed the helmet strap then started putting my gloves back on dropping them on the ground ended up needing to get off the bike to pick them up, it was at a long red light.

[DefyInertia]

I'm so paranoid about blinkers that I find myself cancelling them at the track sometimes.....I often push the thing repeatedly before catching myself (not at the track).

[OneTrack]

Originally Posted by wrightme43

Yep, me too. Both of them but at seperate times. Dude was all nice and didnt kill ya, and you give him a dirty look. I guess you owe that guy a amends. Lol. He has probley forgotten about it by now.

I'm not a mean person (nor am I a pushover), but I generally agonize for days if I think I've unjustifiably/unintentionally upset somebody...I just hope that he didn't actually see my "dirty look" because of my helmet. Oh well...lesson learned.
One can mess about in one's car like that and (unfortunately) get away with it... dialing the cellphone, reaching for the coffee cup, searching for sunglasses or a decent station on the radio, trying to find that bag of candies that seem to move around...But on a bike? NO. Inattentiveness combined with forgetfulness and a sprinkling of stupidity can be unforgiving and lethal.

[OneTrack]

Originally Posted by 2-stroke

Anytime I am in a hurry to get on my bike i forget my chin strap. It tends to whip me in the neck to remind me. One time I tried fixing it at a red light. Took off my gloves, fixed the helmet strap then started putting my gloves back on dropping them on the ground ended up needing to get off the bike to pick them up, it was at a long red light.

Heh heh....I dropped a glove at a traffic light once when I was looking for something in my jacket pocket and had to do the same thing. How embarrassing.

[OneTrack]

Originally Posted by DefyInertia

I'm so paranoid about blinkers that I find myself cancelling them at the track sometimes.....I often push the thing repeatedly before catching myself (not at the track).

That's the first time I've forgotten to cancel my flashers since I first returned to bikes early last year. (Flashing indicators on motorcycles..? Who knew?)
I'm normally paranoid about cancelling them, to the point of saying to myself "cancel cancel" every time I've completed a turn. This time was a bit different, I guess, in that I didn't turn....I pulled over to the side of the road, which is something I rarely do, if ever . I was distracted and I ended up making a fool of myself with a cager of all things.

[rvbiker]

I've done the same thing. The first thing you notice is the helmet pulling up on your head. Too bad somebody hasn't come up with a mod to cancel the turn signal. Glad you weren't hurt.

[VEGASRIDER]

I myself have been guilty of numerous things that has required me to stop. But being stubborn, I always have opted to wait until I come across a red light as there are plenty here in this town, intersections after intersections. Go figure, everytime I need a long red light to stop and get things right, I get nothing but green lights.