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Missed me by thaaaat much


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I'm writing this not to beat anyone up, but just as a general word of advice for those of you who may be relatively new to the area or clueless/uncaring with all of the changes in the roads during this "wonderful" time of construction. I know that there are many problems, on all sides, when it comes to motos, cars and traffic, but please be aware of your surroundings if you're the one in the car. Yes, scooters/bikes/whatever dart out, but many cars also cut them off when the moto has the right-of-way. Yesterday, I was in the right-hand turn lane (NOT the ciclopista), signal blinking, in front of Steren and heading to the libramiento when a driver heading towards Ajijic had left some space in front of his/her car to allow a car turning left from Wal-Mart to enter. That would have been fine, but the driver went straight across to enter the turn lane and didn't have a clear view of whether or not it was already occupied by a vehicle and it was - me. The driver damn near wiped me out...and hubby was in the car right behind me. Two heart attacks for the price of one! Fortunately, I wasn't going that fast and could brake, but please remember that those on scooters/motorbikes and bicycles just cannot stop on a dime. Even though I was in my lane, not speeding, wearing my helmet, blah, blah, blah, being "in the right" wouldn't have made me any less dead had that car been even one second later. The sad thing is that I don't think he/she was even aware. 

 

 

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Glad you weren't hit. When I had a motorcycle here for about a year I would assume the worst possible outcome for any situation and try to anticipate/prepare for it. It just became too stressful so I ended up selling it. At least the bike paths have some protection.

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I sympathize with your encounter. Don't you sometimes wish you could give out tickets to some of these terrible drivers?

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2 hours ago, lakeside7 said:

Much of those scary events would be avoided if there where  a 4 traffic light system allowing controlled traffic to enter and exit Walmart. Do I recall correctly that a system was once in place?

No, never in place but it certainly needs something different there. Chaos often.

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If I am at Centro Laguna and want to go to Walmart, I never try to cross the carretera.  I go up to one of the Centro Laguna exits and exit southbound onto the libramiento.  Lots easier and safer.  Unfortunately there is no good way to exit Walmart and head west.  But i do think nobody should try to exit from near AutoZone.  Why the did not put in  4-way stop light at that intersection is beyond me.

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4 hours ago, ea93105 said:

Glad you weren't hit. When I had a motorcycle here for about a year I would assume the worst possible outcome for any situation and try to anticipate/prepare for it. It just became too stressful so I ended up selling it. At least the bike paths have some protection.

From what I understand the bike paths are not for motorcycles. I can be corrected but since the new paths are so wide, why not have a separate path for motos and another for bikes and pedestrians? Maybe this is too sensible a solution? There is plenty of room for bikes to avoid pedestrians since there seems not to be that much traffic of both and this would take the crazy motos off the carretera.

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32 minutes ago, bdlngton said:

If I am at Centro Laguna and want to go to Walmart, I never try to cross the carretera.  I go up to one of the Centro Laguna exits and exit southbound onto the libramiento.  Lots easier and safer.  Unfortunately there is no good way to exit Walmart and head west.  But i do think nobody should try to exit from near AutoZone.  Why the did not put in  4-way stop light at that intersection is beyond me.

Good idea

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29 minutes ago, gringohombre said:

From what I understand the bike paths are not for motorcycles. I can be corrected but since the new paths are so wide, why not have a separate path for motos and another for bikes and pedestrians? Maybe this is too sensible a solution? There is plenty of room for bikes to avoid pedestrians since there seems not to be that much traffic of both and this would take the crazy motos off the carretera.

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Very helpful. I am sure that I could waste my time and find a hundred "videos" of motorists mowing down motorcycles. How about the idea of putting a simple metal barrier in the middle of the "bike" path...one side for motorbikes and the other for bicycles and barring pedestrians completely. Maybe the same government bigwig who green lighted that monstrous concrete barrier also has a cousin/brother/sister in the metalwork business. And by the way I cannot wait to see how those planters will look every few meters and find out who has the watering and maintenance contract for that. 

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And then you have..... Yesterday morning my wife and I had to pick some one up in Chapala around 4:30. Going up the hill from Ixtlahuacan we passed a cow standing on the side of the road. Coming back the same cow had decided to cross back to the upper downhill side. Luckily I had room to swerve and miss her. You never know what you might meet on the roads here. They're out to get ya!

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1 hour ago, dcstroker said:

And then you have..... Yesterday morning my wife and I had to pick some one up in Chapala around 4:30. Going up the hill from Ixtlahuacan we passed a cow standing on the side of the road. Coming back the same cow had decided to cross back to the upper downhill side. Luckily I had room to swerve and miss her. You never know what you might meet on the roads here. They're out to get ya!

There were five dead cows in that stretch during a one month period last year. One day last week there were three cows grazing on the side of the highway in the same area (they also like to graze in the median) -- cows are out day and night so watch out!

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9 hours ago, gringohombre said:

Very helpful. I am sure that I could waste my time and find a hundred "videos" of motorists mowing down motorcycles. How about the idea of putting a simple metal barrier in the middle of the "bike" path...one side for motorbikes and the other for bicycles and barring pedestrians completely. Maybe the same government bigwig who green lighted that monstrous concrete barrier also has a cousin/brother/sister in the metalwork business. And by the way I cannot wait to see how those planters will look every few meters and find out who has the watering and maintenance contract for that. 

Some people are google-aholics.

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