Some Tips?

[TNT1]

I came across this reading a motorcycling site, I think it's applicable to the non motorised two wheelers as well.

 

Motorcycles are straight up invisible. But not in the awesome, you get to sneak into the girl's locker room kind of way (they do tend to notice naked-save-for-a-helmet men idling motorcycles in the shower stalls. Weird, right?). The number one cause of motorcyclist death is people taking an ordinary left hand turn, right in front of the bike. They check their mirrors, they flick on their turn signals, and then they calmly and deliberately proceed to murder you.

 

I know. I've experienced it.

 

On one particularly blood-thirsty afternoon, while on a two-mile long trip, three people did their best to kill me. One took a left turn across my lane of traffic right in front of me, which ended with him driving through the landscaping of an apartment building. The second pulled across all lanes of traffic into mine, in an attempt to occupy the same space at the same time as myself -- they lost their axle on a curb in a last minute bid to not commit vehicular manslaughter (that was nice of them). The last I only avoided by swerving into the bike lane and flying out of traffic. It's like playing a game of Grand Theft Auto ... as the pedestrians.

 

Riding a motorcycle is dangerous, and it's compounded by the fact that you basically have to do dangerous things like run red lights while you ride it. That doesn't get better with experience. In fact, as you get better at riding, you'll become more and more functionally retarded. You'll pull maneuvers you would never attempt in a car, where you're surrounded by steel and airbags and seat belts -- like lane splitting, a practice that's straight up legal in California and more or less tolerated in most other states. If you're not familiar with the idea, lane splitting is when you ride between cars on the passing line. The thought process goes something like this: Traffic is stopped (perhaps for one of those silly little red lights that I can just ride through) and cars are ahead in both lanes, but nobody is actively straddling the center line. Bam! New, bonus lane! What are you guys, stupid? Look at all this unused space!

 

In the places where it is tolerated, there are a myriad of laws and regulations about how to do it safely. Every last one of them ignores a simple, fundamental fact: This cannot be done safely. The entire practice is insane and stupid. I know this. It puts me in a permanent blind spot; an unannounced lane change will guaranteed kill me; I essentially volunteer to become the meat in a crushing steel sandwich. And yet, if it will save even one second of commute, I will somehow consider it totally justifiable at the time.

 

Every time you set your ass on a bike, you're playing a game of Russian Roulette between yourself and your own stupidity. You live and die by the odds, and if given enough time, they will always catch up to you. Which is truly unfortunate, because I know a lot of people that ride motorcycles, and I don't know anyone that has ever quit. Every single person that's ridden for a few years has laid down their bike, and they now know, intimately, exactly how cheese feels when you grate it. Many have suffered serious injuries, and everyone has at least one friend they've lost in an accident. We stink, we stupidly risk our lives just to exchange platitudes, people try to murder us constantly (and that's only when we're not trying to do it ourselves by riding between cars and running lights) and all while constantly, constantly covered in screaming spiders -- and we all still ride.

[Mojoman]

My first and only motorcycle accident was caused by a big furniture removal truck in the right hand lane (2 lanes), indicating right and then swinging left! I had six weeks to think about this while my broken leg healed and since then I do not take it for granted that if you are in the right hand lane, indicating right, that you will turn right!

In fact we were behind a taxi yesterday that indicated left, I thought about passing right but didn't, a good thing as he turned right anyway!!

[Eldron]

You can pretty much swap bike for motorbike in that article.

 

What amazes me about most/some/all/no (pick your applicable word) riders is that they would rather be right and dead than wronged and alive.

 

Lane splitting is a fine example - it's flat out dangerous. Legal but dangerous. The sentiment seems to be "it's MY RIGHT!!!!". Some splitters roll along at a speed that allows what minimal reaction time there is - most seem to think 60kph is an acceptable speed to lane split in static traffic.

 

Remember people - the law may protect your rights but it aint gonna protect you or your 7kg racing machine against 1,800kg of metal...

[Falco]

 

What amazes me about most/some/all/no (pick your applicable word) riders is that they would rather be right and dead than wronged and alive.

 

 

 

110% correct. No matter who does what, the rider always comes off second best.

[LeTurbo]

Actually, as far as I remember, lane splitting was legislated against back in about 1979/1980, when I had my little 1970 Honda 100 in Standard Nine. That said, I do it on my bike, but only if the robot has just turned red, it's rush hour traffic, and I can squeeze to the left at the last car. My guardian angel has always warned me when a car's turning left - let's hope it continues to do so.

[TNT1]

Actually, as far as I remember, lane splitting was legislated against back in about 1979/1980, .

 

Lane splitting on a motorcycle is legal under the current SA road Traffic Act.

[Capricorn]

Lane splitting on a motorcycle is legal under the current SA road Traffic Act.

 

true, but IIRC, it was touted for illegal, or made illegal a few years back. Quite an uproar about it.