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What with riding season opening, I have been seeing a lot more minor motorcycle accidents recently. It's that time of the year and is to be expected, but the "same lane passing" thread got me thinking about traffic strategy, in particular when it comes to the new riders around.
A majority of the accidents I have heard of lately could have been avoided simply by adjusting the riders position in traffic, and their overall traffic strategy. I thought maybe a discussion of how you guys deal with different situations could be helpful. Yes I know, every season there is something like this, but a thread like this really did help me two years ago, so I thought I would give it a shot.
My personal strategy is pretty simple: Keep yourself where other traffic expects you to be. Humans, being creatures of habit, tend to only watch in directions they expect a threat to be coming from. I feel it's important to place yourself in places where you can see and be seen, but also where other traffic expects a vehicle to be.
The two examples I have are as follow: A friend of mine had a rather nasty wreck a few months ago (somehow escaped unharmed) that pertaines to this. He was behind two vehicles, a pickup and a car, and decided to pass both at once. In his defense, the road was empty other then the three of them, and had clear line of sight for a long distance. He should have made it past without a problem, but right as he started to pass, the pickup made a left turn. You can guess what happened next.
He was travelling around 100mph (he says) and feels that the pickup should have seen him coming. I couldn't get him to understand that the pickup driver was not actually doing anything illegal. He was allowed to turn there, and passing two cars at 100mph is just silly. The driver did not see him because he did not look. Logic and experiance told him that he could see the car behind in his rearview, and that would be the vehicle to expect a pass from. My friend was simply not in a place where he should have been, and therefore was not seen. Plus the dozens of other mistakes he made, but the point remains.
Right turns on red lights at single lane intersections is the other common problem I see. I don't mind filtering up on the right of a line of cars, but the speed at which people do it scares me. Drivers are not expecting you there, and this can often lead to a panic reaction when you flash by their window. If the light turns green and traffic starts moving, there is a good chance one of the drivers is going to decide to make a right. Chances are, they are not going to look for traffic on the right if there is only one lane. Often a car could not fit in that spot, so there is no percieved threat.
Anyway, I wanted to write something, and with all the new riders around I figured I might do a little good. I want to hear what you all do to keep yourselves alive and riding, beyond the basic atgatt, and other normal protocall. What do you see on the road that appears safe but has hidden threats? You might just save a life by posting it up, you never know who is going to read this.
A majority of the accidents I have heard of lately could have been avoided simply by adjusting the riders position in traffic, and their overall traffic strategy. I thought maybe a discussion of how you guys deal with different situations could be helpful. Yes I know, every season there is something like this, but a thread like this really did help me two years ago, so I thought I would give it a shot.
My personal strategy is pretty simple: Keep yourself where other traffic expects you to be. Humans, being creatures of habit, tend to only watch in directions they expect a threat to be coming from. I feel it's important to place yourself in places where you can see and be seen, but also where other traffic expects a vehicle to be.
The two examples I have are as follow: A friend of mine had a rather nasty wreck a few months ago (somehow escaped unharmed) that pertaines to this. He was behind two vehicles, a pickup and a car, and decided to pass both at once. In his defense, the road was empty other then the three of them, and had clear line of sight for a long distance. He should have made it past without a problem, but right as he started to pass, the pickup made a left turn. You can guess what happened next.
He was travelling around 100mph (he says) and feels that the pickup should have seen him coming. I couldn't get him to understand that the pickup driver was not actually doing anything illegal. He was allowed to turn there, and passing two cars at 100mph is just silly. The driver did not see him because he did not look. Logic and experiance told him that he could see the car behind in his rearview, and that would be the vehicle to expect a pass from. My friend was simply not in a place where he should have been, and therefore was not seen. Plus the dozens of other mistakes he made, but the point remains.
Right turns on red lights at single lane intersections is the other common problem I see. I don't mind filtering up on the right of a line of cars, but the speed at which people do it scares me. Drivers are not expecting you there, and this can often lead to a panic reaction when you flash by their window. If the light turns green and traffic starts moving, there is a good chance one of the drivers is going to decide to make a right. Chances are, they are not going to look for traffic on the right if there is only one lane. Often a car could not fit in that spot, so there is no percieved threat.
Anyway, I wanted to write something, and with all the new riders around I figured I might do a little good. I want to hear what you all do to keep yourselves alive and riding, beyond the basic atgatt, and other normal protocall. What do you see on the road that appears safe but has hidden threats? You might just save a life by posting it up, you never know who is going to read this.
