How many times have you read those words in the newspaper or on a motorcycle forum or heard it on the evening news.
A motorist makes a left turn and collides with a motorcyclist and says" I never saw him"
Motorcyclists are outraged and want to hang the driver of the car for injuring or killing another rider.When the reality is MOST of the time it is “riders error” that causes this type of situation in the first place.
My dear friend who come to dinner every Monday evening had a story to tell this past Monday.
He was quiet shaken re-telling what had happened on his way to the house. A story that could of gone in a much different direction. Fortunately he is a really good driver and because my husband and I ride he is maybe a bit more consciously aware of motorcycles.
Here is the senerio as it unfolded.
He was stopped ( in his car) getting ready to make a left, He waited for traffic and then started to move but something caught is eye at the last moment and he stopped in time to see the bike that now was right in front of him. It scared the crap out of him. It was the first time he missed seeing a bike in traffic.
This bike was totally camouflaged by the rider choosing his line to be in direct line with the head light of car behind him The rider was clueless to the danger he had put himself in as he shook his fist and gave my friend the finger.
It may help sometimes, but most of the time people aren’t even looking your way before pulling out, or before cutting across two lanes to make a turn, or any other act of stupidity that leads to crashes. The only way to completely avoid those situations is to not ride at all.
This…I would say 75% of the crashes it doesn’t matter how good of a rider you are or how fast your reaction time is it can literally happen at any moment and the only way to avoid it is really to leave the bike in the garage.
Exactly. The one that pulled out in front of me didn’t even turn her head before I went over her car. “I didn’t see you” doesn’t really work on a bright green bike that’s loud as hell and has high beams on… 40 feet away. Now I snap throttle or beep and flash the lights if I see someone getting ready to pull out. Weaving will definitely be added to the list.
Good video for both new and seasoned riders though.
When I have any doubt I too alway beep the horn but a flash of a headlight generally means you are politely giving the person the right of way.That is not your intention but could be conceived as permisson to go.
Lack of other assholes attention is why 2kids r no longer with my family . I can’t show the pic from my phone but its on my f.b page a fucking straigtaway she claims she didn’t see my aunt !!! Fuckin whore was high and I hope she gets what’s coming to her and the 2 assholes that hit Steve and didn’t stop better hope the cops find ya before my family does .
Yeah I’d definitely not flash my headlights if I were you. That seems to be the general “Go ahead” sign.
I learned back when I first started riding that if you’re in a straight line long enough, you can become camouflaged to other vehicles, even ones directly behind you. So, I generally do a little weave every now and then when I’m on straight roads.
lastnight on the thruway westbound in rush hour, I watched some guy in a work van, no blinker, no look in the mirror, move from the center lane into the fast lane, right infront of a kid on a bike. Kid on the bike backed off enough to let him pull in and threw his left arm up like WTF? And did it again as he passed the truck, the driver flipped him off out the window!!!
blows my mind how people who clearly dont give a single fuck about anyone but themselves, and have the balls to flip off the person they could have killed for their ignorance when that person calls them out for it.
I just treat every intersection as a death trap, don’t ride in the blind spots of cars, keep a good distance to the vehicle in front, wear gear; my only 2 greatest fear when riding is a deer jumping up from the side of the road (which I saw yesterday on rt2) and being ram from the car behind me.
Like Oleg said, the only way to completely avoid it is not to ride; but when you do there are a lot of things you can do to minimize the risk. Sometimes it is easy to just blame the cars, but for example if are tailgating a box van you are just asking for it.
The rider was clueless to the danger he had put himself in as he shook his fist and gave my friend the finger.