Out of control vs. safety margins
 

Feeling reflective I think:

"Different people feel different things and ways, and the same person feels different day by day."

--When did you last make a manoeuvre that made you think "that was a bit close, and if I was driving that car, I'd not think that was very clever".... but you might do exactly the same thing the day before/after and think "yep, no problem there, plenty of room"

Mine was today, but I learned that lesson. Lane 3 to lane 1 leaving a motorway. 300 yards is not enough at that speed with that amount of traffic/gaps.

I suppose its an experience/time/emotion thing. I won't do it again.


NB-I wasn't going particularly quick.

Re: Out of control vs. safety margins
 

Last week on PM rideout there was an overtake which didn't leave as much of a safety margin as I normally like to. At the time it just felt like "oh, should have gassed it earlier" but thinking back, it probably put the $hits up both cars involved.

Re: Out of control vs. safety margins
 

In my situation it was caused by hesitation too. If I'd gone for the gap 3 seconds earlier it would've been fine.


At least its been "realised" - in the true sense of the word

Re: Out of control vs. safety margins
 

A lesson learned, and it didn't hurt. Bargain.

Re: Out of control vs. safety margins
 

did you follow through?

Re: Out of control vs. safety margins
 

Couple of weeks ago I was overtaking a long line of cars on the A59 between Skipton and Colne. Pulled in to make room for an oncoming car and swung back out to continue overtaking. It was then that...

1: I realised there were double solid white lines on the road - thank god nothing was coming the other way
2: I could hear a siren somewhere
3: I saw something blue flash in my mirrors
4: I think I may have soiled myself

I chucked it into a gap in the traffic and prepared to get bummed by the local plod (I had just seen the Scooby that they use up there). You can probably imagine my relief when an ambuance came sailing past.

Re: Out of control vs. safety margins
 

I think the last time was when I overcooked a left hander and had the sphinter moment of "I hope nothing's coming the other way cos I aint going to make this turn!" :shock:

That was really due to lack of concentration on a road that I don't ride too often.

Re: Out of control vs. safety margins
 

Had a few in traffic where things have moved where I didn't think they were going to, and I've had the thought "this is going to hurt a lot" and it's only something else moving unexpectedly that's allowed me to escape serious harm. Like on A58, had to twitch it from lane 3 to 1 to 2 again to avoid something. No idea how I missed it, but that was because of filtering like a complete f##knut.

Re: Out of control vs. safety margins
 

My brain obviously works differently. In situations like that I tend to think "This is going to cost a fair bit to repair!"

Re: Out of control vs. safety margins
 

To be fair on my bike it'd have to be a very serious accident to cost me more than about 25p to fix back to it's level of pre-crash perfection...