The perils of biking

Two biggest dangers around here are school buses in country lanes - they have a habit of driving on the wrong side of the road - and tractors that pull out of field entrances without looking, mainly cos the driver has some loud muzac on in the cab. They then leave a trail of mud and **** over the road, and hold you up for ages, no chance of getting past.

[Wideboy]

i was thinking of doing this and sending it to the local rag as all they do is print rubbish about bikers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqnRIeRT2hs

Originally Posted by Dave20046

IIRC Dave walked calmly from one end of the field to the other absorbing shot after shot to shoot some children

fyi anyone in that field was classed as a combatant, woman children yorkshiremen ,abite all of them less than a credible threat but valid targets none the less

Originally Posted by davepreston

fyi anyone in that field was classed as a combatant, woman children yorkshiremen ,abite all of them less than a credible threat but valid targets none the less

+1 if it moved it was liable to get shot, or occasionally shouted at.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by davepreston

fyi anyone in that field was classed as a combatant, woman children yorkshiremen ,abite all of them less than a credible threat but valid targets none the less

well dave, those combatants were crying

Originally Posted by metalangel

Every time I have a close call in the car (and I've had quite a few so far this year, many due to people doing stupid stuff on roundabouts) I try not to think about how it could have gone had I been biking.

But to be fair, in most cases when your in the cage and have a 'moment', its quite likely you wouldn't have been in that spot had you been on the bike.

Originally Posted by mikerj

South Asian traffic is regulated by their religious beliefs, if they die (and it's a very frequent occurrence) they accept it was time for them to die, rather than it being a preventable accident because they were driving/riding like complete idiots. They are also very relaxed, you rarely if ever see raised tempers. If that was over here there would be piles of twisted wrecks at every junction within hours and major road rage incidents.

This sounds like a something Irons would believe in.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

High vis too, oddly, seems to make people take the p*ss.

But other people reckon they get more room when wearing it, meh who knows.

I used to wear full length hi-vis jacket with reflector strips auber all. That still didn't stop me getting a car pull out of a turn directly in front of me which resulted in a smash and broken body parts. If they look the see you, if the look but are not looking, they don't.

Originally Posted by specialone

I think hi viz has lost a bit of it's impact, that many people see them these days, people don't give them a second glance.

I have noticed a fair amount of riders now choose to wear hi-viz. I do still wear my high-viz jacket if the weather is dire and seriously poor light when commuting to work. They do work, especially on motorways, but generally, in town, people just don't take enough time when looking. It's only ever a cursory glance and generally they are looking for a car or larger vehicle, so if they see anything smaller it just doesn't register in their brain as an obstruction. Regardless of what hi-viz clothing is being worn.

Originally Posted by mikerj

South Asian traffic is regulated by their religious beliefs

It was the generalisation in this post that made me laugh. The WHOLE of South Asia believe in fate, not just the Hindu's, etc.

Originally Posted by Stig

But to be fair, in most cases when your in the cage and have a 'moment', its quite likely you wouldn't have been in that spot had you been on the bike

generally they are looking for a car or larger vehicle, so if they see anything smaller it just doesn't register in their brain as an obstruction

Back to making subconscious risk assessments that are based only on personal danger, a risk that might result damaging your car so your brain rates it as a low risk, could result in you dying on the bike. Because your subconcious has rated it high risk, it forces you to think about it. So you are generally much more aware on the bike than in the car, and IMO bike riders in a car are more aware as they are accustomed to having to think about everything they do.

The psychology of driving fascinates me, the govn road safety campaign is not called THINK! for nothing.

Another one is the fact that drivers forget that there is a human being sitting on the bike, hence the THINK DAVE! campaign. Because the driver can't see the usual human features such as hands and face, he sees you as part of the machine and treats you with the same level of contempt. People react differently when they can see your face and better again when they see your eyes. Try stopping to ask for directions without opening your visor, people will almost step back away from you when you speak. Stop, take your helmet off, and you'll get an entirely different reaction. Lifting your visor will be something in between. Remeber this advert?

You can hear it in peoples language when they are driving.
Cut up by a car with clear glass "that stupid woman cut me up!".
Cut up by a car with blacked out glass "that stupid ar$ehole cut me up!".
Cut up by a bike "that bike cut me up!".
On a bike you are no longer a human, you're just a machine.

Agree wit that last post Ralph 100%, it has been covered on here before but it doesnt make it any less valid.

Oddly I'll shamefully admit to on occasion in the car making a manoeuvre and then thinking "did I even check my blind spot"? I'm sure I did it's just I don't actively think about the action any more it's sort of become instinctive. Sort of like when u go through some traffic lights, sometimes you'll register the green light but no longer have to think 'green means go'
Even odder is believe bikers who also drive cars are even better on the road than the ones who only ride, the odd trip in the car for work makes me appreciate even more just how invisible bikes are when filtering. if I'm in a traffic que in the car and a bike comes past, even if I'm been alert the bike is still only 4-5 car lengths away before they're clearly visible, it justifies the IAM 20/20 rule that's for sure.