Left turns

Hmm, maybe. From the document

6.12 Inability of motorcyclists to turn
properly is often cited as a problem,
and it is notable that the left hand bend
manoeuvre features strongly in accidents –
23% of manoeuvres leading to a fatality.
Sports bike riders and those in the 26-40
age group accounted for the majority of
rural bend accidents.

So it's basically bikers who can't lean/judge corners? I'm guessing that on rural roads the verge on the left generally provides a softer landing than the oncoming volvo on the right hand side.

Originally Posted by SVeeedy Gonzales

Yeah, if you go wide on a right hander you'll get the kerb/hedge/old granny. If you do the same on a left hander you'll get the volvo coming the other way. Or rather, it'll get you.

Perfectly true, the main reason for more bikers being killed on lefthanders than right. I have to say this was obvious to me the second I started riding and is, I strongly suggest, the reason that most peoples' chicken strips are slightly wider on the left side of the tyre than the right.

More experienced riders will tend to take a left hander closer to the centre line for a better view

True again.

...which could be risky if someone else is coming the other way and cutting the corner

See here I disagree, as you'll see the vehicle long before the rider who takes a line to the left, and will thus be able to take avoiding action quicker to put yourself into a safe part of the road.


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Originally Posted by jonboy

See here I disagree, as you'll see the vehicle long before the rider who takes a line to the left, and will thus be able to take avoiding action quicker to put yourself into a safe part of the road.

I reckon that the extra few metres of visability wont buy you much time if you're converging at a total speed of 120mph, if you're already banked over,or god forbid, knee down at that point you're screwed as there no way you'd turn the bike more.

If you have too little room to correct then you are clearly going too fast!

Originally Posted by thor

If you have too little room to correct then you are clearly going too fast!

In the case of this particular discussion, then I would almost always agree.

Precisely.


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yep and hence why so many accident are attributed to rider error in the first place.

Quite.


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apparently the Police used to automatically place the blame on the bike if it hit a car from the oncoming lane whilst going around a left hander, presuming the biker had over-cooked it and run wide. It now appears that a lot of these crashes are caused by cars cutting the corner and there was a good article in a bike mag last year that filmed such a bend for a period of time and found 25% (if memory serves) of the cars were cutting the corner...

I personally enter a left habder from the middle of the road for better visibility but am ready to move left quickly just for these instances.

There's nothing wrong in cutting corners, it's even an advanced method of riding/driving providing you can see 100% it's clear and safe to do so.


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