FAST IS DANGEROUS

[BillyC]

Originally Posted by rubberduckofdeath

Yawn.

SPEED DOES NOT KILL.

INAPPROPRIATE USE OF SPEED KILLS.

End of...

Yes, very black and white... but at what point does your safe use of speed suddenly become inappropriate? By the time you've noticed how inappropriate your use of speed is, it's probably too late.

Originally Posted by rubberduckofdeath

Yawn.

SPEED DOES NOT KILL.

INAPPROPRIATE USE OF SPEED KILLS.

End of...

what the duck said

Originally Posted by BillyC

Yes, very black and white... but at what point does your safe use of speed suddenly become inappropriate? By the time you've noticed how inappropriate your use of speed is, it's probably too late.

Well, that's where it gets tricky. Though, I think most of us will agree that it's very difficult to make that judgement unless you are there.

the faster you travel u increse your stopping distance hence hitting something

I agree with Ceri on this, if speed in itself were so dangerous then racing would be banned. It's the other factors (eliminated from the track), such as emerging and oncoming vehicles, poor quality roads etc. in combination with the speed that tips the balance.

Originally Posted by Carsick

Well, that's where it gets tricky. Though, I think most of us will agree that it's very difficult to make that judgement unless you are there.

far from it, its a very easy distinction. It becomes inappropriate speed at the exact moment your head impacts upon the solid object.

All perfectly fun filled goodness till then

[BillyC]

Originally Posted by Mogs

I agree with Ceri on this, if speed in itself were so dangerous then racing would be banned. It's the other factors (eliminated from the track), such as emerging and oncoming vehicles, poor quality roads etc. in combination with the speed that tips the balance.

A poor argument... the track is a controlled environment, real life isn't.

As you point out, it's the other factors that make your speed dangerous. No one can anticipate something they can't see, and that goes for equally for you hooning around the bend, or the little old dear pulling out into a seemingly empty lane.

The only difference, is that you can do something about it.

[BillyC]

Originally Posted by rubberduckofdeath

That's where that how experience thing comes in.

You usually get the experience just after you need it...

Agreed... and agreed (amazing)

I guess experience teaches you equally about how to stop very quickly when you need to, as much as it teaches you when you might be about to reach a significant hazard.


There's an argument that says if you can't stop visible distance of road ahead of you, then you are going to fast. Logically this is very true, but in practice we just wouldn't get anywhere!

[northwind]

Speed don't kill people, drivers do...

But. In a controlled environment, I'd totally agree that speed- as long as it-s not excessive- just isn't a safety issue. However, road riding's not a controlled environment at all since you never know when some ****'s going to pull out of a t-junction on you, or open a door, or change lanes without looking, or do any one of the 100 other things that drivers do to try and kill you. And if any of those things happen I'd rather be going at the speed limit than 10mph above, since they're more likely to see me, I have a longer reaction window, and the force of any collision/subsequent slide will be reduced massively.

Take me getting binned by a **** in a car on saturday night. I was well within hte speed limit- I think it was an NSL but because it was late and an unfamiliar road, i was taking it seriously easy, I doubt I was above 30. When said **** did pull out, I was so close to avoiding him entirely because of that, and when I did go down I went down slow. If I'd been going faster- and I could have been going maybe twice as fast without taking any risks on myself- I would have almost certainly gone home in an ambulance with my bike in a sack.

It's not speed that's dangerous in that case, it's other road users, but cutting your speed helps compensate for their incompetence.

A similiar issue, if someone looks and sees you but doesn't judge your speed accurately they might reasonably assume that you're travelling within the limit and maneouvre accordingly, when in fact your higher speed gives them half the time or space that they'd expect. Again, that's a mix of factors- the other road user should be able to judge your speed, but if you were within the limit they'd judge it more accurately. With bikes this is a bigger issue than cars since small objects are harder to accurately judge the speed of (see also: looming)

The question was:

"Does riding a bike fast make you dangerous?"

and not "Is riding a bike fast dangerous?"

I'm going to answer the question as asked and vote "No". If the alternative question, which many people seem to be answering , had been asked i would have voted "Yes".