Motorbikes 'to get safe driving aids'

Lost for words..

Some of the suggestions are insulting to the average motorbike rider...



"Vehicles behind or to one side of a bike can be hard to spot because the helmet restricts visibility and riders must remember to move their head regularly to check."

I have significantly less visibility in my car than I do on my bike. Fact.

[Biker Biggles]

Frankly Id be a bit worried if something started vibrating in my cheek.
Now I know it takes all sorts.

[MisterTommyH]

Since when have all these things become standard in cars?

Mines an 09 and has nothing to warn me about speed other than a speedometer, and I use my eyes to see curves in the road. And when I look round my vision is obscured by door pillars and head rests and maybe whoever is in the back.

Sounds like some journo with nothing to write about, or some quango trying to justify it's existance. It's not long since they wanted to ban things like RoadAngel in cars, now they want to introduce similar onto bikes?

Being a fairly new rider, with 10 years in a car, I'd say theres enough things to concentrate on as it is without any more distractions thank you very much.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by embee

Hmmm, well.

I suppose first reaction should be that any developments aimed at safety are good "in principle" so I won't shoot them down out of hand. However some of the reported (and we have to be careful to differentiate between what the engineers are doing and what the journalists are reporting) beliefs and suppositions are frankly laughable, things like "motorcyclists have to remember to move their head to see what's beside them", well yes.

These people obviously have to apply serious concentration to such complex tasks as breathing, so reminding bikers that you have to move your head to see what's "over there" probably makes perfect sense.


That thing would be a pain in the bum, you see a car move into your blind spot in your mirror, system then buzzes in your head to remind you it's there. Guaranteed the most common user feedback "yes, I know, F OFF!"

Sounds like a collection of complete pains in the *rse.

Bend speed? How does that know what is on a bend? What's it going to tell you "stick your knee out.... no, further d*ckhead.... aaaarrrghggh look for a soft bit!!"

Anyway then what, people depending on a computer to ride the bike for them? People will sue when they fall off on that bit of cow muck the computer didn't warn them about. Bah, idiots. Watch where you're going.

Great - how much will this cost!! Ahhh big brother is watching

What a load of bolox. Agree with YC, it'd be as bad as having a back seat driver sitting besides you in the car. I can see newbies relying on it as well, "nope, no buzzing in my helmet, it's safe to....bang, crunch, scraaappee"

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Bend speed? How does that know what is on a bend? What's it going to tell you "stick your knee out.... no, further d*ckhead.... aaaarrrghggh look for a soft bit!!"

It would also imply that every rider had the same ability (or lack of) of riding round corners. It's a joke article obviously. Has to be.

allow me to justify my point
like war brings tech to everyday life, i hope people thinking of stuff (no matter how useless) may infact lead onto something that may be usefull and improve biking in some form or another
yes i also understand the big brother thing and i to would be ****ed off with topend restrictors and the such , but pretty much everything can be abused by "the powers that be" and i hope it doesnt happen, but cutting off the exploration of ideas because "it could happen" is stupidity in its own right imho

[andrewsmith]

I'm with YC its the back seat driver, I don't like it in cars.

This is apart of the EU crap for motorcycling, which include ABS and dealer only screws and anti tamper systems. The power restriction isn't bad its downright f***ing dangerous (would want your bike restricted to 33 bhp while trying to get out of a danger issue on the motorway?)

If they want something to do, make it mandatory to have a medical to ride and drive, that would make the roads safer (yes firebrand but it works in other parts of the world)

[kaivalagi]

It reminds me of this: