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50 Ways to Save Your Life
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April 11, 2010 at 10:59 pm #3863Jeff in KentuckyParticipant
From a longer article in the August 2006 issue of Motorcyclist magazine:
1. Assume you are invisible.
2. Be considerate- in a road rage demolition derby, the car beats the bike almost every time.
3. Dress for the crash, not for the pool or the prom.
4. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
5. Leave your ego at home.
6. Pay attention.
7. Mirrors only show part of the picture- turn your head to look behind too.
8. Be patient- look twice.
9. Passing cars only going half your speed may cause a crash.
10. Look for debris in the road and along the edges of the road.
11. Left-turning cars remain a leading killer of motorcyclists.
12. Beware of cars running red lights and stop signs at intersections.
13. Check your mirrors.
14. Leave plenty of distance between vehicles in front of and behind you.
15. Beware of tuner cars- their drivers may be aggressive after watching the Fast and Furious movies.
16. Do not go into corners too fast.
17. Watch for deer, especially at sunrise and sunset and in the dark in forested and farmed areas. Moose up north are worse- their eyes do not glow from headlights, and they are bigger. Bears might get mad if you wound them.
18. Learn to use both brakes.
19. Always keep two fingers over the front brake lever, to stop quicker.
20. Look where you want to go.
21. Keep your eyes moving, always scanning into the distance and along the sides and behind. A lazy rider might be a dead rider.
22. Think before you act.
23. Raise your gaze- see what is coming within the next few seconds.
24. Get your mind right while in the driveway- most accidents happen during the first 15 minutes of riding, below 40 mph, and near an intersection or driveway. Your tires are still cold and more slippery.
25. At stop signs, come to a full stop, put your feet down, and look twice before taking off.
26. Look close before entering a gap in the traffic- maybe the gap is because a truck is losing furniture off the back, or some other reason that is bad for you.
27. If you weigh 95 pounds, avoid an 800 pound cruiser or tourer. If you are 5-foot-2, avoid a tall adventure tourer.
28. Watch for parked car doors opening into the roadway.
29. After several 4-way stops, the next one could be a 2-way stop. Do not assume anything.
30. Stay in your comfort zone when in a group- don’t try to keep up if the other group members are going faster than you are comfortable. Have them wait for you at the next gas stop.
31. Give your eyes some time to adjust. Going from a dark garage to a bright street, or from a brighter garage to a darker street temporarily lessens your vision.
32. Master the slow U-turn.
33. Be extra careful for stop signs and lights at steep slopes. Use the back brake to keep from rolling.
34. If it looks slippery, assume it is.
35. If a tire goes flat, ease back the throttle, brake carefully with the good tire, and pull over very smoothly.
36. New rainfall after a dry spell brings up oil under the road surface- there is more traction after it has rained a while.
37. Keep emotions in check- too happy or too sad should be the time to not ride.
38. Wear good gear.
39. Leave the music player at home, except maybe for very long straight interstates to keep you more awake, by listening to something like thrash heavy metal or AC/DC. Watch out for the sleepies after a big meal.
40. Learn to swerve- go left-right or right-left quick to dodge an obstacle.
41. Be smooth at slow speeds.
42. Tap on the brake lever or pedal a few times, so the vehicle driver behind you has more notice you are starting to slow down. Start to use your turn signals a few seconds before a turn.
43. At intersections, put a bigger vehicle between you and oncoming traffic, for more protection.
44. Practice using your side (peripheral) vision.
45. At a stoplight, try to put your bike over a sensor wire buried in the pavement. Next, try putting your kickstand down directly above the wire, to get the light to change.
46. Be extra careful at night- take your sunglasses or tinted face shield off early.
47. Stay away from big trucks- their retreads may fly off toward you.
48. Practice panic stops to make them less panicky.
49. Check your tires often for proper air pressure, nails and cuts, and wear.
50. Take a deep breath and count to ten, after some clown that got their driver’s license from a Crackerjack box almost kills you.
April 12, 2010 at 4:53 am #25651DinugePampleParticipant9. Passing cars only going half your speed may cause a crash.
I don’t really get this one.36. New rainfall after a dry spell brings up oil under the road surface- there is more traction after it has rained a while.
Didn’t know that!50. Take a deep breath and count to ten, after some clown that got their driver’s license from a Crackerjack box almost kills you.
Very very true. I use this everyday, even when I’m not driving.April 12, 2010 at 5:37 am #25652ShamRock229ParticipantMost of these are tought in the MSF class…
and they all come down to creating a riding stategy and SEEing (Search, Evaluate, Execute)
As far as number 9, I guess it’s because you should always be extra wary of a slower car (they could be turning without signaling, distracted, drunk, etc…) plus there are showoffs who like to weave their way in and out of traffic while barely having the real estate to do so.
April 12, 2010 at 6:22 am #25653eonParticipant#9. You got to wonder why they are going so slow, what can they see that you cannot?
Maybe they are slowing and flashing their headlights to let someone come out of a sidestreet, someone you cannot see and who cannot see you. It’s been known to happen.
In short, if someone is doing something strange then be prepared for anything (even more so than usual)April 12, 2010 at 2:54 pm #25657JackTradeParticipantContrary to popular belief, it’s not speed that kills on the highway; rather, it’s speed differentials. That may be what #9 is also getting at (though I think Eon’s probably right about the main intent).
I’m always nervous about whizzing past a line of slow-moving cars…you never know when someone, frustrated by his slow pace and seeing what he/she thinks is an opening, is going to decide to pull out right into your lane without looking. You @ 45mph + Him @ 5mph = you crashing into him @ 40 mph. Ugh.
LOL on the “Fast N Furious” one. So true…while I like the the movies for their cheesiness and occasional car-porn (the Challenger in the first one, the GT-R, Yenko Camaro and AAR Barracuda in the second, etc.), their effect on the newly-driving kids at the time was atrocious.
April 12, 2010 at 4:06 pm #25659CBBaronParticipant15. Beware of tuner cars- their drivers may be aggressive after watching the Fast and Furious movies.
Not many tuner cars around here but aggressive drivers drive all kinds of vehicles. Junkers, minivans, luxury, bland sedans, I’ve seen plenty of aggressive driving in all. If you see aggressive behavior try to stay far away as they are more likely to cause sudden maneuvers by other near by vehicles also.
Craig
April 12, 2010 at 4:36 pm #25661TrialsRiderParticipantWith all that Nitrous Oxide around, you can’t help but laugh
I once smoked both front and back tires trying to scrub off speed, when a transport pulled into the left lane in front of me, it was very scary ! I won’t admit how fast I was going …suffice to say it would have been my own fault. Thank god for Brembo’s.
April 12, 2010 at 5:41 pm #25663JackTradeParticipantYou can always tell the idiots whose entire knowledge of cars comes from those movies…they think NOS is actually the generic term for nitrous oxide. They also think that putting a park-bench-sized wing on the back end of their Civic DX will actually do something.
April 12, 2010 at 6:32 pm #25667TrialsRiderParticipantIf anyone actually needed a reason not to play with Nozz other than it’s propensity to melt pistons; “Nitrous oxide reacts with ozone and is the main naturally occurring regulator of stratospheric ozone. Nitrous oxide is also a major greenhouse gas and air pollutant. Considered over a 100 year period, it has 298 times more impact per unit weight than carbon dioxide.”
April 12, 2010 at 6:46 pm #25670eonParticipantI guess it depends upon how you read it. I read it as the car is going half the speed of normal traffic. That’s unusual and a red flag to me. If I cannot explain why someone is doing something odd then I cannot predict what they will do next and therefore plan on the worst.
You could also read it as you opened up the throttle to pass someone. At that point you are the one going twice the speed of normal traffic and a whole new set of dangers arise (having a scooter I don’t have this problem )
I’m with you on the speed differential between lanes of traffic. That’s one of my worst fears, even when in a car. Thankfully it’s rare I find myself in that situation. It’s just a nasty one.
I would like to add #51, cars driven by Victoria Beckham lookalikes. Maybe this is just a personal issue of mine but they seem to be even more self centered, obsessed and clueless than other drivers. It may even be down to just one person who I keep running into. Happened again this morning and this time I discovered she even works in the same building as me.
Repeat after me,
I will not let down her tires
I will not let down her tires
I will not let down her tiresApril 12, 2010 at 8:27 pm #25677JackTradeParticipant51. If they’re doing ANYTHING with ANY piece of electronics that isn’t permanently attached to the car, assume they’re just looking for a chance to maim or kill you.
Was at the local dealership this weekend, and was talking to salesman I know, and we got on the subject of cellphones…or “mobiles” for Eon …and how while one might normally notice that some people are talking while driving, it’s not until you’re riding a motorcycle that you notice how f-ing many of them are really doing this.
April 18, 2010 at 6:58 pm #25821RabParticipantYou said:
“I’m always nervous about whizzing past a line of slow-moving cars…you never know when someone, frustrated by his slow pace and seeing what he/she thinks is an opening, is going to decide to pull out right into your lane without looking. You @ 45mph + Him @ 5mph = you crashing into him @ 40 mph. Ugh.”
Yup! Almost happened to me on the freeway one evening.
I was doing an indicated 80 mph in the fast lane when I suddenly came upon a stretch of freeway where the lane next to me had really slowed to stop and go speeds. Next thing I know, some guy in a big panel van lumbers out of his slow lane and into my lane at about 5 mph… and doesn’t speed-up!!. WTF!!!???
I slammed on the brakes, could hear my tires squealing beneath me and could feel the back wheel threatening to step-out. I quickly realized there was just no way I could scrub off enough speed to avoid hitting him at speed. I had resigned myself to smashing into the back of him when I seemingly without thinking, let off the brakes and swerved past him into the space between the edge of his van and the concrete divider wall (a space of about 3 feet wide).
I was going to say “instinctively” let off the brakes and swerved past, as I don’t remember thinking about doing it, however, in hindsight, I think it was an unconscious, learned response, having been instilled in me during my MSF course and subsequent reading, that in such situations, you can either brake or swerve; there’s not enough traction for both at the same time.
That was probably about the closest I’ve come to death on a motorcycle yet.
We live and learn…
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