Driving standards these days..

[Alex_UK]

I too am a motorcycle rider, but here in the States it may be a bit better? Not a lot mind you, there are reports of bikes down on a daily basis in a 30 mile radius. Mostly in town traffic. My fellow riders and I try our best to ride toward the emptiest roads we can find, head out toward the county and try to get lost. And, I have adopted the biggest bike I could find! A full dressed Harley with crash bars and extra lights, and full open exhaust! When I first started riding on the road I thought this bike is too loud! I’ll need to put new mufflers on. But then as a woman was inching out in front of me, a quick rap of the throttle caught her attention! I decided the loud pipes stay.

I’ve had my close calls, to be sure, and you truly have to be defensive, you can never assume you have the right of way, no matter how green your light is. You must drive like everyone else is actively trying to kill you! Which, is more fun than it sounds once you get used to it.

And driving a bike or car, I am a far more calm driver since I’m retired. I’m never in a hurry to get anywhere, if someone wants to speed on ahead, I’ll let them on by. I saw an article not long ago saying that riding a dirt bike in no way prepares you for riding a bike on the road, and many readers and myself quickly informed the author of his err in logic. I’ve ridden motorized bikes since I was 6 years old! And as a teenager, if we didn’t wreck 3 times a day, we weren’t having any fun! (That May be why I’m so busted up now?) but I know how easy it is to wreck, how hard I can push it without wrecking. And hopefully it’s honed my reflexes to some degree?

Riding a bike every day as your usual means of transportation is a dangerous proposition, but riding as a luxury past time, when you can go where cars are scarce, enjoy the countryside, and not have to deal with hectic traffic, is a lot safer in the long run. A few years ago I dated a girl who loved to ride, but she could never get here until 9pm! So, we rode at night. We’d ride until 3am, no traffic, no where! We owned the road! And on a full moon on a cool Summer night, it was quite special. I do realize that it’s not as easy to get away from traffic in the UK as it is here, but I’m of the same mind as the OP, I love riding too much to let other ass hats scare me away from it.

Russell

Great post, Russell!

The thing is, if biking is in your blood, nothing will stop you. When I was 17 I encouraged my best mate who I'd grown up with to get a bike as I had got one (just 100cc learner bikes) and within two weeks he was killed. Mum begged me to give up riding but I wouldn't. A couple of years later my uncle was also killed, and my cousin seriously injured. It still didn't stop me. Another close friend took up racing, had a serious accident and broke his neck, paralysed from the neck down. I just wanted a bigger bike.

I've not ridden in several years - agreed to hang up my boots in view of the kids, but I never sold the bike and am currently having it recommissioned. I'll be returning to two wheels, well aware that I'm not invincible like I thought I was in my teens and twenties and seeking those empty roads you've so eloquently described - though perhaps not at 3am!

[Alex_UK]

Yes Alex that is a very good point. I am not perfect...sadly, but I can't equate the driving ways and manners of those that would have passed their test many years after me with how I was taught. So many seem to have no road sense or feel for driving. What happened to the "do not effect any manoeuvre that would cause another driver to brake/swerve/change course or impede their progress on the road" (or words to that effect). Joining dual carriageways or motorways is for some a keep going and barge your way on exercise, anyone on the road will have to take avoiding action. Some have no idea how to match speed/slow or accelerate to join either behind or in front of a car, and to actually have to stop (it is their give way) What! Stop? Do you have a few months for me to add more

T'was tongue in cheek, Rob, but you get my point. Totally agree with not causing others to have to take evading action - my pet hate especially those that pull out in front of you but don't accelerate up to speed causing me to have to brake. Grrrrrr!

[Pigmy Pony]

You actually went to all the effort of arranging that? Blimey, Mr Active or what?

Not really - when I told my shoelace fastener that he wouldn't be needed that day, he got the message and went for me. Worked out well for him, he now has "medal pinner" added to his duties

[Pigmy Pony]

Isn't it funny how all of us are bemoaning the standard of driving of others, yet surely statistically we must all be someone else's "other driver"? I know I'm perfect, can't be me that drives badly!

Dunno Alex, my brother (whom you married, remember?) doesn't have a nice thing to say about your driving, And she's never wrong, as you know.

[Lawrence001]

Dunno Alex, my brother (whom you married, remember?) doesn't have a nice thing to say about your driving, And she's never wrong, as you know.

You been drinking??

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[alphaGT]

You been drinking??

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Ask a silly question......



Russ

[alphaGT]

Great post, Russell!

The thing is, if biking is in your blood, nothing will stop you. When I was 17 I encouraged my best mate who I'd grown up with to get a bike as I had got one (just 100cc learner bikes) and within two weeks he was killed. Mum begged me to give up riding but I wouldn't. A couple of years later my uncle was also killed, and my cousin seriously injured. It still didn't stop me. Another close friend took up racing, had a serious accident and broke his neck, paralysed from the neck down. I just wanted a bigger bike.

I've not ridden in several years - agreed to hang up my boots in view of the kids, but I never sold the bike and am currently having it recommissioned. I'll be returning to two wheels, well aware that I'm not invincible like I thought I was in my teens and twenties and seeking those empty roads you've so eloquently described - though perhaps not at 3am!

I know how you feel, to some degree. I have music friends, and biker friends. So I got this big, loud Harley that looking back was pretty tough! One of my best friends had preached against riding on the road previously, but I’m thinking his wife coaxed him into it. I let him use my bike, while I borrowed another friend’s bike, and taught him to ride on the road. He got his license, and bought a brand new Harley, all black and shiny. It took a few years, but someone cut him off in traffic and came an inch from killing him. He broke his legs in 14 places, his pelvis was shattered into dust. He literally has an all metal pelvis, it looks like a jigsaw puzzle. He suffered like a dog, and was bed ridden for a year, in a wheelchair for 3 years, and walked on crutches for another year. He now stands up and plays guitar, hardly a full recovery.

But I felt awful for being the one who encouraged him to get a bike, for being the one who helped him get a license, I feel like I was a bad influence on him. A woman I know recently asked me to teach her to ride, and get her license, and I flatly refused. She scares me riding in the car with her, there’s no way I want anything to do with her being on a bike in traffic. She thinks I’m being an ass, oh well, I won’t have her death on my conscious. If I die on a bike, at least everyone will know I died doing something I love. But I also have a reasonable amount of confidence that I can avoid death. As much as I can in a car, at least.

But don’t knock riding at 3am on a moonlit night! It’s a strange feeling, cool enough to wear your leathers, the night air is quite refreshing, and when you come to a stop sign and there is no one, no where! That kind of feeling like you’re the last man on earth. Almost eerie, a feeling of solitude. And if you have a rider, it’s kind of romantic, to experience that solitude together. But I never go fast, got to watch for the little animals, I did have a close call with a deer once, a story for another time.

Russell


My first road bike


My present bike

[Pigmy Pony]

Mum! Dad! Father Christmas has been!

No, it's just Russell from Central Virginia, but you can always count on him leaving something nice under the tree. And that 2nd Harley is nice. Road King is it? Hope the brakes are better than my mate's Heritage Softail, which when on my only ever go on it let me down in a big way, causing me to 'overtake' a stationary queue of traffic on the wrong side of the road by 3 or 4 car lengths. Luckily nothing was coming the other way.

When I got back I didn't tell my mate about the close call, I just mentioned that the brakes were a bit shit. He replied that the four pot billet brakes he'd fitted were a considerable improvement over the stock items. Well all I can say is

When I inherited some money a few years ago, it was a choice between a Harley (probably a Fat Boy) or a big hi fi spend. I chose the hi fi option, and lived to tell the tale

[Pigmy Pony]

You been drinking??

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Well yes, maybe, but may I refer you to post #2126 of Car (or bike) chat? Just for once my memory hasn't let me down!

[mad-moon]

in my early 20's I pulled out infront of a Honda CB360....who had right of way...I was turning left at a junction and I just didn't see the bike...Luckily the driver of the bike swerved out right into the middle of the road and there was no collision....The bike pulled in and I pulled in behind it...I got out of the car absolutely mortified, that I had nearly knocked a rider from a motorbike....I was full of apologies and was just repeating, I'm really really sorry Lad I just didn't see you...The helmet came off and the long curls of auburn hair fell down and she said I'm a girl.....and a very pretty one too...she was extremely shaken by the incident, to state the obvious, but she soon calmed down. I was expecting a bloody harsh telling off from her, but she was exceptionally nice..I was beside myself and calling myself a bloody idiot, I couldn't apologise enough...she put her helmet on got on her bike and said goodbye....ever since that day...I have always thought bike, when I'm out in the car....I have never had any problems with motorbikes since that day..It scared the shit out of me, nearly knocking that girl from her bike...I could have killed her....Al..