Bikers....
- Thread starter iaind
- Start date
I'm just trying to say that your (and others) perspective of a motorcyclists behaviour is both prejudiced and uninformed, so when you judge a riders behaviour as being dangerous it is not neccesarily so. I am not condoning dangerous riding just questioning whether you are in a position to make a judgement on what is or is not dangerous given your position as a non rider and someone who is biased against bikers. Perhaps you might be right 50% of the time, the other 50% you're probably not in a position to be able to asses the road and traffic conditions that the rider has to contend with, neither do you know the ability of the rider or his machine. We could probably agree that 25% of bikers let the side down and are in need of training and education, but I bet the ratio of bikers seeking advanced tuition exceeds that of car drivers .....
Soldato
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as said there can be poor car and bike judgement but with motorbikes what they deem a safe overtake is usually a lot more finely judged as they're more aware of what they can and can't do. they do come a lot closer but they're no more dangerous. i'd like to see percantages of car only drivers and car/bike riders accident rates. i suspect they'' show in favour of the bike rider even with my attempt to inflate the figures. 
Soldato
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probably with more awareness of his car's handling than a car only driver no doubt.
Soldato
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oh so that explains the brightly coloured jump suits
given the 4 sets i have i don't disagree about the superhuman point lol. as said think hulk however i think i look quite fetching and certainly more attractive with a helmet on lol.
Not so, I think you're either misunderstanding my points or blind ignoring them. You stated it was safe to tailgate on a bike but not in a car, I disagree completely. It depends on your definition of tailgating, the numbers stated were merely for the sake of calculation
I absolutely have a problem with bikers who bleat on the "you dont know because you're not a biker" line, and those who act like the rules should be different for them
I completely appreciate that certain actions can appear dangerous on the face of it, but not necessarily being so.
What was actually discussed, were specific situations that are absolutely, always dangerous regardless of the vehicle.
I dont appreciate being treated like an inexperienced motorist because I've never ridden a bike, throughout this thread I've tried to state facts and relate to real world experiences.
Yet, the mere suggestion that there are bad bikers out there seems to get some people up in arms. I've never made generalisations about bikers in general, yet you have the impression that I'm biased against bikers. Perhaps thats the problem - the most dangerous drivers on the road are the ones who think they're better than others.
FWIW I went through the IAM training and there was only 1 biker in a group of 25ish
Edit: Your estimation of 25% of bikers letting the side down actually reinforces my original point. If I had to guess, that's probably about right around here, probably higher in the summer by the coast. If I had to put a figure on the number of cars I see being badly driven, it's probably 5~10%.
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In winter I would honestly say bikers 'letting the side down' become far less as a percentage, compared to car drivers. When the fair weather power rangers start appearing around this time of year, this all changes.
The thing is, this thread was always giong to be about bikers defending bikers and cars drivers defending car drivers, there is good and bad bikers/drivers all over the world and there isn't much point in debating that, people can quote figures and statistics all they want but that doesn't mean that the figures are correct in either direction, but what i will say is, the safest motorists (bike or car) on the road are the ones that ride a bike and also drive a car.
I hope this makes sense.
I hope this makes sense.
i find you can get away without lifesavers and looking behind you at all at approx 190mph as the odds of someone overtaking are minimal.
in many respects it makes riding safe, though unsure if it will stand up in court
in many respects it makes riding safe
, though unsure if it will stand up in courtthere are **** everywhere, bikes and cars alike.
motorists sitting their test should be graded on lifesavers much more. Bikers get it drilled into them because it could save their life. motorists get told to do it to pass a test.
bikers are acutely aware that if they ride like **** they stand a real chance of becoming a tarmac burger. car drivers do not; you would not expect to die crashing at 40mph in a car. Youre lucky to survive bike crashes.
if someone has a bugbear about another road user group, i would suggest having a go at it. Especially those who complain about cyclists; commute through central london on a pushbike and see what bad habits you take up to survive.
motorists sitting their test should be graded on lifesavers much more. Bikers get it drilled into them because it could save their life. motorists get told to do it to pass a test.
bikers are acutely aware that if they ride like **** they stand a real chance of becoming a tarmac burger. car drivers do not; you would not expect to die crashing at 40mph in a car. Youre lucky to survive bike crashes.
if someone has a bugbear about another road user group, i would suggest having a go at it. Especially those who complain about cyclists; commute through central london on a pushbike and see what bad habits you take up to survive.
I do, but my whole reason for starting the thread was to try and get some input from the biking community so I can understand a bit more. In the same way someone who rides a bike but never driven a car could come to me and ask for some insight into the mentality of a bad car drive, I would probably be able to give it to them - doesnt mean I'm a bad driver though.
On my way to work this morning I made a point of counting the number of bikes I saw and if they were doing anything stupid. 4 in total, one idiot (overtook 2 cars to go through a red light). One was even waiting in a queue because the lane would have been too narrow to pass the cars. So 25% seems to be about right!
Nothing more to add, but "tarmac burger" has to be one of the best expressions I've heard in a long time