Don't just look, but SEE if it is clear.
As of 2012 - 87% of accidents involving a bike and another vehicle happen because the other vehicle has pulled out on the bike.
Stats pulled from ROSPA, MAG and Govt stats.
Good road advice, anyway.
thanks for the feedback. I'm just concious that whilst I have an airbag to faceplant you've only got cold hard tarmac!
Actually...
Something I like to point out to car drivers - If you hit my bike in the wrong way, you'll get
42 stone of metal motorcycle flipping up and through your window, plus an extra 13-odd of fleshy human.
I'll be dead and won't give a ****!!
Either you or your kids will be spending the rest of your/their life with half a face, all because you couldn't take one extra second to look.
Same applies for chucking your indicator on and assuming I will move out of your way - Go for it, mate... You'll be the Elephant-Man one who's never getting laid again. What the **** do I care!!
Blind spots - We have pretty good all-round vision. Problem areas are the quarters off the back left and back right, and directly behind, especially if you have a low sports car.
By contrast, watch out for the areas blocked by your pillars. The A-pillar is especially awkward on roundabouts.
Filtering - In traffic, check your mirrors often. It's in the Highway Code, so what we're doing is perfectly legal.
If you see us *and* have space on the other side (check for bikers there, too), feel free to move over by a foot or so. If we're able and it's safe, you'll often get a wave/nod of thanks.
Generally, though, we know the width restriction of our vehicle FAR better than you do, so let us make the decisions and don't get all huffy, trying to block us off.
Racing - Don't.
If you can beat 0-60 in under 3 seconds, let's take it to the track. The Road is not the place, so don't even try. Usually I'm only blazing off because that takes me out of everyone's way.
Most bikes will outrun most cars anyway.
Those that cannot, such as 125s, will just be further endangered by you roaring off, especially if you stuff it and spin out.
How would it feel - You ****** up the racing start, spun the car and sideswiped a kid on L-plates, so are now serving a prison term for Death By Dangerous Driving - You won't get much Yard Cred in D-Block for that...
Lines - Remember that bikes may take different lines to a car. We may go round roundabouts differently, take different positions when cornering/turning, don't often need to indicate when passing parked vehicles, swerve around speed bumps/obstacles/potholes in the road, etc.
Emergency braking - If you had enough time to check where the bike was, figure his path and move aside, all while EBing, then he should have had ample braking time.
If you can manage this, great, but worry about your own braking first. IMO, if he rear-ends you, it's his fault and his problem.
Following - 2 second rule applies right here. You get too close, you'll flip teh bike and get the front end through yoru windscreen - Free coverage with Autoglass won't save your face then...!
Remember that bikes have far better engine braking and a slight roll-off of throttle will drop their speed dramatically before they even get the brake light on. I have 130BHP to make use of and it works in both engine acceleration and engine braking!
Conditions - Pay attention to the weather. We don't have windscreen wipers, so our vision in rain is pretty much a speckled, streaky mess. Headlights are massively magnified too, so keep those fogs off unless there's actual thick fog. You should have your headlights properly adjusted anyway, yet many people either don't or have excessively bright LED junk. If I can't see the road, how do you expect me to avoid you?
Blind us, force an emergency stop on slippery roads, or things like that and you may well get a bike sliding along/speeding head-on into your wing/door/windscreen.
How much do you value your face?
Like all vehicle groups, we have good and bad. Summertime is when most of the idiots appear, be it boy racers, kids, or BMW/Audi drivers who like a blast and haven't ridden since last August.
The majority are pretty good, if only because misbehaving is expensive and can kill.
Once again, thanks for asking about this. Hopefully more drivers will follow your example!
And let us decide when we want to overtake, again I've seen cars pull over near into the verge on a blind bend wanting me to go past - no thanks, I'll pick when it's safe to overtake thank you.
