Ducati Monster Forum

I've only had my licence a couple of weeks. Today as I was lane changing some cager changed to the same lane and cut me off. I guess I have had that happen to me in my MB, but damn is that scary on two wheels. Being surrounded by two tons of steel makes you feel a bit more secure. The guy hauled butt away from me after noticing me nearly hit his door, I followed after him for a little bit till my turn came up. Now, if he had loud pipes I may have heard him...but I still wouldn't have known what direction he was coming from. ;)

Ride as if you're invisible.  ONLY you watch out for your safety.  You have to accommodate for every other person's "oops I didn't see that" moments.

JM

Good advice. I have been riding for 45 years and I agree it's always a good idea to pretend you are invisible. Even if you see a car driver look at you that doesn't mean a damn thing. Day glow yellow riding gear helps but that is only if the normal car driver actually gives a s#@t. Most don't. Hell, think about how they drive around you when you are in your car! Being exposed and vulnerable on a bike only exacerbates the situation. It's a combat zone out there.

An older rider years ago gave me one of the best pieces of riding advice I have ever heard. Look at their front wheels. A car can't do anything that its front wheels don't dictate. Are they turned, are they completely stopped, are they starting to roll... Forget the driver, forget if they are looking at you, forget if they are texting or on the cell phone. The driver is persona non grata, they mean nothing. The car does what it tells you it wants to do... like pulling in front of you. The front wheels tell all. [thumbsup] I have even adopted that technique when I am driving my car. Why not? Same thing right?

I personally think every car driver should have to spend six months minimum riding a bike in traffic before they ever have an automobile permit. I guarantee it would make the roads safer and all the car drivers better. [thumbsup]

Keep in mind that when your in thick traffic, you're always in someone's blindspot.  This is most dangerous when at speed on the superslab.

And sparser.  :)

But I agree 100%.   

Wouldn't have worked in this case. He came up fast from behind me after I head checked. He must have been speeding up to the traffic I was in.

The cager might have saw you, coming up from behind, but he surely didn't see you changing lane.  You just have to assume that the cager didn't see you at all.

Stay safe out there, people

It works for me on motorized & non-motorized bikes -- at least now that those idiotic spinner hubs have fallen out of fashion. One more reason to hate those things.

Ivan -- for me, it's not as much about fixating on them as training myself to glance at the wheel or catch it in my peripheral vision. It's most useful with cross traffic, especially when you've got the right of way over a vehicle stopped at a perpendicular light or stop sign. Since your perspective is constantly changing as you approach the intersection, it can be hard to tell if someone's rolling into your path, but if the wheels are turning, they're coming into your lane.

  I'm also a newer rider and I still remember the feeling you are having with this first "near miss" from a similar scenario I had. In the past couple of years I have learned to ride more offensively, meaning that now I am constantly riding to stay clear of other vehicles and making sure they can see me.
  It seems that now when I ride, I ride a little faster and try to keep out of the way of traffic, vs. when I used to ride extra slow and careful, it seemed cars where always cutting me off.
  I actually don't commute to work as much any more because it is tiring and not much fun constantly watching traffic and adjusting speed to keep out of the way of the person laughing on the phone, driving the SUV next to you.

Nothing wrong with that approach either.  The key though, regardless how you approach it, is to pay attention to your surrounding and be on constand look out for hazzards. 

Everyone is always trying to kill me. Every time I ride.

Now He Man, they're all just trying to make his day miserable.

 [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

HaHaHaHaHa poor HeMan everytime I read a post (like the rainbow vomit 999) someone brings up his misfortunes.... Don't get me wrong I feel for the guy, but it still cracks me up EVERY time!!  [cheeky]

They succeeded in this case:
http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=32917.0 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=32917.0)

sorry...I vote bike on that one.   Lots of people look at that as car drivers and think "they realy are trying to kill us" about sportbikes.

Yep  + 1

To reiterate

- wear gear at all times
- look front wheel of cagers
- avoid minivans at all cost (drivers likely to be distracted by passenger kids)
- ride and assume they are all trying to kill you ( i assume they all see a big shooting target mark on me )
- try to be as visible as possible
- cross big intersections with cars by your side as much as possible and not by yourself  (oncoming cagers that do left turn facing  you  do not see you or think they can out-run you for some reason )
- rev up and wake cagers up
- keep distance between you and cagers
- at all cost be extra careful for cagers whose rear view mirror is set to look at their mug and not traffic behind
- watch out for cars playing loud music ( they are not 100% paying attention )
- at traffic stop, leave some space between you and car in front and stay in gear and look rear mirror to make sure the cager behind you comes to a full stop.
- above all say a prayer before every ride

then have fun.  

As a long time cyclist and a motorcyclist of 3+ years and about 12,000 miles I've noticed this as well and given this advice to everyone possible.  Watch the front wheels because you will be able to anticipate what the driver is going to do based on that.  If you are riding along in your lane and see the wheels of a car up ahead in the lane next to you start to turn you know that he's going to be coming over and armed with this knowledge you can begin slowing or plan an escape route in case he isn't aware that you are there.  Otherwise you are left to react when you see the car moving into your path...by then it's an oh sh!t moment.