Scary enough.??

A very good reminder!
I'm very much an ex now. Got sick and tired of riding scared all the time - the second (very, very) near miss made my mind up for me. Driving standards are appalling nowadays.

 

Skid marks

We got some tractor and trialars a few miles away and all the skid marks (alot of them) are 4 feet from the grass verge and skid to the near side they have been driving like nutters, yes, we know the jobs have to be done but some don't think that there is any other vehicals/animals/humans on the road as well

Ture

 

I see what looks like a decent rise (if coming from the other direction), and then the opportunity for a sharp left turn (to the right, at bottom of photo), so I would be having to get the car into a drift before it got airborne, over the rise, if I was ever going to be properly lined up for the corner

 

I think this puts the emphasis much more on the motor cyclist to make themselves visible.

The motor cyclist in that picture is almost blending in with the background, a high vis jacket and head light would make all the difference.
Black leather is good for sliding along your arse on, but not very visible to other road users.

I rewally hate those "think bike" stickers, maybe there should be a "your not the only one on the road" sticker.

 

The point of the photo is how light conditions (in this instance a low sun which is nearly in the line of sight) affects what we are able to take in "at a glance". The bike HAS its headlight on.

There should be a CD repeating "you're not the only one on the road" playing in a lot of cars!

As I say, I don't think that two wheels are worth the risk anymore.

 

What I'm saying is, can you actually blame anyone for not seeing him.
Surely that is the point of the picture, he is almost lost in the background, add to that the fact that he is probably going at a fair lick, I know they love country lanes, and he is heading for 6ft of earth.

Maybe you have grown up mate.

 

I spotted him straight away. That's the point of "Think Bike", be it motorised or pedalled.

Hate to say it, but you're right!
Also, the idea of being stuck in a wheelchair with a bag for toilet (or worse still, not even capable of a w/chair) is my worst nightmare. Dying I can deal with, but I can't deal with not living.

 

Well, i must be honest i didn't see the motor bike till it was pointed out, but would there be any differants if i was there looking in real life not at a picture, pictures sometimes do and don't see it as it is, but onething is that we all have to be carefull, but nower days every body has not got five minutes to wait which ever mode of transport you have

 

I do think there are bikers and then there are bikers.
The ones that I see tend to be the ones that dont care too much about their lives.
I was again down on the marshes yesterday, not as many as the weekends but still a few.

They are in groups, so its a competition, they overtake in stupid places, they are well above speed limit, unless someone slows them down.

Its very often only the other road users braking or taking evasive action that avoids them killing their selves.
I have no problem with people taking risks, my problem is with those that take risks and expect everyone else to look out for them, you cant blame someone else if you are doing stupid things.

I do know there are some good bikers around, but they are very much in the minority around here.
There are rubbish car drivers also, but if you cant see someone, you cant see them, its that simple.
Would you see a black car in that picture??
Its only because bikes are so vulnerable that the difference is made.

 

I always look twice. More than once I have had to jump on the anchors as I started to pull away whilst then making my second-look. "Where the flipping heck did that come from?". Its never been a bike though (yet), usually a bright red (maybe even yellow?!!) car - I just "completely missed it the first time", it was probably in my blind-spot. Can't get Mrs K to do the "Second Look" though ...

I get annoyed when bikers come around a bend (them on the outside, me on the inside), having not adopted a stance of being near their curb and they are leaning over so far that their head is well over the middle of the road. On the country roads around here I don't have any spare road to make room for them and I don't suppose they can up-right their bike, being so committed to the corner, and for sure their head won't survive an impact with my car ...

And what happened to the "foot wave"? Rarely see that these days if I move right over, in traffic, so they can squeeze through and make progress.

I ain't got a lot of time for bikers because the huge majority of the ones round here are not doing "Think Car!" - e.g. giving cars a wide enough birth - they come up behind, and overtaking (i.e. with no margin for error), when it is highly unlikely that the car driver has, yet, clocked that they are there and that that is what they are planning to do. Those sort of bikers assume that all other road users are bikers, and will be thinking like they do, which is a naive thought at best.