My brother-in-law, a vehicle enthusiast raised in a garage and the best non-professional mechanic I know, was knocked off his BMW 650 (I think) the other day by a bloke who just drove into a roundabout in front of him. He said that as he was lying in the road feeling his bruises he thought it was time to stop biking. He thinks people don't drive as well as they used to.
There have been two or three such incidents over the years, usually involving some car-driving wally failing to see him although he is a big fellow on a big, carefully-driven bike. He has never been badly hurt but the bike has sometimes suffered. Now he has given it best.
His wife, a nurse, is quite pleased, he says, although she didn't put pressure on him to quit.
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i'm in the same position.......damned great bike and far too big myself... white crash helmet, head lamp always on..
....what is there that they can't see?
driving has most definitely got worse........which means you have to drive that much more defensively
last year driving along 30mph limit in Wembley, spotted a young girl in a Polo waiting to turn right out of a side junction.......wondered if she was going to pull out, so eased right off & went out to the crown of the road............
sure enough out comes the Polo........and then there's the emergency stop right in the middle of my path..... I flicked the dipped beam onto Main, bunged on the horn (which for a bike isn't bad) and timed my braking, deliberately, to stop right next to her door...
the panic and shock from her made me feel a tad guilty........but i wanted to make a point...so hopefully she'd look more next time
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Don't stop short of the door;push it in-it'll make her remember better next time and it might stop her killing someone(or even you!).
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i'd made the point........ she's someones daughter isn't she........
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And bent front forks are more expensive than dented Polo doors...
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Don't stop short of the door;push it in-it'll make her remember better next time and it might stop her killing someone(or even you!).
Know what you mean, but I personally wouldn't - the likely results are
a) paperwork,
b) idiotic claims by the car driver that you were clearly another lunatic speeding biker and/or did it deliberately,
c) police interference as a result of b), and
d) forks and front wheel out of true if you get it wrong.
I don't care much for any of these. I think the e-stop/main beam/horn/shouting "YFI!" approach is fine.
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Whatever happened to those purple lens covers that every other bike seemed to have a couple of years back? Where they just a fad or were they banned? I ask because they seemed very effective to me, they really caught the eye.
Always seem to notice bikes more when it seemsd as if the headlight isn't screwed down in the fairing properly and flickers slightly with the vibration of the bike.
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If not a fad that passed, VOSA crackdown on infringements of construction and use regs, I'd guess.
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Too many people on the road, all looking out for speed cameras and convinced that because they have 36 airbags they're invincible......
I'd give up too if I were him.
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I'm sure it's a different world on a bike. But last week I walked and was driven around central London for the first time for about 10 years, and I was surprised to find that general standards have risen. Speeds are lower, there is more willingness to let people out, and even white van drivers slowed and waved pedestrians across. Was it National Let's Be Nice week, or is this general?
It was a refreshing change from west Wales, where I'd agree general motoring standards have slumped.
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