Biker Memorial

Just rode past a road side memorial for a biker that had been killed on my regular commute route. Just serves to remind the rest of us that it's worth taking the extra 10 minutes to get home if it means turning down that extra risky overtake or filtering move.

I see a lot of over aggressive filtering from others on my route but you can't keep that up forever. Just thought I would share with the rest of you since we are all often tempted to do stupid things on the days we are late.

A good biker is one who gets home safe not fastest one that never comes home.. i feel  very sad when i hear when some one has had fatal accident...its not always bikers fault... bad roads, bad car drivers... diesel and gravel can always be a factor in these  crashes...

Yes indeed. There are somethings we can do to improve our chances though. 

High viz
Good horn
Decent tyres/brakes etc

Most of all though, it’s being smart in heavy traffic

Well done liverpool_f, I think we all need reminding now and then.

high vis bahahahaha, if they can't seem something that emits light how the hell will they see something that reflects and is behind something that emits light

It's riding attitude that's the issue, I can't even recall the last time I got pulled out on. Don't hide in blind spots or travel alongside other vehicles then you won't get any issues with not been seen.

At the end of the day accidents happen regardless of how good or experience you are, I know that from when my friend Liz had her accident. Still think about it often as my riding standard is very high but her riding was something else.
End of the day, we all know the risks and ride accordingly to them

Seconded to teamsters post, give yourself the best chance of being seen, just don't expect to be.

I'd add don't put yourself in percentage situations (too often), there are a cast of thousands with different views on safe/good driving, sods law says you'll come across one sooner or later.

Oh, and an ever increasing cast of oldsters behind the wheel who will have slower reactions, be out of tune with modern roads/layouts from less annual miles and a "protective" attitude to their vehicle. Similarly there are the usual new drivers who either know it all backwards or are very cautious, etc etc.

James ? to the attitude point, does it translate as "I'm a good rider so the waves part to let me ride on"? If so, not so.

muttley1

It's all down to risk. I follow people down the country lane to my village and in their car they cross the centre line with their offside wheels fully several times in a mile. No issues but one day someone will be doing the same thing coming the other way. (like they are doing and bang).

Having to be somewhere quickly is a really Bad Idea in my experience (i.e. don't care about being late).

Do you get to work and can't remember the details of the ride ('cos you do it every day)?  That's not good.  Probably time to take a different route to make it more interesting/different.

I'm not a big hi-viz fan.  However the retro-reflective stripes (the silver bits on most hi-viz vests) light up with very low illumination (like headlight overspill from the car behind you) - probably not much use from the front ('cos all anyone else sees is the headlight) but people come from other directions too (roundabout anyone?).  You don't need a hi-viz to get these stripes, you can stick them on your bike/bag/topbox etc.

Nothing is going to stop the driver who *does not look* seeing you, but you want to give the ones who *look but do not see* a better chance of noticing you, as James said this is also about road positioning.

Ultimately, you would not ride a motorcycle (or a pushbike, for that matter) anywhere (certainly not past a junction) if you didn't accept a degree of risk.