Anecdote for you all:
I don't generally believe that loud pipes are a safety feature. Others do, however.
But, today, my wife told me about driving on the interstate, center lane, and she thought about moving right. She looked in the mirrors, turned her head right, didn't see anything, but she thought she heard a motorcycle. No radio on, no distractions, just cruising along. She couldn't see any motorcycle, around, but thought she heard one. She didn't move right, but slowed, thought about putting the turn signals on, and in a few seconds, a motorcyclist appeared beside her on her right.
He had been cruising along in her blind spot for a while. He slowly passed her. Young guy, no helmet, cruiser bike with loud pipes, no ATGATT, etc.
Her car is a 2005 Honda Accord sedan. Has a HUGE blind spot, as do many newer cars. Some cars are like sitting in a tunnel; forget about seeing things off your right rear.
Anyway, my wife told me she wants me to be careful out there, essentially. Be aware that cars like hers have blind spots.
Motorcycle safety course I took here emphasized "split the danger" and be aware to not sit in a car's blinds spots. Motorcycle Consumer News once had a story about a motorcycle racer who felt in much more danger on city streets than on the race course, and he always rode in his head, "Blind spots, blinds spots, blind spots." and was most conscious of staying out of them.
So, the mantra I keep in my head often while riding, is, "Split the danger, blind spots."
Fyi, split the danger means to look ahead and ID possible sources of danger, and stay as far away from them as you can; meaning position yourself to the right of a lane or left, as the dangers come toward you. Might be telephone poles on the right, might be cars on the left; whatever you don't want to hit or to hit you.
For me, "Split the danger., blind spots" in my head is a useful trick to keep my awareness up.
Just fyi.
I don't generally believe that loud pipes are a safety feature. Others do, however.
But, today, my wife told me about driving on the interstate, center lane, and she thought about moving right. She looked in the mirrors, turned her head right, didn't see anything, but she thought she heard a motorcycle. No radio on, no distractions, just cruising along. She couldn't see any motorcycle, around, but thought she heard one. She didn't move right, but slowed, thought about putting the turn signals on, and in a few seconds, a motorcyclist appeared beside her on her right.
He had been cruising along in her blind spot for a while. He slowly passed her. Young guy, no helmet, cruiser bike with loud pipes, no ATGATT, etc.
Her car is a 2005 Honda Accord sedan. Has a HUGE blind spot, as do many newer cars. Some cars are like sitting in a tunnel; forget about seeing things off your right rear.
Anyway, my wife told me she wants me to be careful out there, essentially. Be aware that cars like hers have blind spots.
Motorcycle safety course I took here emphasized "split the danger" and be aware to not sit in a car's blinds spots. Motorcycle Consumer News once had a story about a motorcycle racer who felt in much more danger on city streets than on the race course, and he always rode in his head, "Blind spots, blinds spots, blind spots." and was most conscious of staying out of them.
So, the mantra I keep in my head often while riding, is, "Split the danger, blind spots."
Fyi, split the danger means to look ahead and ID possible sources of danger, and stay as far away from them as you can; meaning position yourself to the right of a lane or left, as the dangers come toward you. Might be telephone poles on the right, might be cars on the left; whatever you don't want to hit or to hit you.
For me, "Split the danger., blind spots" in my head is a useful trick to keep my awareness up.
Just fyi.
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