Biker / Rider

[dsan1964_imp]

HOW TO UNDERSTAND A BIKER
When you see us moving past you quickly:
Don’t take offense or think we’re trying to "show off”.
Ninety five percent of the time,
we’re trying to get out of your blind spot or taking ourselves out of a potential dangerous situation that has evolved around us. Distancing ourselves from you does not mean we want to race, but that we’re giving ourselves the edge we need at the moment.
When you hear our horn:
Don’t take offense or think we’re trying to aggravate you. All we’re doing is letting you
know where we are in relation to you on the road, and we’re more than likely aware of your inattentiveness to us while you're talking/texting on a cell phone, eating, reading or involved in some other distracting aspect to your driving. It’s important to us, and you, that you know we’re there.
When you hear our loud pipes:
Don’t become angry and hostile toward us. Yes, some are quite loud, but for some, there’s a purpose behind being loud. It’s about letting you know we’re close by and we’re constantly hoping that our investment in this accessory will help save our lives. Our pipes are really not about our ego…it’s a pride and personalization to our form of transportation.
When you see us in our clothes:
Don’t become fearful of us or think us weird. Our leather jackets, chaps, gloves and
boots are the barriers between loosing massive amounts of flesh should something cause us to go down…nothing more, nothing less. Safety gear is paramount to our riding.
When you see aggressive riding bikers:
Don’t put us all in the same stereotypical category as those whose behavior and actions would cause you to react in disgust and intolerance. Many of us do not agree with this style of riding either, and we know and understand that human nature tends to blend us all together as the “same group”. Most of us don’t want that title…and don’t deserve it.
When you see a group of bikers on the roadways:
Give us the courtesy of sharing the road with you. Please don’t “move in” between several
bikers in formation. This gets us very excited and nervous, especially when it’s done with
no due regard for our safety.
Provide us with your awareness of the fact that we are much more vulnerable than you.
We don’t want to challenge you, for all of us are wise enough to know…we’d lose that battle.
When you are turning left or entering a roadway/highway:
Look, then look again…and then one more time. For we can be easily hidden, and appear to be invisible by such things as a
telephone pole, another vehicle, bright lights or the glare of the sun…or possibly, the beads hanging from your rearview mirror, among numerous other items that are displayed there. If you see us flashing our
lights at you or blowing our horn, we’re only trying to ensure that you will see us before tragedy changes both our lives.
When you are behind us:
Please give us the room we need and don’t tailgate us. If you hit us, we’re going down…
HARD! We don’t want to play games with you, we just want to enjoy the ride and the fresh air, and experience that which many of you have never lived for. If we accelerate
away from you, we're only trying to take ourselves out of a bad situation if you insist on being too close.
Thank You for attempting to understand.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LongRanger_imp]

Well, despite warning and admonishing other drivers, we're responsible for our own safety, not them. If they hit us, they may have caused the accident, but it's usually our fault if they didn't see us. We must reman alert and vigilant, keep our skills honed, and never ride under the influence. Taking cover behind loud pipes is false security and a poor excuse for neglecting responsibility.

[dsan1964_imp]

Well, despite warning and admonishing other drivers, we're responsible for our own safety, not them. If they hit us, they may have caused the accident, but it's usually our fault if they didn't see us. We must reman alert and vigilant, keep our skills honed, and never ride under the influence. Taking cover behind loud pipes is false security and a poor excuse for neglecting responsibility.

I here you . This was a post a tool from a Harley rider I feel the same way.... I’m not a “biker” I am a motorcyclist. Just wanted to see some responses .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PowerDubs_imp]

Well, despite warning and admonishing other drivers, we're responsible for our own safety, not them. If they hit us, they may have caused the accident, but it's usually our fault if they didn't see us. We must reman alert and vigilant, keep our skills honed, and never ride under the influence. Taking cover behind loud pipes is false security and a poor excuse for neglecting responsibility.

B.S.

Sorry.

[LongRanger_imp]

No apologies needed. Just sharing my perspective. I'm fine if we see it differently.

[emptysea]

"Fault" is the word I take with issue with LR. If you had said something like "we have the ability to avoid most accidents", I'd agree 100% with what you said. My insurance background makes me hesitant to use "fault" like you did, but I see and agree with your larger point.

[Guth_imp]

Just as people are free to choose what they personally want to ride or wear, others are free to point out fault or ignorance.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For what it’s worth, I’ll point out that apparently I’m not a biker as defined by this little speech in the original post. I take accountability for the dangers that confront me as someone who rides motorcycles and I don’t expect most others to understand me or the choices I make for myself as such.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cormanus]

dsan, thanks for posting this. It was an interesting read making some interesting points. I guess it might register in the mind of an open-minded non-motorcycling car driver.

In the end, taking EmptySea's point about problems with the definition of 'fault', I agree with LongRanger's view that the rider bears most of the responsibility for his or her own safety—as does the driver of any other vehicle.

LongRanger, I agree with your point about loud pipes: the life-saving is a flimsy justification for people who just want to make a racket. For some, it's a 'look at me' statement; for others it's defiance; and for others (particularly those who ride in some groups) it's part of a strategy to intimidate.

[Wisedrum]

Well, despite warning and admonishing other drivers, we're responsible for our own safety, not them. If they hit us, they may have caused the accident, but it's usually our fault if they didn't see us. We must reman alert and vigilant, keep our skills honed, and never ride under the influence. Taking cover behind loud pipes is false security and a poor excuse for neglecting responsibility.

I here you . This was a post a tool from a Harley rider I feel the same way.... I’m not a “biker” I am a motorcyclist. Just wanted to see some responses .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Make yourself visible! Like a horserider.
Some do it by reflecting colourful clothes. I'm not even doing this using mostly black as the colour of choice.
If you have gained some experience riding motorbikes over the years by collecting endles km you survived you have developed a 7th sense whenever a situation becomes obstruse or strange, if you're awake and you should be all the time. On some rides there's not even one of them, on others one follows the other. And it's more uesful to presume some more than less.

I mostly slow down and ride in an upright riding position towards the point of suspection to give the other participaters of traffic a chance to put me on their radar. That may kill some time and speed, but getting damaged will kill a lot more. And if this doesn't help to clear a situation, I'm not lazy to use my hands to show what I mean. Life is communication, I believe that some riders don't communicate enough non verbal by using their body language and keep bounded in their sporty or whatoever riding position doing their thing speedwise thinking everything will mostly be fine. You can do so being alone on wide roads and fields, but whenever someone else is around you can't pay too much attention and make some compromises. Traffic can be a safe place up to certain degree depending on where you ride but don't trust anybody ( too much).
This is the best insurance for a long bikerlife. If things unluckely really go wrong this will not even help you in not being put out of 'business'.

Wisedrum

[KiowaEagle_imp]

Ever since I saw the video posted here about how a bike is perceived by another driver (and I can't remember who posted it but whoever did, thank you) I've started zig zagging when approaching a car that's about to pull onto the road or make a left turn in front of me to make myself more visible. More than once I've had them wave (in a good way) to acknowledge they've seen me. There's defensive riding and then there's proactive defensive riding, I prefer the latter. Yes, it's the responsibility of the driver of that car to see me but the knowledge of that isn't going to help me any in a hospital bed.