03-23-2017, 09:55 AM
I've been riding for 20+ years. I've never taken a spill. I've never been in a wreck. That said, I pretty much ride like every driver is insane/asleep/drunk/out to get me. It's constant Nixon-level paranoia.
That's the background, here's my question: how are we as vulnerable riders to confront (if at all) the distracted driver? I've seen so, so, so many drivers texting and looking down at their devices, now up, now down again, and still down, oh, now up...that it's beyond unnerving and into the what the heck do I do about it territory. And what I mean is generally since the motorcyclist is the weak link (i.e. the party most likely to get killed in a wreck or in some road-rage incident) I've never confronted even the most irresponsible of drivers. Blow through a stop sign, I won't even honk. You missed me and you may be drunk or maybe your girlfriend just left you and you're one finger away from snapping so imma let it go. But the preponderance of distracted drivers has me re-thinking my tolerant attitude. Should we be shaming them? Honking and pointing? Honking, pointing, wagging our fingers and shaking our heads? Or should we be just keeping our distance, because that's what I'm doing and that only seems to lead to me being closer to ANOTHER distracted driver.
Not intended as a thread-jack, I'm just frustrated with what I'm seeing out there.
That's the background, here's my question: how are we as vulnerable riders to confront (if at all) the distracted driver? I've seen so, so, so many drivers texting and looking down at their devices, now up, now down again, and still down, oh, now up...that it's beyond unnerving and into the what the heck do I do about it territory. And what I mean is generally since the motorcyclist is the weak link (i.e. the party most likely to get killed in a wreck or in some road-rage incident) I've never confronted even the most irresponsible of drivers. Blow through a stop sign, I won't even honk. You missed me and you may be drunk or maybe your girlfriend just left you and you're one finger away from snapping so imma let it go. But the preponderance of distracted drivers has me re-thinking my tolerant attitude. Should we be shaming them? Honking and pointing? Honking, pointing, wagging our fingers and shaking our heads? Or should we be just keeping our distance, because that's what I'm doing and that only seems to lead to me being closer to ANOTHER distracted driver.
Not intended as a thread-jack, I'm just frustrated with what I'm seeing out there.