06-04-2016, 04:47 PM
Several years ago I was teaching my girlfriend how to drive a car (don't get me started on what a mistake that was 
). As she would drive, I would point out what the other cars on the road were about to do, before they did it or signaled it. Years of riding defensively allowed me to pick up on the subtle clues that drivers give before they do something stupid (i.e. head movements, lane position, tire movement ). She was pretty impressed.
It's an automatic thing for me and something I know I didn't have back when I first started riding, which led to some scraped skin and metal. Nowadays I feel quite comfortable navigating crazy city traffic every day. Somebody tries to take me out at least once a week, but I always see them coming.
That being said, the notion that this situational awareness can prevent every accident is a bit much. A couple of years ago, some dufus ran into the back of me as I stopped for a stop sign. Short of levitation, I don't see how that could have been avoided. Although I feel quite comfortable on the street, I fully realize that something like a high speed red light runner, or someone crossing over from oncoming traffic could take me out in a heartbeat and there's very little that I could do to avoid it.
). As she would drive, I would point out what the other cars on the road were about to do, before they did it or signaled it. Years of riding defensively allowed me to pick up on the subtle clues that drivers give before they do something stupid (i.e. head movements, lane position, tire movement ). She was pretty impressed.It's an automatic thing for me and something I know I didn't have back when I first started riding, which led to some scraped skin and metal. Nowadays I feel quite comfortable navigating crazy city traffic every day. Somebody tries to take me out at least once a week, but I always see them coming.
That being said, the notion that this situational awareness can prevent every accident is a bit much. A couple of years ago, some dufus ran into the back of me as I stopped for a stop sign. Short of levitation, I don't see how that could have been avoided. Although I feel quite comfortable on the street, I fully realize that something like a high speed red light runner, or someone crossing over from oncoming traffic could take me out in a heartbeat and there's very little that I could do to avoid it.