Made the same choice as the rest of us, which is to make yourself extra vulnerable by riding a machine with no passenger protection, such as crush zones, seat belts or airbags. Every time we swing our leg over a bike, we make that choice because we love it so much.
Not entirely true. Have had two bad ones neither of which have been my fault. First one at 21yrs old I was doing thirty in a thirty limit going round a bend another bike overtook but hadn't judged the corner properly and drifted in to my front wheel with his rear end taking me out. Comatosed for 3 days. 2nd accident me doing 35 in a 40 car pulled out of a side turning then decided he was going wrong way and performed a U turn toot suite nothing I could do. Ended up with broken bones and a lot of soft tissue damage in my knees nerves, muscles
Well thats the kind of answers that i was expecting ,, but i was hoping that the poster quoted could tell me what i potentially was not doing which could have prevented " the " accident ,,,,,,,,, obviouslly , despite an opinion to the contrary , the wearing of a hi viz jacket with police on the back would only have helped had i been reversing ....
Well thats the kind of answers that i was expecting ,, but i was hoping that the poster quoted could tell me what i potentially was not doing which could have prevented " the " accident ,,,,,,,,, obviouslly , despite an opinion to the contrary , the wearing of a hi viz jacket with police on the back would only have helped had i been reversing ....
But i was looking ahead , as far as possible on a tight blind bend , even if i was stopped he wiuld still have hit me ,,,,,,,
I've had two significant smashes in the last two years, both of which were unavoidable. One was sat in a line of traffic, the vehicle behind me had stopped too when a moron piled into everything because he was eating a mc muffin instead of paying attention. The other was a driver who simply didn't look in my direction. Didn't even have time to roll off the throttle, let alone react. I had looked at him in the junction, and seen him looking my way. I was just about to pass as he emerged, thinking it was a great opportunity to get out onto a busy road. I had looked at the driver and confirmed he had stopped. There comes a time your attention then goes to the road ahead again - that was the exact moment he entered my peripheral vision. Wrong place at the wrong time in both occasions.
Best way to go is what makes you happy (to me that means practical - flip lid, two piece leathers, waterproof over trousers/ jacket if it's chucking it down, Terre d'Hermès) - but whatever floats your boat). i like that there are lots of different variety of rider but I think judging the character of someone for what they wear/ride/drive is pretty pointless (I still do it though, guilty as charged). Plenty of folk who dress up as completely normal people turn out to be utter tw@t$!
I refuse to kow-tow to the health n safety Nazis. I avoid all gay-glo yellow hi-vis shite like the plague. Our police force is an embarrassment. They look like supermarket cleaners. I needed some new water-proofs for work today. All the builders merchants had hi-vis crap so I had to go miles out of my way to find some dark green ones. Horse riders started this polite nonsense. Its like the Baby on Board stickers on cars. As if people seeing a car without the sticker would think, great no kids in this one, lets ram the bastard for a laugh.
The builder merchants by me the manager has a pink hi viz I wouldn't mind one of those We have to wear them when we go outside so we don't get knocked over by idiot blind drivers ours are orange
Sometimes shit happens that is beyond our control, that is no reason to give up the control we do have.
I think I would get beat up for wearing a 'polite'. 'hi bouy, I will fecking polite yew, feck yer right to filter shite, whack, crash, bang, yew an your fecking puffy vest, feck yew, bang. Feck yer camera shite, i'll stick it up yer ass'
I've only just seen this. I have also just seen the one you posted after this. 'However someone who has had two serious smashes is either unlucky or may just be doing something wrong.' (Quote). I too struggle with the idea an accident couldn't be avoided. Yes I've had 2 serious smashes, I....couldn't avoid them. I have seen other posts on here by various unfortunates as well. Just struggle a little more for me. Let me enlighten you. Scenario 1: I glanced both ways as I approached the green traffic lights, it's a habit. Hands over brake and clutch levers, it's also a habit. I saw the car wheel spinning at such speed I realised it wasn't going to stop. The driver didn't even see the red lights. I don't think a high vis with a polite or impolite message would have made any difference. I hit the brakes, he didn't, I T-boned the car, went through the fairing, head butted the B pillar flipped over the roof and woke up in the ambulance. The ambulance crewman was wearing a high vis. He was polite. The morphine was good. Now, how do you suggest I could have avoided the uninsured illegal immigrant? I wasn't even doing 30mph. (And I'm not having a go at illegal immigrants per se). Scenario 2: I'm on the M4, the traffic in front of me slows from 60 to around 10mph. I brake, as does the traffic beside me. There is nowhere to go as white van man rear ends me. I don't think a high vis with Polite would have made any difference, mainly because I was in a car. Just as well because the van went past me upside down about 4 feet off the ground...backwards. Both vehicles written off. The van covered such a great distance without braking I believe he was texting. He certainly was not looking where he was going whilst doing approximately 60mph. Just run it past me how I could have avoided that? Then in a later post you say 'Sometimes shit happens that is beyond our control.' Evidently.
Oh and by the way. Having just done a Police bike safe course they stated most accidents happen at junctions. Do you think there are other vehicles involved?
