OT: "leave more time for the bike" advertisements

It doesn't mention that they're murderous bastards who eat children either.

Si

There have also been adverts advising riders to ride defensively, assuming people haven't seen you. I guess they're working from both sides of the problems.

Motorbikes often drive through narrow gaps between cars on the motorway; they can come from all directions and at any speed. Problem is that once they spot a gap from afar, they think that the gap will stay there all the time, not thinking that the cars might do something else.

Johannes ( snipped-for-privacy@stop-spam-sizefitter.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Which is called "filtering" and encouraged by the police on the specialist road safety courses they run for bikers.

The *cars* don't do things, the drivers do. Without looking.

The message from Johannes contains these words:

Some do.

Many however do not - they behave themselves and ride sensibly. But of course, they're the ones you don't remember, if notice.

I certainly remember the ones who take the courtesy to give a little 'wave'/acknowledgement when I've moved across in a lane to let them through.

Say there is a lorry in the inner lane and I'm driving in the middle lane approaching the lorry. There is then a gap between me and the lorry and this gap is rapidly closing as I approach the lorry.

A motorcyclist came from the inner lane approx 100mph! straight through the gap and across the lanes. Luckily I spotted him, but shudder to think if I hadn't and perhaps speeded up in order to get past the lorry. I normally don't like to hang about outside a lorry, just in case he pulls out.

The message from David Hearn contains these words:

Oooh, that's a favourite bugbear of mine. I always make eye contact with drivers and smile or nod thanks when they let me cross or out or whatever, whether driving cycling or on foot. Most of the peasants round here see it as their right to pull out and seem vaguely annoyed that it took me so long to let them.

Ever ridden a bike ?

Dave

Or to put it in another way:

All drivers in front of me are bad drivers, all drivers behind me are good drivers...(only kidding)

Johannes ( snipped-for-privacy@stop-spam-sizefitter.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Led a particularly sheltered life, have you?

I don't know what you're getting at. I was referring to driving a modern comfy car down a motorway, then it's difficult to imagine that things can go wrong. But I have no illusions. Being held up by accidents on M4 is almost a daily experience for me, that was what I was trying to describe. Most of the time you just see the aftermath, but in two weeks in a row it was actually happening in front of me. Obviously that makes me speculate of possible causes and how to best avoid being caught up in an accident. Typically there are the tailgaters, but then don't tailgate and pull over if tailgated, so that's this one sorted. But then there are those 'pirouette' accident, which I think must be caused by misjudged lane changes (i.e. gaps). These are insidious accidents as they are difficult to escape from, even when driving defensively.

Johannes ( snipped-for-privacy@stop-spam-sizefitter.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Clearly.

Umm, *precisely*. Muppets who think they're still in their nice comfy cosy safe living room, then are caught by surprise when another muppet blithers on autopilot into their path are the REASON things go wrong.

I'm not sure you understand that term.

I think we agree more that you think, but you seem to snip my posts to make the wrong impression. Or perhaps you don't read all of it. I have absolutely no illusions that things can't go wrong I thought that was pretty obvious.

Yes.

Apparently, the rule about only overtaking on the right doesn't apply to motorbikes.

Doesn't apply to me either.

I get annoyed when vehicles are sneaking by on the inside, but keep my cool. The problem is that overtaking isn't well defined when on a motorway.

Two things are going on: 1) Lane changing and 2) Passing another vehicle in a different lane. Which of these are overtaking?, or do you need a combination of these? If a combination is necessary, is there timeout when the two actions are considered not related?

Deep ends dunnit. I won't necessarily change lanes if I'm travelling faster in the inside lane than someone in one of the outside lanes. If I change lanes to pass that person on the inside then, yes, I'm undertaking. If I don't change lanes then I take the attitude that my lane is moving faster than the other lane which is (I believe) allowed.