Motorcycle Forums

Car Drivers

I believe that car driving standards are worse....their level of training is lower than that of the average motorcyclist....less awareness of their surroundings due to the tin box around them....simple as that. Couple this with the fact there are a lot more drivers from other countries where driving standards fall far below that of the UK (try Eastern Europe and some of the former Russian states.......I have first hand experience of their lack of driving standards over the last 14 years or so...!!!!).

Anyone who uses the excuse "Sorry mate, I didn't see you" should get the phrase right........."Sorry mate, I didn't look properly"........every time it is becuase the driver just didn't look properly,  and just use the former as the excuse for pulling out and causing an accident.  Anyone who uses the excuse should be made to have their eyes tested, at the very least, and if it proves their eyesight was ok should be charged with careless driving, as a minimum.  If their eye test showed they needed correction, then up the charge to dangerous driving as a minimum...........

The standard of road use full stop has gone downhill, or at least it seems to have due to the standard of traffic. Bikers are not immune to this, and even though I agree riding makes you a more aware driver, but care is still required. I remonstrated with a BMW driver who cut right into me a couple of weeks ago, who casually informed me that he couldn't have possibly cut me up because "I'm a biker too, I know when I'm cutting someone up".

WHO CARes

Cars are cheaper in real terms year on year, so something special that a family used to treasure 30 years ago is just owned used and chucked.
Side effects of cheap cars:
1. people increasingly gaining access to cars/driving who should not.
2. As cost of vehicle maintenance have increased; due to complexity of technologies now routinely used in every model. Reduced vehicle worth means reduced average maintenance.
3. As volume of traffic increases, average speed reduces (London average 11mph,7mph in rush hour) and cars limp further with major mechanical defects.
4. More cars mean police forces have become more reliant on technologies such as ANPR, speed cameras etc. and are fall less likely to pull defective cars or defective drivers over.
Finally curtsey of recession and silly public transport prices there are far more idiots on a 50cc lawnmower with L plates.
Conclusion: keep your wits about you, your brake lever covered and your undies clean (in-case the   medics have to cut off your leathers). Safe driving.

bike awareness better in devon

Down here in devon car drivers generally are pretty good towards me when I ride 99% always move out of the way when filtering and if they see me coming generally move over. I ride 20000 miles per year with my light on main beam during the day still got to keep your wits about you always.

Source of revenue

Ok so all of the points are valid as everyone rides/drives based on their own experiences and observations.

So for what it's worth here are mine:

As a biker I ride within the law as best I can (I'm sure I've done things wrong) this is not because I'm a particularly goody two shoes, but more the case I WILL be the one plod stops and the judge makes an example of. Yes I'm that lucky.

When riding at the speed limit (or below) it means I NEVER have to worry about speed traps and feel my observation is on the road and other drivers instead of looking for sneakily "obvious" yellow boxes.

The one thing that I feel needs to be done is heavily fine/penalise phone users. Like many others here, I ALWAYS see at least one per mile within any city limits. They're not paying full attention can't observe properly and surely the fines would pay for the plod who stopped them.

As with some others here I agree that a dedicated traffic division would pay dividends, the finance raised from all the fines imposed from the almost unlimited number of traffic offences you can observe would boost the economy, make the roads safer and maybe there would be enough left over to improve the road surfaces. I now understand why so many people ride BMW GS's you need them on some of the roads here.

Final point, noone would complain to their MP if someone had been done for speeding while using a phone in a built up area, at last a 'stealth' tax the populace would support. The roads would be safer, life expectancy raised and your pride and joy likely to last longer. So are drivers worse? YES, but maybe only because they have been allowed to become so, by weak legislation and non-existent policing.