Motorcycle Forums

Be seen

Worry when a driver has not seen you but just as importantly worry when you believe that he has.  A motorcycle is so small the driver of another vehicle will have difficulty in  assessing its speed towards him. called looming.  A bus being so large and at distance will almost imediately begin to loom or otherwise  appear bigger the closer it gets but a motorcyclist doesnt.

Always presume that you have not been seen and  keep a wary eye on any vehicle you are approaching and not happy with and take defensive action straight away. Dont wait. move away from it and slow, be prepared to brake harder if necessary or avoid it  other ways without increasing the risk of an accident with anything else. Its no use waking up in hospital and saying well i was in the right or the driver looked straight at me.  it doesnt work that way.

Some would argue that swerving [ steering from side to side] will help break up your  contour from your background and therefore  make you more visible . There is no doubt the doubters will poo poo this article but those who realise that  some knoweldege of how we view things on the road is of value... will generally live longer.

Lets not forget that a fighter pilot takes many years of  training in  order that he can fulfill his role in defence of himself and his plane  worth in exsess of £60.000.000 and so he  receives  instructions on visiblility   that can be of use to all on the road.        

What a banal comparison? "Coz jets r fast n bikes r too" MCN what are you doing copying BBC/Daily Fail style journalism? The advice in the article is surely just for car users pulling out of road junctions.

A jet fighter pilot is only focussed on a very narrow field of view directly infront of him at those kind of speeds. Yes a pilot can look to the sides, but his options for moving away from straight ahead and very fast are virtually nil. There isnt much you can fly into up there you know.

I use observation ALL the time by turning my head to physically look. I do not rely on peripheral vision for road manouvers. Using peripheral vision will get you killed. I constantly scan all around me even when there is no other traffic visible.

When you get more experienced on the road you can try moving your head slightly when looking straight ahead so your eyes give your brain more data by just sligthly changing your eyes view. There are times on the road when you need to move forward/accelerate to get yourself into a position where you can be seen by other road users. Slowing down can sometimes have the reverse effect when cars assume you have slowed down to let them pull out.

The most important part is to train yourself to look !!

I agree with one thing in the article, that car drivers arent expecting to see a bike at road junctions, because they don't look for bikes. Positively ancient bike safety principle.

As for being seen? We can ride round with headlights on main beam, wearing dayglow safety suits and a Christmas tree with flashing lights stuck on our eads and car drivers still will not see us. Car drivers not looking for bikes was and still is the problem.

I agree with Luckyskua. When aproaching junctions if you change your position on the road you make your image move across the other drivers retina, so he sees a moving image.

And as said elsewhere it's easier to spot a moving object rather than a looming one.

Jets

Even typhoons are getting old now with the F35B/ Lightning/ JCA I think the big difference is CLOUDS AREN'T DRIVEN BY IDIOTS.

My Safety - My Responsibility

The only problem with this article is the "be seen" part which could suggest a rider hands responsibility for his or her safety to someone else. I NEVER assume that I've been seen, always act as if you have NOT been seen and you will live longer. Even if you have eye-to-eye contact with a driver sitting in a side road, for example, you can't be sure his brain's actually registered that you're there and that he's not day dreaming while driving on auto pilot. It's worth repeating, NEVER ASSUME.