Optical Illusions

[st13phil]

Those in the London area may have seen this play on the TV (it's almost 2 years old) but it's worth just over 40 seconds of every driver's time in my opinion:

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[LTD]

Powerful imagery

 

[verytalldave]

I dont like to tar everybody with the same brush, but some bike riders could do with a few lessons in road sense as well and not try to get from A to B quicker than the Enterprise on warp drive.
Trouble is bikers are so vulnerable................

 

[st13phil]

...but some bike riders could do with a few lessons in road sense as well and not try to get from A to B quicker than the Enterprise on warp drive.

Absolutely, and I agree entirely. I've ridden bikes for almost 35 years, including sometimes at speeds that would get you thrown in jail if it had been on a UK road, but there's a time and a place for everything and unfortunately some bikers won't get to learn that fact before they meet their maker.

Having said that, I've yet to see a biker riding whilst texting, putting on makeup, or making a call on a handheld mobile phone.

 

[andy_k]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjGfv2AeUss

they are out there

 

[Stratman]

I dont like to tar everybody with the same brush, but some bike riders could do with a few lessons in road sense as well and not try to get from A to B quicker than the Enterprise on warp drive.
Trouble is bikers are so vulnerable................

Says the man with a supercharged car

 

[st13phil]

they are out there

Actually, I nearly p*ssed myself laughing when in Rome a few years ago to see a guy on a 600cc super scoot nail the throttle off the lights at a junction so that he had enough ground on the cars behind to take his right hand off the bars, finish dialling a number on his flip phone, then jam it up twixt the inside of his crash hat and his ear before grabbing another handfull of throttle to stay ahead of the traffic.

 

[lynall]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjGfv2AeUss

they are out there

Amazing



Lynall

 

[CE230]

I don't think we had that it the Midlands, shame as most drivers around Brum appear to be regressing rather than advancing in their skills.

I am appalled at other bike riders some times, wrong side of bollards, crossing double white lines, inappropriate speed etc. I blame them for the blanket 50mph limit in the Peak District.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

There's something that I don't get about some bikers.

I'll be overtaking a line of traffic in the outside lane of a motorway when a biker will come haring up behind me, undertake me and then pull up in front to tailgate the car in front until he can undertake that one as well.

They have to be doing 100mph and then brake hard enough to make me brake and move back to give them roomin front of me.

Surely this is stupid? As already said, bikers are vulnerable so why tempt fate in this way?

 

[st13phil]

As I said in post #4, above

there's a time and a place for everything and unfortunately some bikers won't get to learn that fact before they meet their maker

However (and this is in no way a defence of idiotic or dangerous driving), if a bike has room to overtake on the inside of a car travelling in the outside lane of a motorway, there's usually room for the car to have moved over to let the bike overtake.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

As I said in post #4, aboveHowever (and this is in no way a defence of idiotic or dangerous driving), if a bike has room to overtake on the inside of a car travelling in the outside lane of a motorway, there's usually room for the car to have moved over to let the bike overtake.

I thought about this on the many occasions it's happened and agree that I could have been bullied into moving over to let the bike and endless row of cars through but why would I? I too would have been going faster if the car in front of me could do so.

Don't get me wrong here I don't mind bikers undertaking but it does seem a bit odd that I've never heard of one being prosecuted for it and it seems to have become common practice. I have often been undertaken while passing another car where the biker has squeezed between the 2 cars and this is at motorway speeds.

Out of interest, how do bike stopping distances compare to cars?

 

[steve333]

Do bikers know/care undertaking is illegal & extremely dangerous?

 

[LTD]

I reckon they don't care

 

[alanf]

There are some HGV trailers running around with stickers on the back. On the right hand side it says overtakers and on the left side UNDERTAKERS.I'm sure someone on here can find a picture.

Alan

 

[st13phil]

Do bikers know/care undertaking is illegal & extremely dangerous?

Most do know that it's illegal - except in well defined circumstances

I reckon they don't care

On the contrary, most do care because their life depends upon it.

There are a few things at work here:

1. By definition, you will only see the (tiny minority of) bikers that undertake you do so; you will not see the vast majority who don't undertake anyone
2. There is precious little mobile enforcement on our motorways these days, so those riders who do engage in "dodgy riding" know that there is very little chance of being caught
3. The vast majority of riders are acutely aware of their own vulnerability and do not take unnecessary risks. Darwinian principles apply to bikers too!
4. A bike rider travelling behind a car has vastly more visibility of things going on two or three or more vehicles ahead of the car being followed than the car driver does, as they can see over the roofs of the cars in front and to the side of them. As such, what may look like a "dodgy overtake" to a car driver is more often than not a well planned and executed manouvre
5. A small minority of bike riders are brain dead, ride like idiots, and won't make old bones

 

[steve333]

Fair comments,as i drive an iveco lorry for a living,i have an even better view of the road ahead than any biker so anyone that decides to unertake me(as they do at least a couple of times a week on various motorways/a roads)cannot see over the top of my vehicle so i guess that puts them inthe brain dead category