hood@thehut.DEC (Desperately seeking old Coke) (06/25/85)
I read Sean Byrne's and Darryl Richman's grizzly stories and rules with interest. After years of motorcycling in New England (home of some of the worst drivers in the western world), I've got two rules of my own. (1) WATCH THE FACES OF THE OTHER DRIVERS. *Every* other driver who isn't directly behind you. If they're looking at you, chances are they won't try to kill you. The key to staying alive on a motorcycle seems to be assuming EVERYONE on the road is going to do the worst possible thing at the worst possible moment. If they're looking elsewhere (or if they're under 18 or over 70) assume they don't see you. Beep your horn BEFORE they do something. In fact, go out today and get a set of extra loud horns. For less than $40, you can get 110dB's of attention. I don't like to think of this as paranoia, but it seems to work. (2) DON'T DRIVE A MOTORCYCLE ANYWHERE YOU DON'T LIKE TO DRIVE A CAR. Boston is a nice example. When car drivers get within 10 miles of that city, they start pretending there are no other vehicles on the road. I've lived about 25 miles northwest of Boston all my life, but I've never driven a bike in Boston. I like my life.
darryl@ISM780.UUCP (06/27/85)
>(1) WATCH THE FACES OF THE OTHER DRIVERS. *Every* other driver who isn't >directly behind you. If they're looking at you, chances are they won't try >to kill you. The key to staying alive on a motorcycle seems to be assuming >EVERYONE on the road is going to do the worst possible thing at the worst >possible moment. If they're looking elsewhere (or if they're under 18 or >over 70) assume they don't see you. Beep your horn BEFORE they do >something. In fact, go out today and get a set of extra loud horns. For >less than $40, you can get 110dB's of attention. I don't like to think of >this as paranoia, but it seems to work. But! In my case, I did look at the driver. Her head was facing me squarely. Of course, she was wearing sunglasses. Perhaps she was investigating the patterns on the insides of her eyelids? I do try to assume the worst. I've taken the MSF course twice, and I try to follow ISDE all the time. She had just let my buddy by and was still looking at me (I assumed). She was on the right, and an intersection was coming up on my left. What to do? Also, I have a pair of Fiamm horns, and, from experience, I know that they will get most drivers' attention. (Did I tell you the one about the driver that was blythely moving into my lane on the freeway -- I let loose and scared her so much [or woke her up?] that she swerved into the lane on her other side!). Of course, some will ignore you anyhow, so don't bet your life on them; leave yourself an out. And although the freeway is a boring stint, Harry Hurt says that they are far safer than the city streets; I would agree. --Darryl Richman, INTERACTIVE Systems Corp. ...!cca!ima!ism780!darryl The views expressed above are my opinions only. P.S. On your way home today, play this fun game: Watch each offramp and see how many people wait until they have to cross the median to get out of or into the offramp lane. Try to predict which cars will be the offenders. At onramps, try to figure out whether the people in the right lane will let the oncoming traffic merge. Try to predict who will jump into the next lane, without signalling or looking, to avoid the merging traffic. Never a dull moment.