I started with “pretend you’re invisible and none of the other cars can see you” which is pretty much the truth - cagers tend to have “bike” shaped blind spots, they see other cars a fair amount of the time and peds most of the time - but bikes, hardly ever: bikes are particularly ignored (in the US) whenever a car is turning left across the path of the bike.
I eventually adopted the mantra of “I’m not invisible, I’m highly visible and everyone is actively trying to kill me” that serves me best, and for the most part, seems accurate.
You left out the second half of my sentence, where I said I’d already begun changing lanes when he came past me. I can’t just not change lanes in case someone who wasn’t there when I started suddenly comes up next to me. There was no motorcycle, I started moving over, and then he came rocketing past an already moving vehicle.
In Germany everything not explicitly legal is illegal.
In Italy everything not explicitly illegal is legal provided you’ve paid the correct bribes.
In France everything is illegal, but everything is tolerated.
In England some things are legal, some things are illegal, but dogs are sacred.
I intentionally omitted that as a teaching example for anyone who read it - not to call you out for bad driving.
…but, since you brought it up, even if you are in the middle of a lane change and see someone approaching that’s not yielding, what’s better: finishing your lane change or yielding?
I mentally translated this as “allow into lane”; einordnen has the sense of placing things in order, ranking or filing. It’s a good example of trafficese, where the phrase is so compacted that, while it makes sense to a native speaker, it’s difficult to translate in less than a sentence. And, of course, of German where the word Ordnung is so important.
(I am a bit of an obnoxious pedant and rule follower, so I used to like visiting Germany and Switzerland where I could simply obey the traffic rules and everything would be fine, whereas in France and Italy there is a secret set of rules that you don’t know about till you break them and an episode of horn blowing starts.)
Obviously, since I don’t hit him, I didn’t finish my lane change. Which, in Los Angeles traffic means you might miss your exit as well. But it’s a bit hard to move quickly when automobile traffic is going 20 mph and the motorcycle comes past you going at least double that.
Not for you, but for all: missing an exit and having to go the long way around isn’t the worst thing in the world. Missing a turn isn’t reason to: veer across multiple lanes, go against traffic, block traffic so you can make it, make a right from the left lane, hold up traffic in a turn lane because you realized you want to go straight, etc, etc, etc.
A LOT would be gained if we would all accept a modicum of inconvenience in order to adhere to the flow of traffic.
Is this a term of endearment, similar to “breeders” for people with children?
That’s the real issue, isn’t it? The lane splitting bike has 360 degree vision and to him or her the rest of the world is moving in slow motion. For the driver, whose car probably has C-pillar induced blind spots, something coming from behind quickly can genuinely seem to come quickly out of nowhere. Assuming that the driver is homicidal towards bikes, or that s/he is not a good driver, or that a desire to change lanes is selfish or entitled behavior, does not help the discussion.
Splitting when traffic is stopped seems completely uncontroversial to me, though if the bike stops too please don’t sit in my blind spot then get angry at me for not being able to see you.
Kinda like those with the privilege to buy an Urban Asssult Vehical to “keep their family safe” which is done at the explicit expense of the safety of those who can only afford a civic.
Great advice! I’ve taken my son on his 1st driving lessons this week, and one of the things I’ve told him is when someone does something stupid or erratic, mark them as someone who will do it again and give them a wide berth. If they’re tailgating a car ahead of you a lane over, expect them to change lanes suddenly without signaling. My wife gets annoyed when I call out people braking on an open highway as terrible drivers, but they are. If you’ve gotten so close to the car ahead, or so much faster than them, that you have to brake rather than just take your foot off the gas, you’ve screwed up. Expect them to do more bad driving.
My problem with this law is the default expectation that riders will use common sense. Common sense seems a rarity on the road these days. In my city you can’t even get people to come under 10mph at a stop sign, never mind actually stop. Most of them view “right of way” to mean you will “probably” be able to brake in time to not hit them as they pop in front of you, as long as you’re not checking your mirror or looking at a GPS.
I’ve seen PLENTY of bikes lane splitting at the speeds in the video on crowded NYC highways. I’ve seen them pop wheelies surrounded by cars at 60mph. This extending of trust will not go well.
“ride like all other road users are morons.” should be properly attributed to @Enkita
I operate under the premise of: “I’m highly visible and everyone is actively trying to kill me”
The vast majority of bike videos you see are to be filed under the heading of “exhibitionist” (and I finally got around to watching the video FTA, and it is too). While, yes, people do ride like that IRL, when the GoNovice camera is turned on, those that have channels ride like that mainly for the views. Fact of the matter is, one can only ride like that for so long before the Road Gods demand their due, for there are two types of motorcyclists: those that have had serious accidents and those that will. If you’re a motorcyclist and you haven’t had a serious accident, either stop while you’re ahead or accept that there is one waiting for you somewhere down the road.
Learning to ride cars and bikes aren’t so similar, as far as what dangers you need to watch out for, but there are some commonalities students of both can benefit from:
Any vehicle with body damage likely got that way from hitting something
Always watch the drivers side front wheel, it will tell you: A) which way they intend to go and B) when they intend to go there - don’t rely on the direction their head is pointing, many people don’t look where they are going. Spinning rims suck.
Anyone talking on a phone while driving is best to be avoided as is any car with one (sorry kids, y’all are still new to driving in the first decade you’re doing it, and since I ride a bike and my life is on the line, I’m not risking it) or more occupants under the age of 25 (multiple occupants “of school age” are likely to drive distracted - just ask their insurance premiums)
Don’t neglect - even in a cage - to teach your sprout how to overcome the default propensity for “target fixation”, I’ve noticed it’s a skill too few people have.
all the post is fair advice, and I’m familiar with target fixation from whitewater kayaking. But why do you suppose that when I googled it ALL the hits were cycle related and none for 4 wheels? Is it cars are less “loose” in their lanes, less discretionary room?
