Arrogant motorcyclists

skivenov

Probably why he had L plates on. I know I made mistakes, including dangerous ones while I was still learning for all of my licences.

I'm not a physics geek, at least beyond A level, but I'd question anyone who thinks that in the course of their normal driving, they can pull out of a junction, hit 60 in 10 seconds, and leave the person they'd pulled out in front of a 2 second gap without causing then concern.

Johnandabby

skivenov wrote: »

I'm not a physics geek, at least beyond A level, but I'd question anyone who thinks that in the course of their normal driving, they can pull out of a junction, hit 60 in 10 seconds, and leave the person they'd pulled out in front of a 2 second gap without causing then concern.

Definitely this - how does the car/bike/anyone know that the car that's just pulled out will accelerate to 60 in 10 seconds? They can't/shouldn't assume this, and will need to slow down.


Where I live there are a lot of cut through routes that use the main 60 mph road for 200-400m before turning off again - people pull out in front of you but don't speed up as they are turning off shortly. You have to brake when they pull out, and can't assume that they will accelerate quickly.

Retrogamer

Johnandabby wrote: »

Definitely this - how does the car/bike/anyone know that the car that's just pulled out will accelerate to 60 in 10 seconds? They can't/shouldn't assume this, and will need to slow down.


Where I live there are a lot of cut through routes that use the main 60 mph road for 200-400m before turning off again - people pull out in front of you but don't speed up as they are turning off shortly. You have to brake when they pull out, and can't assume that they will accelerate quickly.

A nice blast of the horn after almost ploughing into the back of them and some full beam to make them aware of my presence usually gets them to accelerate a bit quicker when idiots pull out slowly in front of me.

Idiophreak

Meh, If you were able to do less than half the distance you thought you could before he caught up, odds on he was doing twice the speed you thought he was.

I appreciate it's tricky to judge the speed of vehicles accurately, but I think most people could manage it to the nearest 50mph.

That said, I'm getting tired of motorcyclists completely disregarding the speed limit. They seem to think they're only going to hurt themselves...but tell that to the bloke I know who lost his legs when a bike went through a red and hit him side on.

Retrogamer

Idiophreak wrote: »

That said, I'm getting tired of motorcyclists completely disregarding the speed limit.

What about the large majority of car users who break the speed limit also?

Buellguy

Idiophreak wrote: »

Meh, If you were able to do less than half the distance you thought you could before he caught up, odds on he was doing twice the speed you thought he was.

I appreciate it's tricky to judge the speed of vehicles accurately, but I think most people could manage it to the nearest 50mph.

That said, I'm getting tired of motorcyclists completely disregarding the speed limit. They seem to think they're only going to hurt themselves...but tell that to the bloke I know who lost his legs when a bike went through a red and hit him side on.

Or the bloke in the car that pulled out of a side junction on me when I was doing 20mph BELOW the speed limit and I ended up doing flying lessons at 40mph - works both ways

Idiophreak

Retrogamer wrote: »

What about the large majority of car users who break the speed limit also?

I agree there are a large number of car drivers that "break" the speed limit.....I disagree, however, that there are so many that "completely disregard" the speed limit as I said.

How many times have I been overtaken by a car doing 100+ in a 40 or 50 zone? Once or twice. How often by a bike? Hundreds.

When I've been "breaking" a 30 speed limit at say, 35 or 40, how many cars have flashed past me at 60+....a couple. How many bikes? Scores.

Also, FWIW, how many cars have I had go past me at stupid speeds when I'm out cycling? A few, normally on the opposite side of the road....How many bikes? Hundreds. They don't seem to realise that just because they can fit on the same side of the road, it's not necessarily a nice thing to go past a cyclist within a yard at 80mph. It's deafening and scares the absolute bejesus out of you...The same goes for overtaking towards cyclists...Dozens of motorcyclists don't see a problem with closing on a cyclist at 100mph....because there's "space" for both of them, right....

Given the comparatively small number of bikes on the road, and the comparatively high incidences of reckless speeding, it has to be concluded that a *much* higher percentage of motorcylists use wholly inappropriate speed than drivers.

Idiophreak

Buellguy wrote: »

Or the bloke in the car that pulled out of a side junction on me when I was doing 20mph BELOW the speed limit and I ended up doing flying lessons at 40mph - works both ways

Indeed. Which is why I made the point that the OP should have been able to judge the speed of the bike better to prevent pulling out in front of it.

If you'd have been travelling at two or three times that speed, the prognosis both for yourself and the driver of the car would have been much worse.

C_Mababejive

I am a biker and a driver. If im waiting at a junction and i can SEE a bike coming, then 99% of the time,i will wait a short while and let it pass.

Why?

Becausing judging the speed and distance of an approaching bike is harder than a car. That leads to a judgement delay by which time it has moved closer still.

Chances are it will be closer than i think and even if i do pull out in good time, it will likely be close to me soon.

Also if i let it pass, i dont need to watch out for it behind me and it will likely be ahead and out of view fairly quickly.

NBLondon

Spider_In_The_Bath wrote: »

However I don't beleive they should be allowed to filter through traffic


Is perfectly legal and part of the reason I have a motorbike, to beat traffic so long as it is done sensibly...


It is not legal, or illegal. It is one of those grey areas. The highway code says you should not overtake in queuing traffic. If there is a accident then the one doing the filtering is usually seen as the one to blame.

Added after edited. This info was told to me by a police biker.

The keyword is SENSIBLY.

Filtering at a moderate speed while keeping a lookout both ways and stopping if the gap gets too small. Fine. I'll watch out for you and widen the gap if I can. (Dad was a biker until his knees gave out, BIL still is)

Filtering at 30mph+, cutting across the front of a moving car to filter along a different gap and kicking or banging cars to demand they make a bigger space. You're an (opening at the end of rectum).

Using acceleration and agility to cross the white line and overtake a slower-moving queue then get back into a gap. Fine.

Riding full-speed along the "wrong" side to pass a queue and expecting the oncoming traffic to give way to you. Same anatomical insult.

Using a pedestrian crossing to make a U-turn on an urban dual carriageway and diving in front of a car doing 50...

Riding down an on-pavement cycle lane to bypass a set of traffic lights...

I'm sure it's a minority of bikers who act like arrogant ani - but they are very obvious when they do it.

Thought: Are BMW riders as bad as BMW drivers are perceived to be? Or is there a similar stereotype amongst bikers as to what you ride being a clue to attitudes?