Stayin' Alive

© Ken Bingenheimer / RumBum.com

A long way down.

Motorcyclists share a common understanding of other motorists that goes something like this: Remember all the others on the road are crazy and out to kill you.

If that sounds a bit extreme it’s only because you don’t ride. There are probably no better defensive drivers than motorcyclists, because we have to be in order to stay alive. One of the best suggestions I’ve come across on how to stay safe on the road is to ride assuming you are invisible. If you take it for granted that no one sees you, you will choose speeds, lane positions, and any other options you have to put yourself out of harm’s way. At least as much as possible.

Let me give you some examples. First off, many motorists really, truly do not see motorcycles. This is especially true of the driver’s blind spot. We all know the blind spot, it’s that small space behind you and to the side where a vehicle does not show up in your mirrors. It’s the reason you should turn your head and look before changing lanes rather than just trusting your mirrors. If a car can get lost in someone’s blind spot, think how much easier it is for a motorcycle to get lost there. As a motorcyclist you try never, ever to stay in someone’s blind spot but if you’re passing you inevitably pass through it at some point.

Sunday morning just four days ago I was on the interstate at an interchange, with cars getting on, going my direction. I made the simple assumption that at least some of those cars were going to want to move to the left-hand lane, where I was, so as I came up on each one I watched very carefully for that move. Sure enough, just as I knew I was pulling into this one guy’s blind spot I saw him glance at his mirror. I knew he was coming my way, but I was prepared. I cranked the throttle and shot ahead and he swerved back into his lane when he finally saw me.

Because I was alert there was really no danger this time. I was always in control of the situation. I’ve had much closer calls, as have all who ride.

Then there are the people who turn left in front of you. Statistically this is the single most common type of crash involving a motorcycle and another vehicle. And the most common response of the driver is “I didn’t see the bike.”

I know that’s true because there was one time when I was that driver, though the poor guy on the bike managed to avoid me. I flat did not see him. When you’re right there in plain sight and someone does that it’s hard not to think they’re crazy and out to kill you. So you take nothing for granted and you ride as though you are invisible. Because you are.

Here’s one more: the guy who thinks you don’t need that whole lane because you’re just a motorcycle.

I was up in the mountains one day on a two-lane highway heading down, when I came onto some slow-moving uphill traffic. There were several groups of bicyclists going up and they were creating a bottleneck for the folks in cars, who had to wait for oncoming traffic to abate before they could pull out and around the cyclists.

Except when this dude (me) on a motorcycle came the other way. Never mind that I was in the left portion of my lane, this car pulled out and straddled the center line to pull around the bicycles and would have hit me head on had I not swerved hard to the right. Crazy and out to kill me? I think so.

So if it happens one day that a guy on a bike blasts past you screaming and showing you his middle finger, as Johnathon did one day as we were crossing Independence Pass into Aspen, don’t think “What a jerk that biker is!” Think, “Oh my god, who did I almost kill?” And then hang up the damn cell phone and pay attention to driving.