Changing Lanes: the "Zone" or not?

ladies, gentlemen, and everything in between

i've been doing some thinking recently (always good to try something
new eh?) about the various ways of changing lanes. I'm always partial
to the mirror check, indicate, headcheck and then a swift follow
through with a flick of the wrist. (While trying to keep some sort of
"situational awareness" about whats around me all the time.) (btw..
Any critisism's about my technique are appreciated (generally anything
that'll keep my on my bike is appreciated))

now, a mate of mine tells me of a state of mind (dubbed "the zone")
where this "situational awareness" is so keen that you bypass all
those checks and just indicate and change. While at first i thought he
was pullin my leg, i've seen it in action, where he just weaves
through traffic, very smooth. (i dont try this obviously cause i'm
still on my L's.. i think they expire soon, better get my p's before
then eh?)

And then, i have other mates, who do a check, and another check, and
another check, and then slowly inch their way into the lane. These
guys are so out of "the zone", they're livin in another dimension. I
rekon my mum changes lanes faster then them.

So anyway, those are my thoughts for tonight. Just interested in how
you folks go about lane changing as well =)

And so in conclusion, this thread is about nothing at all. But so are
most of my other threads so at least i'm consistent.


cheers

John the BOOMBB <== (and now my bike is as well after the no. of times
i've dropped it) most recent accomplishment: dropping the bike in my
own friggen garage!!!

 

Stick with your way.

Try to emulate your friends 'situational awareness' and always be aware of
every vehicle in your vicinity. Don't rely on it when doing things other
motorists don't expect. (in fact, try not to do things other motorists
don't expect).

My big tip when changing lanes on a multi-lane freeway: Be aware of
vehicles two lanes away that might be thinking of moving into the same lane
that you are heading for. Can get nasty.

Moike.
(I may be wrong about this, but your mate sounds a bit like a show-off
wanker hoon who is trying to pretend that his reckless behaviour is OK.
Riding with people like that I tend to increase the gap a bit, to avoid
being hit by the debris)

 

In aus.motorcycles on 13 Oct 2003 06:57:17 -0700

Well... "It's not what you don't know that kills you, it's what you
think you know that isn't true".

I am usually pretty sure of what's around me. I scan all the time,
check mirrors, my mirrors are also positioned so that I catch situtation
changes in my peripheral vision, I'm good about buffer zones, all that...

But every now and then, I get surprised.

I might be more tired than I thought, or get a bit distracted. Someone
might be charging harder than I think, or do something at the exact same
time I am. But I have seen something when I headchecked that I didn't
realise was there or was coming faster than I thought. It doesn't have
to be often, you only have to stuff it up once...

That headcheck takes a second or less, so it's not as if I'm losing much
time. Especially in traffic where you are always getting baulked or
stopping at lights.

Yeah, 99.99% of the time you don't need it. But remember also, that when
under pressure (or tired) you will do what you have always done. If you
have to *decide* to headcheck, instead of doing it without thinking, as
almost a spinal reflex, then one day you won't do it when that twonk in
the WRK is trying to prove his manhood, you were just tired enough not
to have had your situational awareness catch up, and you are (with luck)
waking up in hospital.

Be aware of your situation, that's a given. The headcheck is a last
protection before you change the situation, before you make a decision
that, if it's wrong, can lead to your death or crippling. So makes no
sense to rely on your memory of what's there when testing that memory
and getting a last minute update is quick and easy.

Yeah, your mate may never make a mistake, never have a bad moment.
After all, very few crashes involving bikes are a result of the bike
changing lanes into the car. Maybe only one every couple of years.

Why should you set yourself up to be that one? What do you gain
compared to what you can lose?

Zebee
- who headchecks as a pedestrian, it's that ingrained.

 

The zone thing is real.. From my days dispatchn in london bein in the
zone referred to when the bike was working perfectly, the tires were
hot, the traffic was just right, the lights were all green and you had
110% concentration.

It happenes about once in a blue moon so I would bother trying for it.

The other one was known as the 6th sense. When you are flicking in
and out of dense traffic all day everyday you learn the ability of
using eyes, ears, smell, touch to pretty much be able to know where
the cars are around you without having to look. Its also why a lot of
dispatchers wear half face helmets.

This is just a state of hyper-awareness - kind of like how soldiers in
battle become able to learn when to duck. Again its one that sneaks
up on you rather than something you learn.

I would suggest sticking to the old tried tested technique of mirrors,
signal, livesaver (you call it head check) maneuver. It works pretty
well

 

Try applying your new found thinking, before anything else.

Think why you want/need to change lanes before doing anything.

Not sure about the "situational awareness" thingy...sounds a bit _bendy_
to me.

You need to have a constantly updated knowledge of what is going on
around you.

Your mate is either fooling you or himself, or both.

What he is actually doing is assuming that he is the fastest thing on
the road and therefore doesn't need to head check or worry about

....and, they possibly want to continue living, for as long as possible.

Doing things carefully and thoughtfully, isn't automatically bad.

Nor is doing things slowly.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Zebee

ahhaa. So I'm not the only one! Do you lanesplit too?

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 13 Oct 2003 22:34:04 GMT

When there's enough room.

I definitely wish pedestrians had indicators, and there *needs* be be
lane lines.....

Zebee

 

Hehehe that was my thought as well as I read the riginal post.

Guaranteed, the first words out of his mouth when something happens he wasn't aware of are "Sorry
mate I didn't see you". Simply because won't back up what he thinks to be true with a simple fucking
head check.

Amazing what excuses people dream up to explain their laziness and dangerous behaviour.

Dale Porter

 

Another important principle to learn is the "there's always" rule.

There's always someone faster than you
There's always someone stupider than the last stupid person who cut you off
There's always someone out to get you......

...and so it goes on, insert your own rule modifier to suit the circumstance.
One day your friend might find the faster than you rule when he changes
lanes and someone beat him there.

Stuart T
There's always someone with a dirtier bike than me.... but I have yet to
find him.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:34:45 +1000

You lose oil?

Hve you checked under the couch?

Zebee
- who *knows* there are people with more bikes than her, but she's
trying!

 

Practice situational awareness. Check anyway.

-----sharks

 

But grasshopper, you do not see yet, always, always there is one more leaky
than you.

Which reminds me of coming back from Southern NSW to Melb one day. Badly
leaking base gasket coating the left foot, suddenly blown fork seal coating
the right knee, bugs happily sticking to all of it.

Stuart T

 

er.. look over here... Still got dust from wintersun...

Moike

 

Mainly in supermarkets and shopping malls, a trolley in the hands of a
harassed Mother is a dangerous weapon

Mark.

 

The zone doesn't work so well when you're changing lanes without looking
because you (think) know there's nothing there, but what you don't see is
the guy on his gsxr1100 doing about 230km/h (according to him later) coming
up on you in the far left lane, just as you move to the right lane he cuts
across three lanes to pass the slower traffic (me amongst others). I was so
surprised I almost rode off the road, he passed me in the break down lane.
I'd only been riding for 5 months at the time. Lesson learnt.

 

Sounds like what your mate is relying on is the fact that he is moving
faster than the surrounding traffic. This basically means that no vehicles
will be catching up with him and so he can move to his new position in
traffic assuming that the cars won't have moved much when he overtakes. It
works fairly well until (as everyone has been saying) the unexpected
happens. This could be someone moving in quickly from a far lane, or from a
vehicle moving faster than your mate (generally only another bike) or from
the traffic having to stop quickly causing the gaps between the cars to get
smaller.
It really can only be done well when the traffic is going at a constant
pace, but as most people will say, don't do it if you are uncomfortable with
it. No harm comes from doing a proper headcheck.

 

sounds good until some AJ buzzes you in your lane at
170.. or have 20% of the population driving drunk
as a skunk or under aged drivers with stolen vehicles
prone to do unpredictable things. besides, peoples minds
get lasy and one day you'll change lanes without being
situationally aware.

if you don't shoulder check, you'll look like that
biker with his lower face missing on rotten dot com.

-f

 

Eh? Which one's that?

 

<snip>

The Twilight Zone? Maybe the Danger Zone? I'd be keeping a healthy
distance back from your mate.

 

I suppose those who don't duck in time aren't in this wonderful 'zone'.
This part of your post is nonsense (I snipped the best bits).

If you do some investigation into projectile velocities, the speed of sound,
human reaction times (even on speed) you will realise that whether a soldier
is shot depends on how accurate the shooter is, not on any 'feeling the
force'.