Safe?

Zebee Johnstone wrote

Shortsleeved blue shirt? Summer wear for Police in Perth.

Theo

 

I think high visibility helps alert drivers to exception processing at a
distance, eg they see a brightly coloured vest on a bicyclist off in the
distance and are prepared in advance to make allowances for that. At
close quarters I think it doesn't make very much difference at all,
especially if the rider is making bad decisions to compound the problem.

I often see L and P plate riders making terrible decisions. Riding too
close behind cars, riding in blind spots, riding within traffic in the
left lane when the right lane is available, and failing to anticipate
stuff up ahead which I have noted from my own car or bike. It also
seems to be the inexperienced riders who complain most about not being
seen, and fall victim to SMIDSY accidents.

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

I'm in the same boat as Zebee. I rarely have close calls, can't even
remember the last one and yet I ride a black bike and dress in black
apart from the dark blue jeans. I ride with lights off in daylight too.

Road sense, buffers and attitude all go a long way towards keeping one
out of trouble...

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:59:21 +1100

They are certainly over-represented in SMIDSYs.

I suspect a hi-vis vest might work to have a rider stand out from the
background enough for a second look in a mirror, when the first look
was just a dart of the eyeballs. On the other hand I think those who
just dart the eyeballs don't leave enough time between the look and
the move to process an exception. Hence the swerve if they do process
it, but if you were already hittable by the swerve then you've been
hit...

Hmm.. OK, so when is something a "close call"?

When it is within what you feel is your "personal space", or only when
you had to respond to it in some way?

If the latter, then how much buffer zone would obviously make a
difference.

And does it matter if the response was "Hmm, bet that bugger's going
to change lanes, I'll drop back" compared to "hell! brakes on!"

Zebee

 

The visual image is of Close Encounters where a UFO pulls up behind the
truck at the rail crossing...

 

15 years ago all the vicpol police riders always wore their full
leathers no matter what the weather. Nowadays (saw one this morning in
fact) they just seem to wear their shirt.

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

Blimey !! That was quite a dummy spit !

JL
(whips out the tube of bonjela - smee must be teething to be this
cranky ;-)

 

Australian road fatalities between 01/01/1989 and 31/01/2007

Car Driver 15060
Car passenger 8636
Pedestrian 5754
Motorcycle Rider 3586
Bicycle Rider 884
Motorcycle Pillion 248
Unknown 40

You're taking your hands into your life getting into a car or walking.
Stats don't lie. 2 wheels are the safest known means of road transport.

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

And this from the man who has littered usenet with plenty of his own
PLONKing in the past. You must care, else you wouldn't do it yourself.


Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX
(My spell checker didn't like "Smeegles", it suggested "Meaningless" )

 

Don't forget to take the rubber hose.. we still need to make up the
numbers for the other 259,271.

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

You missed the boat... Tet was last week.

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

I thought mad-cow disease evolved because they weren't.

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

Ditto, my last close call was last month, and it was my fault for not paying
attention. Previous close call I don't remember.

Theo

 

Hate to tell you this Nev, but there have been motorcycle cops not wearing full leathers in hot weather for the last 15 years and
longer.

 

I call bullshit on this one !

JL

 

Now that's a bit offensive Nev !

JL

 

It's quite rare these days for me to be finding "new places". There
are only so many clients and only so many places that they send stuff
to or receive stuff from. The time management is the responsibility
of the operator, I just pick stuff up and deliver it as quickly as I
can. If the job gets stale and I haven't been slacking off or getting
lost then it's somebody elses problem.

I only have to break out the UBD once or twice a day lately. I don't
think distraction is a factor. Besides, when I dispense with the
vest, the problem goes away. Without the vest, I can go days at a
time without a single close call. With the vest, it's a daily thing.
I'm pretty sure wearing the vest doesn't make me more aggressive.

 

[snip]

My favorite instance is the time I braked _hard_, as in emergency
stop, after accelerating away from a set of lights. I was quite
shocked when a commodore which I couldn't see at the time I had
stopped appeared from behind the truck on my right and whipped across
the intersection (against the lights, I had the green) which I would
have been occupying if I hadn't stopped.

It took me 10 minutes to realize my subconscious had responded to the
fact that the _truck_ had stopped. Unsettling certainly describes how
I felt about that one until I figured out why I'd stopped.

 

Nev's Jewish?

Theo

 

Oy vey!

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX