This Lifesaver Malarkey

I know that it is a must on all right turns & manoeuvres & on certain left
turns, but FFS when I am turning right I just seem to run out of time.

I either squeeze in a lifesaver and end up leaving the turn to late/tight or
skimping a bit on the lifesaver, or when waiting a long time for a gap to
turn right (when traffic is heavy) I end up having to go for it when really
I feel that another lifesaver would be wise but by the time you've done that
the bleeding gap has gone.

So it all seems a bit of a rush, any advice? or is it just me?

 

Sounds like you're going too fast for the conditions. It's obviously
important to do the lifesaver with enough time to do something about it,
should there be a hazard.

I also check my mirrors very frequently, and try to spot, in particular,
other bikes.

 

Slow down.

Yes, slow down, you're not in that much of a hurry to lose your life.

 

Yeah I am always on the look out for other bikes now, particularly after
getting suprised by a couple shorty after passing my test.

I know the missus has bought me "Motorcycle Roadcraft" for Christmas, rather
hoping this will be helpful.

D

 

How do you know?

 

You are not anticipating the traffic conditions well enough.

You are not maintaining excellent rearward observation.

You are misjudging the timing of your manoeuvre.

You are probably going too fast and braking incorrectly.

You are getting anxious about becoming a good rider too soon and putting
unnecessary pressure on yourself.

You are riding just like someone who recently passed.

Try to focus on fixing one thing at a time. You won't be able to fix all
of the things I pointed out above. I would also recommend that you treat
yourself to a riding assessment and do some advanced training in the new
year.

 

This is a very common, almost compulsory step on the learning curve.
When you are unfamiliar with a process or action, then you step
through each and every part of it; once you are familiar with the
process then it all flows without effort.

Make time. Lifesavers frequently do just what they say on the tin,
see. Slot 'em in when you can, but don't shit yourself about it.
Practice doing them - make it quick. Eyes into the right corner,
flick head to the right, take a snapshot of what is there - head back
to facing front, eyes ahead. Now assimilate what you've seen.

Practice, speed up, let it flow (Luke) - control the data input
stream, don't let it control you. Learn what you can reject and what
you must keep (an eye on). Learn to judge risk contours and
constantly update hazard assessments.

Scan left and right, up and down - clocks to horizon, mirror to
mirror. Anticipate. Maintain a picture in your head of what is
behind you and use the lifesaver to confirm it, just before you commit
yourself.

Nobody said it was going to be easy ...

 

No he's right, I'm not

D

 

Bizarrely, I make more of a conscious effort to do a life saver
(especially when making a right turn or pulling out to overtake) in the
cage than on the bike. Hopefully, on the bike, it has become a
subconscious activity as I have little recollection of the phenomenon.

My cage [1] does have a big blind spot and I think I just do not want to
collect a fast approaching bike [2].

[1] Seat Ibiza
[2] my previous car, a Mazda MX6, had a minimalist approach to glass and
I learnt to become very aware of blind spots as even Bentley Rs were
invisible for eons.

 

Oh, OK then. I just thought it was important to be sure. The advice
would differ you see.

 

It's you(and possibly all new riders/drivers!). You've got to be a bit
more careful, sounds like you are not preparing to turn/manouevre until
too late, you should be anticipating what you, and others around you are
going to be doing. I suppose it all comes down to experience,which is
something you wont get in a hurry, but in the meantime, just take it easy
a little bit more, dont get too close to the cars in front, and try to
think more about what you intend to be doing 20 seconds down the road.
From your observation above:

if you left a little more room between you and the car in front, you could
see the gap behind you, then accelerate in the increased space between you
and the car, and then join the other lane with a lot more ease and time
for observation than having no room to accelerate, then having to 'cane'
it to get into the gap.
Calm down a bit,and dont rush it.
Alan.

 

Let's go for a ride. I'm off until 5th January.

 

In particular check for pizza delivery boys too.

 

David Thomas wrote

You should be doing them for pretty much any time you manoeuvre across
the road, even when you aren't actually turning.

Plan earlier. Slow down a bit.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, David Thomas said:

Do it sooner then.

 

I'd love to, but none of my 3 bikes are working :-/

BTW, turned up that Prince 2 stuff (there's loads of it), feel free to
pop over any time and collect it, though let me know you're coming
first, as I'm out and about quite a bit at the moment.

 

Just use the Parisian Method - ie driving by touch

 

<tempted>

 

Don't bother then, FFS, it's no worse than riding at night wearing a black
visor when you've accidentally put tiddly-winks in instead of your contact
lenses .. and which of us can say they've never done that, eh?

You might also want to try going a bit faster, because that is going to
dramatically reduce the number of things that are behind you and likely to
smack into you. I think that you'll find that if you can learn to take
right turns without dropping below 150 you'll have very few problems.

Well, very few problems caused by things behind you, anyway.


--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, TEAR#3 (and KotL), DS#5, Keeper of the TFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

You don't need to do them provided you're faster than everything else

Seriously though, I see plenty of new riders making exaggerated life savers
when all they need to do is glance downwards and slightly to the side to
catch the blind spot. Everything else should be visible using the mirrors
and a general perception of what's around you.

Des is the bloke to ask. He really needs his wits around him when he rides
his R1 through Paris.