This Lifesaver Malarkey

I was taught that you can make a lifesaver obvious, without
impersonating an owl for half an hour.

 

You're still not looking where you're going when you're doing it.

 

I really don't see *how* something can get into my blind spot on
single carriageway/town roads. I position myself in the road such
there's nowhere for anything bigger than a motorcycle to hide. And I
pay enough attention to my mirrors to know if someone is coming up
behind me. And I disagree about the blind spot thing, too. The blind
spot in the mirrors of my bike is situated in the next carriageway, so
the only time I need to do a shoulder check is when changing lanes on
busy motorways.

The potential cost is that lost second, when you were looking behind
you, instead of where you are going.

 

Thats where you are going *to be*, not where you are currently going.

 

flashgorman wrote

You are you daft ****. You are checking that the bit of road that you
intend to occupy in the next half a second is not going to be the
subject of a counter invasion by the evil emissaries of satan.

 

There's a proviso for doing a lifesaver:-

Make sure there are no brick walls or other relatively static objects
in your *immediate* path beforehand.

 

Sounds like something that could save your life one day.

 

flashgorman wrote

Well I dunno about you but if my head goes off the centre of gravity the
bike turns.

 

If you're *100%* sure that there's nothing there, then that's fine.
Me? After correct *forward* observation, I'd prefer to do correct
*rearward* observation. Where necessary, that includes a lifesaver.

 

I'm so glad you didn't aim that at me

How long did it take you to get from my place back to yours so I can have a
vague idea of how long it takes?

 

1 hour 35 mins.

 

Well fine. My experience in over 20 years of riding is that the only
time I've had a problem with what's behind me / blind spot is when
changing lane on busy motorways.

 

Aaah that's my whinge, it's not the lane changing or the higher speed
lifesaver that give me problems, its the almost but not quite stationary
sharp right turns, having to look for a gap in the oncoming traffic, and
having to look where I am turning into and fitting in the lifesaver because
all my attention has been looking for a gap not looking in the mirrors.

In the car I always check my blind spot before turning right, but then again
in the car I can always sharpen the turn in I am starting to overshoot... is
this making sense.

D

 

Quite. When Champ did his test, the emergency stop involved pulling very
hard on the reigns.

 

Heh, i've never noticed really. The mirrors are useless on my MX-6,
regardless of the postage stamps of glass, so I end up doing the
lifesaver anyway.

There's not usually anything there, so my spacial awareness doesn't
seem to have worn off yet ;-)

Cheers,

Paul.

 

That's what you get when riding queens.

 

Hmm.... that's a long time of tedium :-/

 

What about looking deep inside ones self[1]?


[1]sic

 

Well, I'm enthralled by HooDooWitch's top 10 places to look when you're
riding.

Good to see forward is still #1 and slightly surprising to see that aft has
jumped in a #2.

Enough suspense - has rightwards held on at #3 or has it been edged out by
left? Is directly upwards still at #10?


--
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.

 

Find out what's Christmas #1 when the full Pepsi-HooDooWitch
Observation charts are published on Wednesday. ...