ScottRNelson
Adventure and Dual Sport
Background:
Back in 1997, when I got back into riding motorcycles - with the purchase of a Ducati Monster - I took an MSF Experienced Rider Course after I had ridden it for a couple of months. One of the few new ideas that I picked up from the classroom portion of that daylong class was to not ride next to other vehicles. You won't have people changing lanes into you if you're not next to them.
And I remember a few months later riding eastbound across the Dumbarton Bridge and somebody made a quick lane change into my lane very close in front of me. I was annoyed that they would make such a move, but it didn't endanger me because I wasn't next to them, so I was reminded of the rule that I had learned at the ERC, and how it had actually worked to keep me safe.
Which leads me to the present day...
So I've kept that rule of not being next to other vehicles for both riding motorcycles and driving cars, and it has worked well for me. Until today.
Somehow I've acquired the habit of going through two-lane roundabouts in the right side of the two lanes and passing a car or two on the exit. I don't do that on a motorcycle, because I'm more careful about my position relative to other vehicles, but I've been doing it regularly when driving a car. So today, I tried that and the young woman driving the blue car in the left lane moves right on over into my lane at the exit, coming within about four inches of hitting me. I jammed on the brakes, went up on the curb a bit, and honked, feeling lucky that we didn't make contact.
The first reaction to a close call is normally annoyance at the other person for not driving correctly. But on further thought, I realized that if I had been better at following my own rule, it never would have been an issue in the first place. The other car would have cut in front of me, but would not have come so close to making contact.
Other driving/riding rules that I try to follow:
Back in 1997, when I got back into riding motorcycles - with the purchase of a Ducati Monster - I took an MSF Experienced Rider Course after I had ridden it for a couple of months. One of the few new ideas that I picked up from the classroom portion of that daylong class was to not ride next to other vehicles. You won't have people changing lanes into you if you're not next to them.
And I remember a few months later riding eastbound across the Dumbarton Bridge and somebody made a quick lane change into my lane very close in front of me. I was annoyed that they would make such a move, but it didn't endanger me because I wasn't next to them, so I was reminded of the rule that I had learned at the ERC, and how it had actually worked to keep me safe.
Which leads me to the present day...
So I've kept that rule of not being next to other vehicles for both riding motorcycles and driving cars, and it has worked well for me. Until today.
Somehow I've acquired the habit of going through two-lane roundabouts in the right side of the two lanes and passing a car or two on the exit. I don't do that on a motorcycle, because I'm more careful about my position relative to other vehicles, but I've been doing it regularly when driving a car. So today, I tried that and the young woman driving the blue car in the left lane moves right on over into my lane at the exit, coming within about four inches of hitting me. I jammed on the brakes, went up on the curb a bit, and honked, feeling lucky that we didn't make contact.
The first reaction to a close call is normally annoyance at the other person for not driving correctly. But on further thought, I realized that if I had been better at following my own rule, it never would have been an issue in the first place. The other car would have cut in front of me, but would not have come so close to making contact.
Other driving/riding rules that I try to follow:
- Every vehicle that can cross my path is considered a threat until I'm absolutely sure that they're not.
- Look at the front wheel of the potential threat because that's the easiest way to determine when they start moving or start turning into your path.
- Never go more than about 20 mph faster than the lane that you're next to. You never know when they'll decide that your lane looks better to them and that they want to be in it as quickly as possible.
- Off road and on two-lane roads with no center line, assume that around that next blind curve is an F-350 Dually hauling a "4-passenger" horse trailer half-way into your lane. It doesn't happen very often, but I've seen it too many times to take the chance of not being prepared.
