DataDan
Mama says he's bona fide
Are you in your first year or two of riding, now comfortable on the bike but still on a fairly steep slope of the learning curve? At this point in your career, you may be absorbing certain advanced skills sometimes discussed on BARF: when to flip off drivers, mirror smack technique, and even the most effective way to put a boot into a car's sheetmetal at speed. While some motorcyclists advocate and employ them, others never would.
The difference starts with attitude, which I will define as readiness to perceive conditions and events on the road in certain ways and react accordingly (with a hat-tip to non-motorcyclist Carl Jung). Attitudes set expectations, color perceptions, and influence reactions.
A good attitude--an inclination toward perceptions in sync with reality--will help you to identify key unknowns in a traffic situation, understand the influences motivating other drivers, direct your observations, anticipate events, and react in a beneficial way.
A bad attitude leads to the opposite. You misperceive traffic because you don't really understand why drivers behave as they do, so you don't know what to be looking for and can't make accurate predictions. You're often surprised in traffic, you get mad, and finally resort to a flip-off, a mirror smack, or a kick.
What are some of the characteristics of a good attitude?
- Be realistic. Stuff happens. Learn to accept what happens regardless of what the vehicle code dictates. Understand where and when it's likely to happen, so you can anticipate and avoid it.
- Be tolerant. Traffic is a real clusterfuck sometimes, and those on the lower tail of the driver-skill bell curve are less capable of handling it. They aren't evil. They don't wish you harm. But they do tend to make mistakes in tough situations. Unlike the children of Lake Wobegon, half of all drivers are below average. Deal with it. Live and let live.
- Be astute. Most drivers aren't inexplicably inept. They tend to make predictable mistakes.
- Be patient. Traffic ebbs and flows, thickens and thins, converges and diverges. Recognize the mode and rate of change and adapt to it. Because it's not going to adapt to you.
- Be indulgent. Some drivers are going to try to get away with stuff they think will cut their commute time by 30 seconds. It's not personal disrespect; you just happen to be there.
- Be resilient. After an unpleasant surprise or close call, get your head back in the game quickly. Learn whatever lesson you can and move on.
- Recognize the mismatch. Your motorcycle is smaller, faster, and more maneuverable than other vehicles. Those characteristics can be advantages but can also be misused. Understand how they create problems for other motorists.
- Acknowledge your fallibility. Recognize your own capacity to make mistakes.
- Step up to the job. Riding a motorcycle is harder than driving a car. Accept the challenge and strive to improve your ability to read traffic and the road, and to anticipate and avoid problems. Take satisfaction from staying mentally ahead of the game.
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