Plan B
"See and be seen" doesn't always work. But you can still avoid a crash if you've prepared for an incursion by putting yourself out of reach of the vehicle threatening to pull out in front of you.
When threatened by a car about to turn left in front of you, Plan A is to
see and be seen--make sure you have a clear view to the other vehicle, and give its driver the best opportunity to see you. This usually prevents an incursion, but a truly clueless driver could still pull out in front of you. At that point you might think your best chance is a lucky impact and good protective gear. Not to disparage the value of luck and gear, but you still may be able to avoid the crash. Enter Plan B.
Zones of defense
Approaching an intersection where a vehicle waits to cross your path, but still some distance away, you are in a safe area. If it begins to turn, you can avoid a crash by applying the brakes. Call this the "braking zone". Much closer to the intersection you enter another safe area. Here a collision is impossible because your speed will carry you through before the car can reach you, since it must accelerate from a dead stop. Call this the "pass-thru zone". Between those two zones is where you are in danger. Call this the "vulnerable zone". If the car begins to move when you're here, you can't stop before reaching the collision point and you can't clear the intersection ahead of the car. The strategy behind Plan B is to reduce or eliminate the vulnerable zone.
The braking zone is determined by your speed, your reaction, and your braking skill. Going slower, reacting quicker, and braking more effectively enable you to get closer to the intersection and still be able to brake to a stop before reaching the collision point.
The pass-thru zone is determined by your speed, the other vehicle's acceleration, and its distance from the collision point. The farther it is laterally from your path, the longer it will take to reach the collision point, and the farther you can be from the intersection and still be able to cross ahead of it.
Significantly, the pass-thru zone grows as you move laterally away from the threatening vehicle while the braking zone remains at the same distance regardless of your lateral position. So by moving away from the threat, the vulnerable zone shrinks--sometimes to nothing. This was discovered by James Ouellet, one of Hurt's collaborators, who called it:
A ridiculously simple collision avoidance strategy: When faced with a potential right-of-way threat ahead, the motorcycle rider should move away laterally from the threat. That is, move to the right for a left-turning car or one crossing from the left. Or, move to the left for a car threatening from the right.
Plan B for the 1Rider A-Team
So here it is, Plan B. Execute it along with Plan A. Use position and speed to see and be seen, but also prepare for
not being seen.
- Practice braking. You don't need MotoGP skill to ride safely on the street, but you do need to be able to apply the brakes quickly, smoothly, and confidently in an emergency without locking them up. Less braking distance results in less exposure.
- Cover the brake. This is the easiest adjustment you can make to reduce vulnerability when another vehicle threatens to cross your path. You decrease reaction time by a half-second or so because you don't have to move your fingers from the throttle to the brake, and that's a half-second less exposure.
- Slow down by 10. That's how David Hough puts it in Proficient Motorcycling. Because stopping distance decreases a lot with a small drop in speed, slowing down by even 10mph will reduce your exposure.
- Move away from the threat. Shift one lane to the right when facing an oncoming left-turner or one lane to the left when a vehicle is crossing from the right--or even just the width of your own lane if that's all that's available. This will add as much as 1 second to the car's time of arrival at the collision point, and that's 1 second farther away you can be and still be able to cross ahead of it.
By simultaneously trying to make yourself seen by the other driver and putting yourself out of reach in case he doesn't see you, you've got
most bases covered.