Banter Wrote:Socrates, a clever Greek bloke once said “The unexamined life is not worth living†or in other words the more we question our feelings, attitudes and actions the better those actions should be so I thought I would throw this one up to put forward a few tricky questions.
1. When is it appropriate to break the law to maintain your safety and the motorist around you
2. Is it Ok to cut through the middle of lanes (not legaly, morally)
3. How fast is to fast, autobahn speeds and speed lane partitioning have proven successful in German why cant we do something similar here
4. How can we guide new riders to safer ridding given they represent the largest proportion of accidents.
5. Are we and the way we ride endangering the general public and if so what should we do about it
Banter
Here are a few of my thoughts, just to get the ball rolling
1. It is actually illegal to knowingly place yourself or others in danger, for example, if a motorist was trying to force you of the road you are well within your rights to exceed the speed limit in order to avoid confrontation, within the limits of common sense. If the police pull you over doing 180Kph and thereâ€
s not a car in sight this your story sort of falls apart but the point still stands that this it is basically self defence and no magistrate to my knowledge has knocked this back, again, under reasonable circumstances.
2. This is a real grey area and one from what I understand is currently under review, in short no, but as we all know itâ€
s a rule (not a law) that is more honoured in the breach than in the practice.
I regularly cut between lanes but I try to stick to a few basic rules
a. I always try and keep a car to both sides of me to avoid being cut of
b. If passing two cars blocking multiple lanes I wait until there beside each other and pass between them, same as above really.
c. In heavy traffic if a gap occurs as some cars slow down when your passing them Ill try and manoeuvre to a position that allows the most escape routes
i. Emergency lanes
ii. Turning lanes
iii. Gaps in lanes and so on as the more escape route you have the better chance of avoiding a collision
iv. Slow down until the intentions of the cars around become clear
v. Give way to cars trying to change lane, its gets them out the way and helps our reputation.
3. I donâ€
t give a monkeys what speed Iâ€
m doing as long as its safe, if I need to get to a safe spot in the traffic I donâ€
t check my Speedo while Iâ€
m doing it, I focused on the traffic condition of the road in relationship to breaking distances and manoeuvring options. In fact apart from 50 and 40 Kph zones I rarely check my Speedo at all. My speed, position and ridding style are completely dependent on whatâ€
s around me not what the speed limit is. Though there are some speed limits I do not break like 50Kph zones in suburban streets and 40 Kph zones in school zones.
4. I think the above is a good start, I hope to hear from some of the older riders with perhaps a few examples of how there ridding techniques have saved them.
5. I donâ€
t believe so, in fact having been a professional driver for a number of years itâ€
s been my experience that the majority of riders act in a respectful and responsible way. I unfortunately cannot say the same for their car driving counter parts. Should we do something about it, yes, join the MRA and participate in their attempts to gain fair representation and a say in the treatment of motorcycle riders and there use of the road.
So that my two bob worth, I hope it encourages debate and dialogue on the subject.
Banter
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