Car drivers v bikes

AJB · Post by **AJB** » Fri May 23, 2008 7:13 am

I read on various forums and occasionally in newspapers, lots of criticism of car drivers for not seeing bikes. There are also a number of bikers who are vociferously anti 4X4's - I read a rather silly letter yesterday in the free motorcycling paper they hand out at Ryker's in Box Hill, going on and on about a woman driving a range rover (who had done nothing wrong apart from drive a RR).

I am new to riding bikes in this country and I think the culture is in some ways much less bike aware than some other countries in Europe.

Ranting about car drivers achieves little. I wonder what can be done to improve matters? What do others think?

We even have this debate at home. We are test driving cars at the moment as my girlfriend has to get a new company car. It is unfamiliar as she is used to left hand drive.

She has done the same test route in four or five different Audis and each time we turn right into a pub car park for a parking check. And every single time she turns right she fails to look over her shoulder. So a bike (unwisely) overtaking would be missed if it was in her blind spot.

The "rely on mirrors alone" habit is apparently deeply ingrained. She is not alone in this.

horse27 · Post by **horse27** » Fri May 23, 2008 7:47 am

I am afraid we are seen as second rate citizens when it comes to road use over here .. I was in Black Forest region and a tiny bit of Switzerland 2 weeks ago (having ridden through france, belgium, etc) and it is always refreshing to be treated with respect whilst on the continent. Never ceases to amaze me - courtesy, good road manners, etc.

Maybe it's the space and this island mentality.

As for changing things ... some of the bike awareness campaigns they run on TV are OK - but they always leave me with a feeling that the stupid biker shouldn't have been using the road in the first place and the accident could be avoided. Our maybe that's just me?

Join MAG http://www.mag-uk.org/ ...

But in the mean time while things are changing for the 'better' - get some advanced training - keep thinking - and ride for yourself and every other road user as well.

If you know people don't check their blind spots and don't expect them too then you'll be just fine

Cheers.

PS: Why the bleedin' hell did you move here???

Was a female involved? God damn them!

AJB · Post by **AJB** » Fri May 23, 2008 7:55 am

Ha, I moved here because I am English. The Swiss thing was female related....Switzerland is in many ways a great place to live, especially in the summer. Very bike friendly in my experience too.

My first introduction to bikers really was in Switzerland when I was driving over the mountains to Italy in a sports car. I had overtaken one by one a hell of a lot of trucks in an army convoy going up a steep and winding mountain pass, and the dam car then overheated big time at the top. I had the pleasure of watching all the trucks trundle past again as the remaining coolant trickled down the road. A Swiss biker stopped and gave me a lift on the back of his bike, to a nearby stream to fill up discarded water bottles to refresh the car. This took several trips. Great bloke.

horse27 · Post by **horse27** » Fri May 23, 2008 8:05 am

You see - bikers are a caring lot - even towards car drivers!

OK - fair enough (I guess) - welcome back!

Interesting first bike choice - took me 14 years to give in to the BMW thing. Were you influenced by the number of BMW riders in Switzerland and Germany, etc?

AJB · Post by **AJB** » Fri May 23, 2008 8:30 am

No. A friend of mine has been biker for many years and he had a series of Ducatis and before that Bimotas as his fun bikes...and ran BMW's as his every day and commuter bikes.

Like me he is broad and tall (he is 6' 5") and he reckoned that the R1100SS would be ideal for what I want at the moment. He had one until a couple of years ago. So that was the main influencing factor really.

I had looked at BM's before, but been put off by the sticky out cylinders, which reminded me of a bike my dad once had. I preferred the K1200S to look out, but decided it was too crazy as a first bike to own.

I am torn between the looks of sport bikes, like the 1098 and the relative safety and practicality of other bikes. I am not aspiring to be fastest man on two wheels and as Surrey is full of cameras and police cars I am wary as well.

Also, as it is really only a play thing, I am minded not to waste lots of money. And my girlfriend is not totally sold on the bike idea.....

horse27 · Post by **horse27** » Fri May 23, 2008 9:54 am

It is a 'cool' bike - I don't think there is anything else about that can be classed as such an all rounder - has a certain presence too (sort of like a london bus).

Take my recent trip - commute to work in the morning, then pop home after work and fit panniers, tedious motorway to Dover, pleasant touring to the Black Forest, take the boxes off and have a good old blat around, do a 600 mile day to get back ... I can't think of a another bike that would do all of that so well.

Good choice

AJB · Post by **AJB** » Fri May 23, 2008 9:57 am

That is what I have been told. I have to go to the German/Dutch border near Zwolle quite often and I thought in the summer this bike would be suitable for one or two of those trips. Need to get used to it first though. I have not looked into panniers yet.

Man-of-Mystery · Post by **Man-of-Mystery** » Fri May 23, 2008 12:55 pm

Regarding car drivers (back on topic) it's all down to something ingrained in the British character. My late dad first noticed it in returning soldiery after WW2. He called it "the Fujiyama Principle", which he said stood for "F*** you, Jack, I am all right".

Basically, people pass their test, tear up their L plates, have their indicators surgically removed, stick their heads up their arses and their feet on the accelerator.

They don't see bikes. Mind you, they don't see each other either. My wife drives to work along the same road as I do - remarkably quickly for someone in a Nissan Micra Sport - and wonders how come most of the people on the road can't spot a bright red car in their mirrors!

M-o-M

Gromit · Post by **Gromit** » Fri May 23, 2008 1:03 pm

I'm often saddened to admit that car drivers aren't necessarily alone in deserving our venom - there have been many times when I've noticed the 'I'm alright Jack' mentality has been evident from some motorcyclists. Their lack of vision and awareness of their surroundings is at times acutely worrying...a carry-over from the way they probably drive their cars.

They'll start giving a car driver the 'finger' (after said car driver failed to spot them) when they could have put themselves in a far more visible/safer position in the first place.

Man-of-Mystery · Post by **Man-of-Mystery** » Fri May 23, 2008 2:20 pm

Sadly, true.

M-o-M

JamesL · Post by **JamesL** » Fri May 23, 2008 4:15 pm

Funnily enough I was reflecting that driving standards seemed to have improved as I wobbled home last night. Filtering not much of a problem even with the bargy panniers on, people letting you out to overtake if need be, and actually using the LH lane on the motorway, shock, horror.

I came up behind someone on the Fosse a few weeks back, not in a great place for overtaking, and he literally drove in the gutter to let me past - so I felt duty bound to do so before he left the road!

I doubt it will last though...