Whats riskier? Highway or in-town riding...

[-Holiday]

Yup - came up on a giant box spring mattress laying right in the middle of the lane I was in on a freeway once, couldn't see it for the cager in front of me until they moved over



Thank god no one was in the lane next to me.

similar thing happened to me in a truck i used to own.

was tailgaiting this moron going too slow in the passing lane and they moved over a lane very quickly...i figured they finally realized they were being an "O Ring"...nope, turns out there was a huge shovel in the middle of the freeway...which i tried to straddle but ended up hitting just right...BAM took out my muffler.

luckily i wasn't on a bike...

haha!

thats Karma for you.

[KarateChick]

Yup - came up on a giant box spring mattress laying right in the middle of the lane I was in on a freeway once...

Now if there had been someone laying on that mattress....

[blues2cruise]

600-800 miles isn't very much experience yet. You will gain more confidence the more skills you gain and the more you ride.

I used to think my engine would explode at higher speeds....I got over it.

If you find a vehicle beside you on the freeway, you can adjust your speed so that you place yourself in a different space....either let them get ahead of you or you get ahead of them.

Same thing as in front of you....allow lots of room between you and the vehicle ahead of you. You will feel a bit more comfortable.

[Grey Thumper]

Like most people here, I prefer freeways for reasons others have already stated. I've noticed though that when traffic is fairly light, cars on freeways tend to sort of "clump together" in batches, and it feels much safer to travel in between the clumps. I don't know if conditions where you live are similar though, but if they are, you might want to give it a try.

[scotbot]

Even on my 125 I think it's much safer out of town on the open road. Having said that, I never make it into the fast lane for obvious reasons and If I had a more powerful bike I suspect 80mph on the motorway in the fast lane, where the worst drivers are to be found, would be quite scary.

[Ian522]

You all have pretty good points. I think im going to take the plunge in a couple weeks and go for a nice long road trip. If you get on the highway and head about 45 minutes northwest of here into the skylands there are some great scenic roads. Would make a good highway trip to ease into.

[MrGompers]

The highway is far safer than secondary roads. On the highway everyone is going in the same direction, no intersections, and no stop signs. Unless you live in a state like NJ where theres a toll booth every 10 miles.

At least where I live some of our highways are twisty and scenic.

[Skel3tor1]

I feel more safer on the highway than I do in town.

On the highway, everyone should be going the same direction.

In the city you have intersection, people changing lanes, weaving more, although this happens on the freeway, it's not as congested. (IE, you travel in a pack unless you can pull ahead and usually you are with the same people red light to red light).

Intersections...

People pulling out in front of you from businesses, etc to merge into traffic... "But I didn't see the motorcyclist there...."

Intersections....

and intersections.... =-p