Total Motorcycle Community Forums

jstark47 wrote:
I split the difference. I expect I'm invisible to 50% of cagers. The other 50% who can see me are assassins.

Yup, that's the truth right there. Cages have a real hate for motorcycles. They don't like driving behind one, they don't like going slower than one, they just plain hate us and don't care or stop to think that if they pull out in front of us we can't react in the same way we would if we were in a car. The results can be a lot more extreme than someone just getting pissed and flipping you the bird. Ya, sometimes a cage honestly doesn't see you but sometimes they know you're coming... they just don't care.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would knowingly try to hit a motorcyclist. I do believe that bikes are very hard to see. A major factor contributing to our invisibility is nobody is looking out for us. Drivers just automatically look for cars and since most ppl drive on auto-pilot they do not percieve motorcycles until it is too late.

There are reasons why some drivers hate motorcyclists. Lets not pretend that this is all one sided.

Motofiend wrote:There are reasons why some drivers hate motorcyclists. Lets not pretend that this is all one sided.

I agree we need not pretend all drivers are evil. After all, most of us have to operate a cage from time to time. I'm sure better than 90% (I'd say better than 99%) of motorcycle riders own and/or drive a cage. I'm a very attentive cage pilot, but I think riding a bike has had some effect on that fact. People are comfortable in their cars and not always doing their 100% to focus. That is why most drivers are dangerous. A small chuck of those in cages have ill-intent towards bikes - being realistic about the topic.

That said, I think drivers hate us because we are so cool.

I think its more that they just dont pay attention, not that we're inherently invisible. They're too busy sipping coffee, munching on a burrito from taco bell, and talking on the cellphone while adjusting the radio.

They don't pay enough attention to the road when they drive, which is why they can't see anything smaller than a giant 1/2 ton chunk of metal covered with lights and reflectors. Thank god for sidewalks, because with cellphones becoming more like gameboys and laptops every day, its only getting worse.

Then there are the awful experiences people have with bikers. The guys who ride in and out of traffic at 100 mph. The guys who lane split passed your stopped car revving the engine and doing 40 mph that scare teh crap out of you. The guys who do wheelies and stoppies etc in a neighborhood. The harley guys who try to make their bikes as loud as possible and love to have all their harley friends over at 2 in the morning. The riders who feel slighted when they shouldn't that flip off cagers or in extreme circumstances kick off their rearview mirrors. Etc etc etc.

The problem is that first impressions are a bitc h, it only takes one bad apple and the good riders blend in so well that they don't provide enough counterbalance to the bad.

[quote="scanevalexec"]I treat all cages as unpredictable. I pass someone like they are going to come over when I get next to them. I Even though most mistakes are the fault of cage drivers, you can mostly avoid them with awareness of the unpredictable nature of - phone calling, make-up putting on, news paper reading, lunch eating automobile drivers.
quote]

you forgot to put shaving on your list. I often see men stretching their faces toward the mirror trying to shave.

blues2cruise wrote:

scanevalexec wrote:I treat all cages as unpredictable. I pass someone like they are going to come over when I get next to them. I Even though most mistakes are the fault of cage drivers, you can mostly avoid them with awareness of the unpredictable nature of - phone calling, make-up putting on, news paper reading, lunch eating automobile drivers.
quote]

you forgot to put shaving on your list. I often see men stretching their faces toward the mirror trying to shave.

I know you won't like this generalization (stereotyping), but I see more young ladies with driving problems than men. I have seen the shaving thing though, to tell the truth. And men (at least where I live) seem equally likely to have their phone at their left shoulder blocking their ability to even look out the driver's side. But back to my slam on the young women - for some reason I've just seen a lot of the teen to mid-twenty crowd driving carelessly - and seemingly busy with many things not related to driving AND YET that is what they should be focusing on ONLY. We have had a load of recent accident with young ladies around here on the news, all fatal. But I also know the news doesn't report everything that happens - sometimes only what is popular at the moment.

I have to agree with that sentiment. I constantly rag on my wife while she is driving about putting on lipstick or digging in her purse for something. I swear, if it wasnt for me getting on her case about it, she would be much worse.

I will agree that men and women are equal offenders as far as cell phones.

I've seen a girl hit the curb three times at 70kmh... just scraped into it, bounced off and kept going. Needless to say I stayed no where near her.

As far as the "one fingered salute" goes...I NEVER do this. I know that most drivers are normal people that are going from A to B, but there's always a certain percentage of psychos. If a guy in a car flips off a psycho and gets rammed, he can sue. If I flip off a psycho, well I guess my family will be able to sue after they bury me.

Seriously, road rage is a very real thing and you never know what happened to that other person right before they got behind the wheel (shot down by a woman, had a few drinks, got fired, etc.).