SO WHY DONT PEOPLE SEE MOTORCYCLES?

[WheelieGrip]

OK. Well when you take a course to get your motorcycle permit, they stress and stress and stress that NO ONE sees you on your motorcycle, the only people who see motorcycles are people who ride them or are interested in them, or are just lucky enough to get a glimps of you.

If there is such a problem of no one seeing motorcycles...Then why not in drivers ed stress more on SEEING MOTORCYCLES!!?!? I remember when I took drivers ed they never really said much about how motorcycles are hard to see...This is redic. If there going to complain about no one seeing motorcycles why not stress it more int he beginning rather then after they have actually hit somone..

[camthepyro]

Because no one but motorcyclists care.

[blues2cruise]

Drivers are geared to look for a larger vehicle. They also are not paying attention much anymore...between drinking their coffee and yakking on their cell phones and monkeying around with their laptops, and changing their CD's.....

It is up to us to see them! We must try to anticipate what they will do. Learn to read the "car body language". Never, ever assume that a car driver even knows the rules of the road. They may be driving illegally with no license.

[dieziege]

And, in all fairness, most of them are looking for you and are extra cautious when they see you.

One thing I've been really surprised by (after hearing all the stories here and from the MSF) is how nice many car drivers are to motorcycles. I've been waved through stop signs ahead of my turn, had people make way for me, an in general had a lot of people take extra care to share the road with me because I was on a motorcycle.

Oh, I've also seen a lot of inattentive drivers yacking on the phone as they drifted through the lanes or out of parking lots... I've been illegally passed on two-lane highways by aholes in brand-new performance cars who wanted to show off, I've had SUVs riding my "O Ring" for no good reason... but I've ALWAYS seen those people... that's just part of driving or even walking in public. I've nearly been run down as a pedestrian, on bicycles, in cars, and now on a motorcycle... I expect it.What I don't expect and have never seen is the sort of caution and accomodation I've received while riding.

Now, it could be that with my bright yellow bike, bright yellow jacket, and bright yellow helmet, people figure I have Yellow Power Ranger Powers and they are scared of me... but that doesn't explain everybody.....

[camthepyro]

I wish my stuff was bright yellow, all my stuff is blank. I going to buy one of the reflective vests the MSF instructors wear.

[Myself002]

a reason motorcycle riders notice other motorcycle riders is because we look for them. We've in a sense pointed ourselves out from the rest of the crowd.

Its like this, you do something everyday and it becomes normal to you. Your walk to work or something. One day someone points out something different to you on your walk like some sticker or something. From that momment on you notice all the stickers, it's cause someone brought that to your attention. People never really take the time to notice things untill they are told to.

I give tours at my college and we have these phone/safety boxes strapped to every 6 lightposts or so(I say strapped but there actually the light post). No one ever notices them on the tour untill I point them out and then the rest of the day they point em out. I think they think its a game or something. Most students don't really know there there cause they never look for em.

[blues2cruise]

I wish my stuff was bright yellow, all my stuff is blank. I going to buy one of the reflective vests the MSF instructors wear.

Those safety vests sure do make a difference. I wear bright colours also. And when it's night time, I put on extra reflective things like arm bands and ankle bands. I also have some relfective decals on my helmet so that headlights make them shine bright.

[camthepyro]

Yeah, I asked my instructor where I could get a vest similar to his, and he said on the MSF website, they have some you can order, so as soon as I get a little money, I'll buy one, along with some reflective strips for my helmet.

[Loonette]

a reason motorcycle riders notice other motorcycle riders is because we look for them. We've in a sense pointed ourselves out from the rest of the crowd.

Its like this, you do something everyday and it becomes normal to you. Your walk to work or something. One day someone points out something different to you on your walk like some sticker or something. From that momment on you notice all the stickers, it's cause someone brought that to your attention. People never really take the time to notice things untill they are told to.

I give tours at my college and we have these phone/safety boxes strapped to every 6 lightposts or so(I say strapped but there actually the light post). No one ever notices them on the tour untill I point them out and then the rest of the day they point em out. I think they think its a game or something. Most students don't really know there there cause they never look for em.

You've pretty much said it. It's like when you buy a certain type of car - suddenly you see the same car everywhere you go.

No matter what I'm wearing, I always operate with the assumption that I'm not being seen by anyone else. I think more reflective material is a good idea for night riding, but other than that I think the difference with wearing bright colors during the daytime would be negligible.

Cheers,
Loonette

[Sev]

I find it pretty easy to miss bikes, even when I'm looking for them, so I don't blame cages for not always seeing us. But I do hate them for doing it.