what are old ppl for u?
i can take a good example.
my mother.
shes almost 60, does have every driving license available (yes, shes even allowed to drive tanks!) and has had not a single accident in over 40 years of driving (well, not one caused by her at least, only by other drivers).
yet, shes not the kind of person whos driving way under the speed limit.
shes a woman and shes "kind of" old.
what does that mean? nothing.
always depends very much on the person, there are much more terrible young drivers, than old old ones.
It's not illegal anywhere. If people don't see you, or block your path, give it a handful of throttle and they tend to move out of the way, especially on the SV and the Street with the arrows...not so much on the Fazer but then again it looked like Darth Vadars helmet so maybe that's why.
RGC, just because your mother or auntie or whatever hasn't, doesn't mean old people are not safe. In my experience, they get worse once they go past 70. Typically you see an old lady in big glasses who can barely see over the dashboard driving on the wrong side of the road.
Alternatively you have the snobby old people who think because they've been driving for so long that it's their right of way all of the time. Or they have no awareness of speed and distance so they cut corners and almost crash into everything.
Yeah, I've never understood the point in not allowing it. Some states say it is not legal, while some states don't have a law for it, and other states have no laws for it but laws that make it technically "unlawful". Most riders go toward one side of the lane (nearly next to the car ahead) as a queue comes to a stop, instead of the middle. This creates small safety for when an idiot forgets to brake and it will either graze you or just smash the vehicle ahead of (or next to) you.
Oh, FYI - Kev, most motorcyclists are better road users (and thus better drivers) than most people who just drive a car.
Being a biker who has a car, I will agree, yes, on the practicality front, cars are great. But when I used to ride to work on my bike, I looked forward to getting up, every morning was a chance to get pre 9am knee down (no that doesn't mean I ride like an idiot, don't assume please as you have a habbit of doing that!).
I get the feeling you're one of these stuck up car drivers who, in a queue of traffic, would move over to try and block the way for the motorcylist, or make life a little bit more difficult. Because of cause, because of a few that happened to have pissed you off (and let's face it, it doesn't take much), you seem to think we all deserve to crash and burn.
p.s you don't crash if you hit a manhole cover. Only if you're turning fairly hard or braking very hard. Part of the motorcylist code is to try and aviod manhole covers...that's the great thing, generally you can ride around them.
Sounds like all of those car drivers to me! You know, the ones who pull out infront of you and then don't accelerate...I've never seen a bikist do this (and I'm not just saying that, either) however I have seen COUNTLESS cars do it. Wheelies are not dangerous if being performed correctly, sort of like how you'd drive with one hand, in effect. It's a part of physics. If on the Y axis, the force of acceleration is greater than the weight over the front wheel of the bike, it will pivot. There's a time and a place, however, generally it's not down the highstreet infront of all of the yummy mummys.
Thank god you're such an excellent driver. (drivers who say they are good are always nearly actually shit)
The biker part of me would probably agree.
The car driver part, though, does not. There are lots of idiots that go about by car, but there are more on bikes.
Just to clear things up for everybody, you know the drivers who move a bit to the left (or right for the UK) when they see a bike approaching on the back? Well, I am one of them. So I DO NOT want all bikers to crash and burn in hell.
But I saw (and always see) too many bikers overtake me at 180kph (110mph) when the limit is 90kph (55mph), then almost stop ("OMG, a corner!") when they have just overtaken me, so that I have to brake.
Or many, MANY bikers on their Harley (or, worse, moped), riding in the exact middle of the road, at 20-25mph. If you flash, they don't see. If you gently beep your horn, they see it as a personal offense, and go even slower, even more in the middle of the road, if possible.
And don't get me started on "bikers" who pull a wheelie. On a track, you can do whatever you like (e.g. drift a car, wheelies etc. -even if they make you slower). On public roads, you could kill someone.
Remember, car drivers who say "I'm an excellent driver" are usually shit, but bikers who say "I'm an excellent biker, so I feel free to pull a wheelie on the road" are even worse.
That said, I sympathize for the guy that got rear-ended, but I wouldn't beat the sh*t out of the lady who rear-ended him. Accidents happen, maybe she wasn't paying attention, but maybe her foot slipped off the brake, or whatever. The thing is that the first thing she did after the accident was run to the guy and ask him (almost crying) if he was OK and say she was sorry.
Just to laugh a bit, here's what she would have said if she was an Italian lady in Italy.
"WHYYYYY HAVE YOU BRAKE THIS-A-MUCH, YOU IDIOT! YOU AND YOUR STUPID BIKE, IT'S ALL YOUR-A-FAULT, YOU MOTHERF..."
This is put about my all motorcyclists and is a crock of shit. I'm an ex-motorcyclist, so I think I can comment.
What was the last vehicle you saw doing a wheelie in a city center. What the last vehicle you saw trying to corner at the absolute limit during which they were prepared to sacrifice braking ability and a view ahead to get there (and their knee down)? What the last vehicle you saw doing over 60mph through a village?
Yup, all motorbikes, ridden by all ages. Unlike cars, where the crap drivers are all below 25 in this regard (after that, most slow down and realise you don't need to risk lives to get from A-B). Put a helmet and leathers on a 60 year old and he becomes a cock.
Yes, bikers have to 'read' the road a smidgen more than a car driver. Diesel, tarmac seams, manhole covers and leaves presenting more problems on two wheels. But that DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE BETTER DRIVERS [or riders].
And you ended you post with a dig a Kev (obviously you didn't get the sarcasm and irony in his text) saying that anyone who says their a great driver is a crap drivers. You said motorcyclists are good drivers. Thus they must be crap, because you said it and you're a motorcyclist. Do you not see the contradiction in your words?
Clearly, from all your posts, you are a crap driver and a crap rider. I would never let anyone I know be in a vehicle with you at the controls. In fact, I wouldn't want anyone I know to be in your company full stop.
Edit: Bob, no. Mopedists should ride in the middle of their lane, but courtesy to every other mode of transport from the last 5000 years (i.e. quicker) suggests they should move over a bit to let the cars past. When they get older and buy a faster bike to kill themselves on they will expect cars to get out of the way so they can speed through villages with thier loud exhausts at 3:30pm.
As much as it pains me, I can only agree with you Tristan, but on that note, there are still people who speed around in cars over the age of 25, if cars COULD do wheelies out of the factory, people would do it, so that part of the arguement is pure bias.
The main point I agree with you on is "put a pair of leathers on a 60 year old and he automatically turns into a cock". It's true, there's no way around it for bikers.
Although, it all means shit because I agree with S14's mentality, except when he says bike riders are better at using the road. I disagree. Because bikes are rare, the very few we see are either extremely loud and dangerously riding, or both.
But, we all know the best automobile drivers are professional drivers IE, chauffer, and truck drivers.
It's hard to compare, because many motorbikists are also car drivers, and there are a lot more car drivers than bikers.
But I suspect that there is a much higher percentage of people accelerating flat out in city centers on bikes (to do wheelies on bikes) than there are doing full throttle race starts in cars. Even the chavs in their Corsas and Golfs are relatively well behaved.
I also find it amusing that people that have no idea about internal combustion engines, or exhaust design, or tyre design or aerodynamics, or physics in general become experts when they are 'bikers'. "I'm a biker, and I know a straight-through exhaust is best because their marketing pamphlet says so, so it must be true". "I'm a biker, and I know that Bridgestones are better at 82° lean angle because I counter-steer with my weight on the pegs". "I'm a biker, and therefore I'm so likely to die that I have to stare wide-eyed at the road in case there is a discarded fag butt, which must mean I'm a better driver in a car. I've only killed three children, deafened 8 adults, and obeyed 23 speed limits, and that proves it"
These bikers then get in a car and get confused about stereos, which results in them buying the wrong car because they meant to buy a iPod Touch instead.
But sadly their balls are like pancakes having been pressed up against a cold, hard petrol tank that is perfectly designed to transmit vibration into them. Bikers are not the ideal mate!
And I say this to those that think I'm biased: When I done racing cars I would love to get a bike again. Something like a 400 or a 600 would be fine. Not too silly. I used to love the ZZR range, but I have no idea if they're still making them - a 'practical' bike, and not too rubbish when you want to kill innocent road users too.
All the safe bikers must be in a different part of England where I never go, because most of the bikers around here ride like complete twats.
I don't do anything dangerous on the roads, and that could be dangerous if a bike was approaching quickly, so no. I also move over if I can on A roads if a bike is behind me. The fact is I don't want to be involved in their fatal accident, I would rather they hit something else, I have got places I need to be.
I had a group of five or six bikes do it, pulling out of a lay-by right infront of me on the ring road around York and looking over their shoulders to see if their mates were following them. Meanwhile I'm braking at the limit of my tyres right behind them desperately trying to slow down enough not to smash them all to bits.
You're such a stupid idiot. I once had a guy doing wheelies right behind me on a 40mph road through an industrial estate at night. There were junctions on both sides all over the place, if I had braked for any of them he would've been dead. And I couldn't really judge where he was because his headlight was barely visible in my mirror.
But of course if I had braked and he had broken every bone in his body he would've been on some bike forum telling them about the atrocious car driver who knocked him off. :rolleyes:
To clear things up: nobody in front of him, our lane completely empty apart from me and him, other lane crowded, 55mph limit, he's doing 25 and I have to do the same speed only because he fancies to stay in the middle of the road?
No way.
I'm not saying you should ride on the hard shoulder, but I think that everybody should stay as near it as possible. At least when you're riding at less than half the speed limit.
Idiots, and idiot drivers are definitely amongst the number that take up motorcycling, and they're still idiots. They give us all a bad name, but I'd like to think that there are more sane and competent riders than there are mental and dangerous ones. We do get tarred with the same brush in the same way that white-van-drivers do, which is a shame, but then I don't blame people for that any more than I care what they think.
The fact is that the silhouettes on your license are not a reflection of how competent you are as a road user or machine operator. I think riding a motorcycle does make some drivers better road users, although the ones that would most benefit probably never would take it up, but there's no substitute for simply caring about whatever it is that you're doing.
we dont have many bikers here, and when they are they are harley drivers who seem to drive fine. the worst they do is give it a little too much throttle and take off fast from a red light
one time in my life i saw somebody on a bike doing a single stunt on a highway, the one where he gets off to the left/right and drags his feet..then he stopped and drove fine. this was 5+ years ago.
Fun fact. If you ever do defensive driving, you're taught to prevent bikes (push or motor) from coming up your inside, unless there is a cycle lane. Because when they do that they end up in your blind zone. Being in a van makes things even worse as my bind zone is a mile wide. You could part HMS Ark Royal behind my van and I couldn't see it. I've had a Range Rover sat on my back bumper and couldn't see it as I have no back windows. You could also park a Range Rover down the side of my van and again I couldn't see it in my mirrors.
You will notice a lot of car drivers will say "I didn't see you" when hitting a biker. That is because they can't ****ing see you when you try to squeeze through traffic.
So yes, I am a "stuck up" driver who blocks the inside of the road so that I don't turn left to hear *thud* because a cock with ruined testicles was riding down my blind spot.
I find the opposite... people drive like cocks in cars because they've got 1 ton of penis extension making them feel like a man.
A biker knows in any accident he's probably going to be breaking a few bones, and so tend not to ride like a cock - or at least on the routes I drive.
I also find them the most courteous road users when your "nice" to them - i.e. whenever I move over to allow a biker past in my lane I get a "thanks" about 80% of the time, versus any sort of response about 5% of the time from a car driver.
In most cases the car cutting up the biker has a shit load of side windows, and they still say ' I DINT SAI YOU'. Though I agree about people sitting in blindspots, though cars do it to trucks too often.... as did that woman in the Clio on the A1 (that video was posted as a thread here)
Very true, but when I was doing defensive driving, I saw a scooter approaching in my rear view mirror (Ford Focus Mk2), then he vanished. I could still hear the can full of angry bees, but couldn't for the life of me see him. Every now and then I'd get a glimpse of arm, then it'd vanish again. That went on for about a mile until I used a turn right filter lane and he shot past in the inside. But I didn't see him until he was half way up the car. It is very easy to lose a bike when you're in a vehicle full of blind spots.
As I drove a van before I drove a car, I learnt quickly what a bastard they can be to drive, so I follow the rule of "if I can't see your mirrors, you can't see me" so far I have never had a problem. A guy who once overtook me and filled in the gap I was leaving between a lorry and myself had a big problem when the lorry had to reverse to get around a tight bend and couldn't see said fellow.
I was tempted to do nothing about it and allow a form of natural justice, but then felt guilty for thinking that and jumped out to stop the lorry.
There have been a lot of times where I've seen someone sat right up the back bumper of a truck/bus and then get reversed onto because they are in a huge blind spot.
