Crossing the centre line?

[grusomhat]

Agree with the lazy riding. Any chance to go around a corner is fine with me.

[_STAIN_]

Why would anyone want to straighten up a bend when on a bike???/ Twisties = Yahoo....

Lazy driving/riding is just that....

it is about riding a smoothe line, looking thru the corner and auto pilot (experience) delivers you the most practical line for given conditions. how many technically difficult corners are there in this country due to purely the markings on the road.

[MSTRS:Me]

it is about riding a smoothe line, looking thru the corner and auto pilot (experience) delivers you the most practical line for given conditions. how many technically difficult corners are there in this country due to purely the markings on the road.

Therein lies the problem. One day, that autopilot is gunna see you on the wrong side of the dotted line at a critical moment.
Practice late apexing...it's safer, and you get more for your money in corners. Leave the race lines for the track.

[Patrick]

Therein lies the problem. One day, that autopilot is gunna see you on the wrong side of the dotted line at a critical moment.
Practice late apexing...it's safer, and you get more for your money in corners. Leave the race lines for the track.

+ 1......

Practice apexing on your side of the road.... you have a whole lane to play in....

[george formby]

The "keep left" education here leaves me cold. On a bike, if you enter a left hand corner on the left of your lane you cannot see squat. If Mr & Mrs Myopia are parked up to grab a bag of Puha, you have no reaction time & have to take drastic action. If you approach the corner close to the white line you can see much further ahead & lean away from oncoming traffic as you take the corner. Solid yellows? Well the rules are the rules. Plenty of places around here were I can overtake on double yellows with 100m of clear road before & after the manouevre. I just always think what is the next car to come into view, doe's it have lights on the roof?

[MSTRS:Me]

The "keep left" education here leaves me cold. On a bike, if you enter a left hand corner on the left of your lane you cannot see squat. If Mr & Mrs Myopia are parked up to grab a bag of Puha, you have no reaction time & have to take drastic action. If you approach the corner close to the white line you can see much further ahead & lean away from oncoming traffic as you take the corner.

Move to right side of your lane when setting up for a lefthander. And vice versa. Stay wide (late apex) until you can see the exit. You also avoid the 'slingshot' effect if you misread and apex early, especially if the corner tightens.

[Skyryder]

I'm just not too sure how you can get your body over the centre line but not the tyres. I suppose that if you rode with in centre metres of the line some part would be over but in all fairness I doubt if some cop would book you for that: quota's or not.


Skyryder

[MSTRS:Me]

I'm struggling a bit with that assertion....
Of course, one supposes that one is actually moving fast enough to require some lean to negotiate a corner.

[BMWST?]

There's almost never an acceptable excuse/reason for crossing the centreline whilst cornering. It's simply lazy riding. I have no sympathy for anyone caught doing it.
In saying that, I do take issue with the camera stings though...they are never set up on corners where it is dangerous to cross.
Where there is clear road visible through the next 3 (say) corners, where's the harm, you might say? The harm is that it is habit-forming, and we all know that practising something wires it into the brain.

I straight line corners all the time bike and car.Esp in the wet,on the bike.I apply the same rules as overtaking.

[_STAIN_]

Therein lies the problem. One day, that autopilot is gunna see you on the wrong side of the dotted line at a critical moment.
Practice late apexing...it's safer, and you get more for your money in corners. Leave the race lines for the track.

Doh ! how long have you guys been riding ? you can't set a smoothe line if you can't see the exit of the corner !
Where do you get this late apexing thing, not from what I wrote.
In fact I apex generally much earlier than most, guess you would call that a defensive race line.

Too many learner riders are like car drivers and try to ride a set distance from the left boarder line.
This is all very well until they encounter a few decreasing radius corners and haven't learned to look at the corner as a complex curve.
Where a different smoother line can be ridden when there is good visibility.
(and just for you two who don't understand the concept. "without crossing the centre line")

There are at time when it is a lot more practical to clip a corner with good visibility than unsettling the bike pulling a tighter line or braking hard.

[MSTRS:Me]

I straight line corners all the time bike and car.Esp in the wet,on the bike.I apply the same rules as overtaking.

Then one day you are going to get caught. Either an unexpected/unseen vehicle...or a photo...
Don't get me wrong...I know why people do it. I used to, as well. Well...wheels not actually over the line, but head plus - certainly. I never got a wakeup call, but I started to think about what might happen (we all have the odd moment of inattention - don't kid yourself) and that is all it would take.

Doh ! how long have you guys been riding ? you can't set a smoothe line if you can't see the exit of the corner !
Where do you get this late apexing thing, not from what I wrote.
In fact I apex generally much earlier than most, guess you would call that a defensive race line.

Too many learner riders are like car drivers and try to ride a set distance from the left boarder line.
This is all very well until they encounter a few decreasing radius corners and haven't learned to look at the corner as a complex curve.
Where a different smoother line can be ridden when there is good visibility.
(and just for you two who don't understand the concept. "without crossing the centre line")

There are at time when it is a lot more practical to clip a corner with good visibility than unsettling the bike pulling a tighter line or braking hard.

Um, 36 years...I think I'm beyond the learner stage!! But I'm still learning.
I read your first post to mean what BMWST said. Apologies if I got that wrong. But nowhere did I say that one should remain a set distance from the left etc. No, I recommend moving within the lane as part of good ride 'management'. But I also recommend staying wide deeper into a corner (late apexing). I'm not sure how you apex early, but still recognise, and not get caught by, a decreasing radius corner? That leads to the slingshot effect I mentioned earlier.

[jaykay]

I don't have a problem with anyone who insists on never crossing a dashed centre on cornering, what I do have an issue with is the Police prosecuting anyone they catch doing it - and particularly where the rider/driver is not stopped at the time (ie where they have no identity evidence).

Does anyone know what specific law is being broken? Has anyone had an infringement notice for this?

[MSTRS:Me]

I don't have a problem with anyone who insists on never crossing a dashed centre on cornering, what I do have an issue with is the Police prosecuting anyone they catch doing it - and particularly where the rider/driver is not stopped at the time (ie where they have no identity evidence).

Does anyone know what specific law is being broken? Has anyone had an infringement notice for this?

http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/roa...ping-left.html
The offence is Failing to keep left.
And when snapped via camera sting, what's the difference between that and speed cameras? The vehicle is identified, and it's up to the registered owner to accept responsibility or ID the driver at the time.

[george formby]

http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/roa...ping-left.html
The offence is Failing to keep left.
And when snapped via camera sting, what's the difference between that and speed cameras? The vehicle is identified, and it's up to the registered owner to accept responsibility or ID the driver at the time.

I guess LTNZ should read this thread & clearly state that keep left means keep in your left lane & use that space to maximise your visibilty & reaction distance. It's good to read post's from riders who know how to travel quickly & safely using a bikes narrowness to their advantage. I don't see too many on the road unfortunately.. Maybe I need to get out more.

[jaykay]

http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/roa...ping-left.html
The offence is Failing to keep left.
And when snapped via camera sting, what's the difference between that and speed cameras? The vehicle is identified, and it's up to the registered owner to accept responsibility or ID the driver at the time.

The land transport link isn't the law. Even I wasn't aware until recently that there is no law in the UK about driving on the left (and I lived there for forty years), so I was wondering if there is such a law in NZ, and is so how it's worded.

There is no difference between a speed camera and a line crossing camera, neither do anything positive for road safety.