Police riders' handbook to better motorcycling - Motorcycle road craft

[Bikernereid]

Look forward to the cornering section as that is my psychological achilles heal ;-)

[rustic101]

8. Riding defensively

Riders are extremely vulnerable. Unlike car drivers they have no protective shell around them, their stability is highly dependant on the quality of the road surface, they are not very conspicuous and other drivers take greater risks when pulling out in front of them. Set against this, riders have advantages in observation, positioning and acceleration.

Conspicuity (being more easily seen)

One-third of drivers involved in a daylight collision with a motorcyclist claim not to have seen the rider before the accident. At night this figure rises to over half of all drivers. The head-on view of a rider and machine is relatively small, presenting a small image from which to access speed. If the situation is busy it can be difficult to distinguish a rider and machine against the back ground and we saw earlier that many drivers have a blind spot when it comes to looking for riders. At night riders face more difficulties: the headlight is often insufficiently bright to attract attention, it may become ‘lost’ among the confusion of other headlights and because it is only one light, it provides a poor cue for assessing speed and distance.

You should do everything you can to make yourself more conspicuous. You can do this by:

• Wearing a jacket or over-vest that is fluorescent and has reflective markings
• Placing Conspicuity tape on you helmet or luggage
• Using daylight running lights
• Using a bright quartz halogen headlamp

In making your riding plan you should take into account you conspicuousness, and consider how well you stand out against the background. Be ware that this can change rapidly: a white machine against a black tarmac is relatively visible, for a example, but the same machine against a white truck merges into the background. Do not assume that because you are conspicuous you are safe. As always your safety depends on the quality of your observation and planning.

Three-quarters of the accidents where the driver claims not to have seen the rider occur at junctions. You should always approach junctions at which there is a waiting or approaching vehicle with considerable caution. Reduce your speed until you are sure that the other road user is aware of your presence and follow the advice in the chapters on observation and positing.

Clothing

Clothing is currently the main protection available to a rider in an accident. A helmet must be in good condition, as even the slightest damage can severely reduce its strength. Its should be correctly fitted – the padding and the straps should be adjustable so that it does not move once it is on the head.

Outer clothing should be flexible, resistant to abrasion, and provide a degree of support; it should have padding on key areas such as elbows, knees and shoulders. Leather is generally regarded as the most suitable material. Boots should always be worn to protect the foot, ankles and lower leg and gloves to protect the hands and wrists. Brightly coloured or florescent clothing with reflective panels will help with conspicuity.

Noise from a bike causes fatigue in the short term and damages your hearing in the long term. Use ear plugs to lessen fatigue and to reduce risk of hearing damage.

Developing your ability to ride defensively

The most important thing to recognise as a rider is that your safety depends on your actions and your ability to anticipate and avoid the actions of other road users. You need a high level of attention, an awareness of likely hazards and excellent observations skills. You need to make the most of the advantages of height, positioning flexibility and speed that he machine provides. The ability to sense danger in a situation only develops with experience, so you should always ride well within yur capabilities. Always make sure the road space that you intend to enter is positively safe. Remember that, even in daylight, up to a third of other road users will not even realise you are there.

9. Learning skills

Safe riding habits depend on appropriate attitudes and on appropriate skills in hazard perception and vehicle control. You will find it easier to improve and develop your skills if you have some understanding of how we learn skills and od what role instruction plays in the learning process.

Skilled performance of any task depends on three main elements:

• Rapid and accurate perception of the relevant information.
• Rapid choice of an appropriate response.
• Accurate execution of the chosen response.

Attitude, as we have seen, is important in identifying what is relevant and in selecting what is appropriate. Speed and accuracy, the other attributes of skill, depend on practice and feedback.

Practice and feedback

The two basic requirements for skill development are practice and feedback on the effect of our actions. The better the feedback the better the learning. Complicated skills such as riding are built up from smaller skill elements. Early in practice we need detailed feedback on each of the elements but later, as the different elements of a skill are put together and become automatic, we are less and less aware of our individual actions. This is has two results; firstly, each decision covers a bigger task so that fewer decisions are needed; secondly, our actions becomes smoother and less hurried.

When you have mastered the basic controls and skills required to ride a motorcycle, you can devote more of your attention to road and traffic conditions. This improves you anticipation and response to hazards – key areas of advanced riding. Your performance becomes more relaxed and efficient, making it appear that you have all the time in the world.

Throughout this book you will find many routines, such as the system of motorcycle control, designed to improve your riding. At first they will put heavy demands on your attention and thinking time, but as you get use to them, they will become second nature. Learning Roadcraft skills mirrors the process by which you learnt the basics riding skills to pass your test. At first manoeuvres like changing gear or turning round in the road required all your attention, but with practice they became automatic, allowing you to devote more of your attention to reading the road.

There is a possible negative side to this, especially if you tend to think of riding as a mainly mechanical activity. Once a routine has been learnt, performance can become ridged and unable to respond to changing circumstances. We have already touched on this resistance to learning from experience, and it is something you need to be aware of when evaluating new approaches to old problems.

Instruction

Rider training at basic and advanced levels can accelerate your learning, enabling you to develop skills you might otherwise never possess. Training can improve your hazard perception by making you aware of the potentially dangerous situation in different traffic environments, and by giving you practice in detecting them. But it is important for you to take an active role in developing your own learning. We each learn differently, and you alone can identify which methods work best for you. To learn effectively you need to have the right balance between instruction and practice. Instruction can draw your attention to parts of a task or ways of doing things but practice is the only way in which skills become automatic and readily available when you need them.

Overconfidence after training

In the period following training, riders can get into serious difficulties because they over estimate their new abilities. On finishing a well supervised course your riding ability and your confidence should be in balance. As you practise the methods you have learnt there is a possibility of a mismatch developing between your actual riding ability and the confidence you have in it. There is a danger that your confidence will take you into situations which you can not handle, and which might result in an accident. Recognise that this is a problem you will have to tackle whenever you learn new skills. Observe your own riding critically and ride within your known limits.

The following chapters explain techniques of machine control that can help to increase your safety and your risk of having an accident, but they can only do tis if they are supported by positive attitudes, concentration and, above all, critical self-awareness.

Review

Check you understanding

• What are the three types of rider that have a higher than average accident risk?
• Do riders who have had an accident generally alter their riding as a result?
• What are the attitudes that predispose you to risk?
• Why are riders who suffer from red mist at higher risk of having an accident?
• What can riders do to avoid red mist?
• What can you do to stay alert?
• What can you do to combat fatigue?
• How can you increase your conspicuity?
• How do we learn new skills?

If you have difficultly in answering any of these questions, look back over the relevant part of this chapter to refresh your memory.

Next chapter

The System of Motorcycle Control

[GOONR]

Look forward to the cornering section as that is my psychological achilles heal ;-)

ditto...

10 char.

[rustic101]

The other two charts are more a self check list and will do them in Visio and tonight I need some me time lol

[phill-k]

Having seen the previous post mentioning this book ordered it from fishpond last week received an email yesterday saying it will be delivered Monday.

[rustic101]

Please find the check list attached:

[rustic101]

Please see attached chart:

[rustic101]

Please see the view below:

[Lucy]

There are a lot of 'Police motorcycle Rodeo' clips on youtube. Quite interesting, especially after reading this thread.

[MyGSXF:Me]

$39.95 @ Fishpond

http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Nonf...iders+handbook

[Bikernereid]

$39.95 @ Fishpond

http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Nonf...iders+handbook

Thanks for this, but ouch, how much?!!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorcycle-R.../dp/011341143X (Might be worth getting a few shipped over courtesy of mum).

[howdamnhard]

Hmm , methinks me needs to get me hands on above mentioned book.

[rustic101]

10. The System of Motorcycle Control

This chapter explains the system of motorcycle control, and shows you how to use the system to negotiate hazards. A feature of every road accident is human error. The purpose of the system of motorcycle control is to provide a way of approaching and negotiating that is methodical, safe and leaves nothing to chance. If you use it consistently with the right frame of mind, good observation and a high level skill in bike control, you should avoid causing accidents yourself and be able to anticipate many of the hazards caused by other road users.

Using the system will help you to give you calm control of your machine, and enable you to deal with hazards without getting flustered. Your progress will be steady and unobtrusive – the characteristics of a good skilled rider.

Riding skills

Riding requires more than pure handling skills. Many hazards encountered by riders are unpredictable. You need an investigative approach to recognising and negotiate them safely. You should learn to expect the unexpected. Riding uses both mental and physical skills.

Mental skills – the ability to scan the environment, recognise relevant dangers and hazards, decide on their priority and form an achievable riding plan.

Physical skills – the ability to translate intentions and thoughts into physical action accurately and smoothly.

In using these skills you need to take into account:

• Real ability as opposed to perceived ability (what you can actually do as opposed to what you think you can do – in the average rider there is significant gap between real and perceived ability. A key objective of rider training is to bring perceptions in line with reality)
• The capability of the machine
• The prevailing weather and road conditions

There is much to anticipate and think about when riding. Road and traffic continually change, requiring you to analyse and adjust course and speed frequently. You need to take many factors into account; the activity of other road users, where they might be and what they might do, the closeness of other vehicles, the need to signal your intentions, the road and surface conditions, the weather, and the handling characteristics of your bike. The system of motorcycle control simplifies this task. It provides a simple and consistent method of riding which ensures that you overlook no detail and leave nothing to chance.

The system of motorcycle control gives you that essential aspect of safe riding – time to react

Hazards

A hazard is anything that is potentially dangerous. A hazard can be immediate and obvious, such as a car approaching you on the wrong side of the road, or it may be less obvious but just as potentially dangerous, such as a blind bend which conceals a truck reversing into your path. Much of your Roadcraft skills is in early recognitions of hazards – the situations that are potentially dangerous – and then talking the appropriate action to deal with them. One of the main causes of accidents is the failure to recognise hazardous situations – if you fail to see to potential danger you can not take the action to avoid it.

On the roads you will meet three main types of hazards:

• Physical features such as, junctions, roundabouts, bends or hill crests
• Risks arising from the position or movement of other road users
• Problems arising from variations in the road surface, weather conditions and visibility

At the end of your next journey, look back over the way you approached and negotiated hazards and ask yourself the following questions:

• Did you always know what was happening behind before changing direction or speed?
• Did you always have the right position, speed and gear for the hazard?
• Were you able to negotiate all hazards smoothly without any snatched last minute adjustments?
• Did you always give yourself time to react?

How good are you at identifying situations that are potentially dangerous? Next time you ride along a route you use regularly – say your normal route to work – examine the route carefully for situations that are potentially dangerous and where in the past you have not used sufficient caution. Plan how you could negotiate each of these situations in the future.

The System of Motorcycle Control

The system promotes careful observation, early anticipation and planning, and a systematic use of the controls to achieve maximised machine stability. It is a systematic way of dealing with an unpredictable environment. It is central to Motorcycle Roadcraft, drawing together all other riding skills in a co-ordinated response to road traffic conditions. It gives you the time to select the best position, speed and gear to negotiate the hazards safely and efficiently.

Hazards come singularly or in clusters; they overlap and change all the time. The system accommodates this continual fluctuation by means of a centrally flexible element – you, the rider. As with the other sills in Motorcycle Roadcraft, you have responsibility for using the system actively and intelligently. When you use the system to approach and negotiate a hazard, you consider and use a logical sequence of actions to take you past it safely and efficiently. If new hazards arise, you adapt by reassessing the situation and reapplying the system at an appropriate phase.

The Five Phases of the System

Information – (Position) (Speed) (Gear) (Acceleration)

Each phase is dependant on the one before, you should consider the phases in sequence. Normally you would start by considering your information needs, and then work through each phase in turn. But if road conditions change, you need to consider new information and re-enter the system at an appropriate phase, continuing through the sequence. The system must be used flexibly in response to actual road conditions; do not follow the sequence rigidly if it is inappropriate to the circumstances.

The phases of the system cover all points you need to consider on the approach to a hazard. At each phase there are a number of points to consider, but you should only apply those points that are relevant to the situation.

The importance of the Information Phase

Taking, using and giving information introduces the system, and continues throughout it. You always need to be seeking information to plan your riding and you should provide information whenever other road users could benefit from it. Because of your increased vulnerability as a motorcyclist, your safety and at times your survival depend on your ability to take, use and give information. Information allows you to adapt systems to changes in road circumstances, and so continuous assessment of information overlaps with and runs through all the other phases of the system. It is the framework on which the other phases; position, speed, gear, acceleration – depend

Information: (T.U.G) = Take – Use – Give

Next section

Rear Observation and Signals

[rustic101]

Rear Observation and Signals

Constantly access the situation ahead and to the side for changes in the circumstances. Use rear observation (mirror and/ or looking behind) as often as necessary to be fully aware of what is happening behind you. Give a signal whenever it could benefit another road user.

At certain points in the system specific checks for information are important. Before you change position or speed you need to know what is happening to the front, to the sides and behind you; mirror checks/ looking behind you at these points are essential. Remember the standard advice for manoeuvring: rear observation – signal – manoeuvre, even though you may at times decide a signal is not necessary.

See chapter three Observation, page 44 improving your observation skills

Use of the Horn

Sound your horn at anytime you think another road user could benefit from it. The purpose of the horn is to inform others you are there. It gives you no right to proceed, and should never be used as a rebuke. It can be used at any stage of the system. Always be ready to react to another road users horn warning.

See chapter six signalling

The life saver check

The lifesaver is the last check over the shoulder into the blind spot to make sure nothing unexpected is happening before committing yourself to a manoeuvre. If you turning, use it to check the blind spot on the side to which you intend to turn. The place for the lifesaver is just before the acceleration phase. Use you judgement about when to use it: in congested urban situations a lifesaver check is always essential, especially when turning right into a minor road, but during high speed overtaking, when you are sure what is happening behind, it is often safer to keep your eyes on what’s happening ahead.

When you use the lifesaver, do it early enough to allow you to adopt an alternative plan. There is no use in looking over your shoulder as you start to turn the machine.

Next section

The system of motorcycle control (chart and fine detail)

[rustic101]

The next few sections may take a bit of planning and thought as there are a lot of detailed charts