How to get noticed while riding.

[moko]

In the U.K. there are often efforts made to make the public more aware of bikes.A few years ago they cam up with tv and radio ads with "Think once,think twice,think bike" as a catchphrase and that caught the public`s attention,you`d hear kids saying it in the street the same as they do with other stuff they pick up from their tv shows or movies.More recently the Govt. have run a very effective tv campaign that`s attracted a lot of attention,just a guy a t a road junction,no commentry,he looks,pulls out then a CB500 just piles into the car,first time you see it you`ll jump out of your skin,even on repeat viewing it makes you wince.I`ve heard a few non-bikers talking about that one which is the point.
Local Police here do a lot of work as well regarding safety-awareness.Recently they set up a little stand just before a local hooning road and were pulling over guys on bikes.Just told them how many guys have been killed and injured on that road over the last few years,told them there were mobile cameras on that road as they spoke then said basically "enjoy your ride but be safe and dont break the law".They could just as easily have just stuck the camera vans there and said nothing.Last year they were pulling guys over who they saw with insufficient protection,just a word of advice from a bike cop about the merits of proper bike gear and that was it,some objected to that but there are plenty here who need protecting from themselves.
Out riding with wari yesterday(remember him ?) and noticed new signs locally,bright yellow with a bike logo "Is there a biker in your blind spot?".So here at least there is an effort to educate and also a realisation that not all accidents are the biker`s fault.

[slimjim]

fuck ACC , has finished an aware of motorcyclist's canpaign ,with fucking billboard pictures, and buses with aware picture's too, goes to show you how much ,or many people have taken notice,!!!!!!!!

[Grahameeboy]

Classic, but seriously to get noticed on the roads more, when on bikes I think being at the right place at the right time is important, like bike positioning when riding to ensure you are being seen.

And so the cager doesn't turn around and say 0oh I didn't see you coming at all. Plus wearing bright colourful gear helps as well. Like graphics helmet plus coloured/graphics gear which have reflectors on them.

But for some reason majority bikers like black gear plain old black which is harder to spot, I guess the average rider in NZ would be 40 plus hence the simple plain black gear is more popular here compared to Europe where bright gears are common. Enough

I ride with both lights on high beam, my bike is red, I have a Graphic Helmet and ride close to centre line...I still get cager issues but am pretty certain that if I did not have any of these elements I would notice difference.
However, at end of day if a cage does not look you can be drsssed up for the Mardi Gras with sparklers and it will not make a difference.

[grego]

I waited a month to be able to purchase the "BRIGHT YELLOW" bike instead of the black or silver one, but I still got whacked off my brand new beauty 11 days after I bought it.
Also here in NZ they are running campains re bikers visibility but in the end: WE ARE DIFFICULT TO SEE

I thought maybe if I would dress up the bike as a COP-Bike and always ride down the roads with 3 lights flashing and siren whailing I could guarantee to be seen............

How's that ???

[Wolf]

An education program for car drivers about what their piece-of-shit cages are capable of and basic physics would be a great idea, too - Roj's wife (EddieB's sister), Lizzie, was critically injured because the silly bitch in the cage (albeit driving on an expired Thai licence so we can't lay the blame on NZ's laughable licensing system this time) thought she could get her car aound the corner before the bike reached the intersection. She admitted to having seen Lizzie, it was her perception of what she could get away with that was fucked.

Want people to notice vehicles in general and cut down on the deaths and injuries caused by the real top causes rather than the top easy-to-detect-with-no-actual-effort causes (speeding and drinking)? A series of TV adverts and flyers, billboards etc akin to the ones they trot out prior to the holidays in which they show shit-loads of marked cop cars leaving he barn ("they're out in force"), except this time showing shit-loads of random-looking unmarked cars and bikes - make it known far and wide that the geezer in the shitty old Ford Laser, the chick on the Bandit 650, the guy on the 1970's CB750 rat bike and the suit in the metallic silver Merc are all just as likely to be mufti cops watching and waiting to pounce.

It's rare for a person to behave carelessly or dangerously when there is a cop visible, yet I see boneheaded stuff happening all the time. A large presence of "bacon in a plain brown wrapper" and a few widely publicised convictions for stupidity, carelessness and plain criminal driving habits and you should induce the requisite level of paranoia to keep people mindful that the car or bike behind them while they're on the road may well be getting ready to ticket them. Then you'll see people being courteous and noticing other vehicles.

Save the marked cars and uniforms for turning up to disturbances and crime scenes then take the cop with a radar gun off the grass verge and replace him/her with an innocuous-looking person in a reglar looking car driving around the streets - I think they'd be surprised exactly how easily they'll be able to detect and deal with safety issues.

[Ixion]

I waited a month to be able to purchase the "BRIGHT YELLOW" bike instead of the black or silver one, but I still got whacked off my brand new beauty 11 days after I bought it.
Also here in NZ they are running campains re bikers visibility but in the end: WE ARE DIFFICULT TO SEE

I thought maybe if I would dress up the bike as a COP-Bike and always ride down the roads with 3 lights flashing and siren whailing I could guarantee to be seen............

How's that ???

Won't work. The idiots even pull out in front of cops. Several of the plodmembers have commented on it.

It''s not a "I;m bigger than you thing " either, becuase they pull out in front of 20 ton lorries. Ask any of the site truck driving persons.

It's just simple stupidity. They are too stupid to connect cause and effect.

[Grahameeboy]

On my old RF900 I bought a green headlight cover......the number of near misses I had reduced significantly......but then the Cops told me it was illegal...however, it was an interesting excercise.........

[Wolf]

On my old RF900 I bought a green headlight cover......the number of near misses I had reduced significantly......but then the Cops told me it was illegal...however, it was an interesting excercise.........

Highly recommended in 'Street Bike Fun: How to Ride to Save Your Hide": dual-intensity front indicators - low on at all times, high for indicator flash - the combination of white headlight flanked by two smaller orange lights is eye-catching and deemed safer than headlamp alone.

Some older bikes were fitted with them, like Roj's CB750, my 2003 XT225 is supposed to have them as factory standard but they have been replaced with standard, single-intensity bulbs for indicating only.

Why?

Because our retarded politicians want us all dead and out of their hair - seriously, I'm taking it as part of a growing body of evidence that they're actively trying to kill us - so they've banned them in new bikes. They are not permitted under our new regulations.

So my XT was factory modified (dual-intensity indicator unit replaced with one that takes only single-intensity bulbs) to be less eye-catching, less safe than the ones destined for Europe/UK, USA, Asia and South America. The Aussie and Kiwi politicians have both banned them.

Wankers!

I don't see any point petitioning to get the "running lights" in indicators reinstated as legal as our pollies have proved time and again that they are incapable of reasoned rational thought and exposing them to it in the form of an articulate, well-written and intelligent letter with a few thousand signatures not only fails to receive the desired result, it prompts them (in a jealous knee-jerk reaction) to grunt unintelligibly and club another good idea to death as part of their primitive mating ritual.

Only suggestion I can make: make full use of the new cosmetic lighting rules so that the road under your bike glows visibly blue even in daylight hours and the side of your bike looks like a frigging christmas tree...