How does one "Prepare for the unexpected"?

[Paul in NZ]

Of course there is a bit of risk taking... Controlled, calculated risk taking...

However... Survival is not just about training.. It's about assessing the situation and going for the high percentage shot. The flashy shit wins races but not championships.

I don't conciously think about it now but I believe good street riding is about putting yourself into the best spot on the road to increase your chances. Always moving to the best spot, always considering always giving yourself the best chance.

The mechanics of that is what has been described so far...

Just a thought..

[Funkyfly]

I guess this is a dig at me,!

Na dude, i was just interested in others thoughts, we werent getting many fresh ideas or thoughts in the other thread

I set out riding and driving around trying to cram as much information into my head as I possibly could - the cars in front,make,model,how many in it,who's the driver,what are they doing,parked cars,anyone in them,what are they doing,people between,cats,dogs,kids,what's up side roads,driveways,looking as far ahead as my eyes could see,looking back as far as I could see,reading every sign on the road,cram,cram,cram,push,push,push,force feeding my brain mega data.

This is what they taught us on our defensive driving course a couple of years ago, certainly worth doing, does take a bit of enjoyment out of your riding but pays off.

[Posh Tourer :P]

I have been riding for 4 years or so, but after a few close calls, have become a lot like Motu and F5Dave, whenever I see a situation, I ask myself what would I do if x happened. I run through a series of possible solutions, and I know for a fact that this has helped me avoid more than a couple of accidents. A car pulled out on me, from a side road. Instinctive reaction is to brake immediately, but instead, I waited for a split second to see what he was doing and gassed it to swerve around in front of him. Missed him by inches, but I would have collected him severely if I had've braked. I think this was a result of adding to the 'when I need to use them they will be there pile' even while not riding - sitting in lectures and suchlike. I had added a variation to the possible responses just by thinking about it. Its like hanging off the bike for me. I prefer to ride upright, but I've practiced it so if I really get in the shit I might be able to use it.

As for covering the brakes, etc etc, I do it automatically, I throttle off without thinking when I see a car coming up fast from a side road or driveway... It all becomes subconscious very easily, and it's quite amazing how much you can do without thinking about it much....

[scumdog]

Never trust the fact that a driver on a side street has seen you just because he is looking in your direction, I've had at least one driver pull out on front of me while looking directly in my face (or so it seemed), I had to pull out alongside him (he was going in the same direction needless to say).
I bailed him up down the road and he was shaking, said he hadn't seen me until I was alongside him telling him to take it easy

Watch the front wheels of the side-street car for indication of stopping/not stopping/intended direction.

[Mongoose]

Watch the front wheels of the side-street car for indication of stopping/not stopping/intended direction.[/QUOTE]

Watch for reverse lights of parked ars, friont wheels turning outwards and starting to rotate.Just adding some more easy give away signs. :cool2:

[magnum]

assume all cage drivers are fuckwits[most are]and relax when riding :spudwave:

[Mongoose]

assume all cage drivers are fuckwits[most are]and relax when riding :spudwave:

Why stop at cage drivers, treat everything and/or anything on or near the road in the same manner!

[F5 Dave]

Mr Scum, As far as the looking at you without seeing. One test I heard about was showing participants in an experiment quick blips to see what they noticed.

They noticed a motorcycle before they noticed a bicycle. They noticed a car before they noticed a motorcycle, They noticed a truck before they noticed a car. Size matters. But they noticed a Policeman mounted on his motorcycle before they noticed a truck.

People perceive things in the terms of how much danger they present. The fear factor of getting a ticket made the cop stand out, but a bicycle is fair game to pull out on as they wouldn’t cause a dent surely.

[Motu]

Good stuff PT,Dave and Merv have said some good things - I don't quite click with Kenny Roberts packets on the wall,but I sure know what he's talking about - every situation we conquer gets stored and we have a response to pull out of the hat - we learn by experiance,but we need to learn to put it to use.

As Merv says never ride at 100%,or anywhere near it,your first time on a new road is a reccy,go slow and learn the corners,come back and do it again - as a trials rider we always walk the sections before we ride them,so much of slow trials riding can be applied to other areas.It's all about clues and the better you know a road the more clues you gather - you saw the road was a bit rough in spots last time,that means it could be repaired sometime soon,you saw some white paint on the road a couple of weeks ago?,then you can be sure it will be cut up.

I don't think of these situations as unexpected,they sure as hell will happen,they are random events,maybe not this week,this year,but you can find them on the road no problem.

[750Y]

good question funkfly.
adopting the philosophy that a rider is responsible and should be prepared for anything is just a way of ensuring that you are in an optimal state of heightened awareness.
When You stand back & analyse something, Hindsight will probably always provide an alternative solution which would see the outcome change favourably.
I believe in the philosphy because i beleive it benefits the participants.
there are literally millions of clues available every ride we go on. experience & the right attitude allows us to identify & prioritise those signs & give ourselves the best chance at survival while persuing our inherently dangerous pastime. One things for sure, i would never mock a dead guy for making a mistake, that'd be taking an already righteous sounding philosophy and gloating in bad taste. i'd just try to learn from it to keep myself safe.

[Skyryder]

The unexpected is just that, unexpected. And when it happens you may or may not get out of the situation. The simple act of riding down the road at fifty K's past a line of cars is in itself a hazardous situation. As you pass each and every car there will be that critical point where one of the cars may decide to cut out and do a u turn right at the time when you have no where to go. Most of the time the danger can be assessed simply by the cars position on the road. One other common scenario a car turning right and then suddenly changes its mind at the point you decide to pass on the left beliveing that it is safe to do so. There are idiot drivers out there and we all know that. And they do the unexpected and we all know that too.

Hell I can think of hundreds of everday riding situations where the brain detects a possible hazard, assess the hazzard, all your instincts and riding experiance tells you that your manouvre is safe, you commit, then the unexpected occurs. Being in the right place as Paul in NZ said is the best way to get out. But you can still be in the right place and still come to grief.

Bottom line you can do all the right things and some fuckwit does all the wrong things.

Skyryder

[Bob]

Apologies in advance if anyone else has covered what I'm about to say - there is an awful lot of info in this thead!

Someone did say about practicing for events that have not yet happened - great idea. Something to try out - when the road is quiet obviously, is practicing last moment direction changes. Use manhole covers in the road for this. Ride up to it and at the last moment, you aim to miss it (if that makes sense). You have seen it, so you know where it is - aim your eyes where you need to go and change direction as late as possible.

In real life, if you have this down to instinctive level, it'll come in really handy.

Just like practicing braking hard for emergency stops. If you know how hard you can brake - and reinforce 'squeezing' the lever, rather than grabbing - then you'll be able to haul on the anchors in an emergency.

This worked for me last night - had to haul on as hard as I can recall doing for a long time - but I still squeezed the lever. Bike tilted to the side (I didn't leave off the lever quite quickly enough), but I saved it 'crosser style! If I'd just banged on the brake, guessing I'd have been on the floor.

I did a couple of things the LAM used, which might give some ideas. It is broken down into two elements:

Avoiding inanimate objects - such as gravel, diesel etc and Animate objects - or animals to you and me!

Hope it is useful - of course, now that a farmer is going to be forced (in the UK anyway) to make sure their gates close properly, hopefully less cattle will be roaming around!

[F5 Dave]

Another thing I thought of the other day we used to talk about was practising lifting your leg. No not if you are caught short whilst out walkies , but lets say you’ve done everything to avoid it- but some car is about to twat you side on.

or similar scenario, you are about to clip the back of a car that has stopped & you were in dream land, or they pulled out infront of you & you can’t stop & can only swerve a bit.

Impact is impenitent. Try to save your leg by lifting it out of the way as much as poss. It is hard on a sportsbike, but you may get it high enough it gets pushed rather than squashed. Practise so at least the thought is there rather than you thinking about in hospital later.

[greenhorn]

For a newbie this is a cool thread. I'm learning alot reading this, especially good was Bob's link.
My 2 cents worth... I am the undoubtedly the most inexperienced rider on this forum, but this is for life in general not just bike riding.
Many "bad" things can be avoided simply by not panicing. My Dad's led a colorful life and literally escaped death on more than one occasion, and saved peoples lives on occasion too simply because he controls his panic. Panic at the right level means quicker reaction, too much panic means no reaction at all or the wrong reaction.
For me it was summed up in a previous comment, cant remember who it was, talked about a car pulling out in front. Instead of immediately braking, he paused for a split second to observe what the car was going to do and rode in front instead.
For me this is what i want to develop. The ability to think calm and rationally, act decisevely and quickly when the crap is about to explode all around you.
As a newbie i am trying to get used to the idea that this situation is likely to hit me so when it does i hopefully will panic at the right level.
The thinking goes something like, o.k here we are. Facing a horrendous accident, hospital maybe death. But what were you expecting? So react calmly and sensibly and give yourself the best chance of avoiding what you knew was bound to come along sooner or later anyway.
Not easy i guess.

[greenhorn]

Wow... guess i did a good job of killing off that thread