Evasive action while cornering - any tips?

[Chad]

Well, as you can probably guess from the title I had a little bit of excitement in a corner. Well, more than a little bit. While on my way home last night, I was coming onto the Basin Reserve in Welly from Kent terrace, and right in the apex of the first left hander theres a small one way cut trough that joins on as a giveway. I was already into this corner, and doing a reasonable speed, not exactly sure what; wasn't going too fast, but not just pootling about either, when a car ignored the giveway and pulled out right across my lane and stopped.
I only had about half a second to react before I'd be supermaning over the bonnet, and so hit the brakes, put it down and slid into the side of her.
I had seen her coming, and had seen that she had seen me (if that makes sense) and simply made the fatal assumption she would stop. Stupid of me and I do know better, but anyway off topic.

Has anyone got any tips for when you are already leaning over into a corner and suddenly you lane is cut off or you see some obstruction that is going to cause problems in about half a second. And I think this could be valuable for others too, as when she got out she even said she had seen me and was going to stop, but when I looked over her entire car was well and truly past the lines... And she was a nurse!!! You have to wonder what some people are thinking...

[Gremlin]

mmmm sounds like you have learnt your first lesson already... NEVER assume the cager will do something clever/intelligent... ALWAYS assume they will do something stupid.

After that, it depends on any given situation, because road layout, surface, traffic etc, all are factors to how you can get out of tricky situations, but the one thing I'm not sure you know about yet, is called target fixation.

Essentially, if you looked at the car as you were heading towards it... you went there, as you go where you look. In future, don't focus on the problem, you know its there already. You need to be weighing up the options open to you, and looking where you want to go (not what you're going to hit ), as every second it takes you to weigh up options probably loses you a few.

[Ixion]

Well, you saw her coming, so you should have been prepared for what she did. They will do it.

EXACTLY the same thing happened to me last week. Fortunately I had seen the idiot approaching and checked that I had room to move right if necessary. And sure enough she went straight through the Give Way. Which would not have mattered so much if she had then taken the left hand lane of the three , since I was in the centre lane. But she kept coming right across , heading straight across in front of me, to get to the right hand lane. So my escape route to the right was no good, so I had to do a rather forced turn hard left into the left hand lane (as she vacated it!)
All just part of the rich tapestry of life. On a motorcycle you must ALWAYS be watching and suspicious, and have a response or two thought out in advance. And when it happens (which it will with tedious regularity) , trust to your tyres and do not hesitate to force the bike into an avoidance turn no matter how sharp.

[MIXONE]

Remember the most important rule of riding motorcycles.


Every fucker on the road is trying to kill you!!!

[Ixion]

Actually, I worry more about the ones who are too old to be fuckers any more. And the ones who are so fat and ugly that I refuse to believe that anything would fuck them.

[James Deuce]

Squeeze the front brake REALLY hard, lose the front and then slide deftly under the vehicle in question while your bike impacts the driver's door and explodes into flames, killing the numpty who tried to kill you.

Nonchalantly get to your feet, dust yourself off, and humourously quip, "Hot enough for ya?", while the car burns fiercely only metres away.

[Trudes]

hahaha, and I want you to take me out for a 'mentor' ride sometime soon Jim..... GG!!!

[1billyboy]

A good push froward on the right handle bar would have got you across to the right of the road.

Regards 1billyboy

[alanzs]

Wear nappies. You never know when you'll need 'em...

[CB ARGH]

The saying "Target Fixation", please... I am born to be an ass.

Okay, I'll be honest, yes, this idea works, and it gives you a wider vision also... I just don't see how it's the best thing to do.

It's like a cat running across the road, it wants to go to the other side, it looks at the other side, as instructed by the motorcycle driving instructor, and starts to run. Two seconds in, WHAM!!!!

that worked....

If you look at the target (cage), you can get an idea of an escape route, obviously if you look at the cage, you can see the part that you don't want to hit, which you turn away from. Simply turning your head and staring at a pole down the road can not save your ass.

I think that you can only learn from your mistakes. Nobody can be taught how to handle a situation like the above, you can be told to "not panic, look forward", but seriously, when there's a two tonne car half a second away from your front wheel, are you really going to be thinking about the pole down the road? No, you're thinking about getting home to a nice cold beer. It's unexpected.

My tip? Don't do anything stupid, stick to the speed limits. Don't think that people give a shit about you, because they don't. Don't think that they see you, because 99% of the time they won't.

Have good tyres, have good brakes, keep your brakes levers covered, and prepare for the worst when you get on the bike each day.

------------

Wow, all of that, and I haven't ridden a bike on the road in my life. Fuck.

[slopster]

If you wish to stop, stand the bike up first and stop it in a straight line.
If you wish to avoid don't get off the gas, 99% of the time it will make things worse as it puts too much weight on the front wheel and makes the bike harder to turn. Stay on the gas and try to countersteer around the obstacle. This is of course easier said then done when every instinct is telling you to roll off the throttle.

[Gremlin]

If you look at the target (cage), you can get an idea of an escape route, obviously if you look at the cage, you can see the part that you don't want to hit, which you turn away from.

Generally, newbies especially... the sheer fact of looking at something makes them go there, ie, the bike follows what you are looking at. Hence, if you are focussing on the door panel, more often that not, you'll hit that door panel.

Newbies also panic, hit the picks, and then focus at what they are about to hit. Panicking and hitting the picks reduces your options. By braking, you are using up the tyres' grip for braking rather than turning, and generally, panicking makes you freeze, making you less able to change direction.

I've had plenty of close misses, as part of my job is travelling around sorting problems, so I am in Auckland traffic constantly. Generally, when I see an issue developing, my first instinct/reaction/thought is, "oh no, I ain't gonna fucken crash here" or "not today, where's my out". The obstacle becomes a side issue.

[motorbyclist]

Wow, all of that, and I haven't ridden a bike on the road in my life. Fuck.

maybe if you had ridden a bike you'll know a bike travels where you look unless you make a conscious effort otherwise

same story for cornering; you look "up" around the corner, not directly infront of you

(dirt bikes are a slightly different story)

if in an emergency you stare at a rock/pole/ditch/car you will steer there. simply fact; don't go giving learners dangerous advice if you've never ridden yourself or you're partly responsible for injuries of they follow your advice


in an emergency, dodge around the fucker (be it rock or bus or whatever) as best you can. if you're going wide into a ditch the same applies; look where you want to go - around the corner - and the bike will go there

saved me countelss times

[CookMySock]

Well there are two parts to that ;

1.) Identify your obstacle EARLY and OVER-react to it. Don't assume it will clear. (as you have discovered.. owch!)

2.) Grab the bike firmly by the bars and countersteer the fucker! Don't hesitate, don't hold your breath and lockup - bar push HARD, NOW. Practice until its natural. Ignore angle of lean. Ignore whether you think the tyres will handle it. When the shit hits the fan you are already screwed, so forget your' and the bikes' limitations and push hard on those bars and just do it. You might even find some new zone you haven't ridden in before..

Glad you weren't hurt.

DB

[2Slow50]

I know this road, I ride it everyday. Similar incidences have almost cost me a slide or two as well..

Its fine to try and figure out how to get yourself out of a problem like that, but its best if you can avoid getting into that situation at all in the first place. Those basin corners really suck because of all the intersections on it.. Now when I ride around there, I ALWAYS take one of the middle lanes, except when you have to turn off.. this way you don't have to do an emergency swerve when someone pulls out of their give way..

Just my 2c.. try avoid getting into sticky situations that force you to take evasive action to the best of your ability.

Good to hear you weren't hurt.