What is the best way to be noticed by cagers?

[MsKABC]

Perhaps a louder exhaust than stock.

+1 One of the reasons we modified the pipe on my little 400 was for this reason.

Movement - move back and forth across your lane a little as you approach intersections.

Also (this won't help you to be seen, but it will make you safer), if you are following a car through an intersection, close up the gap a little (without obscuring yourself with the car you're following) so that waiting cars are not tempted to pull out in front of you.

[McJim]

The only thing that will make drivers notice bikes more is driver education. Driver tuition tends to reinforce many of the basic road rules and self preservation is left to pick up the pieces regarding noticing other vehicles. Unfortunately your average car driver doesn't feel threatened by a regular sportsbike but does feel threatened by a bikey cop or a perceived bikey gang member - hence the reference to White Helmet/White BMW or Black Leathers/ Black Cruiser.

Winston, just affix a blank law suit for damages to the front of your bike and they'll afford you the respect you crave.

[Madness]

Pass the fuckers.

[Tank]

So what is the answer? My understanding is that high visibility vests aren't effective, headlights only slightly better, so there must be other options.

I dont see how you can say hi-vis vest are inefective. Last night coming back from Cambridge in the wifes cage - I paid particular notice - and yes hi-vis vest are more noticeable.

A white BMW and white helmet works - or a black harley, black leathers and a patch. Either one is just as effective.

Ever ridden with Ixion, he has the white option, cars fair fucken leap out of his way.

Indeed - White or Yellow stand out far more - its just that bikers want to look tough and wear black - the worst possible colour.

Perhaps a louder exhaust than stock.

Bollocks - most accidents come from in front and the loud pipes do nothing to save that. Its a myth spread by people who want to justify their loud pipes. Seriously - how many people who have the loud pipes for safety wear bright colours and hi-vis vest. Nope - to them its all about the sound.

At night run a led kit. They all see you.

The reason most don't see you is that they can't comprehend your blistering speed and acceleration. They're only used to car level performance.

Indeed in town should people be riding with blistering speed and acceleration when there are cars around - if they are factors then the biker is contributing to the situation by not riding for the conditions at that time.

[vifferman]

surprised the modulators are illegal here in NZ.. damn shame ..works well

Apparently, LTNZ have considered making them compulsory, which is strange, given they have decreed them illegal. What I was told is that taillight flashers and headlight modulators induce target fixation in brain-dead drivers.

The thing you can do to make drivers notice you is be aggressively defensive. Own the road. Act like the drivers don't know you're there (many of them don't!), and force them to wake up and to notice you. Move around in your lane, use your lights and horns, make sure that if they follow too close, or look like they're not going to give way, that you're NOT OK with that. Wage a campaign of actively defending yourself.

[Big Dave]

My mind set is this.

I have survived as long as I have by assuming that none can see me and none ever will.

I am entirely invisible and it's up to me to see them.

The assumption that everyone behind the wheel - or their car - has a IQ of 20 also helps.

I act courteously when appropriate and get the ferk outta there when it's not.

[Shadows]

Pass the fuckers.

What he said. Get away from the traffic and out on our own.

Being a hooligan on a Harley with loud pipes also seems to work for me. I don't mean riding at a million miles per hour but being a little looser in riding style than your average communter does make a difference. One of the best things you can do is moving around within your lane. The lateral movement attracts the eye better than a thin profile coming straight for the observer. Don't spend all of your time in the right wheel track.

A bit of assertiveness showing in one's riding is also a benefit when the cager concerned has seen you but is thinking about pulling out on you or cutting you off anyway because he's an arrogant cunt and/or of an "ethnic minority".

[trumpy]

Perhaps a louder exhaust than stock.

Sorry mate but think this is one of the greatest myths perpetrated on this site. It might seem logical (especially to the bike rider) that having louder pipes will make him more noticeable in traffic but in my experience it doesn't stack up. There are far too many variables that effect the way the noise is heard by others.
I drive around 75 - 80,000kms (not including motorcycle mileage) a year for business reasons and I get to see, hear and get passed by a lot of bikes. To keep myself sane doing that sort of mileage I tend to look at my driving not as a means to an end but a means in it's own right. The consequence being that I tend to be paying much more attention to what's going on around me than the average driver.
Most drivers will drive with their windows closed summer and winter thanks to climate control however I prefer the fresh air and I am unable to fit what I need into a sports car (tried that, didn't work) so I often drive with at least two windows open and sometimes all four. Much nicer than air con.
I have very good hearing (recently tested) and I have often seen but almost NEVER heard loud bikes come up behind me, especially if they are moving "quickly". There have been a number which have almost made my ears bleed but only as they passed my open window. Remember I have always seen them coming (I am anal about scanning my rear view mirrors often) so I am expecting to hear them.
I frequently drive behind cars whose rear view mirrors are so badly adjusted they the driver could not possibly see you coming from behind and they usually have their windows closed and stereo going as well!
I put an after market pipe on my bike as well but purely because I like the sound it makes and the fact that it doesn't look like a whale's penis hanging out the back of my bike. Please, please don't rely on the sound of your exhaust as any kind of safety device.

[Headbanger]

I hear louder bikes earlier, and have on many occasions used the noise of my pipes to get attention. They swing there head around and look when they hear you.

Anyone at this stage wanting to claim I'm lying can suck on a chubby.

Not that I have loud pipes for that reason, But its too my advantage so its all good.

Being followed through national park I had no trouble hearing a (quiet) BMW behind me hit the throttle for his passing manoeuvre.

I was in a modern vehicle (2007) with the windows closed.....


The stereo fucks everything though.

[martybabe]

I doubt that this is helpful to the original question but........

.Having spent many years of my life in the middle of the road trying to do my job as a Fireman and later an AA patrol, dealing with accidents and breakdowns amongst a sea of agitated an distracted motorists, I shall now reveal the one and only thing UK cage drivers react to.

Is it Casualties strewn across the road being attended to by ambos and Fire Bobbies, police vehicles, torches, sirens, blood, petrol, fire, explosions ...Nah. With all the above going there is always some knob that won't see it till it's too late.

The miracle magical answer my friends is an orange road cone with a reflective jacket You think I jest, I'm telling ya even the crappiest driver would rather hit a tree than one of those babies, they avoid them like land mines. I have personally been laying out a short run of these things and several drivers have done crazy swerves to avoid them and driven straight at me instead

Trust me, you'd have to see it to believe it, UK drivers at least, will do anything to avoid hitting a reflective cone, maybe it's a hang over from driving school/ who knows. The exception being truckers of course, they kill as many of the c#nting things as they can.

So the rather silly answer would be, dress up as a bloody reflective road cone! But do watch out for trucks.

[Fatjim]

Trumpy, you seem to think that because not all drivers will hear loud pipes then they don't help. However, your experience is different than mine. The fact is, alot of drivers do hear loud pipes, and in my experience I have fewer issues with drivers not being aware of me when my pipes are louder.

All things that make drivers aware of you add up to a sum greater than the induvidual parts.

[Fatjim]

What he said. Get away from the traffic and out on our own.

Being a hooligan on a Harley with loud pipes also seems to work for me. I don't mean riding at a million miles per hour but being a little looser in riding style than your average communter does make a difference. One of the best things you can do is moving around within your lane. The lateral movement attracts the eye better than a thin profile coming straight for the observer. Don't spend all of your time in the right wheel track.

Rule number 1 of motorcyling. If you're going faster than the car, and its behind you its unlikely to hit you.

[Headbanger]

Trust me, you'd have to see it to believe it, UK drivers at least, will do anything to avoid hitting a reflective cone, maybe it's a hang over from driving school/ who knows.

Won't work in Wanganui, Its sport around these ways to knock over as many as you can. Though it can be fun to drive a warratah into the ground,drop a cone over it, then watch some wanker drive into it. or fill the odd cone with concrete.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Can't help but notice the continuing theme about cars causing bike accidents. Certainly it happens. Naturally we don't like coming off second to a car, being penalised by ACC, and ignored by some of the public.

So what is the answer? My understanding is that high visibility vests aren't effective, headlights only slightly better, so there must be other options.

I can't quite grasp the normal motorists problem because I always notice bikes, but thinking about it, don't always see cyclists even in plain view. Hmmm my bad.

The only thing I can think of is one or two low-wattage pulsing lights, positioned at the end of handlebars or higher.

Somehow we need a motorcycle and rider to impinge on the car driver's conciousness. Telling each other that cagers should drive more carefully is a waste of breath. If wishes were horses we'd all be kings.......

Yes it is true about the vests they do just blend in with everything else... , and head lights do get noticed to a degree... a noisey bike will stop the predistrian from walking out in front of you unless s/he is deaf...

Cages have a large blind spot than bikes, trucks have a huge blind spot... I hate seeing any vehicle siting in someone else blind spot on motorways etc...

Unfortunately the only true time bikers get noticed by cages... is when we are riding in large groups... not the standard 4 or 5... but large groups... usually for bike runs toy and easter eggg and the odd poker run etc...

That's usually because they want to know whats going on so they take notice... the rest of the time most cages go back into their own little world and don't see anything else... including 18 wheel trucks so a single bike is an impossibility and would break the laws of physics or something if you were seen. even then I have seen cagers do stupid things when the road is closed... so you can win... most of the time it is impatacience or stupid distraction... Some times I believe that when they say the didn't see you they are lie and don't want to admit it that they did something stupid... and that is probably higher than you think to...

[James Deuce]

I dont see how you can say hi-vis vest are inefective. Last night coming back from Cambridge in the wifes cage - I paid particular notice - and yes hi-vis vest are more noticeable.

You're looking for them. There's a tremendous body of work in neuro-pshychology about the issues with Hi-Vis vests and specific types of concentrated attention by road users. You look for other people driving the same model of car as you without knowing it too.

You have a vested interest in motorcyclists so you see them any way. The hi-vis vest creates target fixation in an accident situation. I saw one person claim in a Intellectual Jouranl on motorcycle studies that there is a creeping increase in the number of motorcyclists being run over after the initial impact due to the target fixation issue.