Police say had the rider been wearing...

[Grantman_]

In the first one the corner is blind so I would've cornered a little slower and had enough control left over to pull right and go between the car and the edge of the road. My wife has done exactly this coming home from Hamilton to Auckland.

As for the second, there appears to be sufficient room to the left and enough time with quick reactions to leave the road and avoid the collision. And if you can't get the bike off the road then dump the bike and run. Again I know of this happening. A colleuge in Wellington had to dump their bike while waiting at the lights as a truck cut the corner right through them. Both rider and pillion got off without a scratch - the bike was totalled.

To describe that as wishful would be exaggerating. The first accident wasn't determined by the speed of the rider but by the speed of the car. The hard reality is that the rider could have been going as slow as you've mentally envisioned yourself travelling, or even slower. You simply don't know. You could be edging around a blind corner at any speed and not be able to get out of the way in the moments it would take a vehicle to cover the visible distance.

You may as well put forward a safety measure of wasting time in the morning to avoid some catastrophic intersection in time. Futile, naive, laughable and grasping at straws. Some people simply don't want to accept reality, reality that regardless of taking all precautions, you can die or have an accident in a heartbeat and have done nothing to save yourself. This reality isn't limited to the road, it is a fact of life. Some people feel forced to commit mental contortions in order to rationalise the impossible delusion that they can always influence any random encounter in their favour.

You see all those vehicles travelling in the opposite direction, they can veer into your lane in a heartbeat. Has it happened? You bet. Fear not, you can control this situation by not travelling on the road. You control airplane accident death by not flying or living above ground where planes could hit you. You control your random murder by inventing a time machine to periodically check the future. Ad infinitum.

[RiderInBlack]

Too often the near-misses are put down to their supreme motorcycle skills .... and situation recognition abilitys ...

Aye, which turn leads to cocky riders that are over inflated in their believe in their perceived "supreme motorcycle skill". It's at that time as a rider you are really at risk, because ya foolish believe that it can't happen to you or that if it does, you are so shit-hot you will avoid it.
Personally, I accept that I am not prefect, and that I will make cock-up's. It allows me to entertain the idea that it can happen to me, so that I ride/drive with that in mind, and if it does, that I can more easily own that I can be at fault or that it happened anyway regardless of my efforts. To ride I accept that if I ride (or do anything for that matter) that there is a risk shit might happen and I could be killed, To really live I have to accept that and ride (live) anyway. I rather that than die having having had a long and boring life (which is IMHO a waste of the gift of life)..

[swbarnett]

In retrospect having looked at the videos, you may think you could or would have done as you suggested in those two cases, BUT (I am dam sure of this) in the real world I would expect you would be very lucky to have done so in place of those riders.

Luck doesn't really enter in to it (although it can't hurt). It's about riding in the subconscious. The subconscious mind is one hell of a lot faster than the conscious.

When comes to accidents, it's all over before ya can think of the best way to deal with it.

To paraphrase Maverick - "You don't have time to think. If you think, you're dead.". Let your subconscious do all the work.

Luck escapes & near miss happen way too many times, that some people think that those that do get hit are to blame regardless, instead of accepting that they have been luck that it didn't happen to them..

Don't get me wrong. I don't blame the rider for not avoiding an accident but, in the end, ther's no point in being dead right.

[RiderInBlack]

To describe that as wishful would be exaggerating.................. You control your random murder by inventing a time machine to periodically check the future. Ad infinitum.

Spot on. Exactly.

[swbarnett]

To describe that as wishful would be exaggerating. The first accident wasn't determined by the speed of the rider but by the speed of the car. The hard reality is that the rider could have been going as slow as you've mentally envisioned yourself travelling, or even slower. You simply don't know. You could be edging around a blind corner at any speed and not be able to get out of the way in the moments it would take a vehicle to cover the visible distance.

It is incredible how fast the human brain can react in the subconscious. All that was needed in the case of the first video was a quick wiggle to the right using the subconscious brain. I've seen it done and done it myself. If you try to think through your options at the time you're dead.

You may as well put forward a safety measure of wasting time in the morning to avoid some catastrophic intersection in time. Futile, naive, laughable and grasping at straws.

Totally agree.

Some people simply don't want to accept reality, reality that regardless of taking all precautions, you can die or have an accident in a heartbeat and have done nothing to save yourself.

Again I totally agree. I'm just saying that I don't believe that there was nothing that could have been done in the posted videos.

Some people feel forced to commit mental contortions in order to rationalise the impossible delusion that they can always influence any random encounter in their favour.

I fully accept that there ARE situations beyond control. A meteor could hit me as I type.

You see all those vehicles travelling in the opposite direction, they can veer into your lane in a heartbeat. Has it happened?

Yes, to me personally. That's what the road shoulder is for. Thankfully I haven't yet had anyone veer completely in to my shoulder. That would negate the affect of my avoidance maneuver.

Fear not, you can control this situation by not travelling on the road. You control airplane accident death by not flying or living above ground where planes could hit you. You control your random murder by inventing a time machine to periodically check the future. Ad infinitum.

Indeed. This is something I will never advocate.

[Katman]

You control your random murder by inventing a time machine to periodically check the future. Ad infinitum.

And stupidity will always have an excuse for stupidity.

[Grantman_]

And stupidity will always have an excuse for stupidity.

It is common.

[Katman]

It is common.

Is it something you aspire to?

[FJRider]

Is it something you aspire to?

Stupidity is something that takes practice to perfect ... sadly there are experts in this field ...

Even sadder ... they don't know how good they are at it ...

[Grantman_]

Is it something you aspire to?

Nope.





..............................

[Fluffy Cat]

Is it something you aspire to?

A true fool who knows not what he truly is.
Please entertain more......Mr Katman.

[rwh]

And stupidity will always have an excuse for stupidity.

FFS. A little hyperbole tacked on the end is no reason to dis the entire post/poster.

Richard

[Katman]

FFS. A little hyperbole tacked on the end is no reason to dis the entire post/poster.

Richard

As has already been said a few posts up, for every video of a motorcycle accident where there is seemingly nothing that could be done to avoid it I could show you 1000 where there is plenty of things that could easily have changed the outcome.

To post up two videos saying "See, see, see..........." smacks of desperation.

[Grantman_]

To post up two videos saying "See, see, see..........." smacks of desperation.

Cementing a basic fact of life. No desperation on my part.

[Katman]

Cementing a basic fact of life. No desperation on my part.

I think the most basic fact of life is that we're all going to die one day.

Doesn't mean that we shouldn't look towards ways of prolonging our life in the meantime though.