Pinched this from the BikeSafe website in the UK. No different to here.
Intersections
Intersections are easy enough to sort out safely aren’t they?
Well, the Department of Transport casualty statistics show that they provided the backdrop for over half of motorcyclists killed and seriously injured during 2008. These intersection related casualties are most likely to happen during the week, in particular during peak times and on roads with lower speed limits in urban areas but there really is a need to treat them with caution all the time. Younger riders, older riders, big bikes, small bikes - all feature in the intersection casualty statistics. Intersections and other road users negotiating them can and do catch bikers out.
There are so many considerations to evaluate and grade in importance not forgetting that the scene may be ever changing on approach:
• Physical issues – appropriate machine control, road layout, signs and lines, road surface considerations, visibility, zones of invisibility, weather, vehicular or pedestrian movements
• Other road users – have they ‘seen’ the motorcyclist, do they actually perceive the motorcycle properly, do they feel the motorcycle is a hazard
• Riding plan – based upon observation, finding us in the correct position for the given hazard set, at the correct speed, in the correct gear and having some ownership of our own safety
The list goes on and it is starting to look a little more arduous a task.
The physical issues are largely there to be seen. Motorcyclists have to be continually investigative, quick eyes, quick brain, searching out the clues ahead, to the sides and to the rear of the bike formulating a comprehensive picture of the hazard.
Once we have identified the elements of the hazard we need to think about our own conspicuity and how it, together with other factors, can influence our own perceptions of personal safety.
We often hear of other road users pulling out of intersections into the path of approaching motorcycles causing collisions - “they were looking straight at me and still pulled out!”. Motorcyclists often call for more awareness training for other road users. Are they out to get us? Are they dangerous? Just a bit careless? Or is the issue possibly that bit more complex?
You guessed it ……….. the problem is hugely complex but one thing is crystal clear, whatever the reason, in the event of a crash it is the motorcyclist who will potentially be spending some time reading MCN in an orthopaedic hospital bed (other motorcycling publications exist and are available from retail outlets obviously).
Should we devolve responsibility for our own safety to another road user? Motor vehicles unfortunately have become all things to all people apart from transport that is. They have become telecommunications centres, delicatessens, hair dressers, offices, coffee bars, you name it. Every task undertaken detracts from the ability of the driver to well, drive safely. The best advice is to take responsibility for your own safety, believe you are invisible because, as you’ll soon read, you very possibly are and learn how to ride defensively.
Drivers almost certainly don’t go out looking to deliberately smash into a motorcyclist so other factors are at play. Some drivers do pay less attention than they should and some do take unacceptable risks but the majority are ordinary folk going from A to B. What else might be happening?
Well, some might be driving with uncorrected defective eyesight. Some are undoubtedly driving under the influence of drink or drugs (which can include a very significant period of time following a heavy session) and some legally obtained prescription drugs can impair driving ability too. There are actual obstructions to view that might cause problems for drivers - weather, large ‘A’ pillars on some vehicles, other vehicles or pedestrians, sat navs stuck to the windows in all manner of weird places, roadside fences, hedges or signs and even flukes where your motorcycle will line up perfectly with a following vehicles lights giving the impression you are part of the other vehicle. But, more worryingly even than this little lot, is some research which suggests disparity between visual and cognitive conspicuity. This is the difference between what the eyes see and what the brain ‘sees’.
With an un-impaired driver who has an unrestricted view it might be reasonable to suspect that the brighter and more colourful we are the more visible we are. If we let that mindset influence us on the road into thinking we have been seen and fail to ride defensively and have a riding plan which considers the ‘What if’s?”, then potentially we are at great risk.
Let’s consider the evidence gleaned from some pretty robust research done by clever people:
• Whether a driver looks properly for a motorcycle can be dependent on many things. Some of these are attitude, experience, practice, learned behaviour and peripheral vision. Speed can also be a factor as the higher the speed of intersection negotiation, the less time available to conduct all appropriate visual checks. If you have children or ever travel with friends and their children why not try a game of ‘I spy’ for bikes. A psychology student Gill Spoor came up with the idea and it seems a good way of having the next generation of drivers much more aware of motorcycles. Incentivise them by choosing a particular make or colour. If enough of us do it, who knows?
• Supposing a driver looks properly, whether they actually perceive a motorcycle which is physically present is another thing. Is the motorcycle cognitively conspicuous? Research suggests that this can depend upon expectations and empathy - whether the driver expects to see motorcycles, is a motorcyclist or has previous/present frequent exposure to motorcyclists. So, a driver might be looking directly at you on your bike and might even be visually aware of you but cognitively you are not even on the radar. How scary is that! You have probably heard other riders advising to get eye contact with drivers waiting at intersections. What do you think of that advice now? Always suspect you haven’t been seen, have a safety margin, know how to use your brakes properly which needs training and practice, be ready to brake if necessary which keeps reaction times down and be aware of the wheels of the waiting vehicle for movement.
As if that wasn’t enough:
• Global Precedence theory suggests that humans extract low spatial frequency items from a visual scene first. Low spatial frequency items include wide things like wagons and cars. Humans are more likely to miss high spatial frequency items, narrow objects like ……… motorcycles!
• Always assuming that another road user sees an approaching motorcycle and actually perceives it at a cognitive level, there is the possibility of the ‘size arrival’ effect occurring. This theory suggests that approach speed is related to vehicle size so it is possible that a driver waiting to emerge at a intersection will over estimate the time to arrival of a narrow motorbike and emerge into it’s path unexpectedly
• It is possible that motorcycles, again due to their smaller size, do not trigger the ‘looming vulnerability’ instinct in other road others which would otherwise sensitise those others to the approaching threat
• Motorcycles are small and frequently have the headlight on. Riders often approach intersections in a linear fashion. For these reasons, bikes can appear as a point in space making it hard for drivers to identify lateral reference points with the associated difficulties in assessing approach speed. This is compounded by a human tendency to ‘snap shot’ view. Look right – snap shot. Look left – snap shot. Look right again – snap shot. If the snap shots don’t look significantly different then another road user can be misled into making inappropriate driving decisions with safety implications for bikers.
Not looking good is it!
As we have seen, in reality, it doesn’t really matter whether you are the most luminous thing on the planet, festooned in lights and reflective clothing, there may still be drivers who don’t ‘see’ you for a variety of reasons and it only takes one! Compound this with a complacent, naive or risk seeking attitude in your riding and one day who knows?
Am I trying to make you all nervous wrecks every time you so much as think about negotiating a intersection? Of course not. Riding motorbikes is one of the most enjoyable things we all do and intersections are just one of the things we must deal with every ride. They are, however, undoubtedly causing huge issues so it is absolutely right that you appreciate how complex the road user interactions are at such places. You have to do as much as possible to make yourself safe.
What might that be? Emergency service and some civilian riders have collision statistics that suggest they are much safer than other riders? Their secret is a good attitude to risk, sound training in a systematic riding style, practice and regular re-training. It certainly isn’t quantum physics, just common sense. Almost everyone can see improvements to their riding through proper training.
Richie McCaw is arguably one of the best rugby players that has ever lived but he still has a coach and still undergoes training. Enough said.
Intersections are easy enough to sort out safely aren’t they?
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...it is better to live 1 day as a Tiger than 1000 years as a sheep...
Originally Posted by buellbabe
(must take Partner along to)
....bloody BMW riders 
(Its called "Italian character" lol...but yes...new Cherman bearing is working out very nicely....show-off Chermans!)
).
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