What is it with drivers who harrass L-plate riders?

[toebug]

I have never been pulled up on my bike in 20 years!!! Touch wood. Had my learners for 15 years cause I never had a bike small enough for the licence.

Ditch the L-plate or ride faster or more agressively, at the end of the day "I" own the road!! Oh and I carry a rock in my pocket for those cages that REALLY fuck me off!

[Matt_TG]

I wore an L Plate on Baycity M/Cycles loaner 'get your licence on' bike when I went for my restricted. I spent an hour getting used to the raw power of the 170cc Kinetic Hyosung and most of that time had cars up my arse and was cut off numerous times. I was a nervous wreck when I went for the test lol.

[toebug]

I wore an L Plate on Baycity M/Cycles loaner 'get your licence on' bike when I went for my restricted. I spent an hour getting used to the raw power of the 170cc Kinetic Hyosung and most of that time had cars up my arse and was cut off numerous times. I was a nervous wreck when I went for the test lol.

LOL its got noting to do with the L-plate and everything to do with the Kinetic!

[breakaway]

LOL its got noting to do with the L-plate and everything to do with the Kinetic!

That must be it. I've never been tailgated, Rode a RG150 for 3 months with L-Plate and a CBR400RR after that. Well, I have, but I fight back by slowing to 30.

[Gummie]

saying its right but my friend got away with it by attaching said plate then snapping most of it off.
When pulled over it was oh sorry officer you can see it was there when i started out lol.
Plus cage drivers only notice what sticks out. (then they have to run it over).

[Badger8]

i'm still waving the yellow loser flag, and find some people in cages to be real prats.
there's a couple of breeds:
-The ones who seem to think i am a complete doorknob, and mustn't have any awareness of what's going on around me, nor be able to see them in their gigantic metal cages. They insist on doing completely retarded things like pushing up beside me when i am stopped in the right wheel track at lights and lightly revving as if to say "i'm here, make sure you see me", or suddenly stopping part way through a turn and waving me through, even though they have right of way and the guy behind them is screaming at them.
-the breed who seem to think i am a complete doorknob because i've got an L plate on, and therefore i dont belong on the road because i'll be going way too slow and causing accidents, so they feel it is their job to pass me with as little space between us as possible when i am already doing 55-60 in a 50k area, and then cutting me off as if they were trying to introduce me to a parked car, to then sit in front of me and go slower than they were behind me.

Piss off you douchebags, i know the road rules (probably better than you do), and i have common courtesy. Just because you drive a big gas guzzling cage doesn't mean you have more right to the road than i do. i can drive like an ass too, but i choose not to, perhaps a right you should exercise from time to time eh?

wow, that felt SO good maybe now i can fight the urge to stab you in the eye when i pull up next to you at the lights

[PrincessBandit]

reading your second breed of prats reminds me of exactly the same thing happening on my L plate - was already doing 55 in a 50 k zone and a car load of idiots screamed past me yelling abuse out the window then had to stop at a red light just further up the road with me cruising up beside them. Unfortunately I didn't dare look over at them in case they got out and beat the crap out of me. (Being small I went with "discretion being the better part of....") Thankfully they were turning and I got the green light before them. Turkeys.

[PrincessBandit]

oh yeah, i was on my GN250 then. Lovely bike, great to learn on.

[Blimp1]

I never put mine on and have been riding since perfectly fine.. for about 2 months anyway. When i drove the family cage which has L plates on for my younger brother people would be much more aggresive towards me and in 2 instances once i passed them they accelarated hard and overtook me almost instantly even though i had slowy caught up and passed them. My theory is that they feel embarassed in some way to be passed by a learner so need to prove themselves to... someone.

[Mikkel]

I've been adviced on several occassions to loose my L-plate but I find that a potential 25 demerits and $400 is not worth it.

Besides I have only had a few intimate tailgaters so far. And those were all before I bought my black leathers and my black helmet...

If they're following too closely slow down gently until the following distance suits the space they're giving you. And make sure you do it where there's either plenty of room to overtake - or obviously NO room at all. Or as someone else pointed out in another thread a while ago. Start moving about in the lane so they don't consider your position fixed. Eventually start practicing counter-steering swerving and they might back off a bit.

Oh, and an interesting tidbit - I've heard (and hopefully on of our on-site cops can confirm the correctness of this) that if you display an L-plate you're subject to learner license restrictions even if you got your full...

[Tortron]

I've been adviced on several occassions to loose my L-plate but I find that a potential 25 demerits and $400 is not worth it.

seemed more than worth it with a logging truck around 1 m away from me doing excess of 100

[mstriumph]

If you want the problem solved, ride more aggressively seems to work. ...........

if you substituted the word 'assertively' for 'aggressively' then i'd agree with you

a good mate told me early on "ride as though you own the road" ........and that's prolly the most useful bit of 'protective gear' i've ever used

[gtr boy]

buy the L plate .........
attach said L plate..........
snap said L plate close to the mount were bolted..........
no L plate but it was there officer look.............

[HungusMaximist]

buy the L plate .........
attach said L plate..........
snap said L plate close to the mount were bolted..........
no L plate but it was there officer look.............

I started riding in Australia a little while back and took my L plate off after a 1 month or two as it kept flying off matter how hard I bolted it on. So I decided to ditch it and stop wasting money on L plates that fly off and always keep a spare one in my pack rack just in case a officer pulled me over. If you do you can always say "oh puck, not again" and whipp out a L plate.

[Mikkel]

One thing to bear in mind when riding is how you position yourself in the lane...

Today when I went to pick up my car from the paint and panel shop I had the dubious pleasure of sitting behind a fella on what must be described as a dirt bike that somehow had aquired a set of plates (e.g. no mirrors... clever eh?).

Anyway, this young fella ought to write a book on how now to ride during rush hour in Chch. Sitting to the far left of his lane - but sitting in the outer of three lanes on Moorhouse at 5 km/h below the speed limit with the road ahead of him clear. Swerving a bit from side to side - seemingly making conversation with the pickup driver in the next lane at ~50 km/h all while tempting me strongly to overtake him on the left! Only the fact I ride myself and was worried about his riding kept me from moving forth - because there certainly was space enough provided he kept his swerving to a minimum.
All the time while riding he was busy looking at the cars in the next lane and didn't keep focus on what he was doing. Very very bad riding.

Oh, had he had an L-plate I could kinda understand. But here he was, no L-plate while riding like that wearing sneakers and track pants. I would assume that he's used to riding a scooter or some such and has just gotten onto an actual motorcycle.