L plates are dangerous!

[Pascal]

I'm utterly fuming at the moment.

Why is it that cagers have such a desire to kill any motorcyclist displaying a L-Plate?

This morning coming down Greenlane Rd, I filtered through the traffic stopped at the light and pulled away. As normal, good traffic speed and everything fine. Coming down to the second set of lights just before the roundabout, I see the gold SUV that was behind me racing up at a rate of knots. He swerved into the left lane, saw the bus just down the hill and then basically cut across into my lane, missing me by less than a ruler's length.

Thank #@$! I had anticipated this type of lunacy and swung wider to the right, otherwise he'd have taken me out. And looking at his speed, he must have been doing somewhere in the 80+ km/h region. In a 50 zone.

I suspect he got annoyed that a small, L-plate motorcycle had the good fortune to filter through traffic and generally have an easier time in traffic than he does.

But, I stopped next to him and knocked on his window. This was a mistake, but I wanted to ask him to be a bit more careful around motorcyclists. And what does he do? Leans out and smacks me across the face with his forearm, before racing off. He wasn't bright enough to realize that smacking a helmet has little effect on the rider.

I only caught part of his license plate (CH something), so I'm going to have to go file a police report and hope they can catch him. But this is starting to get ridiculous. I want to take that L-plate off and just ride around, because it seems that as soon as a motorist sees an "L" plate they assume it's a learner / slow vehicle that will be holding them up / annoying them / in their way / whatever and just start driving like idiots.

Okay. Rant and vent over. Deep breaths and all that. And maybe time for a smoke as well.

[hayd3n]

lucky the wanker didint so worse
loose the l plate never does any good

[davebullet]

I got tapped from behind from a 4x4 driver when the lights turned green and I happened to be late by about 2 seconds moving off. This is with my L-plate on.

I decided to take it off for safety. My rationale is:
1. When people see an L-plate - they instantly think "god damn it, what is this learner loser going to do to make my trip slower (ie. ride slowly, stall, be slow in taking off etc...)
2. How can I swerve / get around this slow person? (encourages reckless driving).

Take the L-plate off. Seriously, you are better off risking a $400 fine for not having it, rather than being taken out.

The road code is wrong when it says L-plates promote tolerance from other drivers. Quite the reverse from what I've experienced.

Dave.

[DarkLord]

I agree with Dave. L plates seem to attract nothing but unwanted attention from car drivers. You're better off not having it on there. Sorry to hear about your morning bro. Some of those bastards deserve a serious hiding. Or, at the very least, a smashed tail light or two.

[Pascal]

The road code is wrong when it says L-plates promote tolerance from other drivers. Quite the reverse from what I've experienced.

This has been my experience too, from both sides of the equation.

I know that when I used to see L-plates on a car my first reaction was, damnit, there's another 20 minutes tacked onto my trip because this person won't be able to indicate, accelerate and operate their vehicle. It still seems that way, but having been on the receiving end of driver L-plate rage I'm starting to teach myself to be patient around L-platers and to give them the room to build their confidence.

It's a bit of an attitude adjustment and I'm not afraid to admit I was an asshole too.

I still want to lose the L-Plate though

[Macros]

The only reason why I have mine on is the hope that I may get insurance one day.

[PrincessBandit]

Had my share of that experience too, as a moron-magnet the yellow square will only attract morons. But I had to wonder whether the considerably more numerous motorists I shared the road with while I was on my L plate were actually being considerate of the fact that it was there.
It's only the dickheads who decide to have "fun" with an L plater and cause us grief that tend to get our attention.
You won't have that plate much longer anyway (it's only a min of 6 months - how far through that are you?) but it's your decision. All the best young grasshopper and just remember that while it is easy enough to attract unwanted attention when we're minding our own business and not pissing anyone esle off sometimes the dickwads who "target" riders don't necessarily do so because of the yellow attachment on their bike.

[sinfull]

The only reason why I have mine on is the hope that I may get insurance one day.

Now thats the attitude we like to see !!!

Cracked me up when i saw "Oh i knocked on his window to ask him to be a bit more carefull around motorcycles "
Bwahahaha thought it might have been obvious that he was an aggressive twat when he came after ya !
Sure we all hate to see twats get all humpty when a bike filters past them in their "king of the road" SUV But.....
Lesson 1 / filter past frustrated drivers (particuly with an L plate), Ya gonna get that !
Lesson 2 / knock on the drivers window or follow them till they stop, Ya gonna get that !

[sunhuntin]

boy theres some incosiderate twats around. i kept my l plate on the whole time i had it. [some 2 years due to laziness and lack of confidence] and never got any major hassle from cagers that could be pinned on the plate. hassle from cagers for whatever other reason, yeh, but not due to being an l plate.

and when following an l plated vehicle, no matter what it is, if ya dont want the supposed 20 mins added to a trip, take an alternate route. i have no trouble following them, and even follow the idea around them [ie, dont crowd/tail gate them or get frustrated when they do stuff up] we were all learners once.

pascal, im picking the cager you encountered wasnt annoyed by your l plate. he was likely annoyed by the fact you are on a bike and left him sitting in the dust.

[roogazza]

This is New Zealand, if you are going to knock on a window , you have to be prepared to fight ! What, you were going to discuss it, pfft !

and 2. always get the plate number, what ever happens, then you can make a complaint.
I prefer other methods.

[awayatc]

I hope I never get sentenced to having to live in Auckland........

What about getting an exemption to ride a bigger bike on your "L", lots of people get that succesfully done, and I find the bigger a bike you ride the less shit you get.....Or so it seems to me...

Oh and sometimes there are just plain idiots out there...
(especialy your end of the woods apparently)....
Give em space....
Let them go....
You only got to deal with them for a few seconds, they've got to be them for the rest of their miserable lives.....
Karma will sort it all out.....
Always does

[Tank]

2 Comments. Firstly as someone has said - if you knock on a window be prepared for what ever comes out of it. If you ain't don't escalate the issue. It could have been a lot worse.

About the L-Plate. Most of you are wrong. (yep - I went there).

Think about this for a second - before you started biking would you deliberately scare a new rider? Would your family members? Friends?

Im guessing most people are saying no (at least I hope so).

What I think most of us feel (and I had this as well) - is that its scary riding a bike when you are new. Things that don't look scary in a car - are on a bike. That car behind you who "may be a bit close" when you are in the car seems to be right on your ass when you are riding a bike - its just perception.

Nobody (ok - very very few) people actually go out of their way to scare or run down "L" riders.

Don't worry - as you get more exprienced the problem does lessen.

As an aside - I ride a big ass V-Strom (no L plate) and have no more issues than when I ride my wifes AN125 around town with a "L" plate on the back.

[Marmoot]

It's an initiation rite of passage to adulthood.

You ain't deserve the Full if you've never been to hell and back.

The bad driving condition is the other drivers trying to teach you what you can expect on normal daily road. They're kind enough to spend a few seconds giving you valuable lessons, you should be thankful to them.

I curse those who instead avoid L-plated vehicles like plague.

[Pascal]

2 Comments. Firstly as someone has said - if you knock on a window be prepared for what ever comes out of it. If you ain't don't escalate the issue. It could have been a lot worse.

Yeah, I recognized that as a mistake. Just two weeks ago I was sideswiped by a van who didn't look (I was level with his front, so his passenger side door hit my leg). That earlier fright, combined with the shock was probably what overrode common sense raised the desire to actually tell him to be more careful. There's a lot of us out there and we have just as much right to be on the road, etc.

However, the police also said - just get the plate and don't talk to them - just come to us. Unfortunately they cannot do searches on partial plates, and in the rush of adrenaline / shock I didn't remember the rest of it. Bad memory, old age, who knows?

As to your other question, I don't think of it as a case of "targeting L-platers", but more a case of a conditioned response to having a learner slow you down. As a motorist I knew I was impatient and that impatience leads to reckless driving and accidents. Now I'm more careful, because I'd rather arrive at my destination late than not at all. So it's more a case of impatience leading to reckless driving because of the L plate, which endangers the L plate rider, rather than a deliberate targeting.

[Finn]

Speaking as an SUV cage driver, you may see an L plate but I see a target. If you can't survive your L plate period, you have little hope once your ego takes control.

Perhaps as a learner you shouldn't be filtering just yet.

On that note, just yesterday, some minion corporate punk on a brand new Vespa filtered past me and was in front of me at the lights. Fine, I don't have a problem with that. I do the same however, be prepared for the green light as unlike most kiwi's, within a millisecond of it going green, the accelerator is subjected to as much force as my little leg can muster. This punk decided to take off at sightseeing pace in the middle of the lane and must have sharted as I stood my ground and went past him. He tried his best to give me a dirty look but it just doesn't work wearing a suit on an orange Vespa.