ALT-3 How to Safely Share the Road with Motorcycles
People simply do not pay enough attention on the road. Between settling children's disputes, talking on the cell phone, eating, drinking, smoking, or just admiring the scenery, people's reaction times and reflexes are not what they should be while driving.
This is dangerous enough as it is, but throw in a lone motorcyclist, or even a GROUP of motorcyclists, and you've got a recipe for disaster.
The number one rule of safe driving, ANY time, but especially around motorcycles, is to pay attention! Make it a point to notice that there is a guy on a Harley Davidson 2 cars ahead and one lane over. That way, YOU know where he is, even if HE is being unsafe, and you can stay out of his way. (I'm not saying motorcyclists are unsafe drivers, it's just an example).
Another important rule, DON'T tailgate motorcyclists. Give them at least 1-2 car lengths in between you and them. I witnessed a tragic accident when I was a child, due to a woman tailgating a motorcycle. There was a large group of riders going the opposite direction on the highway. I noticed them from the backseat of my parent's old Jeep. The last two guys in the group were fairly close together, one a little ahead. Behind the last guy was a white car, dangerously close to the motorcyclist's back tire. I don't know if the driver of the car looked away for a moment or what, but a split second later, her bumper came in contact with the motorcycle's tire, and the man crashed and skidded into the other lane. The car stopped. My father stopped driving. The motorcyclist's buddy had gone on, not realizing what happened, but soon turned around. Due to not paying attention, the other motorcyclist didn't see his friend lying in the road, and ran over him, his head. The man on the ground was dead, and his friend had crashed into a ditch and broken his leg. The ambulance and police arrived, and had to help the car driver out of her vehicle. She was in shock, and all she could say was that she had killed her own husband.
Now, this was a freak accident, but it all boiled down to not paying enough attention on the road.
The last rule is to ALWAYS double check your blind spot. I know in my car, I can completely miss a semi due to the blind spot, and I have to check over my shoulder. If I can miss a truck of that size, imagine how difficult it is to spot a motorcycle approaching!
Now, one last thing to think about. My father-in-law has been riding motorcycles for over 20 years. He told me a story about a driving class he once taught. He showed the class a video in which a bunch of guys were on a basketball court passing several balls back and forth. It was really interesting, the tricks they could do, and how fast their reflexes were. In the middle of the video, a guy came out wearing a gorilla suit, walked through the middle of the court, and walked out. The video continued. Afterwards, my father-in-law asked his class if they had noticed a gorilla in the video. Out of 20-some odd people, ONE kid raised his hand.
THAT is how easy it is to simply not see a motorcycle on the road.
