|
What the others said, and just commenting that you can prevent that by taking a much wider line into tight turns like that on the street. Stay to the edge of the road and turn in later.
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 04:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 00:37 |
|
|
Close call this morning...lucky to not be posting this from the hospital. Pull up to a stop light, hug the center line since car ahead (camry) of me is sitting right of center in the lane. One car pulls up behind (explorer), also right of center in the lane. Then hear squealing tires from behind me. Had just enough time to get next to the car in front of me before the collision. Explorer bumper ends up where the back window of the camry used to be, I got sprayed with glass from either the back windows or rear glass. All occupants of both cars were sent out in ambulances, cop that was 4-5 cars back had me provide statement and make sure I was ok. Still shaking a bit a half hour later, way too drat close. TLDR: Never Ever sit in the middle of the lane, especially at a traffic light.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 12:45
|
|
|
NitroSpazzz posted:Close call this morning...lucky to not be posting this from the hospital. Yikes. I'm gonna stop clicking it into Neutral when one car pulls up behind me. Glad you had the foresight and opportunity to escape.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 13:05
|
|
|
Holy crap, glad you're ok man, that could have been horrible.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 13:35
|
|
|
NitroSpazzz posted:Close call this morning...lucky to not be posting this from the hospital. Dude, I am so glad to hear you're ok! That doesn't sound like you'd be in the hospital; that sounds like you'd be in the loving morgue. Safety Dance posted:Yikes. I'm gonna stop clicking it into Neutral when one car pulls up behind me. Glad you had the foresight and opportunity to escape. Safety Dance, I'm less experienced than you and I respect your posts all over this board (actually, I really enjoy them!) so I apologize if I sound like I'm questioning your superior riding experience and skill but: Why the gently caress are you clicking it into neutral at all? Is this an isolated thing or are you doing every time you're at a long red with 1+ car(s) behind you? As far as my own almost crash; it happened a week or so ago and I wasn't at fault; but since we're on the topic of rear-ending at stops: I was in the college parking lot. I pulled up to a stop sign and did a full stop, with my left foot on the ground since campus security and cops like to watch the intersection I was at. This is a two-way stop with a road leading in from an intersection perpendicular to the stops. The road leading in is a yield and not a stop. Seeing the lead-in road is clear the the guy across from me is about to go straight (around the parking lot ring) I started to turn left (to turn onto the lead-in road, which goes out to the main road) through the intersection. When I'm about in the middle of the intersection I hear an engine rev behind me through my helmet. Not knowing what to do I panic and quick stop right there - thankfully that was the right thing to do as a black Escalade swerves around me on my left. She was doing about thirty miles an hour through our little intersection in the parking ring that limits us to 15 mph. If I had been another inch or so forward she would have knocked my front tire out from under me. I was either going to accelerate or quick stop and, as I said, my panic forced me to do the right thing. If I had accelerated she would have broad-sided me. The guy across the intersection, the one going straight, was so furious at her he jumped out of his car as she passed and started screaming obscenities at her and shaking his fist. I pulled out of the intersection and over onto the side of the road and just took a moment to catch my breath. otherwise my riding has been pretty uneventful; let's pray it stays that way for all of us.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 21:55
|
|
|
I click into neutral at stoplights but I also am usually wedged between two cars at a light and am always checking my mirrors.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 22:04
|
|
|
Xovaan posted:I click into neutral at stoplights but I also am usually wedged between two cars at a light and am always checking my mirrors. This is like people who carry a weapon but refuse to carry a round in the chamber because it's unsafe "But I practice regularly and am always aware of my surroundings!" It's not that it's not a good solution, what you're doing is probably better than a lot of guys out there and your vigilance is to be commended; but there is a better option. Maybe it's just that I'm still too green or maybe it's because, when I drove a truck, I was rear-ended on multiple occasions; but, to be honest, I'm far too paranoid about being rear-ended to click my bike into neutral at even the longest lights.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 22:12
|
|
|
In California we're allowed to filter to the front of lights, far away from harm's way of cars. Neutral is fine for these occasions. If I'm in traffic and some downy rear end in a top hat is blocking my ability to get to the front, I stay in first to keep my options open but it's not necessary if I have a buffer of several cars to my left and right.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 22:16
|
|
|
Xovaan posted:In California we're allowed to filter to the front of lights, far away from harm's way of cars. Neutral is fine for these occasions. If I'm in traffic and some downy rear end in a top hat is blocking my ability to get to the front, I stay in first to keep my options open but it's not necessary if I have a buffer of several cars to my left and right. Granted, I can see it sitting ok, with me I mean, in a filtering situation since you've got a wall of cars behind and on either side of you protecting you. I live in Florida where filtering is not legal.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 22:20
|
|
|
Move out of your terribly lovely state for reasons far beyond filtering. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 22:29
|
|
|
Yes! As a former Florida Resident, I recommend Colorado. You STILL can't filter, and you can only ride your bike 8 months out of the year, but it's better than California!
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 22:38
|
|
|
Please allow me to make it abundantly clear that my girlfriend and I hate Florida with a passion that burns hotter than a thousand suns going supernova simultaneously. We have every intention of moving away from this god-forsaken place as soon as we can manage it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 22:47
|
|
|
If I'm holding the clutch in with my left hand at a stop light, how am I supposed to change songs on my phone and check twitter?
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 23:22
|
|
|
Wulframn posted:Safety Dance, I'm less experienced than you and I respect your posts all over this board (actually, I really enjoy them!) so I apologize if I sound like I'm questioning your superior riding experience and skill but: Why the gently caress are you clicking it into neutral at all? Is this an isolated thing or are you doing every time you're at a long red with 1+ car(s) behind you? Yo, no need to apologize at all. I tend to think of myself as an intermediate rider; I commute most days, but I really don't do track days or group rides as much as a lot of the other people on here. (I also suck at maintenance.) I click into Neutral out of lazyness, so that I can stretch my fingers, stretch my back, stuff like that. I do it most times when I'm at long stop lights and I have a pretty good buffer of cars behind and to the side of me. Pretty good used to be defined as one big truck or two little cars, but I think I'll bump that threshold up a little bit. My reasoning is, I'm reasonably well protected and short of an out of control dump truck barreling out of nowhere, no one is going to interfere with my space so I can make myself comfortable and stop holding my broken clutch lever (see: lazy). If there's no one behind me, I'll be in first gear watching my mirrors with a good escape route usually to the left of the car in front of me. If the car behind me leaves even a little question in my mind as to whether he or she is going to stop in time, I'll give it a little gas and roll forward a bit, ready to gtfo if necessary. Wulframn posted:Please allow me to make it abundantly clear that my girlfriend and I hate Florida with a passion that burns hotter than a thousand suns going supernova simultaneously. We have every intention of moving away from this god-forsaken place as soon as we can manage it. Having been to Florida, I agree most emphatically with this sentiment.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 23:26
|
|
|
Interestingly *not* going into neutral at a red light is a fail on the UK bike test - the reason given being that if you get nudged from behind you're likely to let go of the clutch and go catapulting across the junction which presumably has cross-traffic not expecting a bike to appear. However not getting to the front of a queue of cars at a red light if it's safe to do so is also potentially a fail (failure to make progress) so obviously the equation changes somewhat. Personally I was never happy with that explanation because if a crash is hard enough to knock your hand off the clutch it's going to knock your other hand and foot off the brake levers so you're going into the junction anyway, i don't think the small additional thrust of an idling engine is going to make much difference either way. In other news, no real near-misses for me today but a truly ridiculous amount of lemming pedestrians this morning and three separate near-SMIDSYs (one of which would have probably taken out 3 or 4 bikes ahead of me too if they weren't all on best behaviour). It must be something in the air because I almost SMIDSY'd a cyclist pulling into work, too.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2012 23:47
|
|
|
Safety Dance posted:Yo, no need to apologize at all. I tend to think of myself as an intermediate rider; I commute most days, but I really don't do track days or group rides as much as a lot of the other people on here. (I also suck at maintenance.) Ok, I can understand that. I mistook your statement for "I click to neutral at every stop that's longer than a few seconds," like some people I've seen. One guy in our MSF class admitted to doing that - that led to two days of the instructors hounding him to STOP loving CLICKING TO NEUTRAL every time his bike would pause for even a moment. After a while he started complaining he did it because his fingers hurt due to his clutch being too tight. goddamnedtwisto posted:Interestingly *not* going into neutral at a red light is a fail on the UK bike test - the reason given being that if you get nudged from behind you're likely to let go of the clutch and go catapulting across the junction which presumably has cross-traffic not expecting a bike to appear. However not getting to the front of a queue of cars at a red light if it's safe to do so is also potentially a fail (failure to make progress) so obviously the equation changes somewhat. That's some of the most stupid reasoning I've ever heard. If a bike is rear-ended hard enough to upset your hand on the clutch you have bigger issues to worry about than the possibility of flying off into traffic. On another note I noticed I'm more visible on a motorcycle than I was on a bike. Maybe that's an obvious observation; but I used to ride a bike to get around town, before my motorcycle, and it seemed like I was almost on the verge of getting hit. The US, and Florida in particular, seem pretty hostile to bicyclists. I've had cops tell me to ride on the sidewalk or get a ticket, ride on the rode or get a ticket, ride in the shoulder or get a ticket, no I don't care what another cop told you ride on the goddamn sidewalk and if I catch you in the road again I'm hauling your rear end to jail and impounding your bicycle, not to mention all of the people honking and throwing stuff at you. (Edit: let's not forget the pedestrians on the sidewalk who scream at you, after watching you get screamed at by a cop for not being on the sidewalk, that you need to be in the road or the ones who intentionally move themselves into your path of travel so you have to quick stop or swerve around them at the last second - bicycles get no respect) Now I'm just waiting for a cop to pull me over and tell me to get my motorcycle on the sidewalk or he's hauling me to jail.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2012 01:07
|
|
|
Wulframn posted:That's some of the most stupid reasoning I've ever heard. If a bike is rear-ended hard enough to upset your hand on the clutch you have bigger issues to worry about than the possibility of flying off into traffic. Not to mention that dumping the clutch while you're at idle, giving no additional throttle input, is far more likely to just result in a lurch and stall. Do they think everyone is riding a 1000cc bike with a high idle problem or something?
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2012 02:14
|
|
|
Well, I had my first real close call the other day. I've only been riding for a few months now (took the MSF, commute daily 10 miles one way, and a few weekend rides in the mountains). Anyway, I was riding along in the commuter lane which is the far right on the expressway. This road has a fair number of intersections, so I try to be very observant as I'm approaching them, ready for someone to merge out in front of me. My vigilance and emergency stopping practice kept me from rear-ending some douchebag who pulled out directly in front of me and then proceeded to slam on his brakes and turn his left turn signal on, trying to merge out of the commuter lane. Since the other lanes were full and at a dead stop, he, too, came to a dead stop. Directly after cutting me off. I successfully kept the bike up and didn't lock the brakes, but I only had about a foot and a half of clearance from his back bumper when I got the bike stopped. I had slowed 5-10 mph when I saw him inching forward, anticipating him being a moron, and if I hadn't done so, I'm sure I would've hit him. I didn't have the presence of mind to honk, but the lady behind me took care of that for me. I flipped the guy off and revved my engine loudly as I filtered around him on the right side to continue on in our empty lane.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2012 03:15
|
|
|
I dont live in CA but I still go between the two cars infront of me  .
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2012 03:19
|
|
|
Day Man posted:I'm sure I would've hit him. Do your gloves have armored knuckles?
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2012 03:22
|
|
|
Safety Dance posted:Do your gloves have armored knuckles? They do. Plastic, though, so no real brass-knuckles effect. Day Man fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Aug 30, 2012 |
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2012 03:29
|
|
|
Wulframn posted:The US, and Florida in particular, seem pretty hostile to bicyclists. I've had cops tell me to ride on the sidewalk or get a ticket, ride on the rode or get a ticket, ride in the shoulder or get a ticket, no I don't care what another cop told you ride on the goddamn sidewalk and if I catch you in the road again I'm hauling your rear end to jail and impounding your bicycle, not to mention all of the people honking and throwing stuff at you. (Edit: let's not forget the pedestrians on the sidewalk who scream at you, after watching you get screamed at by a cop for not being on the sidewalk, that you need to be in the road or the ones who intentionally move themselves into your path of travel so you have to quick stop or swerve around them at the last second - bicycles get no respect) Somehow I managed to go two+ years bicycle commuting in Tampa and only get one random stranger screaming human being at me. I got a thumbs-up from a dude in a BMW which I guess cancels that out  But yeah, I always felt more in danger on a silent, underpowered bicycle than I did on a motorcycle. People are startlingly ignorant that in most states, a bicycle is treated as a vehicle and must ride on the road.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2012 08:31
|
|
|
My favorite bicycle-commuting experience was pulling up at a stoplight beside a bro-truck, just behind some kind of triathlete with a carbon bike and aerodynamic helmet and all the tight spandex with sponsor logos and so on. The driver of the bro-truck looks out his window...back inside...back out at the triathlete...back inside to his buddy...then leans his upper body out and yells "LOOK, IT'S NEIL ARMSTRONG!" then floors the gas and laughs maniacally as he peels out.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2012 16:23
|
|
|
Nearly stacked it up today, in a stupid mootmoot-worthy move, thanks to my own dumb rear end. I was out and about and discovered a cool winding ridgeline road, and was having a blast riding it about as hard as I'm comfortable riding the bike. Which is not that hard or fast, objectively speaking, but that was still mistake #1: taking on an unfamiliar road at the edge of my skill level. Mistake #2: ignored a 15mph sign in front of a blind turn, assuming it would be about as tight as the other non-blind "15mph" turns I'd been easily taking at about 30-35. Nope; it was a real, honest-to-god 15mph turn. As I came around I found myself going over the yellow line. So I'm over the double yellow and entering the opposite lane, set to take the whole width of the road if I'm going to navigate this corner successfully, already worried and trying to countersteer harder -- when suddenly a car comes around the corner the opposite way. I was leaned over as far as I'd ever been, which was almost certainly nowhere near the traction limit, but like I said, being a dumbass and riding at the edge of my experience. I had enough presence of mind to not just hit the brakes. So, I didn't try to push the tires even further, but instead stood it up a tiny bit and sailed across in front of the car to the shoulder on the opposite side of the road, narrowly avoiding a direct front-on collision, running the front tire into a pile of soft dirt. The bike stayed upright and I got my legs down somehow, the only part of the whole experience that would make this an "almost crash" instead of an actual crash. Terrifying, humiliating, but thanks to the grace of God there was no damage to anything, including myself. No cuts or bruises, no bent controls, just folded up the footpeg as it dug into the dirt. The engine was still running until I took my hand off the clutch and stalled it on the spot. I got off, accepted the furious lecture about loving motorcycles from the driver I almost hit (I'm sorry, guys, for reinforcing someone's poor opinion of bikes and bikers) and then left the bike parked on the side of the road and just kind of wandered around for about twenty minutes with my head full of bees. Rode the 40 miles home slowly and carefully, trying to keep my head on the road instead of going over that incident again and again. Lesson learned: don't ride outside your own loving limits, wherever they may lie, especially on an unfamiliar road. e: shoulda read z3n's post from the first page, where he also ended up over the DY from taking a corner too fast quote:Never, ever, ride over your head. yep. Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Sep 2, 2012 |
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2012 05:42
|
|
|
This happened last Sunday. Other Seattle-area riders will know exactly the road and even the corner I'm talking about here. High Bridge Road, heading south from Hwy 522. They've recently been performing "chip-sealing" on this stretch, which I gather is some kind of treatment in which they take a perfectly good road and gently caress it up. Initially it didn't seem to be a big deal, I weaved around a bit on the new surface as I started, cornering with progressively less concern. It seemed like there was nothing to worry about. Anyway, there's a couple of right-angle corners complete with 15? 25? mph warning signs. The corners are pretty much blind and usually there's a scattering of crap fallen from the embankment. It's a briefly lovely spot on an otherwise fun road. This time the corners featured an exciting new invisible sand trap, courtesy of the Washington DOT. I have a bad habit of hugging the centerline. I know this. Combined with both tires breaking lose and sliding sideways while I'm leaned over, with a huge SUV coming around the other way, I honestly can't tell you why I'm not posting from a hospital bed. I completely lost traction while already taking a bad line and target-fixated on a Grand Cherokee. Had there been another car traveling behind them, I'd have been totally hosed.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 02:43
|
|
|
I was riding down a six-lane highway, which connects our town to Gainesville to the north and others to the south, south to my local, independant bike shop of choice. I was in the innermost lane in quite a deal of traffic - not heavy enough to be bumper-to-bumper, but enough to feel like an owl trying to keep track of everything around you. A couple of cars ahead a cop pulled left across the median with his left blinker on either going to pop a u-turn or going to turn left; I don't know. As I continue on down the road suddenly, without signaling or even turning off his left-turn signal, the cop merges over on top of me as I start to pass him (I thought he was still looking to turn left, obviously, as did everyone in front and behind me). As I brake so he can get into the lane and get in front of me I notice him flip off the left-blinker just before slamming on the brakes. Thankfully I was already in the process of slowing, so a quick stop wasn't too far off and I escaped without a scratch, though I came close to riding up on his bumper. Now, normally, I would have honked and flashed my brights angrily to let the idiot know they almost killed a motorcyclist; but this being a cop I was too afraid of getting a ticket (I've been threatened with worse for less in this town) so I just puttered along behind him angrily. Another one I've noticed is that I dare not hug the inside line of my lane too closely. Normally I ride in the middle of the lane unless I'm avoiding a surface hazard; but I also ride the inner line of my lane if I suspect the guy in front of me doesn't know I'm behind them. I'll pull to the left as far as I can in my lane so they can see me in their outside driver's side mirror and in their inside rear-view mirror and, if they still don't seem to see me, I will flash my high beam once to catch their eye. This has been very effective. But, this comes with a trade-off. Sometimes I will do this and the person behind me assumes I am trying to invite them over for a party. Sadly they don't bring chips, or dip, and just move up alongside me. I've actually had people do this to me, then gesture for me to retreat behind them, as though it's OK they just unlawfully passed me in my own lane and am shocked that I don't immediately take the hint to fall in line behind them. I can fully sympathize why some bikers carry heavy ball bearings or bolts and things to pelt cars with, or why they kick car doors. I don't do these things, but God help me if I'm not tempted to land a solid loving kick each and everytime I have someone muscle me around the drat road.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 04:53
|
|
|
deliverator posted:This happened last Sunday. Other Seattle-area riders will know exactly the road and even the corner I'm talking about here. High Bridge Road, heading south from Hwy 522. They've recently been performing "chip-sealing" on this stretch, which I gather is some kind of treatment in which they take a perfectly good road and gently caress it up. If it's done right, chip sealing just gives you a mediocre, but cheap surface for low-traffic roads. "Done right" means using enough bitumen and no more aggregate than the bitumen will hold. It also means rolling down the aggregate properly. gently caress up any of those parameters (as underpaid, overworked road workers are wont to do) and you can end up with a top layer consisting of loose aggregate. This is absolute murder on windshields and hellish for motorcyclists, as you've discovered. I've even seen roads where they didn't bother to roll down the aggregate. I think the idea was that the cars would do it instead, but gently caress trying to ride anything with two wheels on that poo poo. Wulframn posted:Another one I've noticed is that I dare not hug the inside line of my lane too closely. Normally I ride in the middle of the lane unless I'm avoiding a surface hazard; but I also ride the inner line of my lane if I suspect the guy in front of me doesn't know I'm behind them. I'll pull to the left as far as I can in my lane so they can see me in their outside driver's side mirror and in their inside rear-view mirror and, if they still don't seem to see me, I will flash my high beam once to catch their eye. This has been very effective. You really should be riding in the wheel tracks left by cars as much as possible. The middle of the lane is where cars will drip various fluids, so try not to stay there too much, especially if it's just started raining. Go for the left wheel track most of the time, you'll be a big enough presence in your lane that people generally won't try anything stupid, and you're visible in the mirrors of the car in front. Another benefit is that if the driver in front of you is even slightly awake, they will instinctively avoid any potholes with their left wheels. If you were in the middle of the lane, you run a much higher risk of hitting the potholes that go right under the middle of cars.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 06:27
|
|
|
KozmoNaut posted:If it's done right, chip sealing just gives you a mediocre, but cheap surface for low-traffic roads. "Done right" means using enough bitumen and no more aggregate than the bitumen will hold. It also means rolling down the aggregate properly. gently caress up any of those parameters (as underpaid, overworked road workers are wont to do) and you can end up with a top layer consisting of loose aggregate. This is absolute murder on windshields and hellish for motorcyclists, as you've discovered. I'm sorry, I didn't mean I was riding directly in the middle of the lane - I try to stay in the left wheel track. However, there are huge stretches of road where the left wheel track is torn up enough to cause concern so I, typically, err on the side of the inside of that torn up area which puts me more center. I try to avoid the direct center of the lane. I'm sorry I wasn't more clear. =P
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 06:56
|
|
|
KozmoNaut posted:If it's done right, chip sealing just gives you a mediocre, but cheap surface for low-traffic roads. "Done right" means using enough bitumen and no more aggregate than the bitumen will hold. It also means rolling down the aggregate properly. gently caress up any of those parameters (as underpaid, overworked road workers are wont to do) and you can end up with a top layer consisting of loose aggregate. This is absolute murder on windshields and hellish for motorcyclists, as you've discovered. This is exactly how our local council in Surrey does it. They have some clown dump a fuckton of loose aggregate on a slightly worn road surface and basically smooth it over with a rake like a motherfucking Shinto rock garden. I'm picturing Irish traveller contractors dress in ceremonial robes and headdress, serenaded with traditional drum (...and bass, poundin' from their white Ford chassis cab). On residential roads, the cars turn this into drifts and washboarding in about a day. There are actual banks of gravel and ripples like a sand dune on the Paris-Dakar. Eventually it all ends up in the gutter and hopefully no-one crashes in the meantime. On rural roads, this takes a road with indifferent grip and makes it positively loving dangerous. Eventually the piles of aggregate get smaller and some of it sticks. This lasts, literally, about 3 days, before the traffic rips the aggregate off the surface of the road in the highest wear areas and you once again have a shiny, low grip surface. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 19:59
|
|
|
I ride a lot and commute on my bike everyday but I don't seem to have nearly as many near death experiences as I see posted here. I think being visible is a big part of that, and I ride around all of the time with my high beam on. Anyone else do this?
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 22:12
|
|
|
aventari posted:I ride a lot and commute on my bike everyday but I don't seem to have nearly as many near death experiences as I see posted here. I think being visible is a big part of that, and I ride around all of the time with my high beam on. Anyone else do this? Don't do this. It doesn't make you any more visible than a properly-adjusted low-beam (indeed if there's a low sun behind you it can literally make your bike invisible) and if someone's looking at you in a not-clean mirror it can completely skew their perception of your distance. It's also really loving distracting to me (in car or on bike) if I keep getting a high-beam in the eyes in my mirrors. Anyway, I nearly had the most embarrassing crash ever this morning - going around a roundabout, head up and around the corner as it should be, I go to lifesaver to exit and - my head is paralysed. I literally can't move my head. I turn blind (although I knew there was nothing at all on the roundabout) and try to turn my head again and with an almighty tearing my head whips round fast enough to unbalance me and take me from being about to overshoot the exit to almost crashing into the left-hand pavement at the apex. The cause of all these fun and games wasn't some horrifying musculoskeletal disorder... but that I'd not done up the collar on my jacket and the velcro hooks had grabbed the (kinda scuffed up and old) neckroll on my lid when I turned my head right.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 22:37
|
|
|
That would be one he'll of an irritating reason to crash. Aventari - I ride around with low beam on 24/7. It's actually illegal in Australia to have your high beam on within 200m of another car any time of the day. Not to mention how distracting it can be for the other driver. It's also kind of dangerous - moth to light and all that. If someone oncoming fixates on your light because its too bright they could plow right into you.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2012 00:09
|
|
|
I use my low beam because, as I discovered a week or so ago, the high beam drains the battery faster than the alternator can charge it unless I'm constantly averaging above 5000RPM.  Good for riding on a highway at night, but not many other situations. I'm trying to find something brighter than the crappy old 1970s bulb that also doesn't draw more than ~35w.The couple of times I've forgotten to turn the light on at all, though, I've definitely noticed an increase in cars stopping short and cutting me off in various ways. Lights are good.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2012 02:01
|
|
|
I lied, do most of my riding in the day and that's when the high beam is on. I actually do turn it off at night when there's traffic in front of me because yeah that is annoying at night. Unless I'm behind a jacked-up bro truck. gently caress them
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2012 07:58
|
|
|
aventari posted:I lied, do most of my riding in the day and that's when the high beam is on. I actually do turn it off at night when there's traffic in front of me because yeah that is annoying at night. Unless I'm behind a jacked-up bro truck. gently caress them Still don't use a high-beam during the day - I guessed you weren't enough of a cock to be riding around in traffic with high-beams on at night, and the reasons I posted applied to daylight riding - particularly the one about having a low sun behind you. I forget the name of the phenomenon but basically if the sun is directly in your field of vision, your brain pretty much edits out any other bright lights - this is something that is actually worsened by using dark glasses. In all other situations a high-beam is provably no more visible than a low-beam except at close range and then people can end up fixating on the bright light and end up driving straight into you as a result.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2012 13:10
|
|
|
goddamnedtwisto posted:Still don't use a high-beam during the day - I guessed you weren't enough of a cock to be riding around in traffic with high-beams on at night, and the reasons I posted applied to daylight riding - particularly the one about having a low sun behind you. I forget the name of the phenomenon but basically if the sun is directly in your field of vision, your brain pretty much edits out any other bright lights - this is something that is actually worsened by using dark glasses. Good post The proper use of your brights (high-beams, whatever) is a completely lost art. I speak to my peers these days and it's the same stuff from everyone:
You keep them at all times at night so you can see further You flash them when someone pisses you off You flash them to signal a cop ahead And other such nonsense. Your brights exist for one primary reason: to increase the distance at which you can see at night or in limited visibility situations. These situations exclude dust/sand storms, blizzards, heavy rain and/or fog. You would do better to simply use your low beams rather than have your hi-beams bounce off the dust/sand/rain/sleet/snow/fog back into your face. You may use your brights at night when there are no vehicles within a reasonable distance in front of you and there are no oncoming cars at virtually any distance at which you can see them coming. If you even remotely suspect that you may be blinding or distracting them with your brights you probably are; turn them the gently caress off. You may flash your brights around other cars, at night, if you need clarification on a potential hazard or emergency situation arising. Example: a car is oncoming or nearby in front of you but you suddenly notice a shadow moving near the edge of the road. Is it a deer? A dog? A person? Flash those brights, get an idea, and then turn them back off asap. You'd better have a good excuse to do this; especially when you find out that oncoming car you just flashed was a cop and he's u-turning to pull you over for blinding him suddenly or, god-forbid, because he thought you were trying to signal him that there was another cop behind you to watch for. (I grew up in the forest where we ocassionally needed to do this to avoid deer. In a city you should never do this, it's bright enough and there are no deer.) You should not use your brights as a signal to other drivers that there is a cop ahead (of them, or behind you) they need to look for. Many serious criminals are caught as a matter of a routine traffic stop: Timothy McVeigh and Ted Bundy are two excellent examples. Sometimes it is acceptable to use your brights to signal someone or catch their attention if you need to make them aware of a hazard or even yourself. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, if I suspect someone doesn't notice me behind them I will quickly flash my brights, during the day, (at night my low beam does this by default) in their outside rear-view mirror once. This has been very effective. Sorry for the lecture; but I often have people get behind me with their brights on or drive into my face with their brights. Actually, one night I was out riding and had some idiot with their brights on behind me and a whole string of traffic, save one or two people, oncoming with their damned brights on, too. I ended up having to navigate by using the fog-line to get to a place where I could safely pull over and let people pass me since I was basically blind. Misuse of the high-beams is a pet-peeve of mine.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2012 15:35
|
|
|
Here in Cali at least, it's a question on the license exam. The correct answer is to use your hi-beams all the time.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2012 20:15
|
|
|
I usually keep mine on because the stock low beam on my Sv650s seems to be weak as all hell. No one has ever made any indication to me at all that the high beam is too bright. I did have to install a new rectifier though! Battery kept dying. I wonder why!
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2012 20:23
|
|
|
Ghostnuke posted:Here in Cali at least, it's a question on the license exam. The correct answer is to use your hi-beams all the time. Terrible. I don't agree with everything on that high beam essay, but that's a terrible thing to be teaching people. The UK has similarly retarded things in its drivers tests.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2012 20:23
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 00:37 |
|
|
I wheelie everywhere with my headlight on low-beam. I feel this is an excellent compromise and to judge by the enthusiastic waving of fists from cars going in the other direction, other motorists agree!
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2012 20:54
|
|