My wife almost hit a biker last night...

[kcaja1]

My wife works at night as a supervisor RN and she texted me after she got to work and said that she almost hit from behind a biker because she did not see him. She said the biker was wearing all black so I guess only the red tail light was visible and her way to work can be sometimes totally dark.
I belong to the 'visibility makes a difference' camp and almost all my mods and gears are for this purpose. My jacket and helmet are yellow with manually added reflective stickers. I added running lights and reflective wheel strips and I kept the OEM turn signals for greater visibility of my turning intentions. I don't do abrupt lane changes, unless necessary, and always have my headlight turned on bright. I have the flashing brake lights installed too. I don't ride on a car's blind spots and anticipate what the cagers will do in different circumstances like if one lane is open while the other is backed up, etc. I'm always ready to hit that brake and/or horn. I have blind spot mirrors on my side view mirrors.
I always remind my wife to watch out for bikers and how ironic it is if she hits one as her husband is a biker. Imagine all the other cagers out there who don't care about bikers and nobody reminds them about us.

I know black is cool and all that but I want to be cool to my kids longer...

Bottom line is...
Being ATGATT is good but Make yourself visible out there.
Don't let 'I didn't see you' be an excuse for an accident.

[Scattcatt]

Dang... Why must I love black so much? Black bike... Black Boots... Black pants... Black jacket... black gloves... black helmet.... And when I ride with it, black backpack.... Why couldn't you just leave me to my ignorance!! Kidding great eye opener, and very happy that nothing bad actually happened in this event. I mean, I always knew about the dangers of being hard to see, but I honestly never really cared too much because I had never once seen or heard one legitimate story that I believed clothing color was the cause of (not like I ever went looking for one either though). For whatever reason, this story seems to have hit me fairly hard, maybe it's due to that simple fact that you mentioned that it was the wife of a motorcyclist who almost created this incident had she continued not seeing the biker. I hope this serves to enlighten others like me about the dangers we make even worse by being dressed the way we do. I'll likely be looking into something slightly more visible soon, even if that just means a reflective vest over what I already wear. Thanks!

[mustang5.0]

Originally Posted by Scattcatt

Dang... Why must I love black so much? Black bike... Black Boots... Black pants... Black jacket... black gloves... black helmet.... And when I ride with it, black backpack.... Why couldn't you just leave me to my ignorance!! Kidding great eye opener, and very happy that nothing bad actually happened in this event. I mean, I always knew about the dangers of being hard to see, but I honestly never really cared too much because I had never once seen or heard one legitimate story that I believed clothing color was the cause of (not like I ever went looking for one either though). For whatever reason, this story seems to have hit me fairly hard, maybe it's due to that simple fact that you mentioned that it was the wife of a motorcyclist who almost created this incident had she continued not seeing the biker. I hope this serves to enlighten others like me about the dangers we make even worse by being dressed the way we do. I'll likely be looking into something slightly more visible soon, even if that just means a reflective vest over what I already wear. Thanks!

lol... add a camo backpack covering the reflective part of my jacket.. and thats me

[NDspd]

I made sure I have a bright helmet, flashing brake light, and lighter color of a jacket. I may look into adding 3M reflective strips to the side of my bike later.

[alex.s]

dont rely on other people seeing you. dont sit in the middle of the lane for starters and watch people coming behind you. i cant tell you how many times ive almost been rear ended and had to jump out of the way. just the other week i was in heavy traffic on the south 405 and some retard jumped into the constrruction lanes before almost hitting a wall and tried to jump back into traffic... everyone was stopped. i saw him coming up doing this behind me so i jumped between the cars infront/next to me. the guy rear ended the person in front of me and the dudes brakelight ejected into my leg. hurt like a bitch! but not as bad as if i hadnt gotten out of the way. always know whats going on around you. if you let someone hit you, its your own fault for letting it happen.

[kcaja1]

Originally Posted by alex.s

dont rely on other people seeing you. dont sit in the middle of the lane for starters and watch people coming behind you. i cant tell you how many times ive almost been rear ended and had to jump out of the way. just the other week i was in heavy traffic on the south 405 and some retard jumped into the constrruction lanes before almost hitting a wall and tried to jump back into traffic... everyone was stopped. i saw him coming up doing this behind me so i jumped between the cars infront/next to me. the guy rear ended the person in front of me and the dudes brakelight ejected into my leg. hurt like a bitch! but not as bad as if i hadnt gotten out of the way. always know whats going on around you. if you let someone hit you, its your own fault for letting it happen.

You are one lucky dude. I totally agree with you that being aware of your surroundings and an exit plan are always handy.

An excerpt from http://www.ultimatemotorcycling.com/...ibility_Safety


"Riders have a responsibility to be visible in traffic," said Pat Hahn, Minnesota Motorcycle Safety Center (MMSC) spokesperson. Too often, riders blame other drivers for not paying attention, when in reality, riders also play a role. "It takes two to tango. If you're concerned about getting run over, you've got to do your part," said Hahn.


The top ten tips for increasing rider conspicuity are:

1. Wear a fluorescent/reflective safety vest
2. Wear a white helmet
3. Wear a brightly colored jacket
4. Use strategic lane positioning
5. Use a headlight modulator
6. Flash your taillight
7. Wear reflective materials
8. Use movement
9. Use auxiliary driving lights
10. Use hand signals

[Pyro]

I rarely drive in the dead of night, but even then my plates and the light is pretty visible.

I usually wear pants with reflective strips, and my jacket has a wide reflective strip too.
My bag would cover most of the strip, but it's got a tie-rope jobbie that's red with reflective bits in it.

I still don't get the rear-ending bit though. Unless you're doing an emergency stop, you should have enough braking force left to cut a car-length or two easily, and that would surely give you enough time to see a bike?

[mustang5.0]

thinking about adding neons.. just so fools can clearly see me coming

[alex.s]

adding light helps but some people are oblivious. only you can keep them from trying to plow right into you without hesitation. you have to commit yourself to the bike 100%, 100% of the time. its how people should drive cars but don't. i lane split like an asshole and people try to kill you every chance they get. you just can't give them the opportunity.

[kcaja1]

If you are visible, it is less likely that other drivers will violate your right of way.

[250rr]

Originally Posted by kcaja1

If you are visible, it is less likely that other drivers will violate your right of way.

+1

[Jinx250]

Originally Posted by kcaja1

"Riders have a responsibility to be visible in traffic," said Pat Hahn, Minnesota Motorcycle Safety Center (MMSC) spokesperson. Too often, riders blame other drivers for not paying attention, when in reality, riders also play a role. "It takes two to tango. If you're concerned about getting run over, you've got to do your part," said Hahn.

Yeah, blame the victim. That makes perfect sense. If you are rear ended while sitting at a light, it is 100% the rear ending driver's fault, no ifs ands or buts. And it is no different if I'm on my bike or in a cage.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Jinx250

If you are rear ended while sitting at a light, it is 100% the rear ending driver's fault, no ifs ands or buts.

IMO "Fault" is the wrong concept to focus on. Of course you're right, and it's the rear ending driver's fault. But it's the motorcyclist who has to live (hopefully) with the consequences. Things we can do to make a negative occurrence less likely to happen (regardless of "fault") are always in our best interests.

[csmith12]

[Malicious Logic]

Glad everyone was OK and she didn't hit him. While he may have been somewhat at fault for all black, I'm sure he still had his tail light on right? The darker it is on her commute, the more a tail light would stand out. Sounds like equal fault...he's not as visible as he could be and she might've either not been paying attention to something with just 1 tail light instead of 2. Either that, or someone's depth perception may be off...

[Whiskey]

Originally Posted by kcaja1

If you are visible, it is less likely that other drivers will violate your right of way.

No, in theory it makes logical sense, but in reality it does not work like that.

I've had this out with the CEO of the Road Safety Authority in Ireland (where I'm originally from, and they are trying to introduce mandatory full sleeve hi vis in all weather conditions) there are full transcripts of the dozen or so emails back & forth on Biker.ie if you care to look for them

Look at the 2 biggest studies into motorbike accidents, the Hurt report, published in the late 70's with data collected in 1976 (how many people had hi vis back then? anyone?)

The MAIDS study published in 2009 (how many wear hi vis now? Approx 75% in Ireland, if riding in the dark/poor weather conditions, from the Motorcycle Action Group survey)

The upshot being that if we follow your hypothesis the number of SMIDSY (sorry mate I didn't see you) accidents should have dropped drastically with the rise in % of bikers wearing hi vis between the 2 reports. In reality there was no change.