Motorcycle Helmets Save Lives? Who'da thunk?

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

The smart motorcycle rider should be the epitome of defensive driving/riding and should expect other vehicles not to see them.

Absolutely. Whether on a bicycle or a motorcycle I live by the rule that I'm invisible. Nobody ever sees you, and if someone does it's probably because he's out to get you anyway. If anyone really things drivers should be better at watching out for bikes, just look at how many people pull out in front of a bus or semi without noticing something that big bearing down on them.

Many years ago I was riding in the middle lane of a street that was three lanes each way. Up ahead I noticed a car waiting to pull out into traffic, and a car in the slow lane just ahead of me. Thinking I might be screwed if the waiting car pulled out and the guy just ahead suddenly dodged right into me. So I signalled and pulled over into the fast lane - just a second before the car ahead and to the right did exactly the same thing, obviously taking exactly the same precaution. At the next light the guy who had been behind me pulled up alongside and said "Man, you're good! How did you know that guy was going to change lanes before he did?"

I shook my head and said "I didn't. I just imagined what would happen if he did." You have to do that if you're going to drive a two-wheeled vehicle with no armor at all in traffic filled with steel monsters weighing a ton or more.