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Unusually for the time I come in to work on a Sunday (10.30pm) I reached a point where there were several lines of queuing traffic. Being on the scooter I could filter between them until I reached a larger roundabout and saw what the trouble was - a car had had a collision of some sort with bike rider and there was a body covered head-to-foot on the road itself. I'm not sure what happened or whose fault, but it looked bad. The body looked small too so it may have been someone young or their passenger.

Every day on 2 wheels in London traffic feels like your dicing with death - not due to the amount of traffic just the idiots who drive badly. Later on I was tale-gated when there were four cars immediately in front of me - all going the speed limit! Still later on another a***e tailgated so I pulled over and let them go past - they then rushed off what seemed like 50-60 in a 30. What is wrong with drivers today - speeding and tail-gating for a living!, pulling out without any care, not indicating at roundabouts.

It's gone way past the point of controlling it unless something major was done (unmarked vehicles on the roads, heavy fines, etc). As it stands nothing is done and it's becoming the norm to not give any regard to safety or rules of the road. Ten years ago there would be the odd bad driver, now it's the exceptin to find a good one.

iceman wrote:Unusually for the time I come in to work on a Sunday (10.30pm) I reached a point where there were several lines of queuing traffic. Being on the scooter I could filter between them until I reached a larger roundabout and saw what the trouble was - a car had had a collision of some sort with bike rider and there was a body covered head-to-foot on the road itself. I'm not sure what happened or whose fault, but it looked bad. The body looked small too so it may have been someone young or their passenger.

Every day on 2 wheels in London traffic feels like your dicing with death - not due to the amount of traffic just the idiots who drive badly. Later on I was tale-gated when there were four cars immediately in front of me - all going the speed limit! Still later on another a***e tailgated so I pulled over and let them go past - they then rushed off what seemed like 50-60 in a 30. What is wrong with drivers today - speeding and tail-gating for a living!, pulling out without any care, not indicating at roundabouts.

It's gone way past the point of controlling it unless something major was done (unmarked vehicles on the roads, heavy fines, etc). As it stands nothing is done and it's becoming the norm to not give any regard to safety or rules of the road. Ten years ago there would be the odd bad driver, now it's the exceptin to find a good one.

I agree with everything you say Iceman, it is absolutely getting worse. I say to my wife often that I cant believe how many bad drivers there are nowadays.

Hope the biker is ok.

chigman wrote:

iceman wrote:Unusually for the time I come in to work on a Sunday (10.30pm) I reached a point where there were several lines of queuing traffic. Being on the scooter I could filter between them until I reached a larger roundabout and saw what the trouble was - a car had had a collision of some sort with bike rider and there was a body covered head-to-foot on the road itself. I'm not sure what happened or whose fault, but it looked bad. The body looked small too so it may have been someone young or their passenger.

Every day on 2 wheels in London traffic feels like your dicing with death - not due to the amount of traffic just the idiots who drive badly. Later on I was tale-gated when there were four cars immediately in front of me - all going the speed limit! Still later on another a***e tailgated so I pulled over and let them go past - they then rushed off what seemed like 50-60 in a 30. What is wrong with drivers today - speeding and tail-gating for a living!, pulling out without any care, not indicating at roundabouts.

It's gone way past the point of controlling it unless something major was done (unmarked vehicles on the roads, heavy fines, etc). As it stands nothing is done and it's becoming the norm to not give any regard to safety or rules of the road. Ten years ago there would be the odd bad driver, now it's the exceptin to find a good one.

I agree with everything you say Iceman, it is absolutely getting worse. I say to my wife often that I cant believe how many bad drivers there are nowadays.

Hope the biker is ok.

Covered from head to foot, very unlikely to be OK.

Evidently the standards of the licensing body is declining.

Valiant wrote:Evidently the standards of the licensing body is declining.

Over 60% of people fail their tests, so how much stricter would they need to be? This is already one of the highest fail rates in the EU! Germany´s is around 30%, but then they have obligatory 10 hours classroom teaching that includes the legal consequences of bad driving (e.g. jail term for causing death by dangerous driving...). Over here there is no obligatory classroom attendance, all the questions in the theory test are directly related to driving only and many don´t seem to be aware of the consequences unless they see it in the press or are involved in an accident themselves.

Over the last few years I can tell that driving got much worse and aggressive and I can only attribute that to the cuts in the Police budgets. Five years ago I would see many more Police cars on the road and unfortunately many people don´t drive to an acceptable standard unless they can be caught otherwise.

Attitude to road use in the UK should improve now that Top Gear is ended.

My son's girlfriend has failed her Texas driver's test two or three times now. Don't know if that's a bad sign (she's not a good driver) or a good sign (the licensing process is tougher than I thought).

Anyhow, agree that riding a scooter is more dangerous now. Smartphone use by drivers is probably as bad as drunk driving, and I'm guessing that there are a lot more folks texting and driving than there have been drinking and driving in the past.

Bash On! wrote:Smartphone use by drivers is probably as bad as drunk driving

Research has shown that even hands free phone conversations are as dangerous as drink driving.

The challenge is that it is not what your hands are doing (holding something), but where your mind is. Using a mobile device (particularly talking on one) transports your mind outside of the realm you should be paying attention to.

I had a very early version of a mobile phone in the late 90's. One of my first times using it I realized how dangerous it was to talk on it while driving. I was coming of the highway on a ramp and hit a slippery patch. Normally it wouldn't have been a big deal, but because I wasn't mentally "in it", I just about left the roadway. I hardly ever use the device while driving since then – and that includes in hands-free mode. As far as I am concerned, it should be the law to have to pull off the road if you are using a mobile device.

Which is precisely why gps, bluetooth helmet adapters and mobile phones etc have no place on a scooter or motorbike.
There are now cars on sale which can access facebook and suchlike from devices built into the dashboard while the car is moving.
Fucking mental.

gn2 wrote:Which is precisely why gps, bluetooth helmet adapters and mobile phones etc have no place on a scooter or motorbike.
There are now cars on sale which can access facebook and suchlike from devices built into the dashboard while the car is moving.
Fucking mental.

Stops you falling asleep though.

you you wrote: Stops you falling asleep though.

So does slamming into another car .

Not sure Sena bluetooth is in and of itself bad. Listening to music on a bike isn't going to be anymore dangerous than doing it in a car, except you don't have any windows to roll up. Talking on the phone is bad, but using it to communicate with other motorcyclists never got anyone killed AFAIK.

I did note when motovlogging that it IS slightly distracting, but I generally stop talking if I'm approaching a tricky situation, whereas in a phone conversation the person on the other end usually won't know to shut up.

I do admit to having Bluetooth and a ham radio, using a push-to-talk button near the left handlebar grip, on the police bike. That bike is used for moto-marshal duties at bicycle events. There's also GPS mounted on that bike. Don't claim to be anything but a rider of average skill but I do have some experience operating emergency vehicles while using a radio. Still, on the motorcycle I'll pull over and stop if there's a complicated message to convey. It takes a lot of concentration to ride amongst bicycles, watch for cars, and communicate all at the same time. At a two-day event last month I put over 400 miles on the Kawasaki at an average speed of about 20-25 mph.

> Bash, I don't mean this badly, but I hope your son's girl keeps failing. She's got her whole life ahead of her. Some folks just aren't meant to drive or ride. It's just that way. But, at the same time you can bet she Shines at "other things" .......That's the Way of the World

Know what you mean, WN.

She failed one time because of the parallel parking part, and some jurisdictions have done away with that. I parallel park maybe once or twice a year. Another time she failed because she didn't use a turn signal when pulling into a parking space. Not really big stuff, so I expect her to pass next time.

Many years ago, thought I had failed when I started the test by exiting the test parking lot in the wrong direction. But the tester didn't seem to care. He was more interested in my mom's Mercedes used for the test, and kept talking about how he had a Mercedes when he lived in Rome.

In the UK, one problem that I have seen is the attitude of car drivers to having L plates on your scoot. They seem to be a sign to drivers that says 'I must get passed' .

For example, in my home town, the main through road has a 30mph speed limit, which increases to 40mpg for about 300 yards before a motorway junction. On more than one occasion I've been doing 30 in the 30, and then as soon as we hit the 40, the car behind has gone into the oncoming lane to overtake. As I have started o accelerated to 40 too, we have ended up running parallel down the road, until I have slowed down to let the p**t in.

I think that when people see the L plates, they assume that the rider is a 16 year old on a limited 50cc. I have pulled along side a couple of the p**ts at the motorway junction, as it has a couple of lanes and they can't be more apologetic when I lift my visor, and a beareded 40 year old is underneath.

YorksForzaRider wrote:In the UK, one problem that I have seen is the attitude of car drivers to having L plates on your scoot. They seem to be a sign to drivers that says 'I must get passed' .

.

Agreed, found a camera is a great addition, the amount of times you see car drivers edge forwards, even though you are proceeding at the legal speed down a road to pull out, only to spot the camera and back off. It's quite satisfying.

YorksForzaRider wrote:In the UK, one problem that I have seen is the attitude of car drivers to having L plates on your scoot. They seem to be a sign to drivers that says 'I must get passed' .

For example, in my home town, the main through road has a 30mph speed limit, which increases to 40mpg for about 300 yards before a motorway junction. On more than one occasion I've been doing 30 in the 30, and then as soon as we hit the 40, the car behind has gone into the oncoming lane to overtake. As I have started o accelerated to 40 too, we have ended up running parallel down the road, until I have slowed down to let the p**t in.

I think that when people see the L plates, they assume that the rider is a 16 year old on a limited 50cc. I have pulled along side a couple of the p**ts at the motorway junction, as it has a couple of lanes and they can't be more apologetic when I lift my visor, and a beareded 40 year old is underneath.

Yes, many might think "L" plate means total beginner, but most people start accelerating when they see a speed limit sign not even thinking that the old speed limit is still valid until the sign...

One thing you learn during your direct access training is that you look into your mirror every time you change directions or speed, it helps to avoid situations like the one you described. Before I accelerate or brake I do that.

Maybe I should at least take a rider safety class...
Never had one...
Couldn't do any harm, and it's only a hundred bucks.
By golly I will.