A Big thank you to the Sargeant on marked ride of sussex police who did the business on maniac belgium hgv driver. in irght place to witness a white line number an saved me gbh charge. i owe him a pint
Go on, tell us the full tale. :o
On way back from ride out to new forest, encountered trucker who likes a REAL wide attack to a junction or forgot which side o channel he was on, result was me an 2 other motorists almost going cross country to avoid him an my backside going like a rabbits nose !! I was bricking it !! I turned round an went back down newhaven road in a red mist when a fjr passed me from nowhere an pulled truck over an did wot needed. He also pulled in behind me at nxt layby where I stopped for smoke an tea to see how I was an made ref to driver I wont type on here. A good egg & also v human. A
That's the thing with a lot of foreign truck drivers, and I don't mean this in a disrespectful way as I know we have international members. You have to give them an extremely wide berth and always expect the worst from them. I think it's fair to say their standards aren't as high as ours when it comes to sticking to drivers hours and road discipline. If I remember I'll dig out a couple of photos of a well known haulier who got themselves in a bit of a pickle a couple of years ago.
We live within a couple of miles or so of the port at Dover. When we went to Poland we were amazed they had roundabouts there as the antics of the Polish lorry drivers here led us to believe they must be something completely alien to them.
Kevin
Those thoughts almost identical to chat in a layby !!!!! Shopping trolley also mentioned.
Kevin,
not headed east on gtr yet but used go margate via hythe and dover an also witnessed wot u sayin, oh well all a learning curve !!
In France earlier this year, down in the central massif...got caught behind a logging truck on a very windy section of road, with very few places to pass, this chap had some skills!....he was tearing along a good old pace......in fact many of the locals went along at a fair chat......after a few days you could Definatley spot tourist traffic ;D
Quote from: Lonewolf on July 16, 2011, 10:02:41 AM
That's the thing with a lot of foreign truck drivers, and I don't mean this in a disrespectful way as I know we have international members. You have to give them an extremely wide berth and always expect the worst from them. I think it's fair to say their standards aren't as high as ours when it comes to sticking to drivers hours and road discipline. If I remember I'll dig out a couple of photos of a well known haulier who got themselves in a bit of a pickle a couple of years ago.
i think if we as bikers adopt this attitude and ride as if every other road user (including sadly, other bikers) are out there to kill us then we should hopefully live longer. RIDE DEFFENSIVELY
Quote from: GTRTONY on July 17, 2011, 08:27:00 AM
i think if we as bikers adopt this attitude and ride as if every other road user (including sadly, other bikers) are out there to kill us then we should hopefully live longer. RIDE DEFFENSIVELY
I totally agree with Tony and I see other road users as someone who may kill me.
I once spoke to a biker at a RoSPA promotional event who was recovering from serious injuries recieved in a collision with a Polish trucker. The rider's view was " stupid F*****g Pole! I asked what happened and was told:
Biker on main road approacihng side road on the near side
Truck starts to pull out on to main road turning left.
Biker moves to off side of road to over take the truck
Truck driver "forgets" where he is and moves across to drive on the right.
The bike hits the truck and the rider was seriously injured.
I asked what speed he was doing as he moved out to overtake and was told about 60.
So the rider blames the trucker and can see nothing that he did wrong.
I then suggested to him that when he saw the truck start to come out in front of him he could have reduced his speed, hung back, watied till the truck was on the main road and then used his performance to safely over take.
His reply, as he stomped away was some thing on the lines of "...F*****g advanced know-alls!.."
"Roadcraft's" first chapter talks about people not learning from their own mistakes and I some how think that this rider will repeat his accident.
In this case the trucker made an error but who hasnt pulled onto the wrong side of the road (albeit briefly) when driving / riding abroad. I know I have!
Patrick
defensive riding is spot on. the day any of us think we've learnt it all we r in trouble. my anger
with the trucker was adrenalin response to situation that barely gave time to react safely. those with more years than i would prob show additional caution to foriegn plates, an i've learnt another lesson from it.
Lets remember that biking is a life skill and none of us get it right all the time. but we have to be prepared to cope with whats happening when things start to go wrong. we have to learn to recognise when situations are developing (anticipate) that may cause us to alter from our normal ride and this can only be achieved by learning to observe properly and act upon what we see in good time. this takes practice and unfortunately as riders most of us get away with things for years and we are led to believe that what we are dong must be right. however practice does not always lead to perfection as what we are practising may in fact be controlled by "luck"! On a recent course i attended a wise man asked the question if we were able to freeze frame at any point of our riding could we honestly say that we were in the right position, at the right speed, in the right gear with the amount of correct throttle and looking where we need to look in order to cope with the next hazard. if we can not honestly say yes to that question then we may need to have our riding assessed.In my opinion we should all of us have our riding assessed every year or so! what would it matter and perhaps it would keep us living and enjoying our biking a little longer!
sorry for ranting ::)
tony
Tony, totally agree with your comments. Re-education or further education can only be a positive thing.
Visit www.bikesafe.co.uk u can have benefit of police biker from your local force assessing your riding for a day. Course is well worth £50 an gives you plenty to work on as you get written review and guidance at end of day
Here's one of my short clips of what could have been a bad day, I was wearing high viz bib, lights of course were on, on the GTR. I was travelling under the National Speed Limit. I should have been visible to the HGV driver and I presume I was, but rather than wait until I'd passed, out they came leaving me with the questions, "Has he seen me?" "Where's he going?"
Near Miss Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3p7POGjx6g)
I moved out for vehicle one as it emerged from the first slip road, vehicle one then slowed for vehicle two emerging from a second slip road as I was still passing V1. As V1 braked I naturally passed it as I had no cause to reduce my speed, I also passed V2 and then saw up ahead the HGV emerging. As it happened the HGV didnt really encroach into the offside lane but its the 64 million dollar question, "What If?"
As it happened half a mile down the road the HGV did move out to the offside lane so whether that was their intention earlier I dont know. Anyway, its just an example...... ::)
Your video is private Steve!
Quote from: Therenback on July 17, 2011, 05:35:23 PM
Visit www.bikesafe.co.uk u can have benefit of police biker from your local force assessing your riding for a day. Course is well worth £50 an gives you plenty to work on as you get written review and guidance at end of day
i get involved with Bikesafe workshops a lot in my area (I am a senior observer with the IAM) and have to say that the workshops are well worth the money. it is however only a half day of riding where only a couple of faults can be looked at. training is and has to be an ongoing event and i would therefore urge people to look at one of the schemes offered by either IAM or ROSPA.
once you have passed the advanced test there is still a lot that can be achieved and your continued support and further training to become an observer yourself is always welcome.
I have to agree that advanced rider training does improve a riders safety by reducing the risk of accidents but it doesn't totally eliminate the risk of accidents which I found out to my cost 5 years ago :o :'( :-[
The other thing with all the advanced training I have done over the years is that it has significantly improved my enjoyment of motorcycling :) :) :) :) :)
Kind regards
Steven
Quote from: Winston Smith on July 17, 2011, 08:34:36 PM
Your video is private Steve!
Winston, I've changed it. You should be able to view it now.
BikeSafe's strapline is 'Bridging the Gap'. It's intended as a taster and encouragement to take advanced training through RoSPA/RoADAR, IAM, ERS or other scheme.
It isn't training, it is an assesment with constructive feedback, as stated written format which can be taken to an advanced group and can help form the basis of your advanced training.
Depends where in the country you live as to how much it costs and what bang you get for your buck, although the same curriculum is covered.
In out area the cost is only £35 and there is a £25 voucher towards further training awarded at the end which can be paid in to RoSPA/IAM/ERS
Years ago I did a "Bike Safe" weekend with the Avon and Somerset Police which was absolutely brilliant - It cost just over £100 which included 2 nights accommodation, food and spending a great weekend riding with the Police
In this part of world the course IS a COMPLETE DAY as stated before and an ASSESMENT !!. A biker working on elements of
Roadcraft each time he (she) rides may benefit from experience shared an work from hints given to improve, not sure where "perfection" comes from ?? Just tryin to learn. Those of us working 80hr wks may not have time for ongoing training wit senior observers but we do our best :-)
Quote from: Lonewolf on July 17, 2011, 06:04:42 PM
Here's one of my short clips of what could have been a bad day, I was wearing high viz bib, lights of course were on, on the GTR. I was travelling under the National Speed Limit. I should have been visible to the HGV driver and I presume I was, but rather than wait until I'd passed, out they came leaving me with the questions, "Has he seen me?" "Where's he going?"
Near Miss Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3p7POGjx6g)
Good video and once the truck was moving your reaction was totally the right one -
reduce speed and dont assume he knew you were there.
P
I have 2 things I ALWAYS keep in mind when riding or driving;
1- They are all TRYING to kill me. (it's not paranoia!)
2- If I have an accident, it's MY fault, regardless of whether someone else caused it.
In my last accident in 2007 I approached a roundabout (3 lanes) and saw a Picasso in the left lane signalling left.
I took the middle lane as I was going straight over.
The Picasso pulled away and didn't turn left (still signalling left).
I rode alongside her assuming (yup, there is the mistake) that she was going to go straight on.
She drove around the outside of the roundabout as she wanted to turn right and cut right across in front of me.
I left a nice GTR1000+Boomer sized dent in her right side and a nice helmet shaped dent in her roof and after bouncing off her, down I went.
A very nice white van man blocked the roundabout so I wouldn't get run over and helped me get out from under the bike.
Plenty of busted plastic, and I had a lot of neck pain and a seriously sore left arm and knee. (wear your protective gear!)
Insurance decided it was 100% her fault (I had 2 witnesses) but I SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THERE. >:(
I obeyed all the rules of the road but I was the one who got hurt.
Quote from: patrick on July 17, 2011, 12:11:29 PMI then suggested to him that when he saw the truck start to come out in front of him he could have reduced his speed, hung back, watied till the truck was on the main road and then used his performance to safely over take.
His reply, as he stomped away was some thing on the lines of "...F*****g advanced know-alls!.."
Quote from: Boomer on July 18, 2011, 10:05:09 AMInsurance decided it was 100% her fault (I had 2 witnesses) but I SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THERE. >:(
I obeyed all the rules of the road but I was the one who got hurt.
Amen to both of these comments.
The one piece of advice I recall so clearly from my IAM training was "Being in the right does not make up for being in hospital".
Martin.