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05/19/2006: "Motorbikes, risk, and dozy gits in flash cars..."

On the other side of the village I live in, there's a narrow one way road that makes a nice little shortcut for me (and anyone else that needs to go in that vague direction). At the bottom of it, you have to give way where it joins a larger road. Nothing too complicated. A wall on the right means your view of what's coming along the main road is quite restricted.

I rode down there this morning, got to the bottom and spotted a car coming along from the right, and braked to a halt at the Give Way line. I then happened to glance down at my mirrors and notice they were rapidly filling with black Mercedes. Too rapidly. The next thing I knew I was being shoved forwards as its front bumper hit my back tyre.

I kept the bike upright, kept the brake and the clutch pulled in, and ended up sat a metre or so forward of the line. Once I figured out what had happened I pulled round the corner and stopped, and the Merc pulled in behind me. The driver was (rightly) quite apologetic, asking if I was alright (to his credit he did this before looking down at the front of his car), and making his excuses about how he 'thought I was going to go'. I looked over the back of the bike and there was no damage, just a little scuff on the tyre where it had run against his bumper, so I told him to carry on and didn't even bother taking his details. To be honest I didn't think I had anything to say to him. After a minute or so to calm myself down I carried on into work.

So what can we draw from this experience?

The obvious one is that there is a degree of risk involved in riding a motorcycle, a large part of which is caused by the presence of inattentive car drivers on the roads. This is hardly news (certainly not to most bikers). The minute you sit astride a bike and pull away from the kerb you are at risk. Unlike a car driver, you don't have the benefit of over a ton of metal around you, with seatbelts, airbags, and crumple zones. The real question is how you choose to approach this risk.

You could decide that you are not prepared to accept this risk, and you are going to climb back into your nice safe car. But then maybe driving a car is a bit dangerous (I spotted a Ford Fiesta in a ditch on my way home today). Maybe chopping up vegetables for your dinner is a bit dangerous. Maybe getting out of bed is a bit dangerous.

At the other end of the spectrum lie the thrill seekers, ignoring or actively enjoying the danger without any thought of the consequences, assuming that it will never happen again.

Most people sit somewhere in the middle. Human beings enjoy risk - so long as it is controlled risk. We go to theme parks to experience a sense of danger, but we know that the chance of anything untoward happening to us has been reduced to an acceptable level by the safety features incorporated into the ride - the small remaining risk is outweighed by the enjoyment we get from it. We weigh up risk against reward in practically everything we do. I love riding bikes, but I know there is a risk involved.

Earlier today, I had a close encounter with the potential consequences. I was lucky. A friend of mine from University was hit in a similar way whilst sat at a red traffic light a few years ago. I believe she is still feeling the effects.

What happened to me today wasn't my fault, but I could have avoided it.

This isn't a contradiction. The 'fault' lay with a driver who was following me too closely, who probably wasn't paying enough attention, and who made an erroneous assumption that I was going to pull straight out onto the main road. However had I noticed that he was following so closely, I could have slowed down over a longer distance, rather than only slowing down when I knew I was definitely going to have to stop. Next time, I will know, and I will have reduced the risk to myself by better allowing for the actions of other road users.

Another person I know has been knocked off his bike a couple of times. Neither were his fault, but he could have avoided both. I worry about him because, as with so many bikers, his crashes have resulted in a lot of anti-car ranting, but as far as I can tell, they have made no difference to his riding. So eventually, he will get himself into that situation again, it still wont be his fault, but it doesn't make any difference when you are in a hospital bed or worse.

You can't allow for everything that other users might do, but you can see a lot of things coming and avoid getting too close to them. You live and you learn - and you learn how to keep living.

Take care people, and keep it shiny side up.