Quote:
Originally Posted by Ric in RVA
No the car is 100% at fault....but as I have told my three sons who all right.
WHO THE FUCK CARES IF YOU ARE RIGHT AND DEAD????
You as a biker most develop a constant awareness of all the drivers around you and be ready for anything. To find places to put the bike if you are pulled out on, cut off or the like. It will happen and how painful it is is totally up to you in many cases.
The plan here is brake hard. Pick an escape route and go there.
Instead we probably got (rear) brake and no decisive action or recognition that there were options. Target fixation at its finest.
FOCUS YOUR LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO SINCE YOU ARE GOING THERE. NEVER FOCUS YOUR VISION WHERE YOU DON'T WANT TO GO AS IT EXCLUDES ALTERNATIVES.
Given that situation I would not have hit that car.
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Dat hindsight. He had two seconds to react after the car merged over.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zx10guy
As someone who rides, I understand the dangers and I've said the driver of the car is going to be held at fault. But the rider could have done something to mitigate the incident. I can't get into his head, but the mere fact he didn't react nor brake makes me believe he was just focused straight ahead.
As I said, developing visual skills is something no one teaches in any of the MSF classes nor is emphasized in normal conversations between riders. Just saying you go where you look and avoid target fixation is not enough. I can say the number of incidents I've been able to identify and avoid has gone way up since having track training to sharpen my visual skills. Even though being on the track is a controlled environment for the me most part, things happen much more quickly than what normally happens on the street.
My motto is to not have to worry about being right about an incident if the incident never happens.
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Again, this guy had two seconds to move and brake.
My point is we can see all what he could have done after rewatching the video, but hindsight is 20/20. There are things he could have done if he'd have known what was going to happen but this guy isn't a fortune teller, and he had no way of knowing the car was going to merge into his lane (illegally). This could have happened to any of us, and sitting back smugly saying "I'd have done it this way" isn't doing anyone any good, it just fosters that armchair rider mentality where the circumstances don't matter, only what could have been the perfect outcome.
So I ask you: where were his escape paths? Into the center divider? Into the back of the van in the lane to the right?