Modern Vespa

I didn't think this video should be pigeonholed as just for motorcycles. Applies to scooters too!

I don't know what disturbed me more, the footage of the crashes or that guy in the pigeon head subtly appearing in the background.

This is darned good, and quite thought provoking.

Real information well-presented. He is one of the best teachers on line.

Another excellent explanation of SMIDSY collisions.

Reminds me of this one:
https://motorcycleminds.org/virtuallibrary/ridersafety/HowCloseisTooClose.pdf

I didn't see a ram mount and phone on his bike. So there you go. When I Door Dash, my phone goes in my pocket before I put the key in my bike. Even though it limits my earning. If you have a ram mount and phone on your bike, you'll get no sympathy from me if you crash.

Oh, so you don't glance at your speedo now and again? No sympathy from me if you're going too fast and you crash. Would you say the same thing for a Garmin or Tom-tom?

I'm assuming any phone attached to the bike will be for navigation only.

I would much prefer someone use a RAM mount (or quadmount, or whatever) and maybe even a comms unit instead of holding the phone in their hand. On a related note...where do you think the camera is mounted?

Great video to share. There's a lot of little things that we can do on the road. Some of my favorites are...

-lateral movement. I almost always weave through the lane direction arrows before and after intersections or along highways. Good for being spotted by motion-oriented instinct-brain AND gives a distance gauge for the people paying attention. I've noticed some truckers on long trips clue in and take advantage of the metric.

-eye contact. Directly or through their mirror, it gives that much more info about what they're paying attention to. A lot (like a lot a lot) of times, I can see the shift on their face when they see me as another person instead of a moving road obstacle...because that's all traffic is to the rest of the traffic, for the most part.

-be predictable. Stay in sight of mirrors and out of blind spots. When you pass, do it like you mean it. Y'all know what I mean.

Good tips there, Cheshire. I don't mount my phone in my truck or bike when using Maps, but I do listen to it.

Having not crashed yet (on a motorcycle anyway), I can only speculate.
But my guess is, if I ever do crash, afterwards I won't be thinking about who will have sympathy.
See, I have crashed bicycles and cars. And, well, anyway, back to our regularly scheduled....

Trusting cars leads to accidents.

Be paranoid to survive.

Fixed that for you.

💯

I use ear buds and turn by turn. Hands free is the law in my state. Glancing at a speedo and trying to read something on a phone are apples and oranges. But what do I know? I not only look for eye contact, I watch the cars wheels for movement. If the wheels don't stop, I look for an escape. I was struck by a car on my bicycle and I had eye contact. The last time I made contact with a car on a PTW was the day before I quit alcohol many years ago.

Noting the layout on a GPS screen (as long as it's North up, 2D) comes very easily to me - I do it as subconsciously as noting the speed. So I'm puzzled why you think it's a time-wasting distraction? I would have thought verbal instructions might be more distracting - certainly more irritating when 95% of the time the direction to go is obvious!

Today I learned you can only give one thumbs down per day

Another great video by Fortnine.

Good ideas Cheshire.

For years I've been liberally tooting my horn when someone can pull into my path of travel and they aren't looking at me. If the toot doesn't get their attention, I give 'em a long blast. My horn sounds like a train or truck horn and quite loud. A long blast never fails to get a driver's attention*. I'm sure it will work for pigeons too, I know it works for squirrels and deer. See the horn testing I did and the results I got from a couple years ago, here.

Best
Miguel

*SIDENOTE: this horn practice is controversial with some MVers. Use as you see fit but at least give it a try and see what you think🙂

I don't often glance at a speedo at all. Over years I have developed a built in speed sense, informed by sound, vibration and visual inputs. I glance at the speedo only when I think other traffic is travelling at a speed other than I expected. In city riding, I will be travelling at 70km/hr clock speed. and on the open road at 110km/hr clock speed. I have actually tested this using a second rider and my speedo obscured. The true speeds are likely 5-10km/hr slower and in South Africa there is a 5% tolerance over the speed limit for enforcement equipment out of calibration. I have been driving and riding for 50 years and over that period I have only received THREE speeding fines.

I do not listen to music or take calls when riding. I once had my cell phone connected to an ear piece and a business call came in while I was riding the Long Tom Pass - which requires your concentration of a 2-wheeler. The caller refused to hang up so I had to pull over and disconnect to continue. I have never had my cellphone connecting to my ears since.

Using a GPS, I do listen to directions only.

Because you outran the cops the rest of the time right?