Intelligent Motorcycling Part Iv Safety In the City

INTELLIGENT MOTORCYCLING Part IV Safety in the City

HAVE YOU EVER ridden your own cycle tensely along a city street in heavy traffic and watched a fellow motorcyclist cruise serenely by with a happy look on his face? Chances are excellent that he was wearing an approved helmet, was neatly attired in jacket, gloves and other suitable riding gear and was aboard a sparkling and smooth-running machine. If he seemed more relaxed and contented than you were aboard your own Firespitz Twin then perhaps the following facts will explain the difference in attitude.

However, first a word about the revolution . . . the revolution that has taken place during the last decade or so in motorcycle manufacture and distribution. It has created a vast new army of enthusiastic riders charging forth upon the crowded streets and highways of America. Many of these riders have had experience in operating other vehicles including bicycles and automobiles and are skilled in their use. However, the passage of a motorcycle through the congested traffic of our cities and towns presents problems that are new and different.

A bicycle is comparatively slow — both in acceleration and top speed. It also lacks protection for the rider. While a car is much faster, it offers some "armor" for its operator. A motorcycle has all of the unprotected aspects of a bicycle coupled with a capability of acceleration and top speed that, in most cases, outstrips an automobile. From zero to 60 miles per hour in less than 10 seconds is not uncommon for many popular makes of street machines, and top speeds in excess of 100 mph are almost the rule for the large bikes.

Where does this leave the cycle rider? From a superficial examination of the facts it leaves him vulnerable, that's what! He has no protection around him and the somewhat dubious advantage of being able to out-drag anything in sight. However, there are quite a few things going for the motorcyclist. Let's consider a few. First of all, the majority of motorcyclists are young men in good health with fast reflexes and excellent vision. Secondly, most riders ride solo; thus there are no conversations going on at the control center, no smoking, radio knob fiddling or other distractions common in a car. Third, the cycle rider has the advantage of perfect visibility with no dirty windshields or "blind spots" inherent in autos. The rider also has the advantages which accrue from modern cycle design. Most modern cycles are light, swift, dependable and highly maneuverable. Brakes, tires and engines have been vastly improved; suspension systems have now become so advanced that they account for greater safety and comfort in both road riding and racing. There are many other desirable attributes of the modern cycle, not the least of which is the delightful fact that it is a small target. Not only is it hard to hit, a cycle can operate in a minimum of space. Your writer is able to write this series because of the fact that he was riding a cycle instead of driving a car in several tight situations.

So we see that the cycle rider is not really at a disadvantage at all. Quite the contrary; if he makes full use of all of his own inherent qualities plus those of his machine, he can become that "serene" rider we talked about earlier. Furthermore, the practice of the three "A"s listed below will provide an even greater assurance of safety under all conditions. These are

1. The Attentive Eye 2. The Anticipating Mind 3. The Appropriate Action

THE ATTENTIVE EYE

Two or three hundred years ago, the attentive eye was almost unnecessary to preserve life and limb. Local sports tooled around on low-compression donkeys and the like and thought they were really moving when they hit five or ten miles per hour. A rider could spend most of his time eyeing the landscape and the prettier milkmaids. Not so today . . . even at a modest forty mph, you are traveling at exactly 59 feet per second. This is quite literally true since at 40 mph it takes 44 feet to even react to a hazard. It requires another 88 feet to come to a stop with the best tires, brakes and road surface. This produces a total of 132 feet or about 19 motorcycle lengths.

It is apparent then that the attentive eye is your best insurance. What to watch for? Just about everything . . . from that thin trail of exhaust smoke coming from a parked car, to the driver coming toward you with his left wheels on the divider strip. The smoke from the pipe is your warning that the driver is sitting there with the engine running, debating whether to pull out into traffic now or later. As you tool down the street on your new 50 cc Hashimoto you had best prepare yourself for any eventuality, including a U-turn. Even without smoke to indicate that the engine is running, a person just sitting in a parked car should be a warning that it might turn into the traffic stream.

Children playing at the side of the road should always attract your attention. And don't forget to keep your attentive eye on dogs, cats and other unpredictable moving objects. Even if they don't race out in front of you, they may cause another vehicle to swerve in your path.

The car coming towards you with its left wheels on the divider strip should catch your eye immediately. Statistics indicate that there are more than 150,000 accidents per year in the United States involving a driver over the centerline. This type of accident is particularly hard on us cycle riders so pull over, slow down — even get off the road if you suspect that the oncoming driver is going to use your side too.

THE ANTICIPATING MIND

Present day vehicle speeds make it mandatory that a cycle rider in heavy traffic anticipate a potentially dangerous situation. Speed, by itself, causes only a few accidents. It is high speed coupled with a lack of foresight that causes accidents. Robert C. Eddy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology once made a statement regarding this subject that is well worth study by every cycle rider:

"A small number of accidents occur through circumstances which the driver could not possibly foresee, but these are comparatively few. Beyond them the driver can, if he is willing, avoid all accidents."

This is a most heartwarming statement to read; it should give reassurance to all cycle riders as well as the parents of our younger two-wheeled set. Take a for instance — the sudden flash of many stoplights up ahead on a busy city street or freeway. Obviously, something is amiss and everyone is slowing down together. Fine so far. However, as this chain reaction occurs, there is less and less time for each vehicle to make its stop and, towards the rear, the time gets impossibly short. This is when a series of rear-end collisions occur, some of them involving dozens of vehicles. The unprotected cycle rider is at a definite disadvantage in this type of destruction derby. In a car, you could merely hitch up your seat belt and prepare for the big crunch fore and aft. Prevention is the best cure where a cycle rider is concerned so the solution is to continually anticipate the need for a sudden stop.

There is a saying that if you have had to stand on the brakes more than once in an entire year, you are not anticipating the possibility of something blocking your immediate right-of-way. While it is true that there should be a specific distance between you and the car ahead (usually a vehicle length for every ten miles of speed), it is even more important that you anticipate stops, lane changes or wrong way drivers.

Perhaps someday there will be schools for training cycle riders, like the schools for airplane pilots where devices to simulate flight are used. Then a rider would have an opportunity to safely encounter some of the modern road hazards. Until this fine day, however, a useful substitute is to plan in your mind what you will dc under any given set of circumstances.

THE APPROPRIATE ACTION

Several years ago, a good friend of mine who lives in Sacramento, California was riding his powerful 40-inch twin along a heavily traveled highway. At a speed of about 55 miles per hour he approached an intersection which had signs to stop all cross-traffic until the main highway was clear. As he traveled the last few hundred, my friend noticed that a car to his right appeared to be maintaining speed, totally ignoring the stop sign. The speeds of both cycle and car put them on a collision course at the dead center of the intersection. What to do? There were many cars directly behind the cycle so that a panic stop might result in being over-run. A high curb prevented leaving the road. My bike-riding friend took the only course of action that could save his life . . . and one that required a cool head and a steady hand. He simply cranked it on, the speedy twin surged ahead and he went through the intersection ahead of the offending car. The driver of the car never slowed down, apparently being totally asleep at the switch.

BILL KAYSING

Luckily, the cycle involved was one with plenty of reserve horses; this would not have worked so well with a badly tuned or underpowered bike. The moral here is "keep an attentive eye tuned in, your anticipating brain in focus but also be prepared to take the proper action to accommodate the unexpected."

THE THREE "A's" AT WORK

Many riders do not consider light city traffic a hazard. The absence of a large number of vehicles does not assure anyone's safety. After all, it only takes two objects trying to occupy the same space at the same time to create work for the ambulance drivers. Many riders accustomed to light city traffic take it for granted that the road is always clear and everyone will behave in a predictable manner.

A heavily congested city street presents a greater variety of situations than are present in the more lightly traveled regions. There are street cars, trucks, carts, taxis, buses, pedestrians and cars aplenty. A cyclist must really be alert to survive in this man-made chaos. What looks to be a clear passage up ahead may be full of all kinds of solid and unresisting objects in a matter of milliseconds. Let's consider a few of them (plus a sampling of some common city traffic problems).

THE SWINGING DOORS

Thoughtless people are continually opening their car doors without checking to see what's coming. Always ride beyond the radius of travel of a car door and if that is not possible, check to see if there is an occupant in a parked car, front or rear seat. If there is, take appropriate action: stop or, when safe, move left out of range of that hinged widow-maker.

THE BIG PUNCH — OR THE GAP THAT CLOSED

Many riders have quit cycles for daisy pushing just by assuming that the narrow gap between long rows of cars will stay open indefinitely. Even at a modest speed, it is most disconcerting to find that there is a slot coming up with less width than the span of your bars. Anyone who has had his bars restrained momentarily by an object knows what a sickening loss of control results.

THE INVISIBLE (MOTORCYCLE) MAN

Post-mortems of many cycle-car accidents have the surviving four-wheel pilot saying, "... but I never saw him at all." Let's accept the facts, fellow cyclists — while the cycle is a small target and in that sense is a good thing, it is also a difficult object to see from the driver's seat of many types of vehicles. Tn addition, many automobilists are still not acclimated to the hordes of new, small cycles on the roads today and are not even looking for anything smaller than a car.

So what's the cure, doctor? Simply assume that you are totally invisible to everyone at all times. Radical cure? Not so — remember the Sacramento rider. At night or in inclement weather, this principle of cycle riding becomes even more important.

RIGHT AND LEFT-TURNERS

If you never put yourself in between a car turning right and the right side of the road you have every assurance that you'll never have to make that unpleasant choice of the curb or the side of the car. It almost goes without saying that the cycle rider who expects to make his three score and ten will never pass a car on the right on a one lane road. It's a giant temptation at times since a cycle can scoot through that small space in a short time. However, this small space has a tendency to be filled unexpectedly with car doors, pull-outs from the curb, people who step out from between parked cars, dogs, children, pipes sticking out from the rear of backing plumbers' trucks and other impedimenta.

When you approach an intersection and there is a possibility that someone might, just might, turn in front of you, let him go first since it is difficult to argue right of way legislation with your head stuck in his sealed beam. When making your own left and right turns, consider the following. For left turns, it is insurance against being rear-ended to simply move over to the extreme left of the roadway and let the cars behind you pass. When turning right, stay close to the curb to avoid being clipped by through traffic.

THE ORANGE LIGHT

Intersections in big cities are places to be extremely cautious. When signals are either red or green, there is a marginal orderliness to vehicle movement. However, when that orange (or yellow) light goes on, it becomes a no-man's land which the astute rider should diligently avoid. Here again, the difference in visibility between a car and a motorcycle becomes the important factor. There are many signal jumpers driving exceedingly rapid dragstertype cars that are just not looking for a small object coming through on the orange light. Remember also that many drivers have "tunnel" vision and cannot see well to the sides. Other people drink or are preoccupied with world problems. Therefore, to keep your front wheel round, prepare to stop when the orange light comes on. It is simply too much to, ask when you are asking for everyone to see you every time.

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INTERESTING SIGHTS IN THE BIG CITY

Big cities are full of pretty girls. Beach cities are even better; they have pretty girls in bikinis. If you expect to meet some of both, save your sightseeing for when you are a passenger. It is fine to have an attentive eye, but save it for the eightton brewery truck backing out of the brewery. If there is something interesting to see, pull up and stop safely at the side of the street. Look as long as you like; then proceed again with undivided attention to the real hazards of the road.

TREMENDOUS TRUCKS AND SMALL CYCLES

Cyclists who also pursue water sports know that the smallest sailboat has the right-of-way over the largest motor-powered vessel afloat. However, the small sailboat pilot also realizes that it is sensible to stay clear of a large ship since the latter's capability for quick turns and fast stops is sharply limited.

The same facts hold true for the motorcyclist with respect to giant trucks, buses, trains, streetcars and other large and clumsy-type vehicles. Keep as much distance as possible between these monsters and your cycle. It is hard for them to see or hear you and they are hard-pressed to avoid hitting anything once they are on course and at speed.

This factor of distance between you and anything movable or immovable is an important one. Make it your practice to have plenty of room to maneuver and stop if necessary. If you find yourself in the center of a congested convoy of vehicles, either speed up or slow down; either way you'll get that feeling of freedom and elbow room.

CITY PASSING

If you must pass in heavy traffic, do it as quickly as possible. Hanging out in the extreme left lane with cars slicing by an arm's length away is just not good. This is an instance where a powerful motorcycle is a definite advantage. With plenty of ponies under the tank, a rider can come up behind the car to be passed, downshift and then pass in a few seconds and return to the safety of the right hand lane.

NIGHT RIDING IN THE CITY

When that evening sun goes down, slow down and look sharper. The visibility of the average cycle (usually painted a dark color) is poor at night. Furthermore, most drivers are not looking for a single small taillight. The danger of being hit from the rear is sharply increased at night so keep to the right at signals and maintain a lookout. Wearing light-colored clothing or jacket will help you to be seen. Also, don't yield to the temptation to paint your helmet any color but white . . . except perhaps another high-visibility color. Keep your windshield (if you have one) extra clean at night and be sure your goggles are clean and unscratched. You will need every bit of light available.

WEATHER AND THE CITY

Adverse weather plus city traffic constitutes a greater menace to cycles than to the four-wheeled clan. Riding in rain, fog, snow, sleet, hail and high winds plus heavy traffic should be avoided if at all possible. All of the normal traffic hazards are compounded by decreased visibility for everyone in addition to lack of friction between the road surface and cycle tires. During dry weather, a film of oil accumulates on all streets. During the first rain of the season, this oil is emulsified and becomes a highly slippery film. Therefore, allow extra distance for braking and don't try to take those corners at the usual speed.

If you've ridden your bike in a rainstorm you'll recall the stinging sensation that felt like sand in your eyes when you tried riding without goggles. With them, it's too much like riding through a continuous waterfall. Conclusion: just stop somewhere and have a cup of coffee until it clears up. Extremely cold weather is also detrimental to good safety practices since it slows reflexes and diminishes caution due to a rider's natural desire to reach a warmer place with greater speed.

SUMMARY

Safety in the city on your cycle involves many considerations. First, the rider and his mount should both be in top shape. The rider must have good vision, hearing and reflexes. His cycle must be in perfect condition — as well-maintained as an airplane. Second, a cycle rider should practice the three "A"s . . . Attention, Anticipation and Action at all times — not just when traffic is very heavy. Lastly, enjoy yourself. Relax, keep cool, maintain the serene outlook of a capable rider aboard a sound motorcycle who knows what to expect and what to do at all times. •