General Road Incidents, Learn or Rage?

[CalmBiker]

My latest video. I wouldn't normally post them (perhaps I should but I'm not good at promoting videos) but HD asked for one for the sidebar. Thanks HD!

 

[Hippo-Drones]

Awesome video and subject matter... and a good analysis of what might have been the cause too. Your response to the driver was top notch, he acknowledged his mistake, you got on with your life!
I've had that accident in the past, nearly gone under the car and messed up my back in the process, that was back in my yoof when I used to deliver pizzas on a scoot for Dominos, it really is an accident you don't want to happen and was bloomin scary, was lucky to walk away from it TBH.

 

[Theodor]

Very soothing video of an intense moment

 

[Drakhen99]

Great video - so many people overreact or ham it up for YouTube... when it's really a nothingburger.

The ones that get me are the commenters on any video where there's a slight interaction, and they obviously don't ride, and if they DO ride, they don't record... and they scream out that it wasn't even a close call. Um, yeah, were you there? GoPros hide speed and distance quite well, TYVM.

-John

 

[Hippo-Drones]

The ones that get me are the commenters on any video where there's a slight interaction, and they obviously don't ride, and if they DO ride, they don't record... and they scream out that it wasn't even a close call. Um, yeah, were you there? GoPros hide speed and distance quite well

GoPro (other action cameras are available), do hide distance/gradients/speed/etc, but not all viewers are stupid, and people can count time and see how long before a reaction to an incident is separated from the actual incident, they can also see when the camera person speeds up to make the incident happen, and most who watch bike videos are bikers...
As a biker, I have been in many near misses... and more than enough not misses (ouch), and I feel I have learnt a lot from each incident and seen ways to stop it ever being an incident by adjusting my riding... a biker has a Spidey sense if they are paying attention... I'm not example of how to ride, but I do think that a lot of riders are way too distracted by whatever, that it stops them seeing an event before it happens. We as bikers are fast to point a finger at a mobile phone user behind the wheel, yet so many bikers are also doing things that take their mind off what they are doing.

 

[Drakhen99]

GoPro (other action cameras are available), do hide distance/gradients/speed/etc, but not all viewers are stupid, and people can count time and see how long before a reaction to an incident is separated from the actual incident, they can also see when the camera person speeds up to make the incident happen, and most who watch bike videos are bikers...
As a biker, I have been in many near misses... and more than enough not misses (ouch), and I feel I have learnt a lot from each incident and seen ways to stop it ever being an incident by adjusting my riding... a biker has a Spidey sense if they are paying attention... I'm not example of how to ride, but I do think that a lot of riders are way too distracted by whatever, that it stops them seeing an event before it happens. We as bikers are fast to point a finger at a mobile phone user behind the wheel, yet so many bikers are also doing things that take their mind off what they are doing.

Sorry, I wasn't calling out ALL viewers... and I am in no way advocating an escalation from something that could've been nothing but is now SOMETHING, because the rider sped up, gestured angrily, stopped, brake checked, what have you.

From my experience, 85% of drivers doing something stupid around here... they're on their phone. You can count on it. But that's just MY experience in MY area... not applicable to everywhere.

-John

 

[Hippo-Drones]

Sorry, I wasn't calling out ALL viewers... and I am in no way advocating an escalation from something that could've been nothing but is now SOMETHING, because the rider sped up, gestured angrily, stopped, brake checked, what have you.

From my experience, 85% of drivers doing something stupid around here... they're on their phone. You can count on it. But that's just MY experience in MY area... not applicable to everywhere.

-John

Oh absolutely, soz... I came over like I was defending the TWUNTS, am def not... and a lot of comments are from folk who are just anti anything, so criticise everything they see from bikers in videos.
My reply was more in tone with the topic of the video, that we as bikers, can and should ride as defensively as needed to be able to predict before an incident happens that it is likely, so we adjust our riding to prevent it.
Sadly that means the cagers etc never learn that they could have killed us so don't adjust their driving, but we are alive this time, and that is more important at that moment

 

[Drakhen99]

Oh absolutely, soz... I came over like I was defending the TWUNTS, am def not... and a lot of comments are from folk who are just anti anything, so criticise everything they see from bikers in videos.
My reply was more in tone with the topic of the video, that we as bikers, can and should ride as defensively as needed to be able to predict before an incident happens that it is likely, so we adjust our riding to prevent it.
Sadly that means the cagers etc never learn that they could have killed us so don't adjust their driving, but we are alive this time, and that is more important at that moment

LOL, I figure I came across as over-generalizing... not my intent. Yeah, it's too bad the cagers don't learn from their mistakes. Basically, EVERYONE should be a motovlogger, recording in 4k or higher resolution, and show the dimwits their bad actions... somehow. THEN maybe they'd pay attention?

Honestly, if the drivers would just put their phones down in this area, things would be a LOT nicer on the roads. I can't count how many times there have been people doing under the speed limit on a major highway, in the fast lane, slowing up traffic... all so they can scroll Facebook and whatnot. SMH.

-John

 

[Theodor]

... and I am in no way advocating an escalation from something that could've been nothing ...

I agree, kick the mirror and break the jaw, but that's where it stops. No escalation necessary.

Basically, EVERYONE should be a motovlogger, recording in 4k or higher resolution, and show the dimwits their bad actions... somehow. THEN maybe they'd pay attention?...

Not really though. In my opinion, ranting in social media does nothing. How likely do you think you share the social groups with that dimwit. 99% of the time they won't even know they caught someones attention. And even if they do, everyone has phone in pocket and threaten to put everything in social media, when someone else does something they don't like. I think it was less than couple of weeks ago, when someone was taking pictures of me and a car I was using, because I happened to be parking in a spot he likes to use. I arrived there several minutes before him, so there was even no "I was waiting for that spot" debate or anything. Do you think I care the least bit if he posts that online, with what ever story he imagines to write to accompany it? Do you think he thinks he is in the right though? I think he does. And the social media is saturated with stuff like that. One of the reasons I go to see my fb feed less than once a week.

 

[Drakhen99]

I agree, kick the mirror and break the jaw, but that's where it stops. No escalation necessary.


Not really though. In my opinion, ranting in social media does nothing. How likely do you think you share the social groups with that dimwit. 99% of the time they won't even know they caught someones attention. And even if they do, everyone has phone in pocket and threaten to put everything in social media, when someone else does something they don't like. I think it was less than couple of weeks ago, when someone was taking pictures of me and a car I was using, because I happened to be parking in a spot he likes to use. I arrived there several minutes before him, so there was even no "I was waiting for that spot" debate or anything. Do you think I care the least bit if he posts that online, with what ever story he imagines to write to accompany it? Do you think he thinks he is in the right though? I think he does. And the social media is saturated with stuff like that. One of the reasons I go to see my fb feed less than once a week.

So... I totally forgot the sarcasm tag on that one... my bad.

Outside of the kicking of mirrors and breaking of bones, I couldn't agree more. My NextDoor feed is FULL of this kind of stuff. Person A does something Person B doesn't like, so B takes it to NextDoor and starts a whole thread, which quickly derails into a political debate and name-calling. Nothing actually happens.

The NON-sarcastic thing about it is... I discovered that going "up periscope" with my rear-facing camera [which is normally aimed at me, for reasons of vanity and emphasis], will cause the driver behind me to back off... way off. 9/10 times, this works. I even did a video about it on my channel [I'd post it here, but tis not the place, unless @HippoDrone gives the OK].

In reality, I really just want people to put their freakin' phones down and pay a little more attention [and follow the rules of the road] when they drive.

-John

 

[Slorida]

I used to watch the dashcam style videos, usually the UK ones, and not just bike ones, mostly so that I can see how stupid other drivers/riders are, so I can understand the mentality and likely actions of others.

The problem is that the people with cameras drive like idiots to get on the clip channels (for which I include some bikers), so it's really not a good learning experience.

The comments sections really aren't any better. As an example I had a Canadian telling me, a UK licence holder, how to take a roundabout in the UK despite never having actually been here in their life, but they knew I was wrong because they had driven right hand drive cars. Bonkers.

Channels like Ashley Neal and DDFM are good to a point, DDFM more for the American market, but anyone can find something useful there, Ashley Neal is more about car drivers, but again it does translate to bikers in most cases, he did an 'analysis' of my first bike accident, didn't roast me too much fortunately...

The thing is that even with these channels I don't always agree, mostly for minor things, but as an example there was a video Ashley Neal did recently about a double roundabout in Liverpool and the instructions driving examiners give to negotiate it. He seemed fixated on explaining how locals drive around this particular roundabout and expecting the tests to change to fit in with that, rather than how to deal with double roundabouts generally. It's no wonder things like the Magic Roundabout(s) are a mystery to some people.

Anyway, I'm far to close to going on a rant.....

 

[R-Rated]

@CalmBiker great video! Roundabouts can be tricky for us riders. Pretty much all road situations are tricky even if there is no traffic out with us.

That being said, I have been in tons of near miss crashes. @scooterwuf has seen a few on our last two trips to Laconia.

My go to moves are either a hard stare, point to my camera, give the disapproving nod, WTF shrug, or horn honk.

If that is not enough, then remember we are bikers so don't be afraid to use the tools at our disposal...

 

[CalmBiker]

I used to watch the dashcam style videos, usually the UK ones, and not just bike ones, mostly so that I can see how stupid other drivers/riders are, so I can understand the mentality and likely actions of others.

The problem is that the people with cameras drive like idiots to get on the clip channels (for which I include some bikers), so it's really not a good learning experience.

The comments sections really aren't any better. As an example I had a Canadian telling me, a UK licence holder, how to take a roundabout in the UK despite never having actually been here in their life, but they knew I was wrong because they had driven right hand drive cars. Bonkers.

Channels like Ashley Neal and DDFM are good to a point, DDFM more for the American market, but anyone can find something useful there, Ashley Neal is more about car drivers, but again it does translate to bikers in most cases, he did an 'analysis' of my first bike accident, didn't roast me too much fortunately...

The thing is that even with these channels I don't always agree, mostly for minor things, but as an example there was a video Ashley Neal did recently about a double roundabout in Liverpool and the instructions driving examiners give to negotiate it. He seemed fixated on explaining how locals drive around this particular roundabout and expecting the tests to change to fit in with that, rather than how to deal with double roundabouts generally. It's no wonder things like the Magic Roundabout(s) are a mystery to some people.

Anyway, I'm far to close to going on a rant.....

I remember that video. I watched and thought that it would have been better to be in the other lane, given the direction of travel. I didn't comment though because those comment sections can get very toxic very quickly when someone disagrees!

 

[CalmBiker]

@CalmBiker great video! Roundabouts can be tricky for us riders. Pretty much all road situations are tricky even if there is no traffic out with us.

That being said, I have been in tons of near miss crashes. @scooterwuf has seen a few on our last two trips to Laconia.

My go to moves are either a hard stare, point to my camera, give the disapproving nod, WTF shrug, or horn honk.

If that is not enough, then remember we are bikers so don't be afraid to use the tools at our disposal...

View attachment 6997

Paddington hard stare is always good

 

[R-Rated]

Paddington hard stare is always good

Gets them every time!

 

[Slorida]

I remember that video. I watched and thought that it would have been better to be in the other lane, given the direction of travel. I didn't comment though because those comment sections can get very toxic very quickly when someone disagrees!

I don't find his comments section too bad, but yeah, it can go south pretty quickly. I felt like commenting on that one, I can't remember if I did or not, but I thought the examiner's instructions were better than Ashley's in that particular instance, given the road sign present on the approach. I do find he tends to have a "I am right" mentality, not so much in his driving or guidance, more when questioned about his choices, but generally speaking it is a good channel to watch.