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*** Originally posted by Old Fox on November 27, 2007.
Salvaged this excellent article while sifting through the xBhp archives.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi!,
Reproducing here an adaptation of an excellent write-up by Nick Ienatsch in some old issue (late '80's probably) of the 'Motorcyclist' magazine. Its about the riding skills needed to survive the urban traffic environment. Hope this helps you riders enhance your riding abilities as it has done for me since I read it more than a decade ago. Have taken the liberty of highlighting in red what I felt were crucial but usually neglected skill areas. Here goes.
SURVIVAL IN THE ASPHALT JUNGLE.
Advanced street riding techniques to help the urban rider develop an expert's sixth sense.
Riding sedately along a two-lane country highway requires only a fraction of the skills, powers of observation and general alertness needed to confidently handle urban rush-hour traffic. It is the latter situation that we will concentrate on in this article, discussing advanced traffic techniques and delving into what the rider's mind and body should concentrate on to thread his way through potentially dangerous situations threatening the urban commuter. As traffic thickens, the rider is required to assess situations more quickly, react appropriately and perform several tasks at once, all flawlessly, because there is not much room for error. What we are talking here is the asphalt – jungle survival.
This article assumes you understand counter – steering, can bring your front tyre to the point of lockup in an emergency situation and follow the basic defensive riding techniques such as avoiding blind spots, riding with your head light on, wearing conspicuous clothing and adhering to the speed limit in town. If any of the preceding needs to be incorporated into your riding regimen, review these riding techniques.
MIND RIDING
While buckling your helmet and pulling on your gloves, take the time to envision your ride to work, the beach or a friend's house. Run through the route, reliving any trouble you have had on this route in the past and consider the possibility of heavy traffic or chance of rain during the ride. If it is raining, imagine yourself braking and accelerating gently, steering your Bike lightly around obstacles and moving in and around traffic. Whether the trip is familiar or relatively new, review the course you will take and picture yourself making the turns and arriving at the destination. Mentally previewing an activity is commonplace among top athletes and works well in motorcycling for the simple reason that it puts your concentration on your ride before you slip the Bike into gear. Don't wait to be shocked into the present time by a near collision or other rude reminder; start your mind early.
It is reasonable to compare the concentration needed to road-race with the concentration needed to negotiate through urban traffic. In fact, riding in traffic often presents unexpected hazards that demand unplanned responses, something road racers don't usually deal with. We can't emphasize enough the importance of concentration in high stress traffic conditions, because if you are not ready when the unexpected happens, the results could be worse than just loosing a race.
THE CRYSTAL BALL
One of the most important principles the Motorcycle Safety Foundation teaches is prediction. But let's take predicting what the traffic will do to its most elevated state and talk a bit about what high mileage riders refer to as their sixth sense. We first came across this term when interviewing Roger Hull several years ago. Hull claimed to get a feeling when things weren't right, and other experienced riders have also developed this automatic alarm to keep themselves alive. But rather than believe it is a big mystery, let's look at what clangs the alarm bells.
Expert riders develop a finely honed sense of traffic flow by monitoring the vehicles in their immediate area, but those farther ahead and behind. When this flow is interrupted, by a car slowing down or an aggressive driver bullying his way up from behind, alarm Klaxons sound in the rider's head. A good rider automatically assesses how the interruption in the traffic will affect him and decides what he will do about it. The rider takes steps to protect himself, whether it's feathering the brakes or giving a burst of throttle to clear the area. The vague uneasiness the interruption in traffic causes the rider is part of the sixth sense experts rely on.
This extra sense is also alerted by the type of vehicles around the rider: vans and panel trucks have huge blind spots, poorly maintained beaters often have no brake lights, taxi cabs are in a hurry, buses block the rider's forward vision, and old pick-ups may not have mirrors. A quick glance at the driver will also prove illuminating: judge the alertness of the driver and check to see if his mirrors are adjusted correctly. Is it an executive having a phone conversation? A rocker-switching cassette tapes? A mother disciplining her children? Those three instances should signal a danger warning, while an alert, attentive driver should calm a motorcyclist's nerves. Though the rule is to trust no one, there will be instances when a certain amount of trust will be necessary. We've found the most trustworthy to be drivers who are obviously car enthusiasts, with clean well-attended vehicles that show a history of good care and good driving. Just don't get complacent. The clues a vehicle and its driver give can go a long way towards predicting that vehicle's actions, and stereotyping certain vehicles and certain types of drivers becomes and automatic part of a rider's sixth sense. In this instance, first impressions usually aren't wrong.
An active imagination helps the rider predict traffic flow. If a rider decides a certain car will not make a lane change because it doesn't have enough room, has it's opposite turn signal flashing or the driver looks content where he is, that rider may be in for a costly surprise. It's not enough to be wary; sometimes you must be downright paranoid. Certain circumstances, such as the 30-minute mad dash cities experience right before work starts or when the beer addled crowd leaves the late night baseball game, must be considered by the motorcyclist trying to co-exist in traffic.
DANGER PRIORITIES
Since in the majority of cases the danger a city rider faces comes from directly in front in the form of right turning and panic braking cars, that's the direction the rider should concentrate on. But often numerous potentially dangerous situations must be dealt with, and there are two ways to do so. One option is to move the eyes rapidly around the scene, prioritizing the dangers, qualifying exactly what's happening, predicting what could happen and identifying escape routes. For instance, a rider approaches a busy city intersection on a green light with oncoming traffic waiting to turn right, a parked car moving out of its parking spot on the left, another car waiting to turn right at the far right of the intersection and several cars pulling out of the parking lot on the other side of the intersection. As busy as this scene sounds, it is common in most of our big cities any day of the week.
The approaching rider surveys the scene, moving his eyes quickly around the intersection, perhaps taking note of the cross walk signal for any hint of the light changing (in most of our cities the pedestrian light flashes before turning red, indicating the green light is about to change to yellow and then red) and noting where the attention of each of the involved drivers is. As the rider closes on the intersection, he is no longer able to scan because it would take his attention off the potentially most dangerous vehicle, the car waiting to make a right turn. That must be the rider's priority, and steps to avoid that vehicle must be foremost in the mind. At this point, the rider must switch to the second method of dealing with multiple danger spots, peripheral vision.
In this case, peripheral vision must be relied upon to monitor the potential problems while putting most of the focus and attention on the number one priority, the right turner. With the riders focus on the right turning vehicle, his peripheral vision won't be able to detect movement as well as direct focus, but with practice and concentration, the peripheral vision will become stronger and the rider will be able to monitor the color of the traffic signal, what the left turning traffic is doing and even the quality of the pavement in case an emergency stop is needed. And while the riders focus can be broadened as wide as possible, he shouldn't loose track of what the right turner is doing until past the vehicle, and only then switch his concentration to the next highest priority.
This situation stresses conspicuity and proper lane positioning. Some riders flick their headlights from low to high, but we do not recommend the practice since some drivers may take it as the sign to proceed into the intersection, exactly the wrong interpretation. Another expert move is to waggle the handlebars quickly from side to side, not enough to turn the Bike but enough to jiggle the headlight and make the Bike more conspicuous to the approaching traffic. Not only, will the light catch the approaching driver's eye but the abnormal behavior will also make you more noticeable. Sometimes it is not bad to be weird.
A BIT OF THROTTLE
There are two schools of thought, the first being that a motorcyclist must make himself visible to the auto driver, and the second that the motorcyclist must take it upon himself to stay out of everyone's way. The best choice is to combine the two, employing conspicuity with defensive and aggressive riding. It is foolhardy to depend upon untrained drivers to see you and avoid you on a consistent basis, but it is also impossible to stay completely clear of every vehicle on the road. There are times when a rider must rely on car drivers to see him, using conspicuous clothing and proper positioning of the bike. Pick your trusted drivers carefully using the criteria discussed earlier, and then do not trust them too much. Expert drivers reduce the amount of time they spend near any particular car by moving resolutely through traffic, riding a bit faster than the flow, but not fast enough to cause a disruption or earn a speeding ticket. This minimizes time in the blind spots and put the rider in a position of actually controlling his destiny as opposed to trusting the general public.
MIRROR MEMORIZATION
Dense, fast moving traffic demands that the rider's attention be placed ahead of him where most of the dangers will come from, yet the mirrors must be monitored before and during lane changes to assess traffic rearward. A rider moving his eyes off traffic and to his mirrors must do it quickly, and expert riders have developed a technique called mirror memorization. Rather than peer into the mirror to identify the cars in it, glance quickly at the mirror and immediately return your eyes to the situation ahead. Use mental imaging to remember the situation behind you, and as you view the situation ahead, assess what you have just seen in your mirror. The benefit is that your attention need only waver instantaneously from the most potentially dangerous situation you face; everything in front of you, yet you can still monitor traffic at the rear.
It doesn't hurt to become a car enthusiast. Even if you don't cultivate an interest in cars, train your mind to remember the auto's you have just passed or at least their color. This technique reduces the time required to identify traffic in your mirrors and aids lane changes. Additionally, remembering the cars you have passed will help you spot the aggressive driver moving quickly through traffic and keep you out of the way. This technique reduces the time spent gazing in the mirrors; it is important that the rider monitor traffic at the rear but not at the risk of missing something important in front.
YOUR OWN WORST CRITIC
Coming to terms with and actually enjoying inner-city traffic requires enough riding ability to become comfortable while surrounded by moving vehicles. The sixth sense expert riders rely on refers to a rider's ability to predict traffic flow, prioritize the potential dangers and work towards eliminating them or minimizing them. This activity will never become boring, yet to truly succeed in this downtown world, the rider must become his own worst critic. If a riding mistake or error of judgement is made, the rider must admit it and decide how it can be corrected. Mistakes will happen, and they can become fatal if repeated at the wrong time.
An honest self-evaluation will go a long way towards improving each ride. If a near collision happens, a rider must review what he was doing, rather than immediately blaming the car driver. Usually the rider will find his speed excessive, his turn signal was flashing inadvertently or he remained in the car's blind spot for far too long. In short, near misses are lessons in disguise if the rider analyzes them.
Developing your sixth sense will take a great deal of miles, more if you don't concentrate and remember each lesson, less if you have the ability to predict traffic flow and the humility to admit a mistake.
Ride long and safe...
Old Fox
Salvaged this excellent article while sifting through the xBhp archives.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi!,
Reproducing here an adaptation of an excellent write-up by Nick Ienatsch in some old issue (late '80's probably) of the 'Motorcyclist' magazine. Its about the riding skills needed to survive the urban traffic environment. Hope this helps you riders enhance your riding abilities as it has done for me since I read it more than a decade ago. Have taken the liberty of highlighting in red what I felt were crucial but usually neglected skill areas. Here goes.
SURVIVAL IN THE ASPHALT JUNGLE.
Advanced street riding techniques to help the urban rider develop an expert's sixth sense.
Riding sedately along a two-lane country highway requires only a fraction of the skills, powers of observation and general alertness needed to confidently handle urban rush-hour traffic. It is the latter situation that we will concentrate on in this article, discussing advanced traffic techniques and delving into what the rider's mind and body should concentrate on to thread his way through potentially dangerous situations threatening the urban commuter. As traffic thickens, the rider is required to assess situations more quickly, react appropriately and perform several tasks at once, all flawlessly, because there is not much room for error. What we are talking here is the asphalt – jungle survival.
This article assumes you understand counter – steering, can bring your front tyre to the point of lockup in an emergency situation and follow the basic defensive riding techniques such as avoiding blind spots, riding with your head light on, wearing conspicuous clothing and adhering to the speed limit in town. If any of the preceding needs to be incorporated into your riding regimen, review these riding techniques.
MIND RIDING
While buckling your helmet and pulling on your gloves, take the time to envision your ride to work, the beach or a friend's house. Run through the route, reliving any trouble you have had on this route in the past and consider the possibility of heavy traffic or chance of rain during the ride. If it is raining, imagine yourself braking and accelerating gently, steering your Bike lightly around obstacles and moving in and around traffic. Whether the trip is familiar or relatively new, review the course you will take and picture yourself making the turns and arriving at the destination. Mentally previewing an activity is commonplace among top athletes and works well in motorcycling for the simple reason that it puts your concentration on your ride before you slip the Bike into gear. Don't wait to be shocked into the present time by a near collision or other rude reminder; start your mind early.
It is reasonable to compare the concentration needed to road-race with the concentration needed to negotiate through urban traffic. In fact, riding in traffic often presents unexpected hazards that demand unplanned responses, something road racers don't usually deal with. We can't emphasize enough the importance of concentration in high stress traffic conditions, because if you are not ready when the unexpected happens, the results could be worse than just loosing a race.
THE CRYSTAL BALL
One of the most important principles the Motorcycle Safety Foundation teaches is prediction. But let's take predicting what the traffic will do to its most elevated state and talk a bit about what high mileage riders refer to as their sixth sense. We first came across this term when interviewing Roger Hull several years ago. Hull claimed to get a feeling when things weren't right, and other experienced riders have also developed this automatic alarm to keep themselves alive. But rather than believe it is a big mystery, let's look at what clangs the alarm bells.
Expert riders develop a finely honed sense of traffic flow by monitoring the vehicles in their immediate area, but those farther ahead and behind. When this flow is interrupted, by a car slowing down or an aggressive driver bullying his way up from behind, alarm Klaxons sound in the rider's head. A good rider automatically assesses how the interruption in the traffic will affect him and decides what he will do about it. The rider takes steps to protect himself, whether it's feathering the brakes or giving a burst of throttle to clear the area. The vague uneasiness the interruption in traffic causes the rider is part of the sixth sense experts rely on.
This extra sense is also alerted by the type of vehicles around the rider: vans and panel trucks have huge blind spots, poorly maintained beaters often have no brake lights, taxi cabs are in a hurry, buses block the rider's forward vision, and old pick-ups may not have mirrors. A quick glance at the driver will also prove illuminating: judge the alertness of the driver and check to see if his mirrors are adjusted correctly. Is it an executive having a phone conversation? A rocker-switching cassette tapes? A mother disciplining her children? Those three instances should signal a danger warning, while an alert, attentive driver should calm a motorcyclist's nerves. Though the rule is to trust no one, there will be instances when a certain amount of trust will be necessary. We've found the most trustworthy to be drivers who are obviously car enthusiasts, with clean well-attended vehicles that show a history of good care and good driving. Just don't get complacent. The clues a vehicle and its driver give can go a long way towards predicting that vehicle's actions, and stereotyping certain vehicles and certain types of drivers becomes and automatic part of a rider's sixth sense. In this instance, first impressions usually aren't wrong.
An active imagination helps the rider predict traffic flow. If a rider decides a certain car will not make a lane change because it doesn't have enough room, has it's opposite turn signal flashing or the driver looks content where he is, that rider may be in for a costly surprise. It's not enough to be wary; sometimes you must be downright paranoid. Certain circumstances, such as the 30-minute mad dash cities experience right before work starts or when the beer addled crowd leaves the late night baseball game, must be considered by the motorcyclist trying to co-exist in traffic.
DANGER PRIORITIES
Since in the majority of cases the danger a city rider faces comes from directly in front in the form of right turning and panic braking cars, that's the direction the rider should concentrate on. But often numerous potentially dangerous situations must be dealt with, and there are two ways to do so. One option is to move the eyes rapidly around the scene, prioritizing the dangers, qualifying exactly what's happening, predicting what could happen and identifying escape routes. For instance, a rider approaches a busy city intersection on a green light with oncoming traffic waiting to turn right, a parked car moving out of its parking spot on the left, another car waiting to turn right at the far right of the intersection and several cars pulling out of the parking lot on the other side of the intersection. As busy as this scene sounds, it is common in most of our big cities any day of the week.
The approaching rider surveys the scene, moving his eyes quickly around the intersection, perhaps taking note of the cross walk signal for any hint of the light changing (in most of our cities the pedestrian light flashes before turning red, indicating the green light is about to change to yellow and then red) and noting where the attention of each of the involved drivers is. As the rider closes on the intersection, he is no longer able to scan because it would take his attention off the potentially most dangerous vehicle, the car waiting to make a right turn. That must be the rider's priority, and steps to avoid that vehicle must be foremost in the mind. At this point, the rider must switch to the second method of dealing with multiple danger spots, peripheral vision.
In this case, peripheral vision must be relied upon to monitor the potential problems while putting most of the focus and attention on the number one priority, the right turner. With the riders focus on the right turning vehicle, his peripheral vision won't be able to detect movement as well as direct focus, but with practice and concentration, the peripheral vision will become stronger and the rider will be able to monitor the color of the traffic signal, what the left turning traffic is doing and even the quality of the pavement in case an emergency stop is needed. And while the riders focus can be broadened as wide as possible, he shouldn't loose track of what the right turner is doing until past the vehicle, and only then switch his concentration to the next highest priority.
This situation stresses conspicuity and proper lane positioning. Some riders flick their headlights from low to high, but we do not recommend the practice since some drivers may take it as the sign to proceed into the intersection, exactly the wrong interpretation. Another expert move is to waggle the handlebars quickly from side to side, not enough to turn the Bike but enough to jiggle the headlight and make the Bike more conspicuous to the approaching traffic. Not only, will the light catch the approaching driver's eye but the abnormal behavior will also make you more noticeable. Sometimes it is not bad to be weird.
A BIT OF THROTTLE
There are two schools of thought, the first being that a motorcyclist must make himself visible to the auto driver, and the second that the motorcyclist must take it upon himself to stay out of everyone's way. The best choice is to combine the two, employing conspicuity with defensive and aggressive riding. It is foolhardy to depend upon untrained drivers to see you and avoid you on a consistent basis, but it is also impossible to stay completely clear of every vehicle on the road. There are times when a rider must rely on car drivers to see him, using conspicuous clothing and proper positioning of the bike. Pick your trusted drivers carefully using the criteria discussed earlier, and then do not trust them too much. Expert drivers reduce the amount of time they spend near any particular car by moving resolutely through traffic, riding a bit faster than the flow, but not fast enough to cause a disruption or earn a speeding ticket. This minimizes time in the blind spots and put the rider in a position of actually controlling his destiny as opposed to trusting the general public.
MIRROR MEMORIZATION
Dense, fast moving traffic demands that the rider's attention be placed ahead of him where most of the dangers will come from, yet the mirrors must be monitored before and during lane changes to assess traffic rearward. A rider moving his eyes off traffic and to his mirrors must do it quickly, and expert riders have developed a technique called mirror memorization. Rather than peer into the mirror to identify the cars in it, glance quickly at the mirror and immediately return your eyes to the situation ahead. Use mental imaging to remember the situation behind you, and as you view the situation ahead, assess what you have just seen in your mirror. The benefit is that your attention need only waver instantaneously from the most potentially dangerous situation you face; everything in front of you, yet you can still monitor traffic at the rear.
It doesn't hurt to become a car enthusiast. Even if you don't cultivate an interest in cars, train your mind to remember the auto's you have just passed or at least their color. This technique reduces the time required to identify traffic in your mirrors and aids lane changes. Additionally, remembering the cars you have passed will help you spot the aggressive driver moving quickly through traffic and keep you out of the way. This technique reduces the time spent gazing in the mirrors; it is important that the rider monitor traffic at the rear but not at the risk of missing something important in front.
YOUR OWN WORST CRITIC
Coming to terms with and actually enjoying inner-city traffic requires enough riding ability to become comfortable while surrounded by moving vehicles. The sixth sense expert riders rely on refers to a rider's ability to predict traffic flow, prioritize the potential dangers and work towards eliminating them or minimizing them. This activity will never become boring, yet to truly succeed in this downtown world, the rider must become his own worst critic. If a riding mistake or error of judgement is made, the rider must admit it and decide how it can be corrected. Mistakes will happen, and they can become fatal if repeated at the wrong time.
An honest self-evaluation will go a long way towards improving each ride. If a near collision happens, a rider must review what he was doing, rather than immediately blaming the car driver. Usually the rider will find his speed excessive, his turn signal was flashing inadvertently or he remained in the car's blind spot for far too long. In short, near misses are lessons in disguise if the rider analyzes them.
Developing your sixth sense will take a great deal of miles, more if you don't concentrate and remember each lesson, less if you have the ability to predict traffic flow and the humility to admit a mistake.
Ride long and safe...
Old Fox
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