Hazardous scenarios

If you are a biker, you probably know that safety on a motorbike is paramount. There will always be near misses once in a while, but the most important thing is to analyze yourself, and the hazardous situations you have been through and learn from them. It is also very important not to blame anybody else if you get into a dangerous situation, otherwise you will not learn from it, and can get into the exact same scenario in the future.

I have a helmet camera, so I record every ride, and cut out the parts that I find interesting.

1. Blocked view

There is a junction and vehicles are queued up to turn right. I had the right of way, but I am always cautious if I cannot see behind an object (in this case a black cab), so I slowed down, to get more information about the situation and the hazards, and suddenly the scooter rider were in front of me. I did not have to do an emergency break as I did expect that someone will turn in front of me, although did not think that it would be a scooter rider. He should have been more cautious.

2. Blocked view before roundabout

This is a very good one. Cars are queued up after the roundabout, so I could not see the road on the right side (which has the right of way). So during the approach I slowed down as I always do if I cannot see through an object (as mentioned before!). The driver in the mini was quite cautions as well, but you never know what happens if you enter the roundabout quicker. Most people only checks the right and just steps on it.

3. Hiding behind the van

A typical scenario again. I was just about to pass the van, but as always I did not feel comfortable as I did not see what in front of it, so slowed down and waited for it to finish the turn. As you can see the Range Rover did turn out without looking (she could not see through the van either), so it was a good decision.

4. The roundabout

The small roundabouts are always a good source of hazards, as most people just floors through them. The main rule about them is that the vehicle coming from the right has the right of way, but as you can see in this following video, you are not always getting the right to go. That is why it is very important to check if the other vehicle is actually slowing down and lets you go. To quote my father "the cemetery is full of people who knew they had the right of way", but obviously did not get it.

5. Hazards in filtering

There can be multiple hazards when you are filtering or passing stationary traffic. This is one of most important. You have to expect that cars will pull out from junctions and they will not see you. That is why you need to be slow enough to stop at any time. And then we did not even mentioned cyclists and pedestrians. You have to anticipate them, so you can stop if they suddenly get into your way.

6. No eye contact

Eye contact, eye contact and eye contact. I am repeating these words, they are quite important as you can see in the following video. I did not search for eye contact and what happened? A near miss. Lesson to learn: Eye contact!

P.S: To be honest, after re-watching the video, I may have used the horn as well to let him know I am there.

7. Slow, hesitating driver means hazard

In the following video I was going home on a nice straight empty road, probably a bit over the speed limit as well, when I noticed this car in front of me doing maximum 20 miles an hour and keeping to the left side of the road. My first thought was that I just pass it, but then experience kicked in and decided to slow down and assess the situation. I was just at the point to pass him slowly when he started indicating to the right. It was a bit surprising as he was keeping to the left side. So the lesson here is that a slow car on an empty road is a hazard as you just don't know what the driver will do.

8. The van driver

There are two lessons to learn from the next video. First, green light means you are allowed into the junction, but NOT that vehicles from the other direction will not move in! So especially in blind junctions it is better to go in a bit slowly expecting anything. The second is that vans are the most dangerous vehicles in the city. They are in a hurry, have tight deadline, hence taking risks. This one just went through a red light.