Are you anticipating your next ‘event’? Most riders (and drivers) assume the road around the bend is the same as what they are on. This is true in most situations. It is the corner (or crest) that represents the ‘one in a million’ chance where there is an animal, road kill, slow or stalled vehicle (or worse - a truck), silt strewn surface, leaf litter, diesel spill, broken shoulder, pothole (topical at present) or tightening curve (reverse spiral) that may catch you out.
This is to ensure that you have enough time to identify an issue with the road ahead and be able to brake in time. Remember that motorcycles, while cornering, don’t permit full braking due to accumulated frictional requirements (lateral friction and acceleration/braking longitudinal forces) without additional pressure available for the front wheel (only possible when braking in a straight line).
This means that while leaning into a curve, with only marginal braking available even for the best ’sports’ bike, the distance needed to see, identify the problem and brake as hard as the situation can allow means that even well prepared bikes require the same sight distance as four wheeled vehicles to avoid an ‘accident’ (no such thing).
In most cases the advisory sign is placed and assumes that the sight lines (needed to see ahead) will remain into the future however we all know that trees and shrubs grow into that sight line and even the posted speed limit can be too fast for the conditions in areas that require substantial maintenance and tree clearing.
I may be taking the fun out of the cornering where, for some, the measure of ‘ability’ is the proportion above the posted speed they can ‘get away with’.
Often these riders will enter a corner assuming every advisory speed sign is placed and posted using the same information (relatively). This is not always the case as it isn’t the same person designing the road and the associated signage each time.
Remember these signs are placed assuming good conditions will be maintained. We all know the roads deteriorate quickly and conditions are never consistent.
Fast is a relative concept - consequently I am ‘left in the dust’ by some of my mates. I am never too far behind though. I don’t have tales of woe or near misses either. I have, not surprisingly, had no crashes and have not lost any points over the last 30 years and the bike is still in good, original condition.
The issue of sight distance is but one of the many aspects of safe motorcycling that every motorcyclist needs to be aware of - or they become a statistic very quickly. Maybe Darwinian Gene Pool theory should be allowed to continue and remove the risk takers from our society.
Are you one?
Andrew Digby
Andrew Digby
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