The vast majority of people here will ride to a perfectly decent standard, and I'm afraid your answer is typical of a cop lecture. The Police attitude is to expect the least of a rider - yeah, I know you've scraped loads of us off the pavement - but the general standard of riding in the UK is very good. But the standard of car drivers is breaking down quite rapidly, and it's mostly because of the mobile phone and the world's fascination with it. Fix that, and you'll fix a whole host of problems on the road.
on a similar note, when i first came to GB 12 odd years ago (very odd!) I lived in streatham (Lambeth borough) which was i believe the first part of the country (as a trial) to allow motorbikes to use bus lanes. As a result of the findings it was made legal across London and as far as i know all Boroughs accepted the findings of a multi million (tax payer funded) experiment that proved that motorbike accidents where down and traffic flow improved. Then about 2 years after the opening of bus lanes across London, Ealing council in their infinite wisdom decided to go against the grain and the findings of a tax payer funded experiment and a hugely expensive consultancy process and make it Illegal to use the bus lane!!!! WTF!!!????? (just the 2x changes in signage alone must have run tens of thousands) So not only do we have to adhere to out dated laws but when common sense does finally prevail it can be overruled at a whim by our democratically elected morons for no other reason than revenue collecting..( i wonder if they money made out of the unwitting biker has yet exceeded what it cost to fuck us in the arse?) P.s dont quote me on exact dates/timings ect as im going on memory not google. and dont pic on me grammar neither
You poor man I hope things improved for you. And you're wrong I'm afraid. Bus lane trials appeared in Bristol many years beforehand, and as far as I know they're still under trial there, even though the majority of London has made it law. And it's not good in my opinion. There, I've said it. As a dispatcher I used to use bus lanes, cycle lanes, paths, subways, etc when it was illegal, but because it was illegal I was always on my guard. Now you see half-asleep bikers getting puitched off their bikes all over London cos of half-asleep car drivers turning left without checking their mirrors. I'm convinced it will harm our reputation. And because of the bus lane law every other biker seems to think it's perfectly fine to use cycle lanes too. It is not. Not at all.
Experience is the only teacher most of us have had,because when we started there was no such thing as motorcycle training. And it's served those of us of a certain age pretty well,because a lot of us are STILL HERE!!!! Amazing!!! We must be the the road going equivalents of Valentino Rossi at the very least,because we've survived!...without riding round cones!....without wearing ridiculous orange tabards!...without anyone following us around telling us what to do,where to do it,and which way to go! And without reading the latest version of Roadcraft,or any other instructional publication! And we rode through those decades in crappy,one size fits all helmets,(borrowed from your Uncle no doubt,and worn only if it was cold or yer Mum made you),a hand-me-down leather jacket,Levis jeans if you could afford them,( and Tesco tearaways if you couldn't!),riding one handed shielding your eyes from the rain because your goggles misted up,no waterproofs most of the time....and when the Jap bikes invaded,shitty,useless stainless steel discs which were no better than the Brit single leading shoe drums that most bikes came with,Sensitol lubricated tyres made of NYLON for chrissake....and 6v lights...Jeesus.... But if Malcolm Uphill could lap the island at 100mph on a Proddy racer Bonneville,on similar tyres,then we were damned if Stevenage to Jacks Hill caff in mid-winter was going to take more than five minutes....at night....with your bird on the back...and yet....here we still are... But according to some,we can't possibly be any good,because,you see, we just haven't had the TRAINING.....
Psychlist never did 85 mph. I usually had to push quite hard to keep up with him whilst he wasn't doing 85. The Universe isn't ready for that, no way.
In all fairness the bike cop who taught me to ride properly could do things with a shagged out R80 that defy all conventional laws. But a few years ago I went on tour with a bike cop and he was utter shite. Takes all sorts...
Yes but at 18 (in 1982) I had a Turbo on my Z1 instead of training - does that count as it appears to have worked quite well - I last fell off @ 17yrs old. Had many a close call every year since but bumbled on through OK. I don't need a bike cop who falls over in front of my showing me how to ride thank you very much... :Happy:
I agree that dumb fucks that think the use of a bus lane makes you bullet proof to left turning vehicals.... but by the same token a vastly greater amount of dumb fucks think it ok to text whilst driving a car. Bus lanes are safe if used correctly (and the majority of bikers that do should not lose use the use of em because of you and ya dispatching mates attitude) texting whilst driving will never be safe... I've never used a cycle lane... i think you are tarring all bikers with your brush...
Sadly, Chiz, you're wrong. I've not seen a single biker use the bus lanes in anything like a correct manner. All bikers use the bus lanes to undertake slow traffic (as I would, and have), but they seem oblivious to the fact that no fucker looks in their left hand mirror when turning left. I've seen literally dozens of bikes being taken out this way, and even more on cycle lanes. It might be law, but it don't make it safe. At least I knew the risks...
The only reason I can see that the subject of training has come up in this thread is because it's been noted by those who've done courses run by police riders that the instructors don't rigidly enforce speed limits, and speed limits are what the thread is all about. The decision to go on a training course is a personal one. It doesn't make you a better rider than someone who hasn't done one, but it does, hopefully - otherwise you've wasted your money - make you a better rider than the rider you were before. Its not about willy waving or finger wagging. Well not for me anyway.
