MSF Course

[dchakrab]

I actually noticed that when I started riding a bike, back in India. I suddenly drove much more carefully around bikes. Bikes are everywhere in Calcutta, where I grew up, but cars will almost never give them any space (no lanes) and they're usually little 100cc street bikes that weigh a little more than the rider. When I learned (500 and 350 cc Enfield Bullets) I found myself driving a car much more carefully.

The problem might be that there aren't enough bikers. Driver's ed courses don't need to address it, because you encounter bikers so rarely when you're driving (even in Chicago) and drivers don't remember to be careful bikers for the same reason, even if they were taught to at some point.

Read this:
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060605-092918-2685r

I thought the driving test here in Chicago was a disgrace...honestly, if that's all you have to do, then you're not safe to be on the road. But every single person in this country thinks it's their right to drive a vehicle, so making the test harder would get a lot of people mad. And even with that lax a standard, apparently 18 million would fail the driving test if they took it tomorrow (the link I posted above).

I think the driving test needs to be significantly harder. In India, we have a simple system...you run someone over, the locals burn you and your car. This acts as a significant deterrent. Indians are, in general, crazy drivers...but with significantly more control and judgement than American drivers. In the US, a driver doesn't think about the consequences of distracted driving.

I remember an ex-room mate who was giving me a lift once. A guy walked across the street in front of her, and she didn't see him till the last minute and slammed on the brakes. We avoided the guy, and she said "what a b$stard, I could have hit that guy and it would have ruined my life". No mention about how it might have ruined his, somewhat more painfully than hers.

That worries me, as someone who is going to get a bike for his girlfriend to ride this summer. I'm indestructable, but she's not.

   Dave.

[Brian Moffet]

I first started riding in 1984, after passing the MSF course.  I've put well over 45,000 miles on a variety of bikes, 40,000+ on my Vision.

And yet, I missed seeing the motorcyclist when I made a right turn onto a major street.  Admittedly, it was blind turn he was coming around, but still.

Don't get complacent because you've been riding a long time...

Brian