Had a minor incident on my ride home that reminded me of the importance of eye contact in traffic.
Picture this: riding along a quiet residential street, preparing to make a left turn onto another residential street. The street I am on has no stop sign, it is a through street, the street that I am preparing to turn left onto has a stop sign.
I check my mirrors, put on my left turn signal, and flash brake light as I roll off the throttle and down shift. A small S.U.V. comes to a stop at the stop sign on my left, the direction I plan to go. Like make cars today, it does not stop before the limit line--in this case the sidewalk, but slows down to a crawl at the curb line, creeping ahead checking traffic.
As I look for eye contact from the driver, I realize that I can not see the driver's eyes as a golden retriever (dog) is riding in the passenger seat. So, if I can't see the driver's eyes, then she probably can not see me. I slow down even more than I would normally, predicting the car to pull out in front of me. Sure enough, the cars goes straight, directly in front of my path. Predicting that this was about to happen, and having already checked my mirrors, I know that there is nothing behind me and I apply the breaks firmly, as I get on the horn.
The car continues through the intersection, oblivious to me, like nothing happened. I am annoyed,but because of the defensive riding, and preventative steps that I have taken, do not need to do any sudden emergency maneuvers. If I had not made the changes, but continued at my original speed and path, there is no doubt in my mind that there would have been serious contact between me and the other vehicle.
If you have taken a CSC Gearing Up riding course, you probably remember the Traffic Behaviour lesson, where all the students were put on the same parking lot together to ride 4 simulated blocks. One of my favourite parts of explaining this layout is asking the students: "Who has the right of way?"
I get the expected textbook answers of "who ever got there first" or "the vehicle on the right", but I always respond, "NO, whomever is biggest."
The truth is, when riding a motorcycle, it does not matter if we have the right of way if we are dead right.
Riders, continue to ride safe, practicing the skills you have been taught, continue to improve the skills you have, and learn new ones. Continue to hire professionals to help you improve your skills, and improve your survive-ability. Always look for eye contact from other drivers at intersections.
And please, please, put your dogs in the back when going for a drive!
Ride Safe!
-Devin
