We live in a world where driving safely comes second to checking what your narcissistic friends posted on social media or having to text someone no matter what. That’s why, as a motorcyclist, you need to always think ahead and predict what stupid things drivers next to you might do, or else...
Or else you can end up biting the dust in a split second, and this could happen even if you’re simply sitting at a traffic light waiting for the green light like this rider in the clip below.
It’s a very known thing among riders that sitting in a queue with the cars can be dangerous. It’s also counterproductive, and that’s why we all sustain filtering. However, doing this requires very good reflexes and prudence, reason why you shouldn’t do it in your first year of riding in my opinion.
But even if you’ve mastered the art of filtering safely, there are still traps out there. And one perfect example comes from this Yamaha FZ1 Fazer rider in Amsterdam who sadly had his day ruined by a dumb driver texting.
Lanesplitting and filtering are not forbidden in the Netherlands, reason why the rider decided to skip the queue ahead using the adjacent bicycle lane which was empty at the moment.
He slowly crawled past the sitting cages, reached the stoplight and considered it would be courteous to get off the bicycle lane, but at the same time, he didn’t want to occupy the entire crosswalk until the light turned green.
So he pulled left in front of the first car and remained there in a rather oblique position. As expected by now, the driver in that car was paying more attention to the smartphone than the traffic around and somehow managed to move forward before the green light, smashing into the rider who jumped off the bike.
This same thing happened to me once and, luckily, I was perfectly in line with the car behind so it only pushed me forward a bit. So keep your eyes peeled out there, accidents do happen when you least expect them.
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