One of the most common motorcycle accidents involves a car turning in front of the rider without yielding. It happens fast, and you have to be ready to either brake or swerve past the dumbwit behind the wheel. Like this guy did in the video here.
As I was yapping on in other articles, the only things that keep you safe on a motorcycle are your senses and ability to predict accidents as well as the ability to avoid them. And, contrary to some beliefs, you can avoid an accident using your acceleration and fast react time.
The perfect example comes from this rider in the clip below. Although he is wearing a high-visibility jacket and rides under the speed limit, a distracted block head driving a first generation Chevrolet Lumina decided there’s enough time to take a left right in front of him.
It happened so quick, the rider had no other choice but to swerve right and hit the gas to go around as fast as possible. His avoiding maneuver worked like a charm and escaped the impact like a pro.
This reminds us of the importance of staying alert while riding, especially around intersections where this kind of accidents tends to happen. Another good method to avoid such impacts from happening is to always “split the danger”.
To explain, splitting the danger means to make sure there is equal space between you and possible threats at all times. In the case here, even if both the drivers would have stopped to yield properly, the rider should have gone exactly midway through the distance between the two cars.
This practice can be done anytime, and it’s something most motorcycle police officers do. Each time you spot something potentially dangerous up ahead you have to try and keep your distance from it until passing. Keep that in mind and practice it every time.
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