An Argument for Riding Faster Than The Rest Of Traffic

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I'm not sure I can condone riding faster than traffic, but I will tend to come up near the centre line or between cars as I am stopping in order to be better positioned in case a driver of vehicle behind me is too distracted by the plethora of distraction that accompanies many drivers and misses the stop. This way, I can watch the show right beside me as they cream the car in front, while I narrowly miss being a car-meat samich. I've watched this happen, which is why I take this action. I tend to watch my mirrors a lot. ;-)

On the other hand, I will leave a tail-gator behind in traffic, even if that means a little lane splitting or centre line passing. Sorry, my life is more important than the law.
 
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mmmnaked said:
No it's not too advanced... it's too non-sensical. By your twisted logic we should ride in reverse, then we'll be super safe if we carry beach balls or something.

I'd rather be gaining on traffic than having traffic behind me gaining speed on me. Any time, any day, no question about it. We're not talking about blowing by traffic at 180, we're talking about maintaining a slightly higher speed so that they aren't catching up to you from behind and from your blind spots.
Click to expand...

So you would rather increase the number of times you enter a cars blind spot not knowing if they have seen you, or if they are even using their mirrors then have them come up behind you and see you and go around? You call that safer?. It's not often a motorcycle gets plowed into from behind while moving down the road as compared to the amount of times that they get or almost get sideswiped by someone who didn't do a proper blind spot check.

If your checking your mirrors as you should be, there is no good reason that a car should be able to sneak up behind you and camp in your blind spot. If you find that happens you should be checking your mirrors more often.

Im not talking about going excessively slow. Im not even suggesting that one should travel below the posted limit. As i had said, 1-2km/h below the flow is all it takes to have an ever increasing space cushion in front of you. If traffic is flowing on the 401 at 120, all you need to do is 118. Unless your driving coast to coast, your not going to notice an increase in travel time. You are going to notice a much less stressful ride.

The beach ball example was a response to one of the OP's posts on the first page or 2. His example of a side street lined with cars and having a beach ball come out from between them was like moving in traffic and having someone try to change lanes into you. He said if your moving with the flow (stopped compared to the parked cars) the ball will hit you. If your moving at 10, you can go around the ball (provided that you see it). I only said if you were moving backwards (1-2km/h under the flow) as compared to the parked cars the beach ball is now moving away from you. It can't get any safer in that situation then that.
 
I don't spend time hovering in other peoples' blind spots, thats a small but important part of my successful riding career. By approaching traffic from behind at a slightly higher speed I get to dictate exactly where those cars will be in relation to my motorcycle. Furthermore, having a good general sense of road awareness also means that you can anticipate which drivers may want to change into your lane, which ones may want to brake or speed up, etc etc.

Going with the flow or very slightly slower than the flow means that Im spending more time in and around groups of cars and trucks. Seems like an easy choice to me. Not to mention that the differential in speeds between the fast and slow lanes on any given highway is upwards of 30km/h, I definitely won't be doing 98km/h on the 401 any time SOON!!!! That's a death wish.
 
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Let's try some fact for this one...

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-tp2436-rs200807-menu-158.htm

Single vehicle crashes where speeding was a factor accounted for more than 50% of all accidents.

Motorcyclists are the highest growth area for speed related deaths.

"Ninety percent of the time, a motorcyclist killed or seriously injured in a speed-related crash was the person doing the speeding".

From: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-tp2436-rs201002-1067.htm

23% of motorcyclists killed in crashes were aged 25-34 years.
Fatalities among motorcyclists aged 45-54 years increased by 109% between 1996-2001 and 2004-2006.
64% of fatally injured motorcyclists had committed a traffic infraction of some kind prior to the crash.
38% of fatally injured motorcyclists had been speeding prior to the crash.
13% of fatally injured motorcyclists had been drinking prior to the crash.

The long and the short of it is speeding is dangerous - but we ride motorcycles which are also dangerous. This is in general.

Specific to going slightly faster - read this: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/98154/ It's an actual study not a bunch of people on an Internet forum...

It's a U shaped pattern where people, regardless of speed limit, that travel the same speed have the least accidents. Those that go faster, or slower, will experience an increase. If you go 1-2km/h faster or slower you won't see much of a difference. If you go 10Km/h faster/slower you will.

The last thing to remember is that for every km/h faster you go, you will have decreased reaction time to changing conditions, and in the sad event that something bad does happen, you will take longer to stop; you will have greater forces exerted on your body and in the end, your chances of dying from that crash increase. If you don't agree with this statement, prove Newton wrong.
 
+1 to the OP. Grab your own piece of real-estate, and use speed to claim it.
 
Prince said:
+1 to the OP. Grab your own piece of real-estate, and use speed to claim it.
Click to expand...

I used to be the guy who would come flying up and tailgate you until you moved, claiming that real-estate, because I was using the same technique.
Most bikers would get offended and refuse to move. Some would even "brake check" me. When I went by them on the right, they would accelerate and try to tailgate me.
None of this was conducive to safe driving. Now other people will tailgate you. I will be watching you fly by from the right hand lane. Driving the way you have stated is much safer in a cage.
That way if you make a mistake, they don't have to scrape you off of the pavement with a broom and dustpan.
 
I got pulled over by a cop on the 401 last fall...

"You know how fast you were going?"
"I was trying my best not to imped traffic sir"
"DO YOU KNOW HOW FAST YOU WERE GOING?"
"At LEAST the same speed as the rest of the traffic sir"
"Well, you were doing 136km/h!!!"
"If that was the speed of traffic, then I guess that's what I was doing."
"Don't be a smartass! License, insurance, etc."
"Sir, lets make a deal. Hop on the back, I got the spare helmet for ya. Lets do 100km/h on the 401 for 10 minutes. If we don't die or ALMOST die, then you can give me that ticket, full out, no deals, will plead guilty in court. Just 10 mins at 100km/h, deal?"
"Ok, ok, I'll let you off with a warning this time."

It's absolute lunacy to drive any slower then the fastest moving traffic. Worry more about what's in front of you, not what's trying to run you over!! Generally the highway is the safest place to ride! Traffic is moving all in the same direction, nobody is turning left in front of you, etc. Just have to dodge the occasional ladder, 2x4, blown out tire bits, etc.

-Jamie M.
 
jsv650 said:
Let's try some fact for this one...

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-tp2436-rs200807-menu-158.htm

Single vehicle crashes where speeding was a factor accounted for more than 50% of all accidents.

Motorcyclists are the highest growth area for speed related deaths.

"Ninety percent of the time, a motorcyclist killed or seriously injured in a speed-related crash was the person doing the speeding".

From: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-tp2436-rs201002-1067.htm

23% of motorcyclists killed in crashes were aged 25-34 years.
Fatalities among motorcyclists aged 45-54 years increased by 109% between 1996-2001 and 2004-2006.
64% of fatally injured motorcyclists had committed a traffic infraction of some kind prior to the crash.
38% of fatally injured motorcyclists had been speeding prior to the crash.
13% of fatally injured motorcyclists had been drinking prior to the crash.

The long and the short of it is speeding is dangerous - but we ride motorcycles which are also dangerous. This is in general.

Specific to going slightly faster - read this: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/98154/ It's an actual study not a bunch of people on an Internet forum...

It's a U shaped pattern where people, regardless of speed limit, that travel the same speed have the least accidents. Those that go faster, or slower, will experience an increase. If you go 1-2km/h faster or slower you won't see much of a difference. If you go 10Km/h faster/slower you will.

The last thing to remember is that for every km/h faster you go, you will have decreased reaction time to changing conditions, and in the sad event that something bad does happen, you will take longer to stop; you will have greater forces exerted on your body and in the end, your chances of dying from that crash increase. If you don't agree with this statement, prove Newton wrong.
Click to expand...

Unless I'm retarded it actually appears that the lowest cases of incidents appear at the + 10 to 12kph deviation in speed range (on the freeway) on this graph!!!

Did you mean to post something to contradict yourself and prove my point?!?!?!

Pah excuse me!!!! that's in miles!!!! So in fact, according to this study you posted the + 16 to 20kph speed variation range is the safest on the freeway!!!!!!

Again, unless I'm totally misreading this and I'm retarded.

fig1.gif



This one is all over the place! The most recent study and that of Cirillo's in 1968 both support 20kph over in speed differential is actually safer! And these studies don't differentiate between highway and urban! These are total figures. Your futher point of fatal speeds is actually academic after 50mph is passed as anything over that and we're dead anyways as per the following graphs in your report. So what's the difference between 110kph and 120kph? Nothing, you're dead! The risk was getting on a motorcycle and getting on the highway in the first place to exceed 90kph!!! And a negative differential of 30kph is worse than a positive differential of 30kph, making getting on the highway and going 90kph WORSE than getting on the highway and going 140kph!!!

So, to reiterate...when on the highway +10kph differential is actually safer as now evidenced by these stats provided by JSV650

fig4.gif
 
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+1. If UR not first, UR LAST... without some rubbin it's not racing ....
SPEED OF TRAFFIC + 10KM/HR.

BTW. Riding school teaches you not to stay beside a car, so the only options are slower or faster....
 
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