When Drivers Pay Attention
Everyone else on the road doesn't have to be your enemy.
Nobody tried to kill me this week.
I rode the Concours to work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and every ride was uneventful. In thick rush-hour traffic. And not once did some idiot on their cell phone try to pull into my lane without looking. Or anything else. Amazing.
What was perhaps just as amazing was how I was able to observe a number of people really paying attention. Coming home on Wednesday, for example, I was headed south on Kipling and someone in the right-hand lane put on their turn signal to pull left. They were ahead of me and there was room for them to pull in but I backed off the throttle a bit to give them even more room. But this person knew I was there, and they were being very careful not to endanger me. They hesitated.
So I backed off even more to make it totally obvious that I was giving them space, and they finally did pull over. Hey, I’m glad to make room for you. You’re my friend. You looked, you saw me, and you were serious about not creating a hazard. I like you.
And there were other times as well. None quite as obvious as that one, but people really were paying attention. And nobody tried to kill me.
Oh yeah, it was also gorgeous weather to be riding. It’s hard to make going to work any nicer than this. Thursday was not a day to ride, for various reasons, but Friday may be. I just hope I can keep the string intact.
Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Only a biker knows . . .: Motorcycle with and wisdom, #34
Biker Quote for Today
“Do one thing every day that scares you.” — Kurt Caselli
Tags: motorcycles vs cars
