xbacksideslider
VIP MEMBER
Law enforcement and the Dept of Motor Vehicles/Licensing fail to recognize/acknowledge (and they should) that a motorcylist is ALWAYS safer if she is traveling slightly faster than the traffic around her. Reason being that in doing so the motorcyclist's "radius of attention" is reduced to 180* from 360* and she no longer has to pay as much attention to what is going on behind or beside her because . . . . it is behind her. The threat radius is reduced by half simply by going faster than the rolling steel behemoth cages that surround her.
Actually, "surround" is not the correct word. Now, because she is outpacing traffic, they only halfround her.
Compare that to the motorcyclist going slower than (or the same speed as) the traffic around him - now he has to pay attention to the overtaking (or adjacent) drivers who now present the risks of their running over the motorcyclist or making unsafe and unpredictable lane changes to pass the motorcyclist. His threat radius is doubled.
IMO, most motorcyclists, without even realizing why, speed in traffic because intuitively they are reducing the complication and risk of driving. They can focus more on the greater risks/impact energy of what is front of them and less on the difficult to see and apprehend risks behind them.
Actually, "surround" is not the correct word. Now, because she is outpacing traffic, they only halfround her.
Compare that to the motorcyclist going slower than (or the same speed as) the traffic around him - now he has to pay attention to the overtaking (or adjacent) drivers who now present the risks of their running over the motorcyclist or making unsafe and unpredictable lane changes to pass the motorcyclist. His threat radius is doubled.
IMO, most motorcyclists, without even realizing why, speed in traffic because intuitively they are reducing the complication and risk of driving. They can focus more on the greater risks/impact energy of what is front of them and less on the difficult to see and apprehend risks behind them.