Vehicles come up beside you on highway? | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Vehicles come up beside you on highway?

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As a cager on most days and driving during rush hours, I have been noticing an increased amount of drivers tailgating. Mostly going the direction of the "rush". Why have drivers become so impatient these days? What is the rush? The traffic will become increased once again when school is back in session.
 
marbles999 said:
As a cager on most days and driving during rush hours, I have been noticing an increased amount of drivers tailgating. Mostly going the direction of the "rush". Why have drivers become so impatient these days? What is the rush? The traffic will become increased once again when school is back in session.
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Personally, it's the left lane hogs going the speed limit or 10 below that get me going. I've seen some of these clowns merge onto the highway and first thing they do is move to the left most lane, even if rest of the highway is empty. Either drive fast enough or gtfo the way. Left-most lane is for passing only.

One of these clowns holding up the lane is all it takes to start a backlog, which turns into a clog. IMO, this is what leads to tailgating because I have done it myself (tailgating i.e.).

On the bike, I'm easily able to cut these guys off. And most times when I reach the front of a clog, there is absolutely no reason for it to be clogged. Just people driving super slow and not speeding up to proper highway speeds.
 
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Honestly I don’t finding “blocking positions” to be helpful at all. And it’s worse because only motorcycle riders are taught what a blocking lane is, while car drivers have no idea what its meant for.


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JavaFan said:
not to sound anti-immigrant, but I'm gonna sound anti-immigrant
many GTA drivers from other places are accustomed to not respecting bikes of any kind as legitimate vehicles
and like Joe says, the testing regime here does little to change that
the MTO e-billboards, and the OPP mouthpiece on the news are not enough to change this
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This makes no sense. Considering many other countries are much more scooter/motorcycle-oriented than Canada is.


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iblastoff said:
This makes no sense. Considering many other countries are much more scooter/motorcycle-oriented than Canada is.


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Have to agree, think you flipped it the wrong way on this one Java.
 
Other countries may have more motorcycle/ scooter usage, but from what I've seen online (I have not been to, say, Asia), it's more of a controlled chaos. A free for all of sorts. I recall in Italy, my two-wheeled brethren shared the lane with cars more often than not.
That is the way I understood Java's post.
In any case, I still think that education on both sides is what is needed.
I recall someone, rightfully, complaining about one of the led signs on the highway reading: "check your mirrors for motorcycles".....um, how about a shoulder check?????

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Joe Bass said:
Other countries may have more motorcycle/ scooter usage, but from what I've seen online (I have not been to, say, Asia), it's more of a controlled chaos. A free for all of sorts. I recall in Italy, my two-wheeled brethren shared the lane with cars more often than not.
That is the way I understood Java's post.
In any case, I still think that education on both sides is what is needed.
I recall someone, rightfully, complaining about one of the led signs on the highway reading: "check your mirrors for motorcycles".....um, how about a shoulder check?????

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As someone who did a road trip in Asia, i would agree it is controlled chaos in terms of overall traffic. However, the drivers there are very much aware of motorcycles and there's certainly not a feeling of 'its either you or me and it aint going to be me.' That's what i feel like riding in Toronto is like, whenever they actually bother to look for me anyways.
 
In many other parts of the world the rule of the road is not "right of way", but "right of weight". Smaller vehicles likes bikes and scooters, best get out of the way of the big ones. That mentality can easily be transferred here, regardless of the fact that those countries may have many more moto's on the roads.

As for the blocking position, it is the safer position to be riding in for most traffic scenarios. There are times when it is not the safest place to be, like crossing over blind hills, riding in streetcar lanes, and so on. If a rider does not know how the use observational skills with proper judgement on the road and drives like a sheep, then of course they will run into situations where blocking position can get them into trouble. Whether or not car drivers are taught what blocking position means is also irrelevant as the position is meant for riders to employ to make themselves more visible in most traffic situations.

As for the centre track of lane having oil, this is more relevant to a roadway that receives higher amount of stopped traffic and where it hasn't rained for a while. During the first 30 minutes of a new rainfall, that portion of the road may be more slippery until the oils have washed away. This can be pretty common downtown at traffic lights. I've spun out my tires quite a few times on the centre track of the lane on Bathurst, King Street and Queen Street shortly after rainfalls. I also dropped a VFR on Davenport because there was fresh oil in the lane and I was only riding about 15kmhr, but had no traction to actually stop the bike and it just went down.

The riding curriculum is actually pretty good, considering the time allotted to teach it, the cost for the course, it's only done in a parking lot, and much more. Riders are not dying because of out dated rules and / or curriculum. The sad reality is that proportionally speaking, the number of riders who suck at riding is just as great as the number of drivers who suck at driving!
 
shanekingsley said:
If a rider does not know how the use observational skills with proper judgement on the road and drives like a sheep, then of course they will run into situations where blocking position can get them into trouble. Whether or not car drivers are taught what blocking position means is also irrelevant as the position is meant for riders to employ to make themselves more visible in most traffic situations.
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Totally agree with everything you said but you alluded to the issue and that's people driving like sheep because they don't know any better to adjust the rules they've taught to the situation because they're not taught it. I was out today again in Caledon where the roads are hilly and there's a bike a ways in front of me and he's in the left tire track. I see him approaching a hill and he doesn't budge one bit to the right, stays in the left tire track as he disappears over the top.

My point is the current curriculum needs to be added to such that things like "when approaching the crest of a hill, it's safer to move from the left tire track to the centre or right track" ... that type of thing.

Me and you can use our common sense to adjust, but many (especially new riders) just take what they're taught and blindly act on it without a thought to if it's the safest position to be or not.
 
I can't speak for all riding schools, but I do know that some have it as part of their curriculum to let students know that cresting a hill is a time for switching over to the right tire track. Same goes with when approaching an oncoming transport truck. Another time might even be when crossing perpendicular railroad tracks, because the often the centre of the crossing is the smoothest path.

A riding school may have it as part of their curriculum, and then it's upon the instructor to actually say it, which I hope they do, because it's very useful knowledge to pass along.
 
From what I've seen it's that most riders interpret the location of the blocking position to be in the left (or right, depending on number of lanes) tire track, rather than "just left of centre". They ride with parts of their body closer to oncoming traffic than I put parts of my car. This isn't helped with graphics like those in this link. https://www.sgi.sk.ca/motorcycle/-/knowledge_base/motorcycle-handbook/lane-position-blocking The text says just left of centre, but the bikes are shown in the tire track, or even outside of that position with their mirrors almost on the lane markings.
 
I haven't had anyone ride my *** like that on the hwy, but Saturday I had 2 cars come inches from turning into me on the 403, one of them being a fuhkan stinky cop on her personal cell phone. I continued to ride beside her, put my hand to my head like I was talking on a phone, honked my horn to get her attention as she was obvious to what she did, but she had the nerve flick me off and kept talking with a phone to her ear. I flicked her off, dropped 2 gears and hauled ash...she didn't bother doing anything. Stupid thing for me to do, but I was furious by her actions.
Was on the offramp at Burloak and QEW and a cager ever so slightly bumped my back tire when I was sitting at a stop. I got off my bike, they got out of their car and were sincerely apologetic, so I at least appreciated them as it was an accident (still was furious though).
This has been a horrible summer for idiot drivers (and riders).
 
arogal said:
I haven't had anyone ride my *** like that on the hwy, but Saturday I had 2 cars come inches from turning into me on the 403, one of them being a fuhkan stinky cop on her personal cell phone. I continued to ride beside her, put my hand to my head like I was talking on a phone, honked my horn to get her attention as she was obvious to what she did, but she had the nerve flick me off and kept talking with a phone to her ear. I flicked her off, dropped 2 gears and hauled ash...she didn't bother doing anything. Stupid thing for me to do, but I was furious by her actions.
Was on the offramp at Burloak and QEW and a cager ever so slightly bumped my back tire when I was sitting at a stop. I got off my bike, they got out of their car and were sincerely apologetic, so I at least appreciated them as it was an accident (still was furious though).
This has been a horrible summer for idiot drivers (and riders).
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A cop gave you the bird? Please tell me you recorded this.
 
LBV said:
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And what's with the centre of the lane being "the bog" full of oil and whatnot!? Please! I have yet to see any oil on any lane I've ridden ... again, need to account for modern realities (car's don't drip oil any more like they once did)...
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Is true, cars don't drop the oil as bad as they once did but I was following a truck on Eastern Avenue and watched about 4 pounds of black grease slide off his 5th wheel plate and splat onto the road surface right in front of me ymmv.
 
Evoex said:
A cop gave you the bird? Please tell me you recorded this.
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My Go Pro ran out of juice half hour or so before this happened. I was not happy that I didn't get this footage. She was a Peel Region Cop on the 403, not OPP. Brutal
 
arogal said:
My Go Pro ran out of juice half hour or so before this happened. I was not happy that I didn't get this footage. She was a Peel Region Cop on the 403, not OPP. Brutal
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I hear ya. When i get back next season i'm going to look into rigging the cam to a small portable power bank so this doesn't happen. I've had a few moments happen my battery went toast as well.
 
@Lyndsay You got it!

True story - after 4 years of riding I decided a month back to get my full M before it expired next year. The first attempt I failed. The instructor said I wasn't riding in the proper tire track - I ride just left of centre (or right of centre depending on traffic, # of lanes, etc.).

So the next attempt I followed a strict tire track road test, hoped my mirrors wouldn't get taken out by an SUV, or worse take me out ... and I passed. Then rode back home towards the centre a bit like I always do.

He gave me the usual talking head crap about the centre of the lane having oil, blah, blah even though I wasn't riding right on the centre but off a bit.
 
As driving infractions go lane position is not even a thing, dude was just looking for a reason to fail you.
I use all of my lane
:| it's my lane
and I'll use any part of it I care to :read2:
 
Had a cager that didn't like that a bike was small enough to merge in front of him. He then made it a mission to get back in front, so I let him. He then brake checked a couple of times, flipped the bird a few times, turned right at the stop light and then pulled over a half block away, got out of the car and walked back a few feet and kept yelling trying to be all thug..... lol Civic.
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