Wondering if riders should consider majority right turns

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Sunspark

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Hi, I was thinking about the depressingly near-daily postings here of rider downings.

I understand UPS tries to pre-map its routes so they make majority right turns only in order to save gas and reduce accident percentages.

I find myself wondering if in the same vein if this might be a good accident prevention idea to practice on some of the more dangerous streets where people seem to be getting hit.
 
There isn't a problem with riders making left turns. The problem is other vehicles making left turns and not seeing the rider approach or misjudging their distance and assuming they have enough time to complete their left turn.
 
Sabex said:
There isn't a problem with riders making left turns. The problem is other vehicles making left turns and not seeing the rider approach or misjudging their distance and assuming they have enough time to complete their left turn.
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There's a problem also at times with people making any turns too fast. Especially on ramps.
 
Roomie said:
There's a problem also at times with people making any turns too fast. Especially on ramps.
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If you ever feel like you're running too wide; kiss your inside mirror and hope for the best.
 
If you give up riding all together you'll have no chance of getting hurt on a bike!

In reality however i hate to say this buy its not the turns, or cars pulling out, but majority of the time its the lack of common sense on the part of the RIDERS that gets them smoked. Ive lost count how many times ive seen riders go through an intersection at 20km/h+ over the speed limit while on the throttle. Not a worry in the world, meanwhile they cant see past the van turning on their side to see whats past it.

Even when in my car i slow down and prepare for some goof ball to come in front on me, meanwhile guys on their bikes ride like they're invincible.

Flame away...
 
Paul1000RR said:
If you give up riding all together you'll have no chance of getting hurt on a bike!

In reality however i hate to say this buy its not the turns, or cars pulling out, but majority of the time its the lack of common sense on the part of the RIDERS that gets them smoked. Ive lost count how many times ive seen riders go through an intersection at 20km/h+ over the speed limit while on the throttle. Not a worry in the world, meanwhile they cant see past the van turning on their side to see whats past it.

Even when in my car i slow down and prepare for some goof ball to come in front on me, meanwhile guys on their bikes ride like they're invincible.

Flame away...
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No flame here - I'm with you.
 
Any intersection makes me nervous - from the wanker that can't see me to the too nice type that thinks they are doing me a favour by not taking their turn and making EVERYONE nervous.

I like using a shadow so there is some size large piece of metal between me and the worst of the risks.

But getting hit from behind is my worst fear - I likely check the rear view more than looking ahead until I KNOW I have a car pulled up safely behind me.....this goes in spades for slowing from freeway speed to a halt or a crawl on the 4 series.....
 
MacDoc said:
But getting hit from behind is my worst fear - I likely check the rear view more than looking ahead until I KNOW I have a car pulled up safely behind me.....this goes in spades for slowing from freeway speed to a halt or a crawl on the 4 series.....
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This happened to me. 83 year old woman hit my car stopped in a line of traffic at a red light, hit me so hard two cars ahead were damaged. If I were on my bike, would not have made it. That didn't affect me as much as what I found out from the lady's daughter: this woman had three similar accidents in three years, and it was clear to me she had dementia. Once the car was fixed, that lady was back on the road. She passed all her annual exams with dementia.
It took me almost a year between the insurance company, MTO and her doctor to get her off the roads.

The MTO is the most useless form of government. We have the oldest driver population in history, they are causing the most horrific accidents, and literally nothing is being done to address this problem. The #1 job of the MTO is revenue generation.
 
CafeRay said:
time to sell your bike.
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Not quite. OP could just avoid the dangerous streets and go for casual rides out of the city. I realized that commuting by motorcycle is stressful, can be dangerous, and not for me. Doesn't help that our laws make it more dangerous for riders than in other jurisdictions around the world.
 
Paul1000RR said:
If you give up riding all together you'll have no chance of getting hurt on a bike!

In reality however i hate to say this buy its not the turns, or cars pulling out, but majority of the time its the lack of common sense on the part of the RIDERS that gets them smoked. Ive lost count how many times ive seen riders go through an intersection at 20km/h+ over the speed limit while on the throttle. Not a worry in the world, meanwhile they cant see past the van turning on their side to see whats past it.

Even when in my car i slow down and prepare for some goof ball to come in front on me, meanwhile guys on their bikes ride like they're invincible.

Flame away...
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This is the biggest problem with the Harley crowd. They think because there are rules and laws that they are ok sitting in a drivers rear 1/4 blind spot, or beside an 18-wheeler, then they get all upset and sanctimonious, yelling and threatening drivers because they can't properly handle their under-braked, over-weight Lazyboys on wheels.
You can't drive a bike like car. Car wins every time. Assume no one sees you , and assume that yes, people can be that stupid.

The order on the roads is trucks>minivans/pickups>cars>pedestrians> bikes
 
jonpurdy said:
Not quite. OP could just avoid the dangerous streets and go for casual rides out of the city. I realized that commuting by motorcycle is stressful, can be dangerous, and not for me. Doesn't help that our laws make it more dangerous for riders than in other jurisdictions around the world.
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Nothing wrong with our laws. We have the worst trained drivers on the roads. The law says you slow to prepare to stop on yellow, the reality is most people throttle it.

You pass some stupid test at 16, and never get re-tested the rest of your life. Police only enforce parking and speeding, because they really only care about laws that generate revenue. You can cross three lanes back and forth all day 12" from someone's bumper in a massive pickup up the 400, no one will stop you.

If you have to consider only right turns and everything dangerous about a bike, it's time to sell the bike and take your life forward in Rob Ford mode.
 
I don't believe that avoiding left hand turns will make you any safer, as others said, the left turn bandits nail you when you aren't turning left.

Pick an alternate route to avoid a problematic intersection with poor sight lines? Yeah, why not. Consider every intersection as it's you last one.
Cagers don't materialize out of nowhere, and they give hints as to what they are up to. Ever see somebody turn left with their head turned to the right? Probably not. Use what ever is at your disposal.

My closest call ever, I was cruising along a 2 lane road, approaching a T intersection, and saw 2 cars approaching, we were all getting to the T to my right at about the same time. Lead car indicating nothing other than going straight, second car, was following the first closely. I had a second to think that I didn't like how close that second car was tailgating, it indicated they A) wouldn't see me through the lead car, and B) they were about to make a change. I move right, planned my collision over the hood of their car, could taste it, but because I had moved over as far as possible to the dirt shoulder, they saw me at the last second. I missed them by inches. We do have some say in our outcome.
 
CafeRay said:
Nothing wrong with our laws. We have the worst trained drivers on the roads. The law says you slow to prepare to stop on yellow, the reality is most people throttle it.

You pass some stupid test at 16, and never get re-tested the rest of your life. Police only enforce parking and speeding, because they really only care about laws that generate revenue. You can cross three lanes back and forth all day 12" from someone's bumper in a massive pickup up the 400, no one will stop you.
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I was referring to the current illegality of filtering at a stop light to avoid getting rear ended. Plus reducing traffic congestion for everyone.

And I totally agree about the problems with our licensing. We need a massive overhaul and would happily pay more money out of my own pocket for a system that actually ends up with trained drivers who get recertified every few years.
 
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Paul1000RR said:
If you give up riding all together you'll have no chance of getting hurt on a bike!

In reality however i hate to say this buy its not the turns, or cars pulling out, but majority of the time its the lack of common sense on the part of the RIDERS that gets them smoked. Ive lost count how many times ive seen riders go through an intersection at 20km/h+ over the speed limit while on the throttle. Not a worry in the world, meanwhile they cant see past the van turning on their side to see whats past it.

Even when in my car i slow down and prepare for some goof ball to come in front on me, meanwhile guys on their bikes ride like they're invincible.

Flame away...
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+++++

I'll take ramps at speed but any time I ride through an intersection, solo or group, I check to see if anyone is turning left or right. If I can't see due to some ******* in an SUV or a truck driver doing their job (I hate SUVs, I don't blame truck drivers cause they make a living off it), I'll slow down until I can see that crossing the intersection can be made safely. There's also the weaving technique that has worked for me so far when I think somebody is gonna turn into me.

....with that said, every time I see someone crash it's in ramps....<_<
 
It isn't possible, but one could increase safety by planning routes where there is a lower frequency of oncoming traffic making left turns. That's the biggest issue IMO.
 
Whenever I start getting near intersections I let off the gas a bit (if there's no one directly behind me) and already have my fingers on the brakes. Yesterday I had a SOB run a stop sign onto a main road and then almost come out and beat the hell out of me because I was upset he ran the stop sign...idiot. Threatened to shoot me on the spot. Another issue I've seen is when a TTC bus is at a stop some people decide that it's ok to move out to the middle of the street to make a left...OP....always keep your eyes up and scanning. Like others said, you can usually spot the ******** someone's about to do before they do it. Just keep your situational awareness up and don't drop your guard. Oh ya and one last thing, when I'm stopped at a red light behind some cars I ALWAYS point my car near the centre line /yellow line so if the guy behind me doesn't stop, at least I get pushed into thing air instead of the car in front of me and become a sandwich.
 
jonpurdy said:
I was referring to the current illegality of filtering at a stop light to avoid getting rear ended. Plus reducing traffic congestion for everyone.
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I agree with this law.

Too many times I see people come to a stop, then jump out of the car suddenly to check the trunk or whatever crap they have in the back of their he-man truck.

If bikes could filter, we would just see more "door prizes". Again, in Europe this is ok because drivers are trained not to do stupid things. In Ontario, we save up all our stupid and wait until we get into a car.
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