Safer Motorcycling - Top Autobiographies

Safer Motorcycling.

In the 1970's, I bought a brand new Honda CB750K7. At the time it was cutting edge technology, way ahead of anything British. I was really into motorcycling but I still had a lot to learn and it showed.

I loved my bike and indeed it was an impressive bike, a real head turner for it's day. But one day stands out that could have ended in complete disaster and when I think about this incident now, it still brings a shiver to my spine.

I was on an 'A' road with a pillion and behind a queue of fairly slow moving traffic. I wanted to overtake and of course I had the power and it would be quite an easy and safe move. Nothing was coming the other way (British roads and driving on the left) A quick check of my mirrors showed me that no one else behind had decided to go for it before me. Dropping a gear, the bike accelerated quickly and smoothly and I pulled out and would make the manoeuvre easily.

All was going well when suddenly my worst nightmare happened. A car from the queue decided to pull out with the same intention as me. The unfortunate thing was that I was virtually alongside him when he pulled out.

My passenger was also seeing all this and I could feel him clinging on to my chest so hard I could not breath. I managed to avoid the car by swerving onto the grass verge. It was fortunate that the road in question did not have a curb or any drainage ditches as I fought to keep control of the bike on grass at about 60mph. I did not dare brake or close the throttle too quickly since this would cause me to lose control with the limited grip on grass.

After slowing down, the car rapidly moved ahead and I wrestled the Honda back onto the road and back into the flow of traffic and not a moment too soon since I was seconds away from running out of grass verge. I had got away with it by the "skin of my teeth" especially with a passenger. About half a mile up the road I got the opportunity to overtake the rogue car and point at my mirror as I passed him as a signal for him to look into his mirrors before making the same manoeuvre again.

From then on though I would always be extremely wary about overtaking queues of vehicles and would often wait until some had overtaken themselves first. Though a bit frustrating, it was always a lot safer. Often these days, what I will do when overtaking is to flash my headlight on full beam in the hope that it will be noticed by a driver that might be tempted to pull out having not seen me.

To be fair, when looking to overtake, you are so intent on trying to see if anything is coming the other way that you forget that another vehicle could already be overtaking you and that's why mirrors in this situation are so important. Of course we are all imperfect, and I have on occasion forgotten to look into my mirrors myself when overtaking, only to realise with a jolt what the consequences could have been.