I think 25 years riding a bike in London has kind of given me all the road sense i could ever need.
It's not quite on par with riding in China or India, but certainly hazardous enough.
As for understanding what some car drivers do, that ain't ever gonna happen in the near future.
Get the cardboard tubes out of 2 paper kitchen towel rolls, stick one each over your eyes, and you'll get an idea of what people see when driving around my way. I don't exist unless i'm in their cross hairs!
The only way to give a car driver who's never been on a bike before is do what i do and take them for a spin on the back.
Their response sometimes is priceless, it's a combination of shock, terror and anger all at once when they suddenly realise how vulnerable they are, and also because they see first hand how bikers get treated.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of arsehole bikers out there that i get angry with as well, especially the pizza variety, but the standards of driving have definitely dropped over the years, plus add to that the sheer volume of traffic as well.
In London everyone drives aggressively and there is hardly any courtesy at all, but such is life, i can't change that (not until i'm allowed to fit a Gatling gun onto my handlebars anyway :evil ). :\
It's not quite on par with riding in China or India, but certainly hazardous enough.
As for understanding what some car drivers do, that ain't ever gonna happen in the near future.
Get the cardboard tubes out of 2 paper kitchen towel rolls, stick one each over your eyes, and you'll get an idea of what people see when driving around my way. I don't exist unless i'm in their cross hairs!
The only way to give a car driver who's never been on a bike before is do what i do and take them for a spin on the back.
Their response sometimes is priceless, it's a combination of shock, terror and anger all at once when they suddenly realise how vulnerable they are, and also because they see first hand how bikers get treated.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of arsehole bikers out there that i get angry with as well, especially the pizza variety, but the standards of driving have definitely dropped over the years, plus add to that the sheer volume of traffic as well.
In London everyone drives aggressively and there is hardly any courtesy at all, but such is life, i can't change that (not until i'm allowed to fit a Gatling gun onto my handlebars anyway :evil ). :\
More people are born because of alcohol than will ever die from it.