While on my way home tonight I was thinking about my riding habits. It came to me that the military and the ex-military amoung us may by accident be some of the better riders. By that I mean habits that were trained into us and later through practical experience became second nature are able to be worked while riding. As a USMC leatherneck of the late 60s I believe what was good for the SE Asia experience is also good for the road.
Some of these things are as simple as these...
* Know what/who and what is ahead of you and coming up behind you at all times.
* Know what/who is coming out on each side of you as you pass all points.
* Have a plan for dealing with everyone approaching from any direction.
* Never trust that those you see will do the reasonable or logical thing.
* At all times have an escape route in your mind.
* Keep your equipment in good repair.
What do you think, does this seem reasonable?

 

All really good points as long as you are practicing them while riding.

 

Well said...

 

As a service member I can agree to those points. Unfortunately we have a lot of young riders who don't apply that training when they ride. I believe the late teen through early 20s male believe they are immortal annd sometimes the rules just don't apply to them.

 

I agree with your points 100 %. But I will add those that are in there upper 20's and early 30's still have not reached that point of just laying back and watching what is going on around them.
Now that I am older and survived those years I can say that............

 

I agree with all your points. I have been a truck driver for the past 30 years and have seen just about every bone head move there is out on the roads of the US. Nothing surprises me anymore. I tend to ride aggressive just to keep away from the cagers.

 

* Never trust that those you see will do the reasonable or logical thing.

Can not say enough about this. Yesterday I was at a light, it turned green and I looked at traffic to my left and right and then left again before going. Just as I did the second left look a truck blew threw the red light I did not get hit. This was a matter of seconds perhaps fractions of a second and it saved me from at least being laid up in the hospital right now!!

 

Yep, NEVER go through an intersection of any kind without making sure the coast is clear.

 

All good points, and remember they ARE out to get you!

 

It's called a ride plan

Plan for -

What you can see
What you can't see
What you can reasonably expect to happen

or the shortened version

'Sod's Law'