Much of our sport, passion, call it what you will comes down to confidence.

I followed a couple of older gals yesterday about 7 miles on my trek home from town. I live on HWY 35 which is 2 lane (55mph, with a 45mph drop down in residential), and will one day be 4 given the rate of traffic. I was the 1st behind them, so saw every move they were making and damn, they were a greater detrement to ALL traffic than any I have seen. I had a "kid" behind me in a little honda accord or similar, kept peekin around wanting to pass, and I saw that as a mess, for there aren't allot of straight stretches to pass.

Speeds, and lane locations were all over the map. They were both helmeted which was good for their sake.

I know when my sister first got her liscense, I would go grab her, and we pounded every back road we could find for the 1st 4 mos, until she got "comfortable". Not cocky, but just comfortable enough to deal with vehicles all around her and she didn't panic.
She had taken a riders skill course and followed up with her liscense, but still needed the confidence.

Damn near felt like waving the gals over and telling them where some great "practice" roads were, but couldn't tell which was the "male" of the 2 and figured that a battle not worth having.

Just thinkin about it this morning, and had to waste server space.

 

I know people who have been riding their whole lives and are still paranoid about highway riding. They seem to think its safer to be 5 mph under the speed limit when, like you said, it just makes things more dangerous. Annoys the **** outta me. So, I don't think this problem is exclusive to new/inexperienced riders.

 

Yep. Yesterday I changed the oil on my co workers 06 Dyna that is completely stock. He is very content with staying off the freeway and riding the posted limit or under. If thats there comfort level then so be it. I know that we cant ride together. No biggie. A lot more folks like that out there than you would think.

 

Quasi-obeying speed limits in this near-police-state we call "America" has nothing to do with confidence or wanting to follow the law. It's just economics. Tickets are expensive, and it's not just paying the ticket: the effect on your insurance bill is scary.

A "1-5 over limit" ticket I got in Michigan in summer '11 just "caught up" to my insurance company and my rate shot up $150/yr.

Here in Indiana, I know most/all cops will "give you" 5 over so I do generally go 5 over. Anything over that, you're asking to get hurt in the wallet zone. Cops are everywhere these days.

 

On the other hand there are those were its not a confidence issue but its fear, and thats even worse imo:

I have a bud who has been riding for many yrs who is a great rider and a cpl yrs back got caught in a storm on the highway and big gust of wind on the wet road etc... perhaps some oil he's not sure but it actually whipped the rear around and he almost slid the bike out from under him at @ 55mph. He gets sluggish when we hit the highway now.

He can deny it all he wants but he is afraid its going to happen again i know it. He has been lucky he has never had a bike accident and now that wind slip has him leery, but on on the highways because you know thats when the big crosswinds come in to play.

You gotta remember these ppl who rarely get on the highway, when they do get on there and they feel that crosswind or feel that sucking wind of a passing 18wheeler has to be a scary feeling for them. They don't do it enough to be used to and know how to ride it and in the city bldgs/trees block the winds. /shrug

 

Over confidence is bad too. I used to push my bike to the wall every day till I wrecked it. I am a little more apprehensive now and thats a good thing.

 

For those that believe the speed limit posted is the speed at which you MUST drive, you are wrong. It is just what the sign says, the limit. If a person so desires, he may drive where ever within the the posted speed limit, or, at the limit. Not always smart, but still legal. If someone is not going fast enough for you, go around if you can. But don't knock 'em for not going as fast as you want. And yes, there is nothing more aggravating than two bikers, all over the road, speeding up and slowing down, but that's them, you gotta take the bad with the good.

 

The problem is when said rider is putting along 5-10 mph under unsure of themselves while cages behind are growing impatient. This either pushes the putting bike to ride beyond their comfort level or leaves them to be followed by agitated cagers.