Safety

September 8, 2004

Pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists must pay extra attention because texting car drivers don’t.

Take a motorcycle safety class and read other sources. The enjoyment and economy of riding is worth the effort.

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MOPED SAFETY: How to drive a moped safely.

By Shaun Strahm, Myrons Mopeds 714-992-5592         August 2002

This information is intended to supplement the California Motorcycle Drivers Handbook. You should read and thoroughly understand that book first. All DMVs have them at the front desk.

Safety is mostly in the mind of the driver. It doesn’t matter how fast the vehicle can swerve or stop, if the driver doesn’t see the object he or she’s about to collide with. It’s the driver’s responsibility to see and avoid all accidents before they happen, regardless of who’s fault it is. Lets say you go through a green light and get hit broadside by a car running the red light. In a car there probably would be no bodily injury, just damage to the car, which would be paid for by the person at fault. But on a bike (motorcycle, moped, or bicycle) if you get hit broadside you might lose a leg or die. Car drivers usually have the belief that the car will protect them from bodily injury in most cases and just go on through green lights without ever looking both ways first. This is a habit that must be broken in order to eliminate the chance, maybe 1 in 1,000, of that ever happening.

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GENERAL PRINCIPLES:

1. CONCENTRATION: It is hard work to always keep your mind focused on what’s about to happen ahead of you. If your thoughts wander off, wake yourself up by thinking about what it would feel like to hit the pavement. Be like a wild rabbit, with big eyes and ears, who sees and hears everything around him at all times.

2. DISTRACTIONS: On a bike you can’t drink, eat, smoke, tune the radio, talk on the phone or talk to a passenger because you are in a high wind. The only physical thing you can do is drive. Keep your eyes moving and don’t fixate on any one thing.

3. BEING SEEN: If you want somebody to see you, you wave your arms to get their attention. On a bike you can move your body in various ways, or you can change lane position and try to move across the vision of the driver you’re trying to get to see you. The worst thing to do is to go motionless straight towards their eyes. At night you can use your bike’s headlight as a beacon by weaving the bike sideways back and forth.

4. PLANNING ESCAPES: Know what’s behind and beside you at all times and mentally rehearse how you would avoid obstacles that might just pop out in front of you, especially cars turning left.

AVOIDING CARS:

5. INTERSECTIONS: Most accidents happen at intersections. Always look both ways before going through an intersection. Never trust stop signs or red  lights. Never go through intersections at a speed faster than it takes to see both ways first and/or be able to stop, depending on the situation. Oncoming cars turning left are the #1 cause of death among motorcyclists.

6. DRIVEWAYS: Always check for any vehicle that might pull out in front of you. Always stay far enough to the left or slow down enough to be able to avoid cars pulling out in front of you. The nose of the car must sometimes stick out several feet into the lane before the driver of the car pulling out of a driveway can see around parked cars.

7. PARKED CARS: If you can see that there is nobody in the car then it’s OK to be on the right side of the right lane close to the parked cars, because the doors cannot suddenly spring open. Otherwise stay far enough to the left to avoid car door openings. Mopeds should usually stay to the right, but sometimes must take up the whole lane if it is hazardous to be on the far right.

AVOIDING ROAD HAZARDS:

8. OIL SLICKS: Be aware that oil and coolant usually leak from the middle of the car and occur most frequently where cars are stopped such as just before intersections, or in the middle of parking spaces. Avoid oil slicks by seeing the slight shininess of the pavement and going around it, and by staying to one side of the lane. If you do hit oil your tires will slip out easily and you must go more or less straight through and not try to turn or slow down too fast. If your tires do slip out you might be able to save it by stomping with your feet. This is also why you should wear good shoes. Remember that some oil might remain on your tires, so pull over and wipe it off.

9. GRAVEL OR SAND: Everyone has slipped on gravel or sand before when walking. The worst kind is when the grains are rounded and the surface it’s on is hard and smooth. Sand occurs mostly in rain gutters, drainage areas, and along hillsides and beaches. Slow down before you get to it and don’t try to turn or stop fast while you’re in it. Watch for it when you’re turning into a driveway.

10. WET PAVEMENT: Your tires have reduced traction and so they skid easier. If you use too much front brake, the front tire will skid (slide out). Since it’s the steering tire you will have no steering control and will probably fall down. But if the rear tire skids you can control the slide by steering into it. It is for these reasons that you should use both front and rear brakes about equally when trying to stop fast on wet streets. Likewise for sand and oil, but they’re more slick.

11. SLICK DRY PAVEMENT: Be aware of old, rough, rocky asphalt and super smooth concrete. Concrete gutters that are frequently wet and well traveled over can be polished as smooth as a marble coffee table. Steel plates and manhole covers are also slick.

12. DRY PAVEMENT: On normal clean dry pavement you can stop about twice as fast with the front brake as you can with the rear brake, as long as you’re not leaned over. When you use the front brake hard enough the weight is transferred to the front tire and the back of the bike wants to lift up. This makes the front tire grip more but the rear tire grip less. On mopeds and cruiser motorcycles the quickest stop is with mostly the front brake. On sport motorcycles it’s with only the front brake. So you should use mostly the front brake on normal dry pavement, and mostly the rear brake on slick pavement, and 50/50 front and rear on semi-slick pavement.

13. UNEVEN PAVEMENT: Examples are the edge of gutters, the lip at the edge of a driveway, railroad tracks, and drainage grooves. If your front tire tries to cross over at too shallow of an angle it will follow the groove and you will lose steering control and crash. If you need to cross a groove that’s running almost parallel with the way you’re going, first turn away from it so you can then turn across it at a sharp angle. The bigger the groove is compared to the size of the tire, the sharper is the angle required to cross it. In a car you don’t have to worry about these things.

RIDING SKILLS:

14. BRAKING: Always do your braking early, while you’re still vertical, before you lean over to go around a corner. If you try to use too much brakes, especially the front brake, while leaned over far enough, the tires will skid out and you will probably hit the pavement. In a car you can brake and turn at the same time up to a point. That point is much lower on a bike so you have to break that habit if you’re used to driving a car.

15. CORNERING: On a moped you should always have your feet on the pedals so you can move the outside pedal to its lowest position (so the inside pedal won’t hit the ground) when cornering. If you then put weight on the outside pedal it makes the bike more stable and resistant to slipping out.

 

 

 Wild rabbits never say “I didn’t see that cow’s foot”!

 

How does a waiter or waitress in Dennys carry multiple plates of food and drinks all day long and never drop anything?

Practice. It’s a balancing act similiar to riding a moped. Anyone can do it. With practice you get better and better.

A skilled waitress can look like she’s taking a lot of risk, carrying so much, but she’s not. To her it’s easy and normal.

As you ride bicycles and motorcycles you must be alert, aware, and making predictions of cars next moves.

Like learning a play a guitar, you read something, then practice it, read something else, practice that.

How do rabbits avoid getting trampled by herds of cattle or sheep? They have big alert eyes and perked up ears.

They’re lucky that they always stay alert and never fade out like we do. They never say “I did’nt see that cows foot”.

Wild rabbits don’t have accident forgiveness.  As a pedestrian or a cyclist, try to be like a bunny in a herd of hippos.

 

Stay to the left of the gutter. There are many hazards there: nails, uneven pavement, cars pulling in or out.

A fresh classic oil slick at the centerline of the cars path. Beware of oil slicks and slippery surfaces.

Cars are only safe when you’re in them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a right way and a wrong way for everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9 People on 1 Motorcycle

9 People on 1 Motorcycle

Brakes slow you down better than skin.

Body Language

August 26, 2004

 

 

Slow Down Pay Attention Get Off Your PhoneRIP Eric

 

 

Steve and Eric remind all of us who walk, bike, or drive on the streets. Every day someone looses their life because of inattentive driving.

To counteract this a good defensive driver must get into the mind of all other drivers to root out zombies, or else take measures to avoid collisions and hazardous situations, constantly.

It’s like a good strategy game but with deadly consequences.

 

 

 

Communication by Body Language applies to Vehicles on the Street As Well as People

1. The only way to guarantee that another driver is aware of you is to do something that causes them to react.

2. Tactics like bright lights, bright colors, or loud mufflers help, but do not guarantee your presence is known.

3. Even eye contact is not a sure thing, unless you can see the drivers eyes react to your sudden movement.

Imagine you are in a crowded shopping mall. People are walking in all directions and crossing paths and yet no one hardly ever bumps into another person. As you are walking, you see a woman approaching you straight on. As she gets closer she notices that you are on a collision course with her, and moves to one side slightly. You see, by her body language, that she intends to go around you on your left, so you move a little to the right. The two of you pass without even thinking about it. This unspoken communication happens every time two pedestrians are on a collision course. If your paths are not straight towards each other, but instead are perpendicular, then the body language signal is a change in walking speed. One person slows down and/or the other person speeds up. In order to speed up you have to lean forward a little. That signals the other person to slow down.

Now imagine you are watching an NFL football game. A skilled offensive receiver or running back is running with the ball. The defense is pursuing him. Whenever a defender gets near, the runner “throws a fake”, causing the defender to miss the tackle. The runner scores a touchdown, without being touched.  A good runner, besides being fast, is good at faking, or sending  false body language signals.  A twitch of the head and eyes, “look left and go right”, is one example. A twist of the upper torso to the right, while the legs go another direction, is another example.

Now let’s apply these principles to motor vehicles. It’s night time, another vehicle is moving slowly forward in the turning lane as you approach. How do you know they see you? You do something that causes a visible reaction. On a light motorcycle you can move your whole bike from side to side. A head light that moves across the field of vision is easier seen than a flickering or flashing headlight with no side motion. As you approach head-on you twitch towards the left, towards the suspicious car. Immediately the car will twitch as the driver applies brakes or steering. Then you know the driver in that car sees you. If not, then you immediately slow way down, to avoid the possible collision. What’s funny is they think you are stupid or not in control, for being “goofy” or “twitchy”.

There’s a way to “freeze the intersection”. As you approach an intersection where cars are turning left and right in front of you, you can change lane position quickly. This should get any turners who are rolling forward slowly, to stop, as they react simultaneously to your “fake”. It’s like a flinch. They think you’re a bad driver because you can’t go straight. You’re a couple of chess moves ahead of them. They don’t know that you got them to freeze up for your safe passage.

Getting a view of the driver can be a good way of communicating. In the day, standing up and sitting down, while watching their eyes, is one way of telling if they see you, when you are in close range. You have to see their facial expression change, and not just hold a zombie stare straight at you. All of this is defeated by tinted windows. That’s partially why tinted front and side windows are illegal in California and other places.

That’s the main idea. Two way communication is better than one way.

Stay safe and enjoy the streets!    – Shaun Strahm Oct 2012

 

 

 

How to Cause Traffic Signals to Change to Green

April 19, 2004

    Traffic Light Detectors: How to Trigger Them with Bikes  

  by Shaun Strahm, Myrons Mopeds, Oct ‘09

   If you ride bicycles, mopeds, or small motorcycles you know how traffic lights do not often change for you like they do with cars. Many bicyclists will go over and press the pedestrian button to let the light know that they are there and are requesting a green. There is a better way. Understanding how the vehicle detectors embedded in the pavement work, and where to position your bike to cause it to recognize your presence, can be life-changing. Never mind those strap-on magnets. They don’t seem to work, and you don’t even need them anyway. All you need is an electrically conductive loop placed where enough magnetic field lines pass through it, and blink, you get a green light. And guess what, you got two of them already on your bike right now. They’re your rims. Your rims are your secret weapon.

 

     The way modern on-demand traffic lights work is by buried metal detectors in the street. They are the same type of metal detector that finds coins at the beach, but bigger. In the past we had weight detectors, 5ft by 1ft rubber coated pressure switches that would trigger when a car tire rolled over them, but not someone walking. There are still a few around, but they’ve all been replaced by loops of copper wire buried in the pavement. The loop detectors work on electricity and magnetism, so even a ton of bricks or an all-plastic car would not set them off.  You need a certain amount of metal close to the ground. Actually, it’s not the amount of metal, it’s the shape, size and positioning of it.

 

Dipole

Loop

Detector

 

 

 

Quadrupole

Loop

Detector

 

  In a dipole loop detector, there are two poles, a north pole above the street in the center of the loop, and a south pole under the street. All of the magnetic field lines are perpendicular to and encircling the wire loop in a donut shape, pointing down inside the loop and up outside the loop.The idea is to put your rims on the wire, in line with it. That way the maximum number of magnetic field lines will pass through your rims. So you should stop on either side of the loop, not in the center of the circle. Furthermore you should turn your front wheel to follow the curve of the loop, to capture more field lines. Two bikes, side by side, on the loop is twice as effective.

 

In a quadrupole loop detector, there are four poles, a left north above the street, a right north below the street, a left south below, and a right south above. It is just two opposite pointing dipole loops side by side. In practice, the loops are very long rectangles, 1 or 2 car lengths long. With quadrupole loop detectors, the line down the middle is where you should put your rims. The middle wire is twice as sensitive as either side wire is, since twice as many field lines pass through your rims. These detectors are better at detecting bicycles than the dipole type. Some bicycle-friendly communities have small quadrupole loop detectors for bicycles with a white dotted line on the center wire and a sign showing a bicycle stopped on the white dotted line.  

 

     Here are some more specific ways to make traffic lights turn green for you. If there’s more than one circle, as you pull up follow the curves of each circle with your tires. As a last resort, you can lay your bike down flat above the detector. Always try to let cars trigger the detectors for you, when possible. The following things cause more magnetic field lines to be enclosed by a conductive loop and thus trigger the detector easier: bigger diameter rims, thinner or lower-profile tires (by lowering the rims), bigger and lower engine. Better than any bike would be a 6ft by 6ft sheet metal about 1ft above the street. That would look just like a car to the detector. Better than anything is an extension cord, plugged into itself, and placed on the street exactly over the buried wire. It’s time to stop being penalized for not being inside a steel and glass cage. May you live long on two wheels and feel free to make as many left turns as you wish.