Tips to Ride Traffic on your Scooter, Moped or Motorcycle. Road Bike Survival Tips — Transcript

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1. 0:00So, in the wacky world of aviation,
2. 0:02safety is a pretty big topic.
3. 0:05We have like annual safety summits,
4. 0:07quarterly safety meetings, things like
5. 0:09that.
6. 0:10Everyone has to participate. So, I made
7. 0:12a video for one of the safety meetings.
8. 0:14I did some research on this, and
9. 0:16interestingly enough, one of the number
10. 0:17one mechanisms for pilot injuries and
11. 0:19deaths is uh motorcycles.
12. 0:21Yeah, riding your motorcycle is more
13. 0:23dangerous than flying your helicopter,
14. 0:25apparently. I used a Mad Dog in it, so I
15. 0:27figured I can make it a Mad Dog video.
16. 0:29It's some pretty good tips in there on
17. 0:30staying alive in traffic and survival
18. 0:33with your scooter. We use a term like
19. 0:35the fake news term called fake safety.
20. 0:37Stuff that people do to make them think
21. 0:39they're safe
22. 0:41when they're not really. A good example
23. 0:43would be uh do your hand and arm
24. 0:45signals. Well, that's good for safety,
25. 0:47you know. Going to do a right turn, I
26. 0:49throw my right hand out there and make
27. 0:51my right turn symbol.
28. 0:53And that's a good safety tip. And so,
29. 0:55since I think I'm being safe,
30. 0:58I don't realize the car is about to hit
31. 0:59me
32. 1:01because I'm being safe.
33. 1:02And I'm shocked whenever the car hits me
34. 1:04anyways, even though I use my hand
35. 1:06signal. So, that's kind of fake safety.
36. 1:08It's things we do to give us a false
37. 1:10sense of security that we're safe.
38. 1:13When in reality, we're still not safe. I
39. 1:15have a pretty extensive background on
40. 1:17two wheels. You know, way back in the
41. 1:18old days before cell phones and the
42. 1:21internet,
43. 1:22I raced a lot of motocross, woods
44. 1:25racing,
45. 1:26little bit of club racing on the road. I
46. 1:27had a lot of road race bikes. I'll throw
47. 1:29some pictures up there of some of my
48. 1:31antiques. And like any young kid on a
49. 1:32liter size crotch rocket, I did all the
50. 1:35street shenanigans. I did notice real
51. 1:37quickly that the people that didn't race
52. 1:38bikes didn't survive their rides very
53. 1:40long. But all the guys that raced seemed
54. 1:42to make it all right. So, there was
55. 1:43something that was different, something
56. 1:45we were doing different to keep us alive
57. 1:47on these uh crazy rides. Broke a lot of
58. 1:49bones, too, in the process.
59. 1:51But I learned a lot about riding. One
60. 1:53thing I can tell you is there's a lot of
61. 1:55fake safety in riding. Most of my safety
62. 1:57classes,
63. 1:58they get kind of out there. Just my
64. 2:00opinion. Some tips of survival for you
65. 2:02to keep you safe on the road.
66. 2:04Target fixation. When an individual
67. 2:05becomes so focused on an observed object
68. 2:08that they may inadvertently increase
69. 2:10their risk of colliding with the object.
70. 2:12People are quick to point out the focus
71. 2:14is on something dangerous, but it could
72. 2:16be a focus on something with reward
73. 2:18also. The principle is simple. With most
74. 2:20things in life, where you look is where
75. 2:22you go. But it applies to everything. If
76. 2:24you look for the bad in things, you'll
77. 2:26find the bad. If you look for the good,
78. 2:28you'll find the good. So if the bad is
79. 2:30flying off the curve, then we want to
80. 2:31look through the curve. Don't fixate on
81. 2:34the bad. Target fixation is not
82. 2:36something we can get rid of or cure or
83. 2:38take a pill for. It's not something we
84. 2:40want to get rid of. It's something
85. 2:41everyone has. Every single person has
86. 2:44it. Your whole life started with target
87. 2:46fixation. For you to come into
88. 2:47existence, someone, somewhere, had to
89. 2:50fixate on a target to create you. And
90. 2:53that's why it's in all humans. We just
91. 2:55have to know how to use it. Shooters
92. 2:56know to focus on the front sight tip of
93. 2:58their pistol. They know to keep the
94. 2:59target blurry. They don't fixate on the
95. 3:01target, they fixate on the front sight
96. 3:03tip. And that's great philosophy until a
97. 3:05monster's chasing you. And it's hard to
98. 3:06not focus on that monster. It's hard to
99. 3:08focus on that front sight tip. People
100. 3:10that race learn target fixation. And
101. 3:13they learn the bad and the good.
102. 3:15The goods are, if you're trying to clear
103. 3:17a triple, and you can fixate on a
104. 3:19target, a faster rider in front of you,
105. 3:21you'll get over that triple if you
106. 3:22fixate and follow him. That's a good
107. 3:24thing. But you'll never be number one.
108. 3:26To be number one, you need to fixate on
109. 3:27new targets. Riders who race woods, they
110. 3:30learn real quick about target fixation.
111. 3:34They learn to fixate on the space
112. 3:36between the trees and not the trees. And
113. 3:38this helps them to avoid the trees.
114. 3:40They're not looking at the trees.
115. 3:41They've learned, if they look at the
116. 3:43trees, they will hit the trees. So to
117. 3:45ride better in traffic and safer, we
118. 3:47need to choose new targets, not the back
119. 3:49end of a car. We need to evaluate and
120. 3:51choose new targets constantly, all the
121. 3:53time.
122. 3:58I'm not badmouthing any of these riders,
123. 4:00but we can't learn from them. This guy's
124. 4:02cruising along, car in front of him
125. 4:03slams the brakes on. His initial
126. 4:05instinct is to focus on that car.
127. 4:08Then he looks over and focuses on the
128. 4:10space, the open space, and he's about
129. 4:13clear, then he focuses back on the car,
130. 4:15and he hits the car. This next rider,
131. 4:17you can see his back end gets squirrely
132. 4:18when he hits the brakes, someone panic
133. 4:20brake in front of him. He focuses on the
134. 4:22car. He's got nothing but wide open
135. 4:24space beside him, but he stays focused
136. 4:27on that car all the way into the back of
137. 4:29it.
138. 4:31Okay, this next guy I am going to
139. 4:32badmouth. What a dick. Anyways, here's
140. 4:34his target. This is probably someone's
141. 4:36daughter, someone's sister, someone's
142. 4:38grandma coming home from work. They're
143. 4:40confused or in busy traffic. He's got
144. 4:42all sorts of avenues of escape here, but
145. 4:44he stays focused on her. Yeah, she might
146. 4:46be confused, but he had no reason to hit
147. 4:48her. And then what's worse is when he
148. 4:50does hit her, he gets upset and stomps
149. 4:52her window in. Yeah, so if you know this
150. 4:53guy, kick his ass.
151. 4:55Oh my gosh.
152. 5:00All this stuff is just my opinion, so
153. 5:02don't get too wrapped around the axle
154. 5:04about it. When you're riding your bike,
155. 5:06you're not a victim.
156. 5:08You decided to bring a 400-lb weapon
157. 5:11to a gladiator battle with 4,000-lb
158. 5:14weapons.
159. 5:15So this is all on you. Quit playing the
160. 5:17victim card and start riding like a
161. 5:19boss. Nobody rides like a boss more than
162. 5:22James Stewart. He treats these riders
163. 5:24like trees in the woods.
164. 5:26He's got a plan,
165. 5:27a whole new line, something they're not
166. 5:30taking
167. 5:31well before they even think about it.
168. 5:33Practice riding like the woods rider and
169. 5:35shift your focus from the car in front
170. 5:37of you to the spaces on the side and
171. 5:38make that your targets that you fixate
172. 5:40on. Make it a habit, so when you panic,
173. 5:43you go around these guys and don't hit
174. 5:44them. You may You seen this guy on the
175. 5:45internet, the Ghost Rider. He really
176. 5:48does treat cars on the freeway just like
177. 5:51trees. He's definitely not focused on
178. 5:52these cars. All his targets are the
179. 5:54spaces between them. He sees nothing but
180. 5:56the spaces, and that's a good segue into
181. 5:58the next survival tip. As ridiculous as
182. 6:01this sounds and as hard it is to do for
183. 6:03some of you, you got to ride faster than
184. 6:04traffic.
185. 6:05You have 360° of vulnerability. 180° of
186. 6:09it is from the rear.
187. 6:11The Ghost Rider here has just taken out
188. 6:14all danger to the rear of his
189. 6:15motorcycle. All he needs to worry about
190. 6:17is what's in front of him.
191. 6:19Nothing in the back can hurt him. So, if
192. 6:20you can keep a pace a little bit faster
193. 6:22than traffic, it's actually safer than
194. 6:25riding with traffic or slower than
195. 6:26traffic cuz now you have to keep track
196. 6:28at 360° of vulnerability. The Ghost
197. 6:31Rider's been doing this stuff for over
198. 6:3315 years making these videos. He hadn't
199. 6:35died yet.
200. 6:37If you notice one thing about him, all
201. 6:38his high-speed stuff is on a freeway. He
202. 6:40has protection from the right and left.
203. 6:41Most of his stuff in the city is just
204. 6:43antics like burnouts, wheelies, things
205. 6:45like that. Pretty slow cuz he
206. 6:46understands that intersections are
207. 6:48extremely dangerous.
208. 6:51All these cars out there trying to kill
209. 6:53you,
210. 6:54they don't hate you. They're not really
211. 6:55trying to kill you. They just don't see
212. 6:57you.
213. 6:58You're just a very hard-to-see object.
214. 7:00They have good intentions.
215. 7:02It's just a bad result. And the
216. 7:03left-turning car is the biggest danger.
217. 7:06We're in a car here and there's a
218. 7:07motorcycle coming up here. You can't
219. 7:09even see it. Looks like a truck with his
220. 7:10headlights on. This truck just went in
221. 7:12front. Looks like a truck right there,
222. 7:13right? That's a motorcycle.
223. 7:15We can't see that. That car pulled out
224. 7:17right in front of him and hit him. He
225. 7:19never saw him. He wasn't trying to kill
226. 7:20him.
227. 7:21But, he just about did. In any given
228. 7:23intersection, you're going to have one
229. 7:25guy trying to kill you, T-bone you to
230. 7:28the left. You're going to have a guy
231. 7:29beside him that's going to T-bone you
232. 7:30from the left again doing a left-hand
233. 7:32turn. You're going to have a guy doing a
234. 7:33left-hand turn in front of you that's
235. 7:35going to do a head-on with you. And you
236. 7:37have a guy to the right of you that's
237. 7:38going to T-bone you on the right side.
238. 7:40Four guys trying to kill you at every
239. 7:41intersection. And here's a good tip.
240. 7:44Find a shield. You can use a car as a
241. 7:46shield to get you through these
242. 7:48intersections safely. I always look for
243. 7:50a shield and I'm using these buses as a
244. 7:51shield from my left turns and I'm using
245. 7:54these cars as a shield from my right
246. 7:56people. That's going to keep the left
247. 7:58turners from hitting me, the T-bones on
248. 8:00the left and the right T-bones.
249. 8:02These cars will block you and we don't
250. 8:04go through intersections because that
251. 8:05light's green, we go through them
252. 8:06because they're clear.
253. 8:08A green light provides you no
254. 8:09protection, but a shield will. This guy
255. 8:12has no shield. He's going to get
256. 8:13T-boned. Yeah, this guy, too. Ouch.
257. 8:16But now watch this bike. He has a
258. 8:18shield, that black SUV right there. That
259. 8:21just saved his life. So, I'm cruising
260. 8:22along here and no one's going to pull
261. 8:24out in front of these two trucks, so
262. 8:25they'd make good shields for the traffic
263. 8:27on the right. There was nothing on the
264. 8:28left to worry about. Another
265. 8:29intersection coming up.
266. 8:31I'll uh keep my eye on the guys on the
267. 8:33left. I'll use this uh red car as a
268. 8:35shield. Make sure those guys on the left
269. 8:37don't turn into me. Sometimes you can
270. 8:39only shield yourself from one side of
271. 8:40the traffic. Traffic on the right up
272. 8:42here at this intersection. I need to
273. 8:44keep an eye on that, but I can use this
274. 8:45uh silver car to shield my left from
275. 8:47left turners.
276. 8:49That works pretty good. Try and stay
277. 8:51grouped up with traffic as much as
278. 8:52possible. If you're riding with the
279. 8:54group of other motorcycles, definitely
280. 8:55stay tight with the group. Don't be the
281. 8:57straggler behind. Cars see groups of
282. 9:00motorcycles, they don't see the
283. 9:01individual and the straggling behind.
284. 9:03Here you can see I'm straggling behind
285. 9:05this group of traffic. That black truck
286. 9:06was probably waiting to turn left after
287. 9:09that group of traffic went and it would
288. 9:11be very easy for him to pull out in
289. 9:12front of me
290. 9:13and not see me. These groups of traffic
291. 9:15turning left,
292. 9:17they're chomping at the bit for that
293. 9:18hole
294. 9:19to uh shoot through and get across this
295. 9:21road. So, if I'm straggling behind, they
296. 9:23see that group of traffic that just went
297. 9:25by,
298. 9:26they punch it and try to get across that
299. 9:28intersection and here I come straggling
300. 9:30along. They don't even see me. Same with
301. 9:32these cars coming from the right.
302. 9:33They're trying to get on this highway
303. 9:35and they see the group of traffic go by,
304. 9:37they jump out on there, and they might
305. 9:38shoot across two or three lanes trying
306. 9:40to get to the left lane. But here I'm
307. 9:42with traffic, I'm nice and tight,
308. 9:44keeping a little bit faster pace. I'm
309. 9:46using my shield through through the
310. 9:47intersection.
311. 9:48This is the way to be right here.
312. 9:50This one's important. That brake light
313. 9:52on your bike is just there to keep you
314. 9:54from getting a ticket. It will not make
315. 9:57cars stop. When I'm riding in traffic, I
316. 9:59constantly think, "How can I not stop
317. 10:01traffic?" I don't want my bike to try to
318. 10:03hold up traffic. So I'll crowd this
319. 10:05center line right here.
320. 10:07So the car behind me will rear-end that
321. 10:09car and not me.
322. 10:11If you try to stop in your own lane,
323. 10:13look what happens.
324. 10:16I'm coming up to a red light, same
325. 10:18thing. Crowd that center line, get over.
326. 10:20Someone's going to run that red light.
327. 10:22Maybe it's the guy behind you.
328. 10:24I don't even like to slow traffic down.
329. 10:26If I'm merging left into this busy
330. 10:28traffic, I'll run the oncoming lane
331. 10:30first, and then clear myself, and jump
332. 10:32over to the right lane.
333. 10:34Anything to keep from slowing down or
334. 10:36stopping traffic. If I need to do a left
335. 10:38turn, and I've got traffic behind me, I
336. 10:40may not be able to turn left. I may have
337. 10:42to just keep on going. Yep, I'm just
338. 10:44going to pass my street.
339. 10:46I'll maybe take a right turn, turn
340. 10:47around, find a way around it. Get in a
341. 10:50situation where you have to slam the
342. 10:51brakes on.
343. 10:52Um got a truck up here stalled in front
344. 10:54of me. I haven't cleared my left. I'm
345. 10:55going off to the right. I'm not about to
346. 10:57slam my brakes on with traffic behind
347. 10:59me.
348. 11:00Cuz look what happens when you do that.
349. 11:04Yep, there you go.
350. 11:10So yeah, guys, I hope that helps.
351. 11:13Ride safe.
352. 11:16So that was my epic safety video. Uh not
353. 11:19the stuff you're going to learn at one
354. 11:20of these motorcycle driving courses, not
355. 11:22the stuff they're going to teach you.
356. 11:24It's just not appropriate to teach it, I
357. 11:26guess.
358. 11:27Uh they're too wrapped up with fake
359. 11:28safety to really
360. 11:30be concerned with what's actually
361. 11:31killing them out there.
362. 11:34Hope you enjoyed it.