From: border@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Ryan A. Border)
Subject: Re: Motorcyclist Hits Bicyclist on Skyline Blvd. (10/4/92, 1: 30p)
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 18:15:07 GMT

markk@tcs.com (Mark Kromer) writes:
> (Chris Malcolm) writes:
>> (Douglas Mason) writes:
>
>>>why on earth is a bike being loud a problem?  The noise at least alerts 
>>>a biker that something is coming. 
>
>>Bicyclists hear best of any road user. 
True.

>>A motorcycle whose exhaust was _completely_ silent would still be making
>>enough engine noise and tyre noise on an empty road that the cyclist
>>would hear it coming in plenty of time.
Not true.

>Bullshit.
Agreed, but I'm not sure I'd put it so tactfully.

>A friend of mine was riding a stock CB1 in a residential area here in
>Berkeley, when he approached a bicyclist riding along the right side
>of the road.  Without looking behind him, the bicyclist made a sudden
>left turn across my friends path causing him to panic brake.  My
>friend locked the front brake and dumped his bike breaking his hand
>and damagine his bike.
Sounds like the bicyclist screwed up.

Let me relate my bicycle-motorcylist story... While riding N along skyline
drive between HWY 9 and Page Mill on my tandem, my wife and I were cruising
through the turns on a downhill, doing about 45mph.  At that speed, riding 
on the shoulder is *not* really possible and I had taken the whole lane.
(45mph is pretty near the speed limit anyways).

I was entering a right turn, positioned about where the left tire of a car
would track.  As I started into the turn, a motorcyle (FJ1200 I think) 
passed me on the left, with very little clearance (he stayed to the right
of the yellow line) doing what I estimate to be 65-70mph.  I saw the 
motorcyclist before I heard him, and he had cleared our bike before I had 
time to make any kind of reaction- which turned out to be nothing more than 
a startled jump anyway.

Looking back on it, I'm not sure what to make of this incident.  From the 
motorcyclist perspective, he probably did about the safest thing he could.
He had probably been watching us for a little while, at least long enough
to see that we were holding a pretty solid line through the turns; and
no matter what, passing on the left was definitely the side to pass us
on.  I would have appreciated a little more clearance- but in retrospect, 
I'm really not sure what the sight line was: I don't know if it was safe
for him to drift across the yellow line or not.  I suppose the best thing,
from my perspective, would have been for him to wait for a straighter 
section of road- where I always stay to the right... but then again, he
probably didn't know that.

When riding on a bike path, sometimes the best method to pass a pedestrian/
slow cylist is to pass them silently.  They tend to be more predictable 
when they don't know you're there.  Yelling "on your left" or ringing a 
bell tends to cause unpredictable changes in course/speed, increasing
chances for collision (I know this is a whole other thread...).  Anyways,
it's pretty easy for me to see the analogy to being passed by a motorcyle.
*I* know that a friendly toot on the horn from the bike would have resulted in
a safe, controlled drift to the right- but he didn't.  And I'm sure he'd
have much rather scared me than ran into me- and frankly, that's my
preference too :-).  My only cause for complaint, is if he intentionally
passed close to scare us- but I don't have a clear recollection of the
sight line to say with certainty if this was the case or not.

The real moral of the story (any why I told it here) is that bicyclists
really can't always hear things coming.  Especially from behind them, when
they are moving fast (50mph makes a lot of wind noise).  Both sides need
to be aware of that...

>DO NOT spread the dangerous myth that bicyclists can always hear
>motorcycles approaching! 
>
>)V(ark)<               markk@tcs.com                   DoD #400
>1988 FZR400 / 1985 ZX900 Ninja / 1977 RD400D / 1991 GT Tequesta
_______________________________________________________________________________
* Ryan A. Border               border@nas.nasa.gov,   border@craywr.cray.com  *
* Cray Research Inc., On Site Applications Analyst 415-604-4633  o__ o__      *
* Numerical Aerodynamic Simulator, NASA Ames Research Center    _.>/-.>/'_    *
* Never trust someone who can count to 1023 on their fingers.  ( ) \---\(*)...*
==============================================================================*
Xref: sparky rec.bicycles.soc:606 rec.motorcycles:36440 ba.motorcycles:618