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Lane Position While Riding Your Motorcycle

By September 1, 2017No Comments

No doubt as you are riding your motorcycle you have a lot on your mind.  Each ride adds to your experience either positive or negative.  To prepare you for a safer ride have you given consideration to where you should ride while on the road?

You have seen motorcycles ridden all over the road, center lane, right side, or left.   Why all the variation you ask?  We have found several reasons:

More visible to other traffic.

Position so that the car in front of you can see you in their rear view or side mirror.

Create space between yourself and traffic.

Avoid oil or slick surfaces on the road.

Potholes

What you can do

Be proactive: always assume that the cage drivers do not see you.  Be prepared that when you do decide to pass a car that they may make a turn right into you.  Avoid passing near driveways or intersections.  If someone in a car is facing the opposite direction waiting to turn, make sure that they see you.  Is your headlight on and visible?  Food for thought, see if using your high beam during daylight hours makes you more visible.

Riding in the middle of a lane is where a lot of oil and lubricant can land from car engines, therefore staying in the center of the lane is a hazard.  This can compromise your traction, so try to avoid it.  Extra caution is needed in wet weather since it only intensifies the oil slick on the road.

While leaving space around your motorcycle and the surrounding cars, be aware of that driver who wants to cut in front of you and the car in front of you.  You were being safe and leaving a cushion but now the idiot cage driver has taken it away from you.

If you are riding on a two lane road with parked cars on the right, move over to the left a little more.  There will always be that person who throws their door open without looking.  Also,  intersections near a parked car will block their view of you, beware of having a car pull in front of you.

A statement was once made: “If everyone rode a motorcycle it would teach them how to drive a car better”.  Motorcyclists are more focused and aware of their surrounding, what’s in front, to their sides and behind them.  This makes for a better driver period!

 

Happy Riding!

The Throttle Rocker Team