Not a newbie, but a question a newbie might ask!

[ninja_butler]

I passed my motorcycle test in 1999 but to this very day I still have no real idea when exactly I am supposed to look over my shoulder and check my mirrors. Am I supposed to check 3 seconds before I change lane or 10 seconds before I change lanes?

I think the only reason I passed my test was I kept looking left and right at every possible opportunity. I couldn't see f**k all and I was distracted to the point where I wasn't watching the road ahead, but maybe it looked good? Well, I passed despite my lack of competence.

The way I ride now, I study the road ahead and have a good look behind me several seconds before I change lanes/ brake/overtake or whatever. I do NOT do a l̶i̶f̶e̶s̶a̶v̶e̶r̶ shoulder check for each parked car I pass, I do ONE single mirror check & shoulder check for -say- a quarter-mile stretch of parked cars. I consider that a single maneuver regardless of what the Highway Code might say.


Sooo... am I riding wrong?

[Tungtvann]

What exactly are you looking for when you do a lifesaver? You're looking for a vehicle that's going to take you out if you pull in front of it. There's no exact amount of time when you need to look, but as long as it's before you move and soon enough that you can stop your manoeuvre if something is coming, then that's it.

Too early and by the time you move something could have caught you up, too late and well, you're already changing lane.

[J.M.]

If you're moving positions, you use a life-saver to check your blind spot to ensure that their is no vehicle there before you move.

It's given that name because if you miss the vehicle in your blind spot and pull in front/in to it... ouchies.
____________________
2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[ninja_butler]

Sorry, yes I should rephrase. I do the second lifesaver automatically so I don't even think about it.

What I meant to say is I do a mirror check, shoulder check and then several seconds later I do the final lifesaver check before the maneuver.

But I don't have a clue what an examiner is looking for. I look behind me and I can see traffic, I see what they are doing. But in another five seconds everything will have changed. BUT if I wait another five seconds before I do the mirror + shoulder check I'm going to be that much closer to the junction/crossroads/roundabout.

Do I do a full check well before I reach the hazard spot or do I wait until the last moment?

Sounds obvious if I phrase it like that, but don't forget there is traffic moving up behind me and if I perform my checks too early I will be depending on that last-second lifesaver - which is a definite no-no.

[Teflon-Mike]

Look - Signal - Manouver.

You do a rear observation before any 'change' basically.

How early? Well, 'just' before you signal, really.. if what you see behind you makes you change your plan, then do another one, before you do whatever you are going to do, just before you signal that!

So... about as long a time as it takes to look behind you, look ahead again and press the indy switch!

Mirror Check isn't a rear-obs, it's a confidence check. Likewise life-savers. Both ought to be confidence checks, done 'during' or at the end of a maneuver; to check conditions haven't changed since rear-obs.

That was way I was toughs to teach it; though, how much has changed in practice since, I don't know... seems that they may have dummed down and accept rear-obs in the mirrors, pandering to the DAS Dummies coming from cars, that cant break their car driving habbits and mirror dependency, and turn their necks.

Parked cars? Yeah; would deem a row of parked cars as one 'hazard'; and one maneuver, provided it was one change of road possition, held the length of the row.

So rear obs, signal if appropriate before altering road position, life-saver as you move over to pass... make sure that twit behind hasn't decided to try passing... then doors-width or slow down... still in my head from my lessons twenty five years back!.... and glance into any dead zone, such as gaps in parked cars, check for peds stepping out or whatever; end of row; plan to change road poss back to left of center; Rear-Obs, signal, maneuver & saver to left, check that last car isn't pulling away all of a sudden, or cyclist hopping off pavement... complete maneuver, with life-saver to right, see if twit behind is now going to pass you.... eyes front, watch for SMIDSY man.

Always thought that too much of a deal is made of shoulder-checks and life-savers, and too much emphasis put on making 'enough' rather than making GOOD ones, and whole thing over complicated.

Always found simplified explanation, Rear-Obs - look full behind, BEFORE and 'Confidence Check' where hazard may pop up DURING any 'Change' of road attitude, kept it pretty simple, and Saved a lot of Turkey-in-December acts!
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[ninja_butler]

Mike explains all again.

That made good sense, and by the sounds of it I'm near enough performing observations correctly, but I do wonder if I'd pass a motorcycle practical if I took one today. It would be sooo irritating to be hear those words "I'm sorry, you haven't passed" followed ten minutes later by an instructor telling me I missed this, that, that and that.

But anyways, that clears things up a bit. Thankyou Mike.

[J.M.]

[ninja_butler]

[totalllama82]

The lifesaver has saved me from 3 crashes so far. And I mean, proper, me walloping into a car, hands down not being aware of it.

I'm pretty observant to what's going on around me at all times; but sometimes you end up with ninja car drivers taking up residence in your blind spot.

At traffic lights, I generally don't bother with a lifesaver. You'd know if another bike was around you.

Any time I change direction (i.e. lanes, turning into corners), I check my mirrors then a brief 'lifesaver' in the direction I'm going to be taking up.

Out with changing direction, I flick my eyes over the mirrors occasionally to ensure I know what's behind meaning I can plan my directional changes much easier.
____________________
Gone: Haotian HT125-8 / Yamaha YZF 600R Thundercat / Kawasaki ZX9R C2
Current: Kawasaki ZZR 1400 A7F

[Islander]

[Matt B]