Think once, think twice, think TW*T (put your own letter in there)

[kraftee]

What with all the publicity about looking out for bikers, you'd think that
the bikers would do something similar, but no!

Why is it all the bloody moped riders here abouts' think that they're on
souped up super bikes?

Bit annoyed, sorry. On the fast journey in to the yard, going along
Flawforth Lane, national speed limit so I'm doing 50mph (as a good
commercial driver should be, dry conditions perfect visibility) when at 300
meters a (soon to be proved) brainless moped rider drives out of a field
entrance.

Ok (I think to myself) if he stays on the left plenty of room but NO, at 50
meters he decides he is king of the road and pulls out to centre, leaving me
no where to go!

I stopped less than 10 meters from his back wheel as he raced along at all
of sub 30 mph. If I hadn't have stopped I would have had a new hood
ornament on the company van (who would take exception to it)

Why if they want to be thought about as a fellow road user don't they think
about others, this is not the first by far and it probably won't be last and
no he didn't have L plates on (mind you that doesn't mean much nowadays).

After being given the Ford Transit raspberry the idiot hid in my blind spot
for the rest of the route.

Sorry had to get it off my chest and I know at least one other poster on
here will know exactly how I feel.

[Harry Stottle]

"kraftee" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote in message
news:zMGdnc5E9bWF7jTS...@bt.com...

> What with all the publicity about looking out for bikers, you'd think that
> the bikers would do something similar, but no!
>
> Why is it all the bloody moped riders here abouts' think that they're on
> souped up super bikes?
>
> Bit annoyed, sorry. On the fast journey in to the yard, going along
> Flawforth Lane, national speed limit so I'm doing 50mph (as a good
> commercial driver should be, dry conditions perfect visibility) when at
> 300 meters a (soon to be proved) brainless moped rider drives out of a
> field entrance.
>
> Ok (I think to myself) if he stays on the left plenty of room but NO, at
> 50 meters he decides he is king of the road and pulls out to centre,
> leaving me no where to go!
>

From an oldie, who recently took, and passed, his motorcycle test, the moped
rider was right to be riding in the centre of the lane, but probably wrong
if he had pulled out of the juction when you were too close.

Though it doesn't seem right, by riding in the centre of the lane, he was
only doing what he would have been taught on the Compulsory Basic Training
course, (CBT). Motorcycle riders are taught to ride this way to protect
themselves, (called defensive riding), because if they pull over to the
left, cars, vans, lorries, and even buses, will try and squeeze by them, and
if an oncoming incident arises whilst they are being overtaken, the riders
could easily be wiped off the road as the vehicle overtaking them tries to
move back to the left. This actually happened to me in Cyprus a few years
ago when I hired a moped, (which only do about 28 mph), and, like a good old
fashioned motorcyclist, I was riding well to the left of the lane to allow
other traffic to pass. A slow moving lorry did try to pass, but didn't leave
me enough room, knocking me off, fortunately, apart from a few grazes, I was
OK.. If I had taken the CBT prior to hiring that moped, I would not have had
the accident because I would have been in the centre of the lane, and that
overtaking maneuver would not have been attempted.
So next time you see that moped rider, give him a good hug, and say, sorry
mate ;-)

[nomor...@cliftonia.co.uk]

"Harry Stottle" wrote in message news:rFLqr.122844$Bx1.1...@fx11.am4...

Hummmmmm, as a 'moped rider of years gone by! i used to ride to the left as
a cyclist would (yes i was and still is one of them!) and YES i did find it
a very dangerous position to ride in BUT in them days no training so no
'skills' I did find that all and sundry would 'squeeze' past you as if you
had no right to be on the road which at times was very scary, try riding
down.up the A453 and see what i mean. In them days you had to watch out for
the red sherwoods lorries as you knew you( or was it just me?) target to get
pushed out of the way and was on several occasions Oh the 80'....s wot a
mad time it was!
Oh the 'moped' in question was a Yammah DT50 /m/mx as i had rebuilt it from
basically bits and it had an average speed on the level of 40-45 oh yes i
knew how to tweek them 2 strokes! but even at them speeds i still felt like
a target to 'certain' motorists!
From the experiences i had it tought me a vital lesson later on in my
driving career and that is to pass wide enough not to be a danger to both
cyclists and moped riders, BUT most mopeds can go quicker than a bus! Some
of the buses i drive are so slow at accelerating that it is nigh on
impossible to get round a cyclist so going down wilford lane can be a of a
grind but we get there in the end.

One last pint that Mr K did make and needs to be addressed is basically on
the CBT that a more stringent hazzard awareness test be used mainly because
most moped riders wont get a second chance if they do something stupid
like.....pulling out from a side road at the last moment and my all time
favorite.....going round the bus and turning left into a side road. One chap
did just that to one of my colleagues as few years ago and ended up
bruised(very lucky as the driver managed to slow down enough to avoid a more
serious incident!) Worse still the rider got done for dangerous driving, Oh
all hail the high def CCTV and sound!
Oh well this pussys had his rant and now off to avoid another showing of
that mind numbingly, intelligence challenging( i fink most of them are!)
Jeremy Kyle show. <Mrs mogster watches it im too scared to ask her to turn
it off!!!

[kraftee]

"fast...@krafteesgaff.co.uk" <nomor...@cliftonia.co.uk> wrote in
message news:fnMqr.304472$_Q.2...@fx01.am4...

I think you've hit it on the head there Mr SM, they don't appear to have any
hazard training outside of the normal safe roads (30mph). But even there
they just don't appear to be aware of other users, recently I was driving
down the road (in a car this time) 30mph (cruise control it's the only way
to drive) and well in front of me there were 2 local moped boys, one of
which decided to do a U turn and go the way I was going with plenty of room,
unfortunately his colleague waited until I was less than 10 mtrs away then
attempted to do the same.

Well he succeeded but only after a screeching of brakes and a little burnt
rubber. He just didn't see me and unfortunately the majority (well the ones
which come my attention) are exactly the same.

Was being followed by one such person who was right up my pipe, no braking
distance at all then he got very annoyed because I washed my windscreen.
The moped was illegal as I was doing 30mph and he tried to overtake,
managing to draw along side making various new and old rude gestures. If he
hadn't been that close he wouldn't have had any over spray.

Oh yes the one at Long Eaton Island on the A52 who flew over his handle bars
as he came to a stop at the lights, that'll teach him to use his back brake,
or make sure it's working anyway.

ETC ETC ETC.

Remember these are the same kids who thought it was ok to walk down the
middle of the road telling drivers to go away less than 10 years ago and the
even more worrying thing is that in a few years time they'll be throwing
cars around thinking they're invincible as well.

The bit you said about defensive riding, Mr S, I agree with but you don't
pull out onto a 60mph road with rapidly approaching traffic and then
effectively decide to block the road, gunning along at 29mph in the centre
of the lane with a blind bend right ahead. THAT is not defensive driving
but is either suicidal or completely unaware driving. I'm still sorting out
the back of the van and am very glad that the car behind me was at a
sensible distance.