Adrian Baldwin
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Observations
  • Reviews
  • Blog
  • The Blog Library
  • My 70s Things
  • Contact Me
  • Links

Road Safety Week blogging contribution and some

11/19/2018

0 Comments

 
PictureA Baldwin and a bike
I am used to writing for work, but the material is rarely personal and presented in the first person. A blog post I wrote that bucks that trend has just been published on my employer’s website. The article was in connection with the Brake’s 2018 Road Safety Week Campaign. My contribution was about motorcycle riding and you can read about it here -  Road Safety Week 2018 – Part 1

There isn’t much point in reproducing the content verbatim here because it would just confuse the search engines and mess with my company’s rankings, but please have a read and see what you think.

Despite its distinctly conversational, rather than corporate tone, my post survived largely without censorship. If you’re interested though, the last bullet point on my top ten tips was toned down a little – it originally read “Finally, if you spit, throw your cigarette, or any other rubbish for that matter, out of the window when you have a motorcyclist behind you … you are an inconsiderate arse.”

Since I acquired my Yamaha YBR 125 Custom at the end of August (previous article available), I have ridden it over 1600 miles and am getting more experienced/adept; I have even had to alter my insurance to increase my mileage allowance (and I am already getting close to the increased number).

Though the YBR is/has been brilliant, next year I will have the acquisition of my full motorcycle licence high up on my list of priorities. It’s not because I am bothered by my “L” plates, in fact I think of those as being my friend – other road users make allowances for me because of them. The main reason is that I already want a bike that is faster and safer than the 125 I am entitled to ride with my provisional.

You might be wondering how I can combine faster and safer in the same sentence, I’ll admit it sounds counter intuitive, but bear with me and I’ll explain it.

If you have read the Road Safe piece, you’ll have noted that I mention in the "advice for other motorists" bullet point list, that the bike will lose speed when going up hills, a twenty MPH drop is not unusual. That lost speed takes a while to put back on too.
 
To be safer, I think that the ability to stay with the car traffic at all times would reduce the likelihood of frustrating other drivers and prompting risky overtaking manoeuvres.

I’ll admit that I am not ready for a bike that does 180 mph or gets to 60 in 2-3 seconds, but a bike that will cruise without missing a beat (or being thrashed too hard) at 70mph and get there in 6-7 seconds would, I genuinely believe, be a safer proposition on the road.   

The reality is that most people driving cars will never have ridden a motorbike and the expectation that they have about a bike’s performance may not be aligned with the truth. When cars have been following me more closely than I’d like, and when I am losing speed without braking (and the brake light glowing), the chances of being driven into are not insignificant.

But the provisional licence doesn’t allow for a bike to be bigger than 125cc, so taking the full test is the only way to get to ride something a little more powerful. From a parochial perspective, I’d like the rules to be loosened to allow 250cc on a provisional, but I am not negatively disposed towards the motorcycle licencing process at all. I think that getting a provisional, getting on the road and getting some proper riding experience before having to go through a more rigorous test on a big bike is a much better approach than that imposed for car driving.
​
Blog Home
Blog Library
Home

Follow @AdrianBaldwin71
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Adrian Baldwin

    Blogging for more than a decade

    Archives

    December 2022
    July 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    May 2021
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.