Riders response to TAC campain

[Weaselman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv2scU1nIEw&feature=youtu.be

[RevHead]

mate this is so true seen it too many times .

[K6Thou]

While the video is a reasonably accurate portrail of what actually happens, it still shits me that as bike riders we have to 'keep out of blind spots etc' FFS I drive a 4x4 when I'm not on my bike and personally I think it needs to be installed in cage drivers that there are bikes on the road..... Fuck I could ramble for hours, but I won't............

[Weaselman]

Mate I drive semi's and car drivers still pull out in front of me or cut me off because they dont look and how the fuck do you miss a semi next to you.

[El_Hefty]

not the best video to portray how wonderful we are

First the bike rider crosses an unbroken line to get into the first lane, then the whole way down the road the BMW is bridging two lanes, that should tell you as a SMART rider dont go near the fuckwit in the BM, yet he goes along side when the driver is across the two lanes, what else is going to happen. Yes it shouldnt happen but it does all the fucking time, if the bike rider had slowed down as the BM driver was showing signs of being a fuckwit for the last couple of hundred meters he wouldnt have put himself in that situation.

What it is is a good video to show what can happen but not as a 'countervideo' its not smart enough for that.

Yes the TAC are going about it the wrong way but if this is 'our' video in response we have no hope.

[Redmohawk]

Yeah good concept , but unless its spot on the haters will pull it to bits. Being the "Enemy" we are behind from the start. Cage only drivers resent all others on the road not just bike riders but truckies, pedestrians, pushbike riders, lolipop people, cops etc . Its they're road and we are just an anoyance, To be knocked off even !

A study done a while back (can't for the life of me remember where or when I saw it, but it might have been here in ASF) used lazer glasses to see where people looked when in a cage (and used test subjects that were cage only and rider + cage drivers) looked at how different people scaned the road. Also went into why they do so differntly, People look at things on a threat basis. IE if it can kill you you remember it better , perceived threats are stored in the brain differntly.

To a cage driver a bike rider isn't a big threat , it might kill you but unlikley so even if you see them its very likley your brain will just put the rider in the junk basket in your brain. People tested in the study that DID look and see the rider still pulled out in front of the rider , and when questioned later didnt have call back recognition of there even being a rider present.

Riders can be killed by a hole in the road let alone a errant driver , so we tend to scan the road for all dangers (as everything potentally could kill us. When you put US in a cage we still "RIDE" as we are programed to scan hence we see the rider more often . "Looking" for them in the first place is only a 1/4 of the issue once we see them we remember as our brain is hard wired to see them as a threat to ourself. Hence brain stores it in a direct Access area for instant recall.

The usual suspects (Gov and Vicroads insurance companys etc) know this as they're the ones that put up the cash for the studys to be done in the first place ! Why do they bash up and not "FIX" the problem? Easy it costs to much , and is almost impossable to sort using current add type campains. (proven in studys) So bash the bikers and make it to expensive to ride is the easy answer. (why do you think NSW regos and insurance shot up? And its almost twice as expensive for me to rego a 600cc bike as my 2 seater ute in Vic ?)

If we want to effect change for the good of riders (and I'm not just talking more resonable rego cost , but actuall reduction in cage driver caused incidents) the driver training at a intitial level would need to be changed. Expensive , almost impossable to enforce and difficult to initilise, But possable ! The whole phyche of drivers of all kinds need to be altered to turn them all into "RIDERS" first then drivers second.

We need to effectivly scare the shit out of all road users , making them perceive everything as a threat to them. Altering how there brain stores information for recall. Vicroads has been trying to do this with its current driver training , but it is flawed but using computer simulations and cage based systems. Biasing the outcomes due to lack of "real world FEEL" and artificial feeling of safety.

If Bike orginisations want to effect change they need to get involved with the uni's doing this research and effect change there first , designing studys that show effective results at changing all road users patterns. These are the tools that insurance companys rely on to effect govenment policy change.

Trying to bash the head of a big fucking snake thats going to eat you is dangerous and hard to get right , coming up from behind with a long stick grabbing its tail while holding its head down is much more effective. Make there tools work for us is much better than fighting there money power and already rolling machine.

Been doing alot of thinking on all the bike hate out there of late though I'd vent a bit !