Motorcycle Roadcraft
While I was reading obsessively about bikes every second I could get whilst doing my motorbike lessons, I often read about people doing BikeSafe training days. Bikesafe is a national scheme run by the police to provide motorbike riders with advanced rider training to show them what they are doing that is wrong/dangerous and how they can make their riding better/safer.
Every story/thread/blog I’ve read about doing a BikeSafe day has been full of awe. People are amazed at the ability of a Police Class 1 Motorcyclists. These guys are riding big Pans and BMWs and keeping up easily with the people on the course who are riding Supersports bikes with bags and bags of power. These riders I hear are awesome, and what people learn on the course has really improved their riding.
The Police Class 1 licence sounds like something I’d like to know more about, so, I snagged a copy of Motorcycle Roadcraft: The Police Rider’s Handbook, the course book that goes with the full licence course (which I assume is police only) and I’m currently reading through it.
One thing in the first half of the book has caught my attention particularly:
Local Road Knowledge
Increasing your local knowledge of the roads can help your riding. Town riding puts heavy demands on your observation, reactions and riding skills, and you need to be alert at all times.
…
But even when you know the layout of main road junctions, one-way streets, roundabouts and other local features, always plan on the basis of what you can actually see - not what usually happens. Inattentiveness is a major cause of accidents and riders are least atentive on roads thye know well. Nine out of ten accidents occur on raods that the rider is familiar with.
Nine out of ten accidents occur where you feel safest? That’s a bit of an arse really. Extra attention is needed where logic logic dictates you need it less (know where you’re going, the interval of the traffic lights etc). But it’s the old addage, familiarity breeds contempt, and you get lazy. Then something happens and you crash.
Which you really don’t want to do on a bike.