If you ride a motorcycle, one of the most important things you can do is to spot hazards before you reach them. This way, you do not just have to count on your raw reaction time. You will be poised and ready in advance. If everything goes smoothly, that’s fine. If a hazard does present itself, you react as soon as humanly possible because you already had the risks in mind.
For instance, one safety article shows a picture of a bike traveling down a busy street. The photo was taken from behind the bike, so you can see everything that the driver should be looking at.
Of all of the cars in the photo, just two are circled in red. The first is a car waiting on a side street, planning to turn onto the main road. The second is a car on the main road, waiting for traffic to clear so that it can make a left turn.
The reason for the red circles marking these as major hazards is that they both have to turn through the travel lane, in front of the motorcycle. In an ideal world, they’ll do it after the motorcycle goes by and it’s no problem. In reality, though, they may accidentally turn in front of the bike. This is how a lot of deadly accidents happen. By spotting the hazards before they turn into the bike’s path, the motorcyclist can prepare for what might happen.
Seeing hazards is only half of the battle. You can still get hit, and you may need financial compensation if you do.
