My daughter has a MC learners permit which lets her ride with a more experienced rider. Group of 2 or more. Coming back from shopping yesterday some doof had done a leftie in front of not one, but 2 large (Road King sized) bikes. Bagged both of them. Last year here, someone did the same thing and got 4 at a single whack. I think one died. Don't know how the 2 from yesterday made out.
I keep reminding her, and anyone else who will listed that riding a bike is a lot like the old Pontiac commercial that featured the giant ball bearings rolling through the city streets and the Pontiac deftly avoiding them. Traffic is the giant mindless steel ball bearings. They generally follow conservation of momentum, but are subject to occasional random direction changes. They are not actively trying to kill you, they are simply oblivious to your existence.
The fact that they have stopped and the driver is looking right at you does not mean the driver actually sees you. Most of the drivers have not been trained to look for 2-wheelers. They know the shape of another car, or a truck or pedestrian, but do not look for a bike. The proliferation of scooters this year, operated by people who don't know how to ride them, will likely result in a big jump in 2-wheel fatalities, which will result in a bunch of nitwit laws proposed, but no change to the drivers ed coursework to emphasize cycle awareness.
An awareness campaign would save a lot of lives. A push for a helmet law will get a politician a lot of camera time. Guess which is most likely.
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