Tips? Yes.
Life savers? Absolutely!
The below tips are supremely useful, specially for bikers, when it comes to being safe on the roads:
1.) Look through car windscreens for added visibility
It is a fact that the average rider’s field of view is higher and wider than that of the average car driver (except drivers of SUV’s). Look as far ahead as possible. As a rider, this can mean safer riding and increased anticipation of traffic ahead. Windscreens are a great way to look beyond the car in front of you.
As a biker, you sit higher, take full advantage of it.
2.) Look at the direction of a car tire to anticipate/predict direction changes
How do you know that the vehicle in front of you or at your side will change direction?
It all starts with the tires. Before overtaking any vehicle, briefly gauge the direction of its front set of tires to check if they are changing direction or not. This will help you make your overtaking or lane changing decision.
In a car, you won’t be able to do the same easily, as the height of the door would obstruct your vision.
3.) Is the turn opening up or tightening?
How to determine if the oncoming turn you are about to go through is opening up or closing? There are many blind corners in which it is difficult to determine if it is a decreasing radius turn or an increasing radius one. Here is where this technique can be used to your advantage. This is specially useful for roads you are not familiar with.
Look far towards the point where the two edges of the road appear to meet.
If the point is:
Moving away from you – the corner is opening up
Moving towards you – the corner is closing/tightening
Simple and effective!
