Safe Speed Forums

This really made me think.
In my car, I fiddle with the stereo, the heater, the seat. Adjust the wheel, the windows, you name it.

On my bike, I concentrate 100% on the road surface & prevailing conditions. I have no distractions. Except gatso vans.

In car, I admit I don't always look in the mirror, well, not often enough. I watch for speed cams & vans.

Speed difference = 100%. The bike gets through the traffic, the car sits in it. In the car I often see bikers going past and panic. On the bike I see car drivers & think they are sheep, locked in a cage.

Unless it is icy, I feel safer on the bike. Not penned in, not constrained. Is this an illusion? or are bikes actually safer than cars (allowing for other road users inability to focus on the task of driving, that is) ??

Maybe if we move away from bikes, and go to the performance end of the car market. The drivers of "fast cars" are often portrayed as dangerous, but are they?

Many high end lightweigt sports cars have no stereo, or luxury heating equipment....

Perhaps it is not the speed of the vehicle as such, but the number or distractions on offer to the driver of that vehicle?

This brings up a number of interesting points;-

* are some vehicles inheritantly *safer* at speed?
* are some vehciles made dangerous by all the latest in-car technology?
* if car drivers actually paid attention, would there be so many bike deaths?

I write this as a car driver first (50,000 per year) and a biker second (15,000 per year) so I am not all that biased.

I just find it easier to go faster, SAFER, with machinery that is designed to do so, than with vehicles that are not up to the job (read: ordinary familiy type hatchbacks).

Ok this may be elitism, but safer cars, are those that are designed to go fast in the first place. This applies to bikes, trucks, etc.

So why are we so obsessed with SLOWING everyone down, when infact we should be encouraging manufacturers to make vehicles more EFFICIENT at going faster & handling better?

C