When riders go through the various MSF training classes, the one common thread throughout these programs is that you never assume anyone around you knows you're there, or even cares.  Always ride defensively.  Always have a plan.  Riders are trained to pay attention to what's 4, 8, 12 seconds ahead of them and beyond, and to also be aware of what's happening beside them or behind them. 

 

I know the timing rule has saved me more than once because I was able to anticipate something happening, and prepare for contingencies in the event that it did. The area between I-295 and the World Golf Village on I-95 is one of the most dangerous stretches of road in the area, and it is even scarier for someone riding a motorcycle.  For some reason, people decide they're going to pound the pedal to the floor in that area, cut lanes, and basically turn it into a race track, and there are accidents in the area almost daily.  The head on collisions in the area got to be so bad that they had to put a center divider in the median to keep vehicles from crossing into oncoming traffic, and that did the trick most of the time.  Unfortunately, if a car becomes airborne, those short rails don't always do the trick. 

 

I've been on that stretch of I-95 as people just randomly change lanes not looking to see what's next to them.  This past Bike Week, 3 guys on Harleys in the middle lane about 40 feet in front of me almost got wiped out by some girl in a Jeep who came over into them.  I was watching her and she was all over her lane.  When she changed lanes, she was on her phone and not paying attention at all. 

 

One of my friends was forced onto the shoulder by some guy in a BMW in the same area on another ride. 

 

I've also seen sport bikes tearing through that same stretch, splitting lanes and riding carelessly, almost causing accidents because of the way they were maneuvering through traffic.  This one pack of bikes coming back from Daytona in 2013 rolled by me easily doing 120 mph.  The poetic justice was seeing them just before the 295 interchange on the side of the road with a bunch of troopers 10 minutes later.  Someone must have called them in. 

 

Most motorcyclists abide by the traffic laws and do the right thing.  They still wind up on the wrong end of an accident.  It's a shame, but if you're not riding defensively, especially with the drivers in this area, you're destined to wind up a statistic. 

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