WTF Series #9 - Triumph of the Flow

Motorcyclist Rant

I ride and I’m watching.  Motorcyclists, like bicyclists, scooter riders and pedestrians, have to carefully observe the driving behavior of the people behind the wheel of massive killing machines – ah, I mean cars.  In spite of the large number of vehicle deaths in the U.S., no one yet wants to outlaw them. I've named cars, SUVs, vans and pickups as ‘retirement vehicles’ given the apparent ease necessary to pilot one.  So here’s the deal.

See Me, Feel Me, Hear Me...

I call it the flow.  It is a zen concept in which you adapt to the flow of traffic you are in.  The steel river. It means total awareness of others, as driving is really a social experience.  You can tell clueless or anti-social drivers immediately.  The ‘flow’ means you don’t drive too fast, you don’t drive too slow, you fit into the pace, you adapt.  That pickup that thinks it is in a ‘race’?  Take a pill, asshole.  That person who is driving 10 miles under the city speed limit?  Go back to a country lane and try again.  Don't stop in the bike lane like you are some delivery vehicle - otherwise that bicyclist has to swerve into possible traffic, as you just blocked their flow.  Awareness of others means using blinkers, stopping diddling with a phone at stoplights or anywhere, not suddenly stopping in the middle of a street, going around cars turning left, using all the lanes on a freeway and if you are slow on the freeway, staying on the right!  Those people on the fast lane going exactly the speed-limit like self-appointed cops?  Blocking the flow again.

If confused about location, pulling over or driving around the block or taking the next exit works better.  Hey, even learn to read a map or use a GPS.  Those who do something stupid like crossing many lanes of traffic to save a hair of time are the worst. Blocking the flow.  Rushing to stop.

Knowing what lane to be in beforehand helps the flow.  Weaving between lanes hurts it.  Looking for stoplights and stop signs coming up – in other words, anticipation, helps the the flow.  (Stop signs are actually many times stupid – in Ireland they use “Yield” instead just to be more real, which also saves gas and brake wear.)  The flow means not rushing up to a stop light and jamming on the brakes.  In fact brake wear is the biggest sign of a bad driver – and it also means excessive gasoline use.  Both costly habits. That jerky rabbit style of driving?  They should grow up.  You've seen people that put their brakes on constantly while driving, like every 10 seconds.  At every curve or intersection?  What is up with that?  Check experts who ‘high-mile.’ They teach how to approach lights or stalled traffic.  It does not involve acceleration - it actually means coasting like a kid on a bike.

The flow means using all lanes available, including the infamous ‘zipper’ merge.  I once had to argue with an alleged ‘professor’ that making a highway even smaller by queuing in one lane instead of the available two was against the laws of physics or plumbing.  I have been run off the road several times by Minnesotans thinking they are in a line for a movie instead of on a two-lane highway becoming one. Our MNDOT finally told people to use both lanes. Or people who merge onto a freeway and assume everyone is going to move over.  Legally, the ones on the freeway have the right of way.

Many cities have a combination of city drivers and country drivers.  The latter tend to be somewhat lost, slow and uncertain.   Their grasp of ‘the flow’ is questionable. (In Minneapolis, that means Wisconsin plates…)  Yeah, you know who you are.  Or recent immigrants from countries where driving is a new experience.  Motorcyclists see you hesitating about everything. 

Florida has the most vehicle accidents, which probably means the worst drivers.  Tennessee, Arizona, South Carolina and North Carolina are next worst - note - all in the U.S. south.  Minnesota is one of the safest states in the nation (#3), along with Massachusetts, North Dakota, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Vermont, and Alaska - mostly northern states.  

And don't get me started on parking lots - one of the worst places for fender benders or little accidents.  That lazy ass attempting to park closest to the doors?  Parked in a lane?  Lord...Then there are the people who have forgotten how to pass on a two-lane highway and will follow a slow vehicle for many miles. Blocking the flow...

I’ve ridden motorcycles for 44 years without an accident with another vehicle.  Motorcycles stop faster than cars, accelerate faster, maneuver better and provide better visibility for a rider’s eyes.  Which all helps – but we need some zen help too.  Don’t assume we are always watching all the erratic driving like a hawk.  I know motorcyclists can be pains in the ass – especially those Harley-branded riders who think their loud pipes are some kind of safety procedure.  After 6 drinks and no helmet, I’d say not.  Or the jock boys in shorts and wrap-arounds winding up their sport bikes into the ether.

Walking or riding a bicycle in the global South - which I have done in Hanoi and Hue, Vietnam and Phnom Penh, Cambodia - relies heavily on the flow and awareness of others. You cannot do it otherwise.

Electric scooters and motorcycles and any kind of bicycle are actually the future – zombie technologies like gasoline and large, heavy vehicles are doomed except for those who need them.  Some day you might have to leave your retirement vehicle and join us in the flow. So go with it!

May the lights always turn green for you...

Other posts on this subject, use blog search box upper left:  “The Outlaws,” “Spring is Here.”

The Red MC / August 10, 2019, updated 9/10/24