During the morning of Sunday, November 17, I was driving a car down Pretoria Road, through Fairleads, in the direction of Benoni.
I was absolutely astounded to see a gentleman on a large BMW touring bike take his place in the traffic as a normal vehicle.
He obeyed the speed limit, all the road rules and generally behaved as a very responsible citizen.
It suddenly struck me that I should not be astounded to see good biker behaviour; it should be the norm.
I am so used to being harassed and abused by bikers that, to see gentlemanly behaviour, is enough to astound me.
I realised that this gentleman has adopted the motto: “Think Car “.
The logic is impeccable. Cars can hurt bikers. Cars are the majority on the road.
Car drivers do not expect (nor should they expect) to have a lethal weapon speeding up the lane gap in stationary or slow traffic.
Car drivers do not expect to have a vehicle cutting dangerously from lane to lane in heavy traffic.
Car drivers do not expect that that speck in the rear view mirror is a bike doing about 200km/h and it will be upon them in seconds, some times before a freeway lane change can be effected.
Maybe it would really be fruitful for bikers to “Think Car”.
Maybe bikers should try to understand what car drivers rightfully expect and just where the responsibility for biker safety really lies.
