spring riding hazards: what to watch for
Published by Crystal April 23rd, 2007 in safety.I went for my first longish ride of the season yesterday, and as I was riding, I was hastily scribbling mental notes of road hazards to remember for my next ride. Chances are these things don’t all happen only in the spring, but since a lot of you, like me, haven’t been on the scooter for awhile, I hope that my list will help you when you start getting out there regularly this season.
- Driveway washouts - this is very common around here, since the roads aren’t pitched and ditched. Dirt and gravel driveways that run down into the road will have deposits of gravel and dirt on the base of the driveway that runs out into the road, especially after spring rains. Gravel can be deadly. If you are in an area where there is still a lot of developments and other construction, be vigilant, since there may be driveways this spring where there weren’t driveways last fall. There may also be dirt that has washed into the road due to the construction.
- Potholes - Just like driveways, there are potholes that are in places that weren’t there last fall. I was coming up an entrance ramp today that had about a 5-inch wide by 12-inch long hole in it - seemingly harmless to most cars, but big enough to potentially kill a scooterist or motorcyclist. If your town/city has a pothole reporting service, use it.
- Lawn waste - This spring it seems like an awful lot of people have been blowing their lawn cuttings into the road. Even though I *think* it’s generally against ordinances (or at least against common courtesy) to blow your yard waste into the road, a lot of people seem to do it. Maybe it’s the cyclist in me that is wary about grass piles in the road (very dangerous on a bicycle). I avoid try to avoid them, but sometimes the entire lane is totally coated. I assume that grass is just as dangerous as leaves in the fall. Even if the grass isn’t slippery, there could be gravel or a splotch of oil hiding under there.
- Road kill - wild animals are just as excited to be out in this nice weather as we are. Watch out for both the live and not-live ones.
- Bugs - they’re baaaaaack… and they are smacking you right in the face. This is the reason I first got a full-face helmet. I also realized yesterday that my helmet’s chin curtain is handy for keeping a yellow-jacket from flying up into my helmet. Yowsa. If you’re in a particularly buggy area, carry something with you to clean up if necessary (check your helmet’s instructions to see what will work on your shield). If you don’t like full-face helmets or helmets with shields, invest in some comfortable safety goggles, like these Bobsters.
- Steel plates - Since the weather is nicer, road crews are starting on projects. One of my favorite routes now has a section of steel plates across 2/3 of the road. I slowed down, waited for oncoming traffic to go through, and went around the plate rather than riding over it. Riding over it carefully may have been ok, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. If it were raining, I’d never drive over a steel plate. I figure, if worse comes to worst, I can get off the scooter and push it along the side of the road until I’m on the other side, or temporarily pick a different route.
- Shadows - I rode through some beautiful back roads that are normally stress-free, but this time of year, on a sunny day, when the trees don’t have their leaves yet, it looked like the road was covered in zebra stripes. This was pretty disconcerting since it made it difficult to focus on the road or see hazards like sticks or rocks.
- I’m my own worst enemy… This winter was a rare one for me because I didn’t ride that much due to the cold. I always cut back in the winter, but this year I was off the scooter for over two months. I have to remember that if I haven’t been on my scooter for awhile, I have to take it easy and get a feel for riding again. On my way to meet some people yesterday, I thought I was a little late, so I was going pretty fast. But even on these familiar roads, there were certain corners that I felt uneasy riding around. I made myself slow down and try to take the corners the way I was taught. Besides getting my scooter-legs back, I have to reaffirm my faith in centrifugal force.
-… or maybe “they” are my worst enemy. We went from 40-something degrees one week to near 90 degrees this past weekend. Suddenly, there are countless two-wheel vehicles out there. Still, car drivers haven’t had to look out for motorcycles for awhile, so we can’t count on them to see us. I tend to keep this idea alive throughout the year - that other drivers don’t see me, and I can’t count on them to do the right thing - but this time of year it seems most prevalent.
11 Responses to “spring riding hazards: what to watch for”
- 1 Pingback on Apr 23rd, 2007 at 4:52 pm
- 2 Pingback on Apr 24th, 2007 at 8:07 am
- 3 Pingback on Oct 31st, 2007 at 7:35 am
- 4 Pingback on Apr 9th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
- 5 Pingback on Apr 9th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Don’t forget the remnants of salt and sand from winter. I don’t know how it is in your city but they are awfully slow around here cleaning the streets. That salt and sand is VERY slippery and is almost as bad as ice. It’s usually right around the curb or centre line so care is needed when cornering.
Great article - I think that I pretty much hit all of them on the way up. Particularly surprising was the lawn clippings on the road and mowers pitching stuff at me….. leaf blowers were also doing the same.
pas
Let’s keep in mind the doofus who finally decided to drag out the hose right to the curb and wash his car in the fine weather. They figure a cage has the windows rolled up so what the heck. Shooting a blast of hose water right across your lane won’t hurt anyone! Very exciting getting sprayed with cold water as you ride past the car washing fool. NOT RREFRESHING!!! So look ahead, and if you see a wet piece of road one car length long, anticipate a hose directing that water from the curb. Might be someone really dumb mindlessly aiming it at you as you go by.
Another one to watch for are the white painted stripes at intersections (crosswalks/lane markers). If you haven’t riden all winter you forget that they are covered with slime and grim and are very slippery! I avoid them all year round and make it a rule to never ride over them, or if stopped at an intersection, put a foot down on one.
If your city (like mine) takes years to fix potholes, mark a big circle around ‘em with fluorescent orange paint.
Crystal, when dry, your tires will have more grip on steel plates (aka “boilerplate”) than on pavement. The hazard in that case will be the transition from pavement to plate. In Seattle, they at least make a token effort at a ramp-like bit of asphalt from the pavement to the plate, which is about 2″ thick, but one should still slow down approaching these things. Running into it at too high a speed is more of a hazard.
In the wet, you only have a problem if you make a sudden turning or braking maneuver. “Road-hugging weight” is a totally valid concept, and 240 lbs. of Vespa ET (or in my case, 213 lbs. of PX 150), plus the weight of rider(s) & cargo, pushes the tires down on the surface quite well. In Seattle, more and more boilerplate is coated with a fluorescent orange paint that not only makes the plates more visible, but offers a tractive surface. Since they’re building a streetcar line on most of the routes I have to take (and since most pavement in this town is atrocious), avoiding the boilerplate isn’t an option for me, but it really doesn’t feel hazardous at all. I guess I’m used to it.
__Orin
http://www.scootinoldskool.com