Bryan Mac Murray got in touch with the blog and asked if he could submit an article on scooter visibility in traffic. Looking good on your scooter is fine, but safety should always come first. A lot of this will be obvious to the more experienced riders out there, and more useful to younger, learner riders. Anyway, it’s all good, so here’s his article…
Be More Visible on Your Scooter
Scooters have become a very popular form of transportation. However, scooters are much more likely to be in an accident because motorists fail notice them on the roadway. Motorcycles or scooters fall into the small category of things that aren’t always noticed or perceived even when they are right in the field of vision. To make it plain, a scooter approaching a vehicle from head-on at a distance will occupy a very small portion of a driver’s vision.
If your scooter is moving at a pretty good pace, there is a chance that the eye of the other motorists won’t look at it long enough to make the image imbed in the brain before it arrives in the immediate vicinity. You have to understand that the brain only sees things that it can actually understand, so without this visual connection to the brain for the oncoming scooter to register, the driver will unknowingly not notice the scooter and could cause an accident.
Memory and Visibility Play a Significant Role in Accidents
A study involving road safety indicated that 57% of accidents were caused by human error. It is a contributing cause in 90% of all accidents. They are the result of processing abilities that are limited, so they have to rely on three fallible mental functions – memory, perception, and attention. Between that and the occasional negligence of drivers, it’s probably best to make it clear to other drivers that you are there.
Make Your Scooter More Visible
As we have mentioned earlier, the processing abilities of the driver have an impact on their ability to recognize scooters or motorcycles and avoid collisions. The goal to making sure your scooter is going to be noticed and reduce the risk of an accident involves making your scooter more visible to drivers. There are many ways you can improve visibility to other drivers and vehicles and decrease your chances of being in an accident.
- Be careful when choosing lane position. Select the lane in which you would be most visible, then ride in the best position in that lane. Remember, this can vary depending upon your particular riding conditions and the given location.
- Deck yourself out in bright colors. Wear a helmet that is brightly colored or a jacket that makes you stand out. White, red, bright green, and yellow are much more noticeable than darker colors. At night, add reflective tape or piping to your helmet and jacket to be much more visible. All-weather reflective tape is a great touch.
- Make sure your headlights, turn signals (if fitted), tail lights, and brake lights are working properly. You should actually check them before you go riding each time. If you have lights that aren’t very bright, you could switch them out with LED or halogen equivalents. The better the illumination, the more likely you will be seen out on the road.
Other Scooter Safety Tips
When you are riding your scooter, you want to be safe. So here are some other safety tips to help you avoid being in an accident.
- Maintain control of your scooter.
- In rain and at night, use extra caution.
- Maintain safe speed.
- Wear a helmet, even if you’re not required to do so.
- Don’t ride under the influence.
You can always learn more safety techniques, and you can never be too safe when you are riding your scooter. You can never be too cautious when operating a scooter, and remember, it is your responsibility to make yourself more visible. You definitely want to err on the side of caution.
Thanks Bryan. I must say, it’s advice I follow myself, my everyday riding jacket (when the weather is cooler) is a Hi-Viz job from Australian Bikers Gear. Pretty tough, waterproof jacket with armour should the worst happen. You can grab one on Amazon for a reasonable £59 (at time of writing) here: Bikers Gear Motorcycle Avalanche Hi Viz Waterproof Jacket ArmoUr & Vented Size M (38″)
If you have an article that you think is a good fit with the Lambrettista blog, drop me a line, and I’ll check it out. This article was written by Personal Injury Help, they provide information about personal injury cases and safety hazards. To learn more, you can go to their website, or contact them at help@personal-injury-law.org. They are based in the USA.
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This is probably one of the nicest J50’s out there*… A J 50 with a Casa 80 c upgrade. Restored to a high standard by Medway scooters with £7000 spent on her, including sourcing rare original accessories and having them restored to as new condition.
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