Its so true, so many drivers not paying attention and on a motorcycle there's just no protection.
Except... it's also motorcycle riders out there also not paying attention. Most I see out on the road ride like they have no sense of self preservation.
For those that do ride here,
MCRider videos are fantastic. For those that don't, this channel is Kevin, a safety instructor in Texas and he has been doing videos for quite some time now talking about all sorts of stuff.
One of the things I have seen from him is talking about fault. You can be in the right all you want, but as he said in his video, if he enters an intersection and gets t-boned by a car, legally it's the driver's fault, but preservation wise, it's his fault for not paying attention to the cross traffic that is suppose to be stopping at the red. If he gets rear ended at a stoplight, it is his fault that he wasn't paying attention to the cars behind him and didn't give himself an out.
Daily all summer I see people on motorcycles coming up to a stop and they stop on the car in front of them's bumper dead center leaving themselves nowhere to go should something happen behind them. You should be stopping with plenty of space and angling so you have space to maneuver in the event you see a car that isn't going to stop coming behind you, which you see because you're not daydreaming but paying attention in your mirrors to what's happening behind you.
A lot of people live in the city, and I certainly do understand not wanting to ride a motorcycle and even being highly scared of it because of the traffic. I would not be riding if I couldn't just turn right and head to the countryside vs. turning left into town. Where I chose to ride there is very little risk if you have that sense of self preservation. Risks are lessened if you pay attention and ride defensively. I am always prepared to grab the brakes and stop. When I see cars ready to turn out of side streets, I am covering my brakes and will roll off the throttle in preparation just in case. Most people ride just like they drive, not paying any attention and most wouldn't even know a car was ready to turn out until they are hit, which obviously is the fault of the driver, but with a sense of self preservation, it should be thought of in the rider's head as the rider's fault because he didn't have the self preservation to take caution over an instance such as this.
There are a lot you can do to mitigate the dangers of riding a motorcycle. You don't have to rely completely on others following the rules and laws and you can take your safety into your own hands and ride like you don't want to die. That's what I don't see out on the roads, the majority of the tough guy riders riding like they don't want to die.
