The most common comment from the operators of vehicles involved in collisions with motorcycles is "I did not see him".

There is some logic to the statement. A motorist that has never ridden a bike is attuned only to objects associated with the space occupied by four-wheeled vehicles.

The first tenant of safe biking is to ALWAYS assume you are invisible to other motorists - including other motorcyclists. Whatever maneuver you perform on your bike, from merely driving along a straight road, to passing through an intersection, to overtaking, at all times be aware that other motorists cannot see you. Then ride accordingly - which means:

"The worst bike accident - in terms of my injuries - I had was as a novice rider," says Loone. "I had been riding for about six months. I was at 'varsity and I owned a little Suzuki GP125, the most I could afford as a struggling student. I was riding back to my digs one Friday afternoon in peak hour traffic. Because of the traffic I could not have been doing much more than 40-50 km/h. Suddenly this car did a U-turn in front of me from a parking bay on the side of the road  just as I passed it. A collision was unavoidable as there was simply no place to go and no time to take evasive action. Still, in the nanosecond between comprehension and collision I must have got the bike sideways because all my injuries were to my left leg, which got crushed between the side of my bike and the side of the car. Had I been more experienced I would have foreseen the possibility and would have chosen my riding line and speed accordingly. That accident put me in hospital for many months, but I leaned more about safe riding from that experience than any other in all the 20 plus years that I have straddled a bike. Now, I always ride assuming that I am invisible to motorists and pedestrians alike. 

Never forget pedestrians either. About four years after that first major prang I was riding a Z750. I had fitted the thing with the noisiest 4-1 pipes I could find. One evening I was riding along and came across a taxi offloading passengers. While approaching another taxi pulled to the side of the road on in the opposite (oncoming) lane and also started disembarking passengers. I was concentrating on the taxi and pedestrians I was about to pass and the next thing - BANG! A woman who had got out of the taxi on the other side of the road had run across the road to catch the taxi I was passing - and right into my path of travel. I did not see her until I hit her - stone dead! It was possibly the my worst riding experience; such a senseless, stupid waste of a life!

I have taught myself to ride in a manner that I make a conscious effort to anticipate l contingencies in a given situation, and I adjust my speed, riding line and the spaces around me accordingly."

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