michael brown wrote:

> On the motorcycle thing, I would like to take this opportunity to make
> everyone aware that motorcycles can NOT stop quicker than cars.  This is a
> common misnomer that has resulted in the death of many cyclists.  PLEASE,
> the next time you change lanes please turn your head and look first.  Fully
> 95% of my "close calls" have been a result of this.  Of course when they
> finally see you, they nearly always wave and say sorry.  This is a prime
> example of where being "sorry" doesn't help.
>
> BTW the other day I was nearly run over by a police car (with no lights or
> siren) that was busy running a red light that had been red the entire time
> he was approaching it.  Fortunately, I have learned to not trust anyone in a
> car that isn't looking me directly in the eye.  Next time you see/hear a
> Harley with loud exhaust, remember he is just trying to stay alive, not
> annoy/scare you.  Loud pipes allow you to become semi-transparent as opposed
> to the normal complete invisibility that a motorcycle achieves when riding
> in traffic.

As a Piclister and a motorcyclist (7 motorcycles in the garage, and I've
been a Motorcycle Safety Instructor for 6 years), I feel obliged to
respond.  Loud pipes are not an effective safety device- unfortunately,
most of the "loud" goes *behind* the motorcycle, doing little to wake up
the semi-consious lane changer.  The biggest effect that loud exhausts
are having is to inspire community rules and legislation to ban
motorcycles, which, in my view, is a net loss for motorcycling as a
whole.  I've found that simple things like actively avoiding the blind
spots of other motorists to be a far more effective safety technique.

With the proper technique and practice, on good clean pavement, a
motorcycle *can* stop faster than most cars.  Many motorcycles today
have twin discs on the front wheel, and very sticky tires.  All the
elements above don't necessarily happen at the same time- so avoidance
is the best technique to minimize risk.

Back to the headlight modulating- on-off cycles do decrease the lifetime
of a bulb, but  that is with a cold filament.  Modulating a headlight at
4Hz is slow enough so that the modulation can be seen, but fast enough
so that the filament does not fully cool down.  Try this experiment- at
night, turn your headlights on and point them at a close wall.  Turn
them off- I've found that it takes at least 2 seconds for the bulbs to
stop putting out light.  The very bright, white light stops almost
immediately, but it keeps on putting out light for some time, decreasing
in intensity and moving to red before it fades out completely.

Matt Bennett

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