Riding in traffic on a motorcycle – 3 second gap

[youtube width=”640″ height=”400″]http://youtu.be/7vd_OuqUAaI[/youtube]

There’s one problem when riding in traffic on a motorcycle when something goes wrong around you, someone usually comes off second best and in many cases, it’s the motorcyclist.

This interesting little video shows you what happens when this occurs. In this case it’s an interesting outcome. The video reminded me of how I should ride in traffic.

Here’s what works for me; I leave around a 3 second gap between me and the vehicle in front.

I do this by watching the vehicle in front go past a fixed point (could be a road marker, a sign, a tree, etc.) on the road side then I start counting ‘one thousand, two thousand, three thousand’ at normal speaking speed, each thousand representing 1 second.

By the time I go past that same fixed point (while counting one thousand, two thousand, three thousand), I should be at 3000 (3 seconds) or greater.

Why 3 seconds? Anything less reduces my breaking space and ability to respond quickly and can also intimidate the driver in front.

That’s what works for me.