If it were safe I'd be driving one.  

Friends did dirt bikes but didn't like street driving

^this

5 years ago my wife lost here lifelong family friend and her fiancé. Each on their own bike, attempted to pass a pickup pulling a 30' trailer on a 2 lane. The farmer turned left into his driveway and they both hit the trailer at passing speeds....both died at the scene. She was one cool chick, and we think about her often....it has been terrible on everyone that knew her.

No, the semis don't really pass at their first chance. They wait until they are almost bumper to bumper then dart into the passing lane.  The semi then passes his long haul brother going 2 MPH faster.

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That’s about what I see in perfect conditions. If it’s dark it’s easy to miss a broke headlight for a bike. These flat panel mirrors will let you see a mile behind you but not ideal for seeing around you. Blind spots are real and my hobbies and profession directly impact each other

I hate getting passed with a linger. I’ll always throw the Jake in and drop five mph if people are shadowing me, but the duck really should’ve had a he head on a swivel. You’ve gotta anticipate I can’t see you the same way I anticipate I can’t see something in my blind spots

this, do not lazily ride, expect idiot moves by every car you see

Mine's been off the road for a couple years now and, honestly, I'm in no hurry to get it back on the road.

Sucks because I used to absolutely love riding, but I think it'd be more stress-inducing to be out there than stress-reducing, nowadays.

What you don't see is my idiot coworker in his PT Cruiser 10' off the blocker beam on the back of the trailer. I tried explaining to him that people who drive trucks don't like him doing that and he is invisible when he does...

I think it should be the law that everyone with a regular driver's license should have to drive a 26' straight van weighted close to 26k lbs for a couple days every 3 years or so to keep their license.

My takeaway from the moto videos on YouTube is that the horn does not work at all, and you have to revbomb while waving your hand in a "WTF" gesture, and aggressively tap your helmet cam.

So here in E. TN we're seeing a new effort by the local police regarding the tail of the dragon. They are getting tired of the dangerous shenanigans, accidents and deaths, and are announcing on local news and facebook etc stepped up patrol of the route. I avoid that road in the main season just to keep away from all the car/bike wannabe racers driving and riding like absolute shitheads, who put me and everyone else at risk. I hope the cops can make a difference there, it really needs more cop presence to hopefully slow the idiots down.

That said, I love riding and have been at it for 30+ years. I don't think it's any more dangerous now vs decades ago, even with cell phones. There were mostly idiot drivers then, and there are mostly idiot drivers now. At least as far as how many near incidents I see, I don't feel like its getting worse in recent years, it's always been bad! Ride cautiously, be alert, don't do stupid shit, and the risk factor is really not much different than driving imo. Ride like an idiot just because you're on a bike that can hit 0-60 in 2.5 seconds, you'll most likely end up dead soon. I was driving along in my vette the other day and some kid on a sport bike came hauling ass up from behind me, pulled up alongside and was motioning me to race him. And he had a passenger on the back! The roads and scenery out here are extremely beautiful and enjoyable to ride, but it does bring out the racer boys unfortunately. Be smart, wear you gear, enjoy the ride.

<------certified RiderCoach. Take the BRC2 and the ARC. One day, I want to take the Ride Like A Pro course.

One class, it was just me and a coworker. I spent the entire class focusing on developing her lean angle, as she was scared that she was going to catch a crash bar on the pavement. (her bike had been lowered) I even took her bike through the exercises myself to make sure that it wasn't that bad. It wasn't. It was mostly in her head. I told her that she should remove the crash bars if she was that worried about it, as she was too short to put her feet up anyway.

That is the one thing that the .mil does right: they require that riders take the basic and advanced courses, and give them time during the duty day to do it.

I've been riding for 13 years. My current ride is an Indian Roadmaster, which is bigger than some small cars. People still act like I'm invisible on it. It's not just the traffic in the flow, it's also people pulling out into traffic without being able to see what is coming.

Kicking driver's doors or hitting mirrors is authorized too if you're on a Harley

OEM motorcycle horns really are about useless though.

I've seen that video...car driver got what they deserved, IMO. My stock horn is pretty fucking loud, had to use it a few months back when I was in KY for the CVMA national meeting. A group of about 8 of us were riding to the convention center. We were in the middle lane, staggered formation. The right lane was ending, so the Charger that was on my right decided to pop his signal on and start merging on top of me. I was positioned on the right side of my lane, and my front wheel was at his left rear quarter-panel, and my buddy in front of me was even with his door, on the left side of the lane. I held my position and laid on the horn. If I had slowed to let him in, he would have merged on top of my friend. As I passed him, he was gesturing at the arrow in the road and looked like he was shouting something like "where the fuck am I supposed to go?!?!"  

"well, scooter...you're supposed to slow down/stop and wait for a break in traffic before you blindly merge over..."

Motorcycles were cool when there where not 100 million woke ass pill popping self indulged assholes on the highways.

I too am just about there,  sold my supermoto to a friend last month,  have my 1190r ADV pig up for sale now too.  Thinking about picking up a bike for offroad only but healing is getting a bit slower now that I'm in my mid 50s.

This is why I never trust any other drivers on the road and try to out think them. It was also drilled into me taking defensive driving class before I was 16 years old.
Many benefits came from that class and it wasn't about gaining a lower insurance rate (which was pretty healthy at the time with a 25% reduction).

When I was first learning to ride a close family friend gave me the best advise that I still hold dearly today. “Ride like you are invisible because no one is looking for you.”

Really sorry about your wife's friend.  So they didn't notice or consider that he was about to make a left turn?

...unless I could see clearly way beyond the first one.

Truck drivers I've encountered have usually been pretty good about accommodating my passing them. Especially in the US.
I mean... Eventually they'll "see" you behind them and if they know they're a bit slow they'll flash their taillights or stick their arm out the window and wave you on.

Obviously in OP's case the truck driver did not see the rider trying to pass.

Most are pretty good I think.

I usually see 50-100 riders in the hills on a weekend, and rarely encounter more than a handful of dildos.

I ride a small dual sport so I'm not going very fast and I'm not very loud, so I'll usually just tuck in behind the peloton like a support bike until an opportunity to pass comes along and most of the time the cyclists give me a gap and signal for me to overtake. I'm not out sport riding, I'm just trying to get to the trails.

That said, popping around a corner on a gaggle of slow ones will scare the shit out of you.

According to the deputy who pulled me over for passing 4 at once in my 928, 3 is the limit in MI.  

If the semi driver decides to do a quick lane change to begin the passing of another rig, he can have the steering wheels of the tractor in the other lane in a couple of seconds. if you're in that lane on a fast bike at full throttle, there is no way you're getting around that truck without riding on the shoulder.
Whether you want to continue passing that truck on the shoulder at 100+ mph or back off the throttle, hit the brakes and let the truck pass you so you can get back behind it is YOUR decision.
Just getting the carrier name and trailer number off the back of that rig would have given LE enough information to track down the driver.

If you ride long enough, you start thinking like every other vehicle on the road is trying to put you in a clip from Final Destination.

Every morning on my way to work, this guy on a Harley would pass, hauling ass, in the break down lane on the right on the interstate. One morning I'm stuck in standstill traffic for an hour. Finally come up on the accident which was a Harley by an off ramp. Saw in the news that guy passed away and I never saw a Harley passing on the right on the way to work again. I don't get why he took that risk every morning.

Oh my

I am always surprised at the number of people from Wyoming that get life flighted to Omaha .

Guess it's that or Denver

There's a YouTube channel where the guy takes a video from that famous curve on Mulholland drive. Lots of cars and bikes wreck there.

Every bike accident is almost the same. If the dude is wearing full riding gear, they dump their bike in the corner, get up, stand up their bike and move it across the road to assess damage.

The people in marginal to no riding gear, have the same accident as the other bikers, but they usually lay on the ground until the ambulance picks them up.

This book saved my life at least a couple times over the years . When I sold motorcycles I had multiple customers tell me the same thing thanking me profusely for recommending it

You can get it used for like $5 on eBay
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