Ben Elves
Ben Elves
Jul 21, 2017 · 5 min read

Driving Standards; a symptom of society.

I am one of those strange people known as a motorcyclist. We have several names, such as throttle jockey, biker, nutter, and bloody fool. Some people think we are intimidating, others thing we are a bit exotic. But we are also victims. We are 40 times more likely to be killed on the road than a motorist. Most people would draw in a sharp breath and shake their head when hearing that statistic, and mutter something along the lines of “Dangerous things, motorbikes”, but actually this is not the case. 48% of collisions between motorcycles and cars are caused by the motorist failing to look properly. In fact this is the most frequent cause of incidents for all vehicles……except motorcycles. Other causes for motorcycle crashes are; poorly maintained roads, vehicles manoeuvring without indicating, and pedestrians stepping into the road. So let us turn this view of motorcycles on its head. Motorcycles are not in fact dangerous; other road users are, and we bikers pay the price.

When I ride my motorbike, the things I see happening on the road often beggar belief. Bus drivers looking you squarely in the eye as they pull out in front of you on roundabouts, cars change lanes without indicating, pedestrians thinking that they can just walk out into the road in front of you (possibly assuming we can just ride round them), and cyclists bumping off the pavement and into the road right beside us. Any biker will agree with me, we really have to have our wits about us. And here in Norfolk, things seem worse. In my 34 years of biking, I have only lived in Norfolk for 9 years. In that 34 years I have had two crashes. Both of them in Norfolk. Both of them occurred when cars pulled out right in front of me and I hit them. I can see a pattern forming. It wasn’t that long ago I was nearly knocked off my motorbike on Queens Road in Norwich as a white van changed lanes right beside me; the driver neither looked nor indicated. Well; the van wasn’t entirely white; it had the word “POLICE” written down the side of it in big dark blue letters.

Sadly it would seem the residents of this Fine City of Norwich- in fact from experience, the whole of the UK, are happy to accept this automotive chaos. I don’t. I shake my head in disappointment when I see Driving instructors turning off at junctions with the yellow flashy things at the corners of their vehicles not working, at people who seem to be in a coma at traffic lights and need an hour to get moving when they go green, and at the others with brakes that evidently don’t work, because they find it absolutely impossible to stop at the solid white line when the lights go red. They are either half a car length over it, or a full car length behind. Not so long ago, with the idea of writing an article on this subject planted in mind, and a steel plate planted in my leg, I decided to do a bit of obsessing about junctions. On one occasion I stood at a set of city centre traffic lights, and saw that 3 motorists out of 42 bothered using their indicators. Ok that makes me sound like a bit of a ****, but I would call it research; so I can say I know what I am talking about.

Most of us bikers like to rant a bit about motorists (or “cagers”), but I have to say at this point that I am a motorist too. Now; buying a car in Norfolk confuses me. I have bought three cars since moving here; and they seem to have been rare vehicles indeed! The yellow flashy things on the corners all work, the loud beepy thing works, the fog lights actually switch off, the brakes do not suddenly slam on without reason, and the steering doesn’t suddenly make my car veer off into another lane regardless of any other vehicle around me.

Sarcasm aside though, I do consider that the rapidly falling driving standards around us are a reflection of our society, and are a very good indicator of people’s general attitudes. One only has to pass a school when parents are dropping off their children to see how drivers suddenly abandon all reason and disregard the rules of the road. Any thoughts of responsibility as a road user are thrown aside to achieve their goal; dropping off their youngster as near to the school gates as possible to avoid having to do any walking whatsoever. The inconvenience to others matters not a jot provided little Jimmy or Charlotte get to morning registration on time. Better to break the law than leave home five minutes earlier. I also feel the lack of indicator use is a sign of arrogance and selfishness. To me it says “I am going where I want to go; stuff the rest of you, for I am more important than you, and have no room for thoughts of others in my head.” Well this perhaps isn’t entirely true- many think of other whilst driving. In fact, the thought of others makes them lift their mobile phone and type a text message, or have a flick through Sadbook to see what they are missing out there in the big bad world; forgetting that they are missing what is actually going on around them. Yes it is against the law to use your mobile life support system whilst driving, but does it stop people? No. There are still a vast variety of self-centred idiots that still it does no harm to immerse themselves in social media or type an inane and trivial message to a loved one or friend whom they wouldn’t speak to if they sat beside them in the pub. And why wouldn’t they chat? Because they are busy playing with their bloody phone. Even though it is illegal to use a mobile phone whilst driving it amazes me to see just how many people still do it. Some think it is acceptable behaviour when in a queue of traffic. Well it is certainly not! Just because their car is not moving, it does not mean other road users are motionless too.

Casting my mind back, I remember a time when failing to indicate got you stopped by the cops, as did driving with one headlight broken, or driving like a retarded chimpanzee. These days however, the only offences seem to be speeding or drink driving. This misses the point though, as both the bike accidents that I had were at less than the speed limit, and alcohol was not involved either. So let us say goodbye to bad driving; toot your horn at somebody who fails to indicate, stops on a “school keep clear” sign, brakes for no apparent reason, or pulls out in front of you causing you to hit the brakes. Because the next time they do it, they could kill either me, you, or an innocent child.

Oh, and to the Police, I would like to ask, can you please help my cause?

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