Riding Tip: Intersection Management Video Part 3

Published: Posted on October 11, 2018March 4, 2024 by admin

Last Updated: March 4th, 2024

TEAM Arizona Motorcycle Riding Tip: How To Manage Intersections P3: Positioning Yourself

In this video RiderCoach Jill explains three different scenarios for riders who approach intersections. She helps you maximize your safety by reducing your risk. This is part three of a four part series.

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Our goal with this video series is to help make you safer when traveling through intersections.

Come along with us as we look at THREE scenarios riders face when traveling in major Arizona cities.

Huge shout out to Trekky Delirium. In our previous video, we were asked to explain a few examples and we’re happy to oblige. If you have a comment or request, make sure to share them in the comments section below.

Before getting into these scenarios, we want you to know that dynamic lane positioning is an inexact science. Since our environment is constantly changing, it is impossible to always have the perfect lane position.

With that said, we want to do our best to maximize our ability to see and be seen, while improving our time and space around vehicles.

Sometimes, we are left making the best decision possible given some less than desirable options. Our challenge is to reduce our risk as much as possible; however, risk never goes away 100%.

In our first scenario, the rider is approaching an intersection on a wide-open multiple lane roadway. Notice how the rider is in the innermost lane; we call it Lane 1. He is also in position 1 of roughly three positions available. This maximizes the rider’s ability to see and be seen by oncoming motorists.

We are especially worried about vehicles turning left in front of us. For that reason, watch as the rider dynamically adjusts his lane position to improve his time and space while traveling through the intersection.

The movement from position one to position three also creates animation which may help in getting the motorist to see him better.

In this second scenario, the rider is traveling in between major intersections. Notice the raised medians with trees and vegetation.

These elements can obscure the rider from oncoming traffic that want to turn left, so the rider adjusts their position from 1 to 3 to improve their ability to see and be seen.

Also notice how the rider doesn’t allow vehicles around him to obstruct oncoming motorist line of sight. Compare the two situations; one without median obstructions and one with. Can you see the difference in riding position?

In our third and final scenario, we often see riders hiding in the outside lane in position three. Riders may think this is a safe position next to the curb, but it really isn’t.

We can easily get lost to motorists who want to turn out of a business area or who want to turn left in front of us. It also places us next to a fixed, raised object which limits our escape options to the right.

If a rider is using that lane to make a right turn, position 3 invites motorists to share the lane. Therefore, if turning right, we encourage riders to use lane position one. This automatically sets the rider up for an outside-inside-outside path of travel and discourages motorists from sharing the lane.

Thank you for watching this video. If you liked the video, please give it a thumbs up and place a comment below! If you want more, make sure to subscribe to our channel.

Be safe and have fun everyone!