Andy, I'm sure it must be hard some days, there you are throwing down your pearls of wisdom to be then kicked in the bo****ks.
Sadly no amount of us putting the world to rights about how fast we should or can/think we can safely go will ever change the laws.
Tomorrow we'll ride safely and then the one in a million strikes and your on the deck.

I nearly hit the deck last night. Dark and semi-country road, Peugeot comes straight out of left turning and in front of me (less than 10ft away). Luckily its a 40 and I was doing 40. Missed the car by about 3 inches and managed to stay upright all be it on the wrong side of the road.

Clean undies required though....

The times I had a close one, have always been my own fault, mis-judging my speed for how tight a bend really is.
I try to ride defensively with the approach they are all out to get me.

part 1, classic problem, people not reading the road. 99% of all riding/driving problems are down to observation.

part 2, excellent approach, (cos they are!)

;)

Have to say that doing a Bikesafe course a few weeks ago helped as my road position was such that I could avoid the ****.

Fortunately I have only had 2 moments when I went S**t and was pushed out of my comfort zone, when you knew if it went completleyt wrong it was going to hurt.
I hoped it was me over reacting to a situation that was not truely that bad, as in the end of the day, there was no panic braking or stearing involved.
I'm still here, but have not forgotten those moments!

I know where you are coming from but the Law is decidedly unfair in some situations. I had an accident at a motoway island in the middle of 3 lanes that had traffice lights and Gatso's. I was desperately trying to clear myself off the carriageway, waiting for the left hand side lane to clear so I could move the car off the road in a layby after the lights. I moved forward past the lights and once the carriage way was clear proceeded to the layby. The gatso got me at 0.2 past a red light traveling at 12.9 Mph ( hardly speeding thro a red light) I sent my insurance letters off to prove the accident had happened at approx 5 mins before the photo was taken and they still fined me . So a higher insurance premium and £60 & 3 points to boot. Law is definately sometimes an A55 :(

Surely if the rules were adhered to by the police, there would be no loopholes? Doesn't the smart arse point to prove high profile lawyer rely on exactly that for his cases?

Note - this is absolutely not a personal attack on any police that my be present here. Merely to point out that both sides have rules to follow.

Exactamundo, more and more well clued up amateurs are challenging the professionals using "the rules" as they stand, no professional likes to have a their position challenged,

The powers that be are not averse to employing the Hot shot lawyers either, Nick Freeman got Inspector Christopher Cropper of the Greater manchester police off a drink driving charge in 2004 on a techinicality


Can everyone honestly say if they are faced with a speeding ticket they are not going to use a loophole to get off??

Ray.