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The System of Motorcycle Control
(for Chinese version click 〈譯文〉)

From Chapter 2 of "Motorcycle Roadcraft: The Police Rider’s Handbook to Better Motorcycling"
©The Police Foundation, UK, published by The Stationery Office, London

The need for a system of motorcycle control

These notes explain the system of motorcycle control, and show you how to use the system to negotiate hazards. A feature of nearly all road accidents is human error. The purpose of the system of motorcycle control is to provide a way of approaching and negotiating hazards that is methodical, safe and leaves nothing to chance. If you use it consistently with the right frame of mind, good observation and a high level of skill in bike control, you should avoid causing accidents yourself and be able to anticipate many of the hazards caused by other road users.

Using the system will help to give you calm control of your machine, and enable you to deal with hazards without getting flustered. Your progress will be steady and unobtrusive — the characteristics of a skilled rider.

Riding skills

Riding requires more than pure handling skills. Many hazards encountered by riders are unpredictable. You need an investigative approach to recognise and negotiate them safely. You should learn to expect the unexpected. Riding uses both mental and physical skills:

Mental skills

The ability to scan the environment, recognise relevant dangers or hazards, decide on their priority and form an achievable riding plan.

Physical skills

The ability to translate intentions and thoughts into physical action accurately and smoothly.

In using these skills you need to take into account:

• ability as opposed to perceived ability (what you can actually do as opposed to what you think you can do — in the average rider there is a significant gap between real and perceived ability. A key objective of rider training is to bring perceptions in line with reality)
• capabilities of the machine
• prevailing weather and road conditions.

There is much to anticipate and think about when riding. Road and traffic conditions continually change, requiring you to adjust course and speed frequently. You need to take many factors into account: the activities of other road users, where they might be and what they might do; the closeness of other vehicles; the need to signal your intentions; the road and surface conditions; the weather; and the handling characteristics of your bike. The system of motorcycle control simplifies this task. It provides a simple and consistent method of riding ensuring that you overlook no detail and leave nothing to chance.

The system of motorcycle control gives you that essential aspect of safe riding - time to react.

Hazards

A hazard is anything that is potentially dangerous. A hazard can be immediate and obvious, such as a car approaching you on the wrong side of the road, or it may be less obvious but just as potentially dangerous, such as a blind bend which conceals a lorry reversing into your path. Much of your road craft skill is in the early recognition of hazards — the situations that are potentially dangerous — and then taking the appropriate action to deal with them. One of the main causes of accidents is the failure to recognise hazardous situations — if you fail to see the potential danger you cannot take actions to avoid it.

On the roads you will meet three main types of hazard:

• physical features such as junctions, roundabouts, bends or hill crests
• risks arising from the position or movement of other road users
• problems arising from variations in the road surface, weather conditions and visibility.

At the end of your next journey, look back over the way you approached and negotiated hazards and ask yourself the following questions:

• Did you always know what was happening behind before changing direction or speed?
• Did you always have the right position, speed and gear for the hazard?
• Were you able to negotiate all the hazards smoothly without any snatched last-minute adjustments?
• Did you always give yourself time to react?

 

The System of Motorcycle Control

The system promotes careful observation, early anticipation and planning, and a systematic use of the controls to achieve maximum machine stability. It is a systematic way of dealing with an unpredictable environment. It is central to Motorcycle Roadcraft, drawing together all other riding skills in a coordinated response to road and traffic conditions. It gives you the time to select the best position, speed and gear to negotiate the hazards safely and efficiently.

Hazards come singly and in clusters; they overlap and change all the time. The system accommodates this continual fluctuation by means of a centrally flexible element — you, the rider. As with the other skills in Motorcycle Roadcraft, you have responsibility for using the system actively and intelligently. When you use the system to approach and negotiate a hazard, you consider and use a logical sequence of actions to take you past it safely and efficiently. If new hazards arise, you adapt by reassessing the situation and reapplying the system at an appropriate phase.

The five phases of the system

The system is divided into five phases:

• Information

• Position

• Speed

• Gear

• Acceleration

Each phase is dependent on the one before, and you should consider the phases in sequence. Normally you would start by considering your information needs, and then work through each phase in turn. But if road conditions change, you need to consider new information and re-enter the system at an appropriate phase, continuing through it in sequence. The system must be used flexibly in response to actual road conditions; do not follow the sequence rigidly if it is inappropriate to the circumstances.

The phases of the system cover all the points you need to consider on the approach to a hazard. At each phase there are a number of points to consider, but you should only apply those points that are relevant to the situation.

The importance of the information phase

Taking, using and giving information introduces the system, and continues throughout it. You always need to be seeking information to plan your riding and you should provide information whenever other road users could benefit from it. Because of your increased vulnerability as a motorcyclist, your safety and at times your survival depend on your ability to take, use and give information. Information allows you to adapt the system to changes in road circumstances, and so continuous assessment of information overlaps with and runs through all the other phases of the system. It is the framework on which the other phases - position, speed, gear, and acceleration depend.

Information phase

• Take
• Use
• Give

Continuous assessment of information runs through every phase.

Rear observation and signals

Constantly assess the situation ahead and to the side for changes in the circumstances. Use rear observation (mirror and/or looking behind) as often as is necessary to be fully aware of what is happening behind you. Give a signal whenever it could benefit another road user.

At certain points in the system specific checks for information are important. Before you change position or speed you need to know what is happening in front, to the sides and behind you; mirror checks/looking behind at these points are essential. 

Remember the standard advice for manoeuvring: rear observation — signal — manoeuvre, even though you may at times decide a signal is not necessary.

Use of the horn

Sound your horn whenever you think another road user could hear and benefit from it. The purpose of the horn is to inform others that you are there. It gives you no right to proceed, and should never be used as a rebuke. It can be used at any stage of the system. Always be prepared to react to another road user’s horn warning.

The lifesaver check

The lifesaver is a last check over the shoulder into the blind spots to make sure nothing unexpected is happening before committing yourself to a manoeuvre. If you are turning, use it to check the blind spot on the side to which you intend to turn. The place for the lifesaver is just before the first part of the acceleration phase. Use your judgement about when to use it: In congested urban situations a lifesaver check is normally essential, especially when turning right into a minor road; but during high speed overtaking, when you are certain what is happening behind, it is often safer to keep your eyes on what is happening ahead.

When you use a lifesaver, do it early enough to allow you to adopt an alternative plan. There is no use looking over your shoulder as you start to turn the machine.

Use the system flexibly

The key point to remember is that the system depends on your using it intelligently and responsively. It is not an automatic mechanism but has to be adapted by you to the circumstances that arise. Used intelligently, it provides a logical but flexible sequence for dealing with hazards:

• you should consider all the phases of the system on the approach to every hazard, but you may not need to use every phase in a particular situation
• the information phase spans the whole system and entails a constant reassessment of plans
• if a new hazard arises consider whether you need to return to an earlier phase of the system.

Once you have learnt the system, practise it continually. It will become second nature, forming the basis upon which the finer points of your riding can be built.

Practise applying the system

Familiarise yourself with the five phases of the system and practise working through them whenever you ride. Remember to use the system flexibly according to the circumstances.

At first it might help to name each phase out loud as you enter it.

Review your performance and identify whether you:

• consider each phase
• consider all the aspects of each phase
• systematically work through the phases.

Where you have identified problems, work through them one by one, solving the first problem before you go on to the next.

Information The information phase overlaps every other phase of the system. Take information Look all round you. Scan to the front and sides. Carry out rear observation at the appropriate points in the system. Always consider rear observation before you change direction or speed. As you approach, closely observe the quality of the road surface up to and through the hazard. Use information Using the information you have gathered, plan how to deal with the identified hazards and make contingency plans for dealing with the unexpected. Decide on your next action using the system as a guide. If new hazards arise consider whether you need to rerun the system from an earlier phase. Give Information If you have decided a signal could help other road users, give it; remember other road users include pedestrians and cyclists. Your options include indicators, brake light, flashing your headlight, arm signals and sounding your horn. Give a signal whenever it could benefit other road users, no matter what stage of the system you are at. Generally the earlier the warning the greater the benefit.

Position Position yourself so that you can negotiate the hazard/s safely and smoothly. Before you change position consider rear observation. Take account of the road surface and other road users —including pedestrians. cyclist and children.

Speed Adjust your speed to that appropriate for the hazard, taking into account visibility, the road surface, the degree of cornering required, the activities of other road users and the possibility of unseen hazards. Use the throttle, brake or gears to give you the speed that will enable you to complete the manoeuvre. During the later stages of braking change to the appropriate gear. Make good use of acceleration sense. Aim to make all adjustments in speed smoothly and steadily; early anticipation is essential for this.

Gears Select the appropriate gear for the speed at which you intend to negotiate the hazard. Pass through intermediate gears during the later stages of any braking by the block changing method or by systematically working through the gears, engaging each appropriate gear as speed is lost. Except in slippery conditions, avoid using your gears as brakes. Always avoid late braking and snatched gear changes.

Acceleration Consider rear observation. Use the throttle to maintain your speed and stability through the hazard. Open the throttle sufficiently to offset any loss of speed due to cornering forces Taking account of your speed, the road surface, the amount of turn required, other road users, and the road and traffic conditions ahead and behind, decide whether it is appropriate to accelerate away from the hazard. Choose an appropriate point to accelerate safely and smoothly, adjust the amount of acceleration to the circumstances.

The Thinking Motorcyclist

Road Rage and Aggressive Driving

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