5 TIPS FOR RIDING AT NIGHT OR IN BAD WEATHER
What should you be careful of?
It is a reality, at night the number of dangers increases significantly. When the sun goes down, your vision diminishes, but it's not just your vision that diminishes, that of other road users around you diminishes as well.
It is therefore much more complicated to anticipate and plan your trajectory and your actions on the road. Other factors must be taken into account, such as the drop in temperature, the passage of animals, obstacles that are not visible enough, drunk drivers or even empty rural roads.
Tip #1: Make yourself visible!
Equipping yourself to be as visible as possible is a necessary and obligatory thing for us bikers. Indeed, we only have one front headlight and one rear LED. Equipment that allows you to be seen in all circumstances must be worn night and day to ensure optimal safety. By equipping themselves with retro-reflective elements, the motorcyclist can easily be seen and at a fairly long distance. The stickers on the helmet are now mandatory as well as the wearing of a high visibility vest. Retro-reflective armbands are also very useful to allow the rider to be visible at 360°.
In short, equipping yourself to make yourself visible is very accessible, you can be visible at a lower cost. The equipment is generally very simple to install and this small investment is totally beneficial for your safety.
Tip #2: Make your motorcycle visible
In addition to equipping yourself, it is also essential to equip your motorcycle so that it too is as visible as possible. After equipping yourself, we can add retro-reflective rim stripes that will provide excellent side visibility, decorative stickers to place on your motorcycle. In addition, if you are equipped with luggage storage, there are many stickers that can be placed there in order to warn other road users that your motorcycle is wider than expected!
Tip #3: Give yourself every chance to see well
In order to see better, the motorcyclist must prepare his motorcycle but also his equipment!
First of all, the windscreen, optical windows and mirrors must be kept clean. In addition, pay attention to the traces of fog that may be present inside the headlights. A reduction in brightness of 50% can be avoided. The bulbs have a lifespan equivalent to 3-4 years depending on the model, so you have to think about changing them after a while.
Fog lamps must be functional to allow the motorcyclist to circulate quietly in all weathers.
Concerning the biker's equipment, it must also be the subject of some preparations beforehand.
First of all, it is important to ensure that the visor, mask or glasses are clean (avoid fingerprints, etc.). The adjustment of the helmet to guarantee a correct angle of vision and a field of vision that allows good anticipation is mandatory.
Tip n°4: Equip yourself against the cold
Note, the temperature on your thermometer will not be the same as that felt during your journeys, you will be much colder while driving! And at night, even more so, that goes without saying.
On a motorcycle, the cold can cause several problems: loss of attention, reduced reaction time, being frozen, being slower, having pain...
To avoid all these inconveniences, suitable equipment must be worn by the motorcyclist.
5th advice: React well in the event of an incident
Here is the little “security” point of this article. In addition to seeing and being seen, make sure you always anticipate, brake correctly by applying both brakes simultaneously or only the rear brake when necessary, never block both wheels of your vehicle. To have a real assured driving, be in good physical and mental shape and obviously do not take the road while being under the influence of narcotics or alcohol.
Unfortunately, and despite all the advice given, an accident quickly happened. Depending on the severity of the accident, a call for help is necessary. Liberty Rider has developed an application to report to the rescue that the motorcyclist has fallen, in fact this application detects, geolocates and can directly contact the emergency services in the event of loss of consciousness of the motorcyclist.
