I commute everyday on my scooter. I loathe driving in traffic. On days when I can't take my scooter, I'd rather take the bus than drive. And that speaks a lot since I'm not a huge fan of taking transit anymore. In Vancouver, there was a bigger benefit of riding to work since motorcycles are allowed on HOV lanes and pay half the tolls. In Kelowna, it's just my love of being on two wheels.
Being a defensive rider is the best way of preventing accidents -- even the ones that aren't your fault. I'll never stick around in a vehicle's blind spot (thus the slingshotiong past cars in the article), my focus is on making myself visible on the roads, and I expect that people can't see me anyway. Kelowna drivers are a lot more attentive to motorcyclists, maybe because there are some many of us here. I do find Okanagan drivers more aggressive though especially with the Albertan influence, whereas Vancouver drivers are more incompetent. Jacob mentions making wide sweeping left or right turns and while that goes against what my riding school in Vancouver taught me (left turns from lane position 1, right turns from 3), wide turns is something I've adapted in the Okanagan because of the tailgaters. Speaking of tailgaters, while I am a fairly confident rider, nothing freaks me out more than tailgaters. Dear drivers, please do not tailgate us.
One thing I've learned from riding school that I practice and advocate is maintaining dominant lane position. If you're in the left lane, stay in lane position 3 (to the right of centre) to maintain dominance of the lane and prevent drivers for squeezing into your lane. If you're in the right lane, stay in lane position 1. If you're in a centre lane, you will probably have to figure out which position is best to take based on the drivers around you and you may have to switch around from time to time. To you new riders at least in BC, you do not have to signal to change lane positions but you need to shoulder check, your road test examiner will be looking for that. If you're approaching a blind crest in the hill or you're going through an intersection where cars in the other direction are waiting to turn left, go to lane position 3 (right of centre). You'll be more visible there and out of harm's way. Also by being in lane position 3, you prevent motion camouflage especially with those waiting to turn left. A motorcyclist who appears to be moving sideways to a driver is a lot more visible than a motorcyclist who's coming straight at the driver.
Green good, red bad:
The only thing I don't agree with is lane splitting, except in California. Until it's legal, I have no temptation to try it. And even if it were legal, I'd probably only do it in the worst of traffic when it's over 30 Celsius.
