Like it or not, being "invisible" to other motorists is an unfortunate reality of riding a motorcycle.  And while we are significantly smaller on the road than most other vehicles, there’s more than just our size contributing to being difficult to see.  Although we can’t do much about our size (unless, maybe, we add a sidecar), there are other things we can do and look out for to improve our visibility and help fellow motorists see us.

First and foremost, we can wear bright colors when we ride (our HOG Chapter orange T-shirt is always a good choice).  Also a white or silver helmet is more conspicuous than a black one.  We can increase the visibility of our bikes by riding with the passing lamps turned on, if we have them, and by adding additional running lights to the rear.

The choice of where to ride in our lane should be based primarily on maximizing our visibility, as well as building a space-cushion between other motorists and ourselves.  That means positioning in the lane should vary according to conditions.  We need to look for things that can obscure the vision of other motorists around or approaching us, including road signs, trees, hedges, pedestrians, and other cars, and adjust our lane position accordingly.

Even the time of day and the position of the sun can become a critical visibility factor.  Remember how fighter planes in the old war movies always tried to attack out of the sun so the enemy couldn’t see them coming.  Well, that’s good for attacking fighters, but bad for cruising motorcycles.  We can’t change the position of the sun, but we can at least be aware that oncoming motorists may have difficulty seeing us under those conditions.

We can also look for potential driver preoccupation with other passengers, eating, cell phones, fogged windows, etc., that might cause them to be inattentive to us and driving in general.  Again, we can’t control the other motorists’ preoccupation, but if we at least recognize it we might be able to adjust our own path of travel to minimize our exposure, or at least plan an escape route if the worst happens.

Finally, we need to stay out of other motorist’s blind spots.  And by the way, those spots may be larger than we think—a lot of drivers don’t have their mirrors properly adjusted.

Remember, with a little common sense and attention to improving our visibility, we can have fun AND survive—even without a sidecar.