I’ve been riding for years and that thought still pops into my head. Just reminds me of what I need to be vigilant for.
Speaking as a cager though not one of those cagers, don’t split lanes ever. It just pisses off my brethren and one is likely to open his door on you.
Great advice and not much to add except, refresher course and take as many as your acadamy offers. More education is a good thing. ATGATT!!! Assume every one else on the road is out to kill you and you’ll seldom be surprised. My time cycle commuting in Winnipeg on two lane roads taught me that and it’s served me on my limitted time on motorcycles as well.
Definitely ATGATT. As the saying goes, “We dress for the fall, not for the ride.”
Now that I’ve rejoined my two wheeled brethren, it utterly amazes me how many are riding in shorts and t-shirt and NO HELMET!
Sadly, many of them are on some variety of Cruiser bike, most sportbike (or “Zoom-Splats!” As I call them 
) riders are at least leathered up and wearing a skid-lid, at least sport bikers are aware of the dangers of cycling…
NH has no helmet laws…
I’m due to replace my old HJC full face helmet anyway, I’ve never liked full face, the visor steams up even with all vents open, my next brain bucket will be an open face high visibility color, fluorescent yellow or green like the hivis safety vests worn by road crews.
Ah Yes, helmets. Go buy a new one. 
I forgot to add that. If you’re using an old helmet, you’re asking for trouble. They age out even if they haven’t been dropped and there are a lot of really good designs out there.
This. IIf you want people to respect your lane, stay in it.
You could not pay me enough to ride with an open face helmet. I enjoy having a jaw and face.
As the saying goes, “Open helmet; Closed casket.”
Yup. Let’s do the math. Based on that research, there’s a 45.5% chance that in a crash, an impact on your helmet will be on the part of the helmet that doesn’t actually exist.
Make sure your helmet has the latest Snell rating, too.
Before I started riding I saw a documentary about Evel Knievel that included a scene in which he’s lying on the ground, injured and waiting for an ambulance after coming off his bike at the end of a big jump. It was inside a large arena, and he was supposed to have exited through a large portal. Instead, he went headfirst into a cinderblock wall a few feet to the side of the portal.
He looked at the inch-deep gouge in the wall and then at the Bell full-face helmet he had been wearing, and said something like, “The fact I’m still alive is a testament to that helmet.”
I wore Bell full-face helmets for the first decade or two of my time on a motorcycle. (Eventually I found other brands I liked and trusted as much as Bell.)
Okay then, full face it is, that makes sense, probably why I went FF originally, more protection
Hmm, maybe a white helmet with mirrored shield, then I can pretend to be The Stig’s Other American Cousin…
Even as a life-long rider with a garage full of bikes, in this era of the phone-gazing text-addicted driving Zombies, my best advice is to trade that bike for a better Jonboat.
Sorry, I know. It pains me to say it (but I’ve know much greater pain). If you’re interested, I’ll tell you about the two times I’ve been run over. Once by Cellphone Girl, the other by Mr. Drinky.
I still ride, but it’s deserted out here, but there just isn’t much joy anymore.
One nice feature I have on my helmet is an internal, flip up/down sun visor. It is SOOOO handy having that thing. Think about not having that on a bright, sunny day, and either entering a tunnel or a parking building or other shaded / darkened area (especially at speed), and it does take your eyes a few seconds to adjust. More seconds to adjust as we get older.
With that flip visor your eyes adjust much faster because you’ve flipped that visor up/down as needed.
For safety, I will always have that feature on my helmets.
Strong recommendation.
Or get your geek on… SW
Don’t ride at night, if you can help it. Hitting a deer will probably fucking kill you on a bike.
Damn you and your Jedi mind tricks! That was the helmet I was looking for, I went about my business and now the helmet is moving along to my house!
It was cheaper than the one I was looking at at the local motorcycle dealer even!
And that was a boring gray color.
I know, that’s what terrifies me, the celldiots texting behind the wheel
That’s why I’m treating the bike as a scooter driver on steroids, only local and backroad use during daylight hours
I no longer have a tow vehicle, and no place to store the boat, so the boat wasn’t exactly useful anymore
Yup. I have both a Shoei GT-Air and a Neotec II and that drop down shield is the greatest thing since I don’t know what.
Don’t do this. It’s illegal.
However, a headlight modulator (which doesn’t flash the headlight, just varies the intensity of the beam) is legal.
Machine Elf, above, advises against a headlight modulator. I disagree. No disrespect to Machine Elf, but after several hundred thousand miles on various motorcycles, my experience is that the modulator is eye-catching and makes oncoming drivers aware that you exist.
Get every kind of light you can. Someone above recommended kits that turn your turn signals into dual-filament lights, so they’re always on, and just flash brighter when the turn signals activated. Excellent. Do this, front and rear. Look into Moto Lights, too – they help a lot. Visibility will keep you alive.