Having recently purchased Jim Ford’s book The Art of Riding Smooth, his article “Squeezing Satisfaction and Fun Out of Straight Roads” (Owners News, March 2019) caught my attention. While many of Jim’s recommendations are shared between the two publications, I have a different view on the four advantages he mentions in both.

Advantage 1, Clearest View of the Vanishing Point

A vanishing point is the point at which receding parallel lines, when viewed in perspective, appear to converge at some point in the distance.

Jim Ford describes mini lanes by saying, “Visualize your side of a two-lane road as being divided into three longitudinal mini-lanes—like bowling lanes. Your left mini-lane is located just to the right of the center of the entire road. The middle mini-lane is located in the center, along the crown, of your side of the road, and the right mini-lane is located to the right, parallel to the road’s right shoulder. As an example, assume Jim is riding in the left-mini lane. I’m in my preferred right-mini and we’re riding on a flat, single-lane road about 12-feet wide approaching a crest of a hill a quarter-mile away. We’re both focused on the disappearing yellow centerline upon which a dead skunk lies just under the horizon. Though we each see a different vanishing point, how different are they?

If we were both to take photographs from our positions the moment Jim sees the skunk and then compare the images, the skunk wouldn’t be in my image because I’m a fraction of an inch further from the skunk than Jim and my sight distance doesn’t yet extend to that level of the horizon. Even so, I will still have virtually the same stopping opportunity (distance) once I see the hazard.

With this experiment it should be clear that no position within our 12-foot lane on a straight road provides a clearer view of the vanishing point, only a vanishing point with an imperceptible difference.

Lane shifting simply changes one’s perspective of objects ahead. While a rider in the left mini-lane can more easily see how many vehicles are ahead of him, a rider in the right mini-lane can more easily see the profile of approaching traffic.

Lane-shifting to gain perspective is an element in delayed-apex cornering, but the move’s key objective is to increase line of sight, which is different from a vanishing point.

In fairness to this example of vanishing points, they are used by autonomous-vehicle sensors for trajectory determination, while object recognition or avoidance is performed by systems using cameras, radar or lidar. It is this combination of sensory input, which Jim correctly identifies in his writings, that each rider must employ. Tree lines, power lines, slope, and guard-rail orientations are all elements surrounding a vanishing point and provide vital clues to the road ahead.

Advantage 2, Assert Yourself to Oncoming Traffic

Though I’m a relative newcomer to motorcycles, I’ve got decades of riding road bicycles and have two views of assertion. When teaching my kids about riding road bicycles, I always emphasized “riding like you’re driving.” Get yourself in the middle of the right-hand lane, wear appropriate reflective gear and use a review mirror. By using this position, you force drivers to recognize your presence. By comparison, riding on the shoulder gives drivers the sense they can pass you at will against oncoming traffic and is an invitation for a trip to the ditch.

But when riding a motorcycle, I have a different view of assertion. Let’s face it, some drivers view motorcyclists in a dim light. If you wear a Pickelhaube helmet and snug the centerline, you may receive the attention you don’t want.

Matadors wave muletas in front of the colorblind bull not to get his attention, but to provoke a response. Most importantly, distracting the oncoming motorist, who most likely already has me in sight, only increases my risk as that driver will not be focused on his own set of driving tasks.

As for Jim’s headlight flashing recommendation, the California Driver Handbook lists unnecessary flashing as aggressive driving. The practice can also be confusing to some drivers. How many times have you seen good-intentioned motorists at intersections flashing their headlights to signal an opposing driver to make a left turn in front of them?

On the front end of my motorcycle I have five lights. They are multicolored and very bright, and in most states it is legal to use the high-beam during daylight hours. Add some good reflective gear, ride the right mini-land and I believe you lessen risk.

Another reason I never ride the left mini-lane is to avoid multi-tasking drivers. Cell phones, in-dash displays and perhaps even driver-reliance systems on autonomous vehicles all create opportunities for centerline drift. At highway speeds the closing distance between you and an oncoming teenage-texter is incredibly short and potentially deadly. Two vehicles approaching each other at 60 mph do so at 176 feet per second. Personally, I’m not prepared to take evasive action at this rate.

Advantage 3, Equidistant from Wildcard Threats

We’ve all approached erratically moving chipmunks whose movements seem programmed by a random-number generator. At least deer, dogs and coyotes seem to have an objective when they first hit the road (which is to get to the other side) even though, as Jim notes they may not be graceful in their execution. These crossings have several key components including your speed, your distance when the animal first comes into view and the speed of the critter. An overlooked variable is oncoming traffic as you have no control over the evasive action an approaching driver may take in response to a common threat.

Your options with this wildcard include stopping, swerving right or left or collision. As mentioned earlier, I’m a bit nervous about oncoming traffic, especially with deer in the area. To ease my nerves, I prefer to keep oncoming traffic as far away as possible under any circumstances. I will be riding in the right mini-lane and will take my chances with a swerve onto the shoulder. I will admit that when riding a lonely Great Basin two-lane road with a setting sun, I’m on the centerline, but my speed is reduced.

Advantage 4, Give Yourself Something active to do

Here Jim hits mark. Forget about playing with your cell phone, GPS, radar detector, good-buddy headset or adjusting your heated gear. You should not look like you’re taking an EKG every time you get in the saddle. Just ride the bike! Whatever point you choose to view on a horizon will not make hazards disappear, but your focus will reduce riding risk.