A Different View Of Motorcycle Safety

We all see the bumper stickers that say "Start Seeing Motorcycles," or the billboards from A.B.A.T.E. that caution motorists to share the road with motorcycles.  I've been big on motorcycle safety awareness because I have had cars pull out in front of me or merge in my lane without seeing me (or maybe not caring) many times.

Today, I was the idiot in a car that didn't see a motorcycle.  Luckily it was an experienced rider that knew the rule when you ride a motorcycle to assume no one can see you.  I felt sick to my stomach for quite a while.  I was pretty shook up that I didn't see him.  How did it happen?

It was really early this morning and it was the perfect grayish part of dawn where things tend to blend together.  It's a screwy intersection where you have to look in a funny angle to see oncoming traffic.  I looked, but the motorcycle was hidden behind the frame of my cab at the end of the windshield.  They make those frames beefier for safety but they sure cut down on your forward view.  I looked, and the timing was 1 in a million for the rider to hide behind there.  That goes to show - motorcyclists, always assume you are invisible.  Because the truth is, and what I realized today, no matter how aware you are of motorcycles on the road, sometimes we just hide too well.