7 Tips for staying visible on the road

As we can all appreciate, motorbikes are not always easily seen by car and truck drivers on our roads, particularly in the rain and the dark. It only takes one mistake and a second of inattention for your world to come crashing down, so remaining vigilant and visible on our roads is of prime importance to anyone riding a bike.

The key is visibility, so here are our top 5 tips for staying noticeable by other drivers in the NT.

Visible safety gear: Wearing high viz protective gear on your bike is one of the easiest ways to catch the eye of other drivers on the road. Florescent orange, red and green colours are always worn by road workers at night and they work just as well for bike riders.
Visible bikes: Some of the motorbikes on the market are brightly coloured, which might not be your cup of tea, but will help other road users to see you coming. Even if they catch sight of you at the last minute, it can make all the difference to the outcome.
Blind spots: Most cars and trucks have blind spots, particularly long trucks, road trains and cars towing caravans. If you are in a blind spot, the driver has no chance of seeing you unless they turn their head to look. The problem is that most drivers rely solely on their mirrors, so always overtake quickly and stay out of blind spots.
Tapping your breaks: If you think that the vehicle behind you is driving too close to stop in an emergency or you can see that they are on the phone or even texting – tapping your brakes a few times can catch their eye and make them pay attention to what’s in front of them.
Use your horn: If you realise that you are in a blind spot and the driver hasn’t noticed you and they are moving into your lane – honk your horn repeatedly to draw their attention to your predicament. At the same time, move into the left lane if it is safe, away from the offending driver.
Use your high beam: During the day, you can use your high beam to increase your visibility and it won’t be a problem to oncoming traffic. At night however, you will blind oncoming traffic, so be judicious in using your high beam at night, but always remember that it is better to be seen by oncoming traffic than mowed over!
Reflective tape: This is a really cheap way to increase the visibility of your bike at night and involves simply adding reflective tape to your wheel rims - it can’t get any easier than that! Thanks, so much for John's comment about bikes usually been seen, but the tiny scooters that many ride around on with small wheels and 25-40k top speed are dangerous. lots around in darwin.