Motorcycle safety tip: Keep to side of the road as far as possible

I was riding a Suzuki scooter for a few years and in all these years, I have tried my best to keep to the side of the road as far as possible and only venture to the middle of the road or to the other side of the road when I am forced to as when I have to take a turn off or I need to change lane. The reason is simple. The motorcycle has only 1 spark plug. If this spark plug fails, the motorcycle is out of power and if you are in the middle of the road, it will be extremely dangerous to try to manoeuvre to the safety of the emergency lane or to the side of the road. I liken it to a single engine airplane. If the engine died, it is tough for the plane to glide to safety.

If the video above upload successfully, you will see a very unfortunate and very frightening video showing a motorcyclist begin changing lane in front of a large truck. I suspect what I had always fear, the motor died, happened to the unfortunate motorcyclist in the video. The motorcycle slowed down just as it moved to the front of the truck. The truck continued and rolled over the motorcyclist. If you view the accident in the video, I am sure you will be frightened enough to take this safety tip to heart, keep to the side of the road as far as possible.

Water safety - inlet vent

When swimming in a swimming pool or any other bodies of water which have an inlet sucking in water, do not get too near to the inlet. You could be sucked in, and even if you do not get sucked in, you could be pinned to the vent and unable to get away.

An example to show why this is very dangerous. A boy in Thailand dived into swimming pool to try to retrieve his goggles and got too near the water inlet leading to the pool's filtration system and got sucked in. He drowned

Hug side of road - Motorcycle safety tip

When you ride a motorcycle, try your best to stick to dedicated motorcycle lanes which you do not have to share with speeding cars and trucks wherever available. That is the safest place for a motorcyclist to be in. When that is not possible and you have to be on the main roads and "rubbing shoulders" with huge cars and lorries, try your best to stick to the side of the road. A motorcycle engine is only one cylinder with only one spark plug.

A motorcycle is like a single engine airplane. Now if you on a motorbike is in the middle of the road amonst the cars and trucks any the spark plug gives up on you or if the engine died for any other reason, it is like the single engine airplane in the air when there is engine failure. For the motorcyclist whose engine died while in the middle of the highway, he will be in a very dangerous situation with speeding vehicles zooming past him with the motorcycle slowly losing speed and eventually coming to a halt. Then he has to try to push the bike to the safety of the side of the highway past speeding vehicles.

Safety tip for staircase

In our life journey, we have to go up and down staircase millions of times. The staircase is a potential source of accident, especially if one is going down the staircase. If one missed a step, that can involved a potentially serious accident. This is especially for the elderly, particularly post-menopausal women whose bones may be more brittle.

All staircase should have bannister or railing for one to hold on to when climbing up or down the staircase. When climbing the stairs, always have at least one hand free to grab the bannister if one trips or lose balance especially when climbing down the staircase. Never use both hands to hold things when climbing the staircase for if you trip, you will not be able to grab the railing to steady yourself.

Pedestrian Safety Tip: Avoid slope prevent slipping

Curbs are raised so that motor vehicles will not be able to drive up the curb and pedestrians can have vehicle-free curbs to walk on. However, in the name of making a city disabled friendly, part of the curb are sloped like what is shown in the photo above. This is to allow access to raised curbs for wheelchairs and thus make a city disable friendly.

Now if you are an able bodied pedestrian, one safety tip for you is to avoid the sloped surface and use the steps if any, or step up the curb instead of walking up the sloped surface. This safety tip is inspired by a fall I sustained when walking up a similar sloped surface like one shown in the photo.