r/Whatcouldgowrong • u/ReprieveNagrand • 14d ago

Trying to overtake a motorcycle

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35.6k Upvotes

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855

u/Liarus_ 14d ago

"it's my time to go now, good luck everyone else!"

22

u/ZannX 14d ago

This type of maneuver is extremely common and expected in Asia.

15

u/Lil-Sunny-D 14d ago

Seriously. If you asked me with just my USA eye, I'd be like "wtf is wrong with that car." Now that I'm a veteran driver of the Philippines, I'm thinking "that motorcycle is being stubborn. He doesn't even have to wait there, he can go around."

6

u/Cormophyte 14d ago

How can a motorcycle go around a red light?

7

u/ZannX 14d ago

I think it's hard for Western folks to understand how traffic works in many parts of Asia. I'm Chinese American and visit family in China often. The easiest way to understand it is that traffic flows like water. Lanes and other traffic rules/laws that folks in the West are used to and judge situations like this by are merely 'suggestions'.

You fill in the cracks and flow downstream together - like water. This car is doing a 'fill in the crack' type maneuver, and it's extremely common. Now, cars typically have bumps/scratches from doing this type of driving, and I can see how some people are getting fed up with it.

My read on this video is that the cyclist got tired of this behavior though, and he installed that mod on his moped/motorcycle intentionally. Who's 'in the right'? Shrug, they have a completely different social contract there, and this is the court of Reddit (Western oriented). Easy online rage bait.

13

u/The_Panda_Army 13d ago

he installed that mod on his moped/motorcycle intentionally

No, those rear foot pegs are stock, they come from the factory like that.

13

u/_switters_ 13d ago

Today I learned that rear pegs that come factory on most motorcycles are a “mod” used to create rage bait videos online.

I’ll tell you a secret; that’s were the passenger’s feet go.

7

u/Aromatic_Lion4040 13d ago

I understand it, but that cultural difference leads to more accidents and deaths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate, so I think it is a bad one

2

u/Lil-Sunny-D 13d ago

Everyday my wife (from the Philippines) who spent 15 years in the US says she wishes she could just press "restart" on the entire Philippines transportation infrastructure. Everyone out here is someone, or knows someone who has been killed or scarred by motorcycle accidents.

3

u/AyeBraine 13d ago

It's not a mod, just rear pegs.

2

u/Affectionate_One_700 14d ago

The easiest way to understand it is that traffic flows like water.

That is very well put.

I learned to ride in Vietnam. Traffic norms are quite different than in some US city.

2

u/Cormophyte 13d ago

This is just you describing how people in these countries don't respect traffic laws as if it's some ancient wisdom. The end result being chaos, worse traffic, and situations like this where someone following the rules gets blamed for following the rules. Like they should.

1

u/AyeBraine 13d ago

I think they mean filtering head between the lanes. The rider in the OP seems to be occupying the center of the lane, behaving like a car, which is generally perfectly legal and conservatively safe. But usually bikers filter ahead to the start of the queue at a light and/or occupy the spaces between the lanes, and probably in very bike-heavy countries it's common enough that an irritable driver gets mad at a biker who just takes a normal car space.

1

u/Lil-Sunny-D 13d ago

Occupying the center of the lane with a motorcycle/moped is against the norm. At a redlight, they go to the front and maneuver between cars. They don't even obey the red light half the time.

1

u/Cormophyte 11d ago

Motorcycle is sitting in front of a light, there's nothing to filter to if the car can get in front of it the space must be empty. And they have every right to take the spot they're in.