Wet night road, a tailgater on main beam and a bend
It is 22:30 in February on an unlit regional road. You are riding at 65 km/h on a surface still wet from earlier rain, with a grass verge and low stone wall on your left and a tall hedge on your right. Dried water marks smear your visor. A car has been sitting about 10 m behind you for the last kilometre with its headlights on main beam, and a second car is coming towards you around a gentle right bend, its lights flaring over the hedge. A sign warns of a series of bends ahead and you can see about 60 m of road surface.
1. What is the first thing you change, and how do you justify the number?
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Speed - first, and before anything else.
The governing rule at night is that you must be able to stop within the distance you can see to be clear. Your sight line is about 60 m, and the bend warning says it gets shorter, not longer.
Do the arithmetic at 65 km/h (about 18 m/s):
- Thinking distance at a 1-second reaction: roughly 18 m.
- Braking on a wet surface is far longer than dry - allow broadly double the dry figure, so in the order of 35-45 m.
That total is at or beyond your 60 m sight line before you add smeared visor, glare from two sets of headlights and hedge shadow that hides the verge. The 80 km/h limit on this road is a maximum for good conditions; it is not a target for tonight.
Ease down to roughly 45-50 km/h, and slower again through the bends themselves.
2. The car behind is 10 m back on main beam. What do you do, and what must you not do?
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Do not accelerate to get away. You would be riding to the edge of your own light on a wet road, arriving at the bends too fast, with the car still behind you. The glare would not improve.
Do:
- Slow progressively and early, with the brake light on, so the driver has time to react. A sudden stop with a car 10 m back means you get hit.
- Adjust the mirror to reduce the glare (tilt it, or stop staring into it). Keep your own dip beam on so you remain visible.
- Use the left verge and edge marking as your reference line when the oncoming car's lights flare over the hedge - look at the road, not into the lights.
- If a safe pull-in appears (a gateway, a wide verge), signal left and let the car pass. Letting a tailgater go is often the cheapest fix available.
Do not brake-check, wave angrily, or ride faster than your sight line to create a gap you cannot see into.
3. How do you manage your headlight and road position through the bends?
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Headlight: stay on dip while the oncoming car is approaching - main beam through a hedge gap will dazzle them and, at this range, you too. Once it has passed and the road ahead is dark, go to main beam to pick up the verge, the wall and anything moving in the grass margin; dip again immediately for the next vehicle.
Position:
- On a right-hand bend, sit slightly left of the centre of your lane - the best view of the road ahead and the most room from anything cutting the corner.
- Do not hug the verge: grass, gravel, a low wall and a drain all punish a bike leaned over in the wet.
- Set your speed before the bend and keep off the brakes while leaned over. On a wet surface, braking mid-corner is where grip runs out.
Scanning: the sign says a series of bends, so treat the exit of each one as the entry to the next, and expect the hedge to hide a broken-down vehicle, an animal or a walker with no light.