Mind the Gap: Navigating Intersections Safely

by Ivy Vanessa Yapelli

Navigating intersections can be tricky business particularly when there’s heavy traffic. However even light traffic can pose a danger to motorcycles, depending on the configuration. That’s what I’d like to address with this piece.

It’s usually safer to enter an intersection along with other vehicles. Other vehicles are more likely than you are to be seen by oncoming cars and trucks. That’s what they’re looking for; big metal cages. But mind the gap, that is, the gap between vehicle in front of and behind you.

Refer to the illustration as I describe a typical intersection situation. Let’s imagine you’re riding down the road and you’re approaching a basic 4-way intersection. Coming from the opposite direction is a car waiting to turn left. There are multiple vehicles in front of you and multiple vehicles behind you. You are “in the gap.”

In other words, from the perspective of the car waiting to turn left, the space you occupy appears empty. When traffic is heavy, they are watching the oncoming traffic and likely looking for the first chance to thread the needle, so to speak, and make their turn as soon as there’s a gap.

Whether their view is blocked by an object like a big truck traveling in front of you, or because they just don’t see you, you are potentially in a very dangerous place. To avoid this, I slow down or speed up to go through with other vehicles, meaning, I am safer going through an intersection beside another vehicle, rather than leading or trailing them like you would do normally.  With this strategy, I try to stay out of the gap.

The illustration shows multiple lanes of traffic. The circled motorcycle is in the gap. (Note the rider’s lane position with respect to visibility to oncoming traffic, specifically the car that wants to turn left. Refer to the Lane Position Unit for more details on this strategy.)

If I were the rider, I would have a few options. I could change lanes and speed up to be next to the vehicle currently in front of me, or I could slow down before reaching the intersection so that I could go through next to the car in the top (right) lane that is just coming into view. If it were a two-lane road, I would slow down to widen the gap and give myself more time to react if the vehicle turning left did turn into my path. Bottom line, be aware of the vehicles around you and use them to your advantage.