When I used to ride, getting rear ended at a stop was one of my biggest fears other than people blowing stop signs. I always left more space in front of me that would give me room to maneuver as I watched for the car behind me to make the stop.
If you get rear ended at a stoplight or stopsign it’s very likely the motorcyclist is not at fault. The motorcyclist suffers significantly more bodily injury than a car driver would in a similar collision. As a motorcyclist, you can tell that sometimes people just don’t see you because their brain is looking for something car shaped.
When I ride, every time I stop at a stoplight or stopsign I am watching my rear view mirror to judge if the person behind me is going to stop, and I have an exit strategy if they don’t. Ive had some close calls.
I put auto horns on my motorcycle(s). In the Seattle urban core (when I lived there, 15 years ago), if I honked then people looked for the car -- they weren't looking at me. Other than that, seems to have the intended effect.
As a motorcyclist, lane filtering also comes with some dangers. It's up to each motorcyclist to decide if it's worth it. I lane split in heavy traffic in CA but I'm also very wary about being the first vehicle into an intersection after a light changes. I see far more people running red lights around me than I do people rear ending stopped traffic at a light. I'm glad we have the option.
This is completely arbitrary Internet lore. Unless you have local laws that define the terms, they don't actually mean anything. Also, if you're "filtering", then you will, inevitably, find yourself "lane splitting" when the light turns green before you reach the front.
Filtering as a matter of habit eliminates the risk. That's OP's point, not that motorcyclists should watch their mirrors like a hawk and jump between lanes when they decide that the driver behind them might not stop.
Mine was and still is people cutting into my lane when cornering. You turn a corner and bam, incoming car.
Still, I always leave the bike in gear until the car behind me has stopped, and if I can, I stop slightly diagonally with enough space to move left or right to avoid getting sandwiched.
My latest fear is not having the person behind me to rear me (as you can keep an eye on them) but is whoever is behind them, hitting them and then myself getting hit as a result.
Statistically, as a motorcyclist you should be afraid of fatally rear-ending someone else, since that is the top cause of motorcyclist deaths in America. Of course that is within your control and if you feel like you have reduced that risk through personal practice then yeah getting rear-ended or left-hooked are the biggest dangers.
If I am on a bicycle generally I pull out into the crosswalk. Way more visible and pedestrians don’t cuss at you like they would a blocking car because they get it.
