Cover the brake in deer country. When your spidey sense is tingling and you think a deer could pop out, put 2 fingers over the brake lever hold on with the rest of your hand. In other words, index finger and middle finger rests on the brake lever.

If you have to make an emergency stop it would take about a half second or so to get your hand onto the lever. If it's already there it might save your life.

 

On long rides keep hydrated. Dehydration leads to fatigue, which leads to inattention, which leads to crashing, which leads to death or serious injury. So Ride & Drink....non-alcoholic beverages.

 

What he said. I use a Camelbak for all riding except commuting. On my textile jacket the bladder fits in the pocket for my spine protector.

 

If on a freeway, I watch the cars entering the freeway, normally the guy tailgating the vehicle in front of him is the person thats going to as soon as he can jump over 2,3, or even 4 lanes of traffic. Thats the guy I keep an eye on.

I always stay away from Pickup trucks, Don't know what is about to blow out of a open bed pickup.

 

When passing a tractor, slow down and approach cautiously. Look for anything, like a driveway or path onto field, because they turn without warning, and no situational awareness. WOT to pass.

Remember you go where you look. I was sick of people stopping and turning without signaling. So I gave the truck in front of me a dirty look as he turned right, and I drifted into a construction cone, on my right. Boy, did I feel stupid. Luckily no damage.

Remember road paint is crazy slippery when wet. Avoid leaning, and go slow over it.

Intersections are slicker in bad neighborhoods, where most cars are leaking oil and transmission fluid. Probably even worse since Cash for Clunkers destroyed the decent used cars and left old beaters as the only cars for poor people. I listed my 99
Saturn, 228k for $700, on CL, and had 8 calls in 2 hours.

 

Practice everything.
Assume nothing.

 

Good point.
There are a lot of inexperienced riders out there now. Carefully choose who you ride with.
Don't let them put you in danger.

 

Constantly evaluate the traffic conditions in front of you and try to predict what each vehicle is going to do, when and why as if you were driving that vehicle. I put myself "in their shoes" all the time and can usually call what's going to happen before it happens. Bumper stickers, type of car, type of driver process into this equation.

If I see an average 40's-50's woman driving a middle class vehicle, usually they are consistent, patient, predictable drivers. If I see a 99 Honda Civic with a mufller the size of a coffee can, I know the driver is highly likely to drive like a nut. Elderly people tend to not sporadically change lanes, etc... Nothing written in stone, but I use my Spidey Senses a lot.

If there is a vehicle with any sort of youth league sports stickers, or even worse, those stupid stick figure family stickers, you can bet it's a woman driving with a cell phone stuck to her ear completely unaware of anything around her. That's written in stone!

 

Ride as if you're invisible.

 

I try to spend as little time as possible around cars that have body damage or are missing outside mirrors. Body damage is clear evidence that they lack driving skill and old body damage is usually an indication of fault in a previous crash. (The crash was their fault so insurance didn't cover their beater).

I also stay away from rental trucks like U Haul and the like. The person driving that box truck has no skill or experience with that size vehicle.