If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times: while riding is a great and thrilling time, it's also something that requires you to pay a lot of attention to safety for both you and the others on the road. We wanted to take a few minutes to go over a system for riders to use to maintain a safe level of awareness, known as the SEE system.

Let’s break down the SEE system into its different parts:

Search

When you’re out on the road, your safety is directly tied to your awareness of what is around you. You need to make sure that you know what’s going on a good distance in front of you, as well as all around you. It is important that you keep an eye out for others on the road, road conditions, and the various traffic signals that you are bound to encounter. This kind of awareness can be achieved by using your mirrors as well as scanning your surroundings.

Evaluate

This effectively boils down to anticipating the worst while you’re on the road. Once you’ve observed your surroundings in the search step, you need to process what you’ve seen and consider every variable to the best of your ability. Sure, you need to be aware of and compliant to traffic signals, but you also need to be cognizant of how well your neighbors on the road are remaining compliant. How does the road itself look? Remaining on relatively high alert will help you stay safe.

Execute

If you find yourself approaching an unsafe situation on the road, it is important that you can go through the above two steps and decide on a course of action swiftly and decisively. A rider has three options to choose from, generally speaking:

• Communicate with the other drivers on the road, through waving or honking your horn.
• Reduce or increase speed to try and maneuver away from danger
• Shift your position on the road to avoid the hazard

It is our hope that the SEE system helps you to remain safe on the road. Don’t hesitate to share any of your safety tips with us in the comments, and of course, share this with your fellow riders to help them stay safe.