I've just watched this short vid from BikeSafe showing riding skills etc - all very good stuff really. However, I noticed that when the 2 bikes(1 sports bike rider & 1 policeman) where doing their overtaking manoevers neither of them did their lifesaver prior to overtaking!   www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgxFscusWe8                                                                                                                                                                             

  A case of the blind leading the blind, it's not a good advertisement eh?                                                                                                                                                                              

My first thought when reading this was that perhaps they didn't need to. Lifesavers are to check your blindspots, you don't always need them.After watching it I see your point. If they could see the vehicle in their mirrors they didn't need to do one before pulling back in, but really should have done it before pulling out. The guy in the lead checked his right hand mirror and that was it. Hmmm.
                                                                                                                                                                             

The same video is on YouTube and has this comment:
"It is potentially dangerous to be doing 'blindspot checks' before overtaking. If everything in front of you suddenly changes when you are in an overtaking position you are risking a lot by looking behind you at this critical moment. All the checks prior to overtaking should be done on the mirrors. Thanks for raising the point."Interesting. So do your checks before moving into overtaking position then?                                                                                                                                                                             

I've had exactly this problem. Things in front changing, while I'm looking back. My Bikesafe instructor said that all decisions about wether to move out should be completed first. A lifesaver is the last thing before you move, but, given good observations / positioning, nothing can get into your blindspot, so why look ?   I'd say, every situation is different, if there's any doubt, check.                                                                                                                                                                             

To be fair i do lifesavers on duel carriageways and motorways and especially coming down slip roads where vehicles are closing at speed also pulling out from stopped. I don't usually do them on single lane traffic as my mirror is positioned well enough. once i've signalled to pull out i use the mirror before i go.    It was interesting watching the truck waiting to pull out from behind the parked cars. If the copper hadn't been there he would've just come out and made the bike move over.                                                                                                                                                                              

I had a couple of near misses on the motorways when about to change lanes to overtake, a combination of things I think, with the car speeding up to overtake me and pulling in to the outside lane after me checking mirrors and also blind spots in my mirrors, also maybe driver fatigue on my part...., .....I will now always check over my shoulder as it is the only way to know for sure if something is there,........ if your forward path is not clear enough for you to glance over your shoulder then I would suggest it is probably not the right time to be overtaking....   ....it isn't called the life saver for no reason...............just my humble opinion                                                                                                                                                                             

each situation is different and thats where experience comes into play.   Changed the video link to the direct youtube one. Thanks                                                                                                                                                                             

look how close the riders are to on comeing traffic I was taught to move away from on comeing traffic  did bike safe and iam