For me, whilst in the car, the bikes with headlights are seen in your rear mirror much sooner when you have a queue of traffic behind and there is a bike coming down the queue, so you are looking for him and expecting an overtake, giving him room if you can.
The times when they start to get lost is around dusk when cars all start putting headlights on, then the bike is just another headlight and you are less likely to appreciate a bike is coming down the queue.
Exactly same applies in front, when you have a long line of cars coming towards you. The bike with the lights on overtaking this queue always stands out and you give them room.
Then again the one coming towards you with the red headlight cover on also stands out, possibly even more, for rather different reasons, (Dickhead).
Then again there is the "loud pipes saves lives argument", which still applies.
You can often hear a bike coming up behing you in queuing traffic before you can see it. Whilst on a bike you can see drivers look in the mirror when they hear you.
In a more light hearted way, on three occasions on my normal journey to work I have been queuing at a roundabout before joining the M1 and heard a Falco well before I could see anything, and absolutely knew it was a Falco, (RED 2001, Scorpions, no idea who it is).
I have commented to the wife each time and said that's a Falco somewhere behind. Her reply is usually how the bloody hell do you know, that, just sounds like a noisey bike in the distance to me.
Pity the uninitiated.
well put, 100% with you on that
