I have been teaching motorcycle safety for over 5 years now, and in every single class I ask the riders to tell the class about horror stories that they have heard about or been in relating to motorcycle crashes.
I do this to prove a point to the class that a lot of times a motorcycle accident could have been avoided by the motorcyclist and/or is a direct relation to what the motorcyclist did. It never fails that I get one student that tells me that they or someone they know was making a turn and sure enough there was sand or rocks in the road that caused them to fall off there bike.
I can not dispute that sand and rocks will not make you fall, it is a fact that it can. The problem I am having is there are so many accidents in turns caused by this phenomenon. I myself know of two friends that both have met this sand in the corners.
Now statistically speaking, most motorcyclist only accidents happen in curves. This is due to lack of proper turning procedure. This is the “Slow, Look, Press, and Roll Techniqueâ€. Slow down before the turn (which will allow for proper roll on the throttle), Look through the turn as far as you can (look where you want to go, not at the ground, curb, lines, or bumper of the car ahead of you. Trust your eyes, peripheral vision will see all that you are not directly looking at), Press on the handle bars in the direction you want to go (counter steering, it’s a wonderful thing), and roll (or maintain a steady speed) on the throttle (we roll to stabilize the motorcycle). Now this simple technique has worked wonders for me, my students who choose to apply it, and motorcycle racers.
Now back to this sand epidemic. The more I hear about “The sand†the more I wonder if there is such a thing. Is it the rider who is inexperienced in turns and not willing to admit that they were at fault? Or is sand really popping up all over the country in corners were we ride? I am starting to form my own opinion that it is not the sand that is causing our fellow riders to fall, but level of experience.
This opinion that I formed is not wholly out of just thoughts in my head, but actual viewed and heard evidence. Being a safety instructor (Rider Coach) I analyze every accident that I hear. I listen for key points in the story that help me identify where the rider could have improved his actions or where the rider just did something stupid.
For instance, a rider t-bones a car at an intersection, the car ran the red light and the rider had the right of way. The rider never saw the car coming. Who is at fault? The Car of course. But could the rider have avoided the accident? Yes, he could have. Knowledge is the key, if you knew that most accidents for motorcyclist involved with other vehicles happens at intersections, would you look at intersections differently? If you took a new approach to intersections, like slow down as you get to them, look both ways before going through it, cover your brakes (its ok to do that because you mentally know why you are covering your brakes, it cuts down reaction time. For normal riding, no don’t cover your brakes. Most natural reactions are to grab when spooked), assume someone might run the red light. Could this make you more aware at intersections and possibly avoid an accident? Yes it can.
Another example, man is sitting at a red light on his new busa and he gets hit in the rear end. Whose fault is that? The car of course. But again, could it of been avoided? Yes it could. Too many times do I see a rider sitting at a red light in Neutral with his arms crossed looking into space. (Don’t lie you have been there) By the time they hear the tires screeching it’s too late. Now again, knowledge is valuable, if they knew that the first place you should look when you stop is behind you and to keep your bike in first so your reaction time to get out of the way of danger is quicker, do you think that could of helped? Do you think that if they kept space between them and the car ahead, they could have been able to maneuver out of the way better? Yes to all of those. BTW, I have almost been hit 4 times down here, each time I saw them coming and was able to move out of the way. Three of the four times it was our Canadian friends from the north..LOL
Now back to the sand. I hear from these riders that the sand was unavoidable, it was all over the road. There was no way out. Do I believe it, with my training “NOâ€. I feel that the rider either took the turn to fast and lost control or the rider took the turn to fast for there experience and did the all mighty sin and grabbed or squeezed the front brake to hard to slow down while they were leaned over. They may have even down shifted or rolled off the throttle to quickly to slow down. What ever the cause, I don’t believe its all about the sand.
Granted there are some times that sand does pop up in the road, in my 19 years of riding I have only experienced it 3 times. Each time it was avoidable. One time as I went around the turn, I spotted the sand In advance, because I was looking through the turn, so I straighten the bike out as much as I could and I made sure my throttle was steady. This happened right after hurricane Andrew where beach sand was every where. Did I make it home, yes. Did I freak out when I saw the sand on the road and use the brakes, down shift or put my feet down (people do that, I have seen it on the safety range), No I didn’t.
So my final conclusion is that sand (if it does exist) is not the problem. The riders experience level (not only riding time, but safety training as well) is. If the experience is not up to par and the roads are unfamiliar take proper action to avoid problems. Also take a stand and admit that you made the error, and stop blaming poor innocent sand for your fall. If the sand was ever there to begin with.
