Motorcycle Accidents - Are they inevitable?

MelodicMetalGod

Registered
Thought I'd share my response to the question as posed by a new rider on another forum:

While it may not quite be IEVITABLE, it is HIGHLY PROBABLE that any rider will experience some sort of accident the longer they ride. Ironically, a rider is at greatest risk of having an accident when they first begin riding due to inexperience. Conversely, as you gain experience you continually add to your time exposed to risk, meaning that while you have more experience to use to avoid accidents you are increasing number of opportunities for an accident to occur.

The only certain way to guard against having a motorcycle accident is to not ride. Period. If you choose to ride, you must realize that there is always the risk of an accident, be it big or small, serious or minor, your fault or not.

There. Now, that said, you do a lot to avoid accidents. Here are the main things that come to mind:

1) Training: Take ALL that you can find and then take some more. Start with the MSF courses, take them all and then find more courses to take, anything from track classes to dirt classes to advanced street riding classes to wheelie classes. Any serious, guided, organized, safety minded instruction only adds to your experience and skill set and does so in a controlled environment that allows you to be relatively safe while learning, unlike the street where, if you find that you need to do something that you've never done before, you won't get but one chance to get it right without real consequences.

2) Training: See # 1.

3) Follow at a great distance: Leave as much following distance as you can stand when riding behind other vehicles. The more space you leave, the more time you have to react to any issues coming from the vehicles ahead. If you're on their bumper and they drive into an accident, you'll be in the same accident, whereas if you're 12 seconds back, when they drive into an accident you'll calmly pull over to a safe area, call 911 and lend a hand to those in the accident. Riding with greater following distances also allows you to get a good look at the road surface and provides you with plenty of time to avoid those giant potholes or spilled fluids that would otherwise end your ride.

3a) Ride in space: When riding in traffic, create the largest cushion of space possible between you and all other vehicles. Doing so will make it easier for them to see you and give you more time to react to anything unexpected that they might do.

4) Do NOT ride IMPAIRED: If you drink, do drugs, are taking medication, sleep deprived or doing ANYTHING that may affect your mind or body, just don't ride. Riding safely requires that your mind and body both be sharp and healthy. Anything that negatively affects your perception, judgment, reaction time, ability to think, etc. should tell you to stay off the bike until you’re clean and clear. Riding impaired is a GREAT way to find an accident.

5) Avoid riding in the rain: Motorcycles enjoy many advantages over other vehicles including acceleration, maneuverability and vision. In the rain, many of those same advantages become liabilities due to lose of traction and our lack of windshield wipers and protection from the elements. Acceleration and maneuverability are instantly reduced greatly due to lack of traction and our vision is immediately compromised by the rain and fogging on our helmets/windscreens/glasses. In addition, we become much less visible to the other vehicles on the road.

6) Avoid riding at night: Why? One word: Deer. Or whatever critters you have that are local to the area and much more active at night. Animals are the one thing that we really have no good strategy to defend against. They can appear anywhere at anytime and once spotted you cannot reliably predict their movements/behavior. While animals can certainly be encountered even during the height of the daylight hours, between from dusk until dawn there is far more danger posed by the activities of our wilderness friends.

6a) If you get caught riding at night, choose the largest/most heavily travelled roads you can. Those lesser travelled great two lane roads with the twisties that cut through scenic undeveloped lands are MUCH more likely to animals that are out and about after dark. The larger roads with their noisy traffic, lights and fencing have a much lower probability for an animal encounter.

7) Ride slower. Riding motorcycles fast is easy...and dangerous. The faster you go, the less time you have to react to anything in front of you, including cross traffic, unexpected lane changers, red light runners, stop sign runners, arrogant pedestrians, driveway demons, left turners, double parkers, sudden brakers, crossing deer, decreasing radius corners, sand on your line, etc. It sucks, but the faster you go, the less time you have to be safe. As a new rider, it's PARTICULARLY important to keep the speeds down as new riders generally do not have the experience needed to make informed judgments "speed flexibility".

8) Maintain your ride: If doesn't work right/isn't reliable, then it's an accident waiting to happen. It's tough enough to ride safe with a bike in perfect condition, last thing ya need is to give yourself a handicap by riding a questionable machine. Do it yourself or pay to have it done right, but don't ride a sub-standard machine.

9) ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time): Gear up. IF something happens, there is no question that you want to be over-dressed rather than under-dressed. Less than 5% of motorcycle accidents are fatal but over 85% involve injury. If you're not dressed for it, you'll be in that painful 85%. The closer you are to ATGATT, the better your chances are of being in the 15% that walk away with nothing more than a story to share at the next rally or bike night or on your favorite internet forum.

10) Ride for yourself: Ride b/c you love it. Period. Any other reason is missing the point and distracting while riding. Do not ride to impress anyone. EVER. That includes girls. Yes, even the hot girls! It also includes parents, friends, siblings, co-workers, etc. The second you ride to impress, you run the risk of worrying more about how what you're doing looks to others and less about if what you're doing is smart or safe. Do not ride for gas mileage or the low up front cost of bikes. For most folks, in the long run, cars are cheaper and provide greater utility and are safer. The ONLY reason to ride is because you simply love it. Period.

For some interesting info regarding motorcycle accident stats, check this out: Motorcycle Accident Statistics - webBikeWorld

Here are conclusions from the report:
• Helmet use among fatally injured motorcyclists below 50 percent
• More motorcyclist fatalities are occurring on rural roads
• High blood alcohol levels are a major problem among motorcycle operators
• Half of the fatalities are related to negotiating a curve prior to the crash
• Over 80 percent of the fatalities occur off roadway
• Undivided roadways account for a majority of the fatalities
• Almost two thirds of the fatalities were associated with speeding as an operator contributing factor in the crash
• Almost 60 percent of motorcyclist fatalities occur at night
• Collision with a fixed object is a significant factor in over half of the fatalities
• Braking and steering maneuvers possibly contribute for almost 25 percent of the fatalities
• More riders age 40 and over are getting killed
• Almost one third of the fatally injured operators did not have a proper license
Based on the above conclusions, look at what you can EASILY do to lower your odds of being in a fatal accident:

1) Wear a helmet.
2) Don't drink and ride.
3) Treat corners with respect. Better to go in too slow than too fast.
4) Keep speed down.
5) Don't ride at night.
6) Get a license.

Again, the only way to ensure against a motorcycle accident is to simply not ride but if you do ride, there is a LOT you can do to stack the odds in your favor, both in terms of avoiding accidents and surviving them well if they do occur.

Best of luck!
 
Good points and very well written !!! Riding in the rain is okay if you are used to it. Lot's of people are scared to death of a little water. Some folks will see a little water and downright panic. I typically let it rain for the first 15 to 20 minutes to let Mother Nature wash off the grease and grime, and then get back on the road. Rain riding is fine so long as you're not flopping the bike over in turns like Rossi or accelerating too hard. I have found that rain riding in the past has made me a better overall rider---traction management is a HUGE lesson to learn and practice:-)

I do agree however, with the visibility issue and cage drivers....I've had some night rides in the rain that were absolute torture in dealing with a wet helmet and keeping the visor from fogging-up. My AGV helmet is much better than my HJC for bad weather. But sometimes you have no choice on those long cross-country rally runs:-)

Overall a good post with great suggestions !!! But by and large if you can avoid it...skip the rain. But it is good to be familiar with it in the event that one does get caught in it.
 
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Good points, but riding in the rain is fine. Lot's of people are scared to death of a little water. Some sportbike folks will see a little water and downright panic. I typically let it rain for the first 15 to 20 minutes to let Mother Nature wash off the grease and grime, and then get back on the road. Rain riding is fine so long as you're not flopping the bike over in turns like Rossi or accelerating too hard. I have found that rain riding in the past has made me a better overall rider---traction management is a HUGE lesson to learn and practice:-)

I do agree however, with the visibility issue and cage drivers....I've had some night rides in the rain that were absolute torture in dealing with a wet helmet and keeping the visor from fogging-up. My AGV helmet is much better than my HJC for bad weather. But sometimes you have no choice on those long cross-country rally runs:-)

Overall a good post with great suggestions !!! But by and large if you can avoid it...skip the rain. But it is good to be familiar with it in the event that one does get caught in it.

I think were on the same page here, but to say that riding in the rain is fine is, IMHO, to pretty a picture. If it was just me and my bike and the road and the rain, yeah, it's not too bad. But even then your dealing with greatly reduced traction which affects braking, turning and acceleration. Good training? Sure, but I don't like to train on the streets. And therein lies the real issue: The rest of the environment.

The streets in the rain are still full of all the regular troubles such as traffic, poor road surfaces, potential for animal encounters, unfamiliar roads, etc. But with the rain coming down we're no forced to deal with all this stuff in addition to the rain and with less effective tools for changing direction or speed and with much less margin for error in applying those tools. Not for me...well, not anymore. ;)

Oh, and you mentioned riding at night in the rain. Wow. Talk about stacking the odds against us.

Again, not that it can't be done, but the odds against us and the tools for us just swing in the wrong direction for rain riding and, perhaps most importantly for me, it turns riding into a job to stay safe and keeps it from being fun.

And the only reason I ride is for fun! :thumbsup:

:beerchug:
 
same post is here yours?.. :whistle:

same post is at www.motohouston.com also...

Holy Toledo! I've been plagerized! ::11 Boy, I oughta....! :) Kinda makes me wish I'd proof read it and corrected all the typos and "brain thinking faster than fingers typing" errors. Guess I've been published without even knowing it, eh?

Yeah, that's my post, as in, I created the original composition/am the original author. IMHO, there's not anything "original" in concept, as I'm sure that it's all been said one way or another by someone, somewhere before. But I wrote it free form in response to the question of a new rider. As I recall, my original post was at TheGSResources.com which I copied here and at extremebusa.com.

Hopefully all the re-postings are an indication that those words are proving to be useful to our two-wheeled brethren! :thumbsup:

:thumbsup:


PS: Yep, original post was at TheGSR, here: Don't want to be a downer.... - Page 3 - The GSResource Forums
 
Holy Toledo! I've been plagerized! ::11 Boy, I oughta....! :) Kinda makes me wish I'd proof read it and corrected all the typos and "brain thinking faster than fingers typing" errors. Guess I've been published without even knowing it, eh?

Yeah, that's my post, as in, I created the original composition/am the original author. IMHO, there's not anything "original" in concept, as I'm sure that it's all been said one way or another by someone, somewhere before. But I wrote it free form in response to the question of a new rider. As I recall, my original post was at TheGSResources.com which I copied here and at extremebusa.com.

Hopefully all the re-postings are an indication that those words are proving to be useful to our two-wheeled brethren! :thumbsup:

:thumbsup:


PS: Yep, original post was at TheGSR, here: Don't want to be a downer.... - Page 3 - The GSResource Forums

Got to give a little credit to the guy on the motohouston site at least he says he got the information from another forum. To me this type of info is not spread around enough. :thumbsup:
 
Got to give a little credit to the guy on the motohouston site at least he says he got the information from another forum. To me this type of info is not spread around enough. :thumbsup:

:Agree:
Posted via Mobile Device
 
I've always said the old saying "there are riders who have crashed and riders who will crash".

Very good post :beerchug:
 
Got to give a little credit to the guy on the motohouston site at least he says he got the information from another forum. To me this type of info is not spread around enough. :thumbsup:

:Agree:
Posted via Mobile Device

Absolutely. I've pulled stuff from elsewhere from time to time, but I always do so with a direct link included to the source.

The other post however, was presented without any indication that it wasn't their writing. I suspect that to be little more than an oversight or a lack of concern over something "found on the internet''.

Notice that I'm not dialing up my copyright attorney. Like I said, although the composition was mine, the content is simply I've learned along the way, much of it from other riders as much as from my own experiences. I'm just glad that it's out there to help whom it may.
 
Great post & I totally agree. I've been riding for 23 years now & been down twice, neither time being my fault.
 
As the factors involved in collisions have become better understood, some organizations have begun to avoid the term "accident," as the word suggests an unpreventable, unpredictable event and disregards the opportunity for the driver(s) involved to avoid the crash. Although auto collisions are rare in terms of the number of vehicles on the road and the distance they travel, addressing the contributing factors can reduce their likelihood. For example, proper signage can decrease driver error and thereby reduce crash frequency by a third or more.[1] That is why these organizations prefer the term "collision" rather than "accident".
 
Damn Pirated !!! Those are some wicked pics...I see the cath tube there...ouch. It's scary out there....I went out and bought a new chest and back protector today. Cagers around here are nuts.
 
Damn Pirated !!! Those are some wicked pics...I see the cath tube there...ouch. It's scary out there....I went out and bought a new chest and back protector today. Cagers around here are nuts.

Both times stung a little.

Leg was fractured in 5 places and still carry a bar from knee to hip with 13 screws buttoning it up.

The 2nd accident broke my pelvis,left hand(resulting in perm. nerve damage) ,nose,teeth,30 stitches across forehead(even with a Shoei full helmet),ruptured my bladder,big hole in my left shin(possibly from a peg or something),and some rash.Pic was taken two weeks after crash after i got out of ICU so don't look bad compared to when they rolled me in(stitches already out and plastic surgeon did a great job puting my nose back together).Spent 8 weeks on my back before going home in a wheelchair and another few weeks before i started walking again.

I eventually recd. a $275K settlement but by the time i paid the hospital bill(originally $240K but they settled for $120K)and the attorneys took their 3rd($93K)i think i ended up with around $58K,enough for the '03 Busa i have now/some new teeth/money to the ex for kids,etc.



SoCal freeways are like a racetrack for cagers,be careful out there brothers.
 
8 years full time on bikes. Scuffed a rock wall going too fast around a right bend, lowsided a cruiser coming into a car park, rear-ended while stationary and dropped a bike about 5 times (on the same day, in the snow).
So far no broken bones, if I tell people nothing else, the piece of advice I always give: Everyone is trying to kill you, so don't give them a chance, take everything you need and don't think about it.
 
This thread has excellent advice and information. I have found all of my close calls and crashes (over 38 years of riding) have always happened close to home when I let my guard down. The worst accident was when a school bus made a left turn in front of me and stopped causing me a 6 week stay in the intensive care unit. Full gear ALL the time is an important rule. There are too many stories of people who took a quick "spin" and ended up crashing with serious injuries right in front of their homes. I don't think motorcycle accidents are inevitable, you can do a lot to improve your odds. You have to assume you are invisble to the cagers on their cell phones.

Ride safe!!!
 
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