Safe?

I haven't got a motorbike or have ever ridden one(virgin) but have an
interest in them and would like to oneday ,after no.2 is born. I see all the
time on the news the tragic deaths that happen to riders and can't help
thinking most are the riders fault through stupidity by just going too fast
and being careless.
What I am getting to am I right in my assumption that if you play it safe
don't let your ego rule and cruise slow or fast in a calculated way riding
is fairly risk free?

 

Fairly Risk Free?

Nope.

Boxer

 

Agreed!
Risk is ever-present. How you deal with the risks will affect whether you
become a statistic or not.

But honestly; if you have to ask then riding a bike really isn't for you.
There's not much logical about it.

 

Then maybe it isn't because that is what has kept me away from it so
far(along with many other friends).
Thanks

 

Nope, there is always risk.

It's a matter of how you manage it.

If you do all you said (and get the right training) it is quite possible
to have a shedload of fun and remain reasonably intact.

Speaking purely for myself, I find the level of risk to which I expose
myself entirely justified by the pleasures I gain from riding.

There is always the chance that in a moment of inattention you will let
some moron in a white van drive over the top of you.

Have a go, you might like it.

Moike

 

No but given a chance to develop road sense (kind of like "The Force"
for motorcyclists) your chances of survival can be very good.

The bonus is that you're far less likely to take anyone else with you if
you do prang and unlike cars, you'll never need to wait screaming in
pain while you're cut out of the wreck.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Fri, 23 Feb 2007 09:43:21 GMT

No, there are always risks.

Certainly trying to get places quickly can lead to shortcuts and
raising the risk, but going slowly or quietly and thinking that's all
you need to do will raise it too.

If you are riding in traffic then you minimise it by:
- being properly dressed for the weather so you aren't too hot or too
cold or too wet so you can concentrate. THere's plenty of options
for bike gear at all temperatures.

- paying attention at all times. Always scanning, always thinking
"what is that bod about to do" and "if that bod changes lanes will
they hit me?" and "what's the road surface like up there" and "what
will people do at that intersection and how will that affect me?"

- keeping your buffer zones even if it means someone cuts in ahead and
you have to drop back again.

- Practicing the skills you need: emergency braking, braking on poor
surfaces, swerving.

Most motorcycle crashes in city driving are at intersections. They
are mostly inexperienced riders who haven't yet learned to do those
things well enough.

Out of city driving needs most of those skills plus much more bike
handling. Good advanced training is useful. Do advanced training in
braking and cornering, and re-do it every few years. When you do go
out into the country use the skills you learned actively, think about
what you are doing. Give yourself plenty of buffer so that if there
is a gravel slick on the road just around the bend you can cope.

You can minimise the risks with care and training and the will to ride
carefully and with lots in reserve.

You can't make it risk free, if you ride a bike you are risking injury
because of the nature of the beast - single track vehicle without a
roll cage.

Me, I find the game is most definitely worth the candle. That the joy
of riding is worth the risk.

You have to decide if you feel the same way. If no risk at all is
acceptable then please don't forget to wear a pushbike helmet whenever
you drive a car. If you aren't willing to do that then re-think your
perception of risk.

Zebee

 

There is logic. You fall, it hurts.
Also a great way to loose weight!
I put off getting my motorcycle and licence for most my young life thinking
I don't have the patients, and it was probably a good thing but I (someone
who has never been into cars/bikes/sport) love my motorcycle and am always
looking at others.
Just remember, they are unforgiving like most Australian women and I would
guess the risk of getting bit on the bum would be about the same.

 

and you`re less likely to burn to death too...

 

Certainly the latest batch of stats floating around seem to indicate
that, contrary to previous thought, most motorcycle accidents ARE single
vehicle and the riders' fault. In some ways, I suspect that this is a
good thing. If something is my fault, then I'm in a better position to
change the outcome compared to it being someone else's fault where I've
got little control over the outcome.

Having said that, even accidents which involve another vehicle (even if
that other vehicle is in the wrong) can be mitigated (to some extent) by
the rider's actions.

In my opinion - yes. A combination of road craft and technical skills
should see you with many years of enjoyable accident free motorcycling.
---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]


'01 Yamaha FJR1300

www.dmcsc.org.au
http://eladesom.com.au/ulysses/
# 37181

 

He didn't say "risk free". Nothing is risk free. But motorcycling is
FAIRLY risk free (comparatively speaking)
---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]


'01 Yamaha FJR1300

www.dmcsc.org.au
http://eladesom.com.au/ulysses/
# 37181

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sat, 24 Feb 2007 09:50:04 +1000

Dunno about anywhere else, but in NSW that seems to be because a)
fewer young riders or riders without previous road experience and b)
the motorcycle awareness campaigns are working.

Zebee

 

heh.

Did I mention the 4WD drivers?
or the elderly folk in campervans?

http://users.bigpond.net.au/mike-oconnor/moto/mtskeyn.jpg

Moike

 

When you say most, do you mean a majority, or a significant majority?
And when you say fault, do you mean fault because they did something
which directly caused or contributed to the accident, or fault because
they had a single vehicle accident and there was noone else around to
blame for it?

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

I'm curious about where those stats come from, got a link?

 

In aus.motorcycles on 24 Feb 2007 00:04:20 -0800

You can find a bunch at http://www.roadsafety.mccofnsw.org.au/

Those aren't the latest though, the MCC is finishing off the hard work
of Positioned for Safety II which includes some serious data mining of
the latest stats. Not sure when those are coming out.

The biggie as I understand it is that SMIDSYs have dropped massively as
a proportion of the motorcycle crash numbers. Don't have the numbers
off hand, this is my recollection of a talk with Guy involving beer and
scribbling on the back of an envelope.

Basically the bit of the pie chart labelled "car/bike with car at fault"
has dropped, and the slack's been taken up by both "car/bike bike at
fault" and "single vehicle" but I can't recall the proportions.

THere's no way to tell the exact cause, I believe the betting is on
a combination of fewer inexperienced riders (many more riders are now
coming into bikes after a few years driving, think scooter boom) and the
motorcycle awareness campaigns the RTA is running after being kicked by
the MCC to bloody well do something.

Generally the SMIDSYs are mostly inexperienced riders without traffic
smarts getting thumped in the city and the single vehicle are older
experienced riders on rural corners. I believe that the idea is the
younger ones don't go hooning/touring as much and the older ones have
already learned how to survive in the city. What's not known is how many
of the single vehicle ones are tiredness[1], road surface, lack of skill,
or something else.


Zebee

[1] some of it definitely is. THere's a big spike of crashes with rider
at fault on the Windsor end of the Putty road in the late afternoon on
weekends involving riders who have been out all day.

Zebee

 

But of course all single vehicle accidents are going to be the fault of
the driver/rider of the single vehicle involved. It would be
unreasonable to expect that the rider involved in accidents wouldn't be
at fault... if there is noone else to blame.

In Victoria the proportion of metro:rural motorcycle casualty accidents
is about 50:50. 65% of metro accidents involve another vehicle. 26% of
rural accidents involve another vehicle. Taking pedestrian and animals
into account the proportion of single vehicle motorcycle accidents to
accidents involving another vehicle or moving hazard is about 50:50.
Whether these statistics actually mean anything or not is another
matter... because of the nature of motorcycles, and their uncanny
ability to fall over in ways that car's don't will always make them more
susceptible to single vehicle accidents than other vehicles.

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

I'm glad someone read my post



My rides (Honda nothing,Yamaha who, Suzuki so.....)

 

My recollection of the stats is most = majority. Fault, I think, was
derived from the fact that it was single vehicle and no one else was
around to blame. Which could mean diesel and gravel, although the rider
has to take some of the responsibility at least with gravel.
---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]


'01 Yamaha FJR1300

www.dmcsc.org.au
http://eladesom.com.au/ulysses/
# 37181

 

Nope, but I'll see if I can track down where I came across the report.

---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]


'01 Yamaha FJR1300

www.dmcsc.org.au
http://eladesom.com.au/ulysses/
# 37181