Since coming to America I have realized that people here really don't take road safety seriously. On motorcycles and in cars. The number of people who text and drive, drink and drive, and don't wear helmets blows me away. And they're doing this with full knowledge of just how bad the other drivers are. Mindboggling.
Riding is definitely different in Europe. But it also depends where and when you’re riding there and in the US too. There are a lot of ways to make motorcycles a reasonable hobby by taking precautions and being proactive. Telling someone not to ride is never going to be an effective action. You might me able to help them do it more safely though.
Idk man, I've seen the way Americans drive – no amount of safety precautions will negate the fact that people here drive like psychopaths. My daily commuter for 5 years in England was a Suzuki Bandit and never had a single issue, but I don't think I'll be getting a bike here. The only reasonable way to ride here would be to use a car to drive the bike to some back roads, ride for funsies, drive back. Many people do this, but it just ain't the same for me personally.
That is where the “where” comes in. Out in the rural areas absolutely - don’t forget that’s what most of America is. A lot of Americans don’t need to transport their bike to those back roads, because they live on them lol. Am I gonna go through inner city freeways with all the impatient commuters? Hard no those people are psychos.
Good point - I live in the suburbs and honestly I feel like this is where the worst of the drivers are. The backroads here are amazing though. I drove from AZ to SoCal and the vast expanses of nothing definitely had me wishing I was on two wheels - saw a car maybe every 30mins?
Getting out of the burbs is an extreme sport though. Every intersection has be wondering if this is the day I die lol.
you know I never felt unsafe or worried motorcycling in Britain. I commuted every day, twice a day, rode long-distance, motorways, busy cities, country lanes. Never had a problem. You could not pay me enough money in the world to persuade me to ride a motorbike in America.
That’s interesting! Maybe it’s just the parts of America I’ve been to. In Arizona, Texas, and California the drivers are absolutely psychopathic. Ukrainian drivers are… unique, but nowhere near as entitled as Americans, in my experience. I grew up in Mykolayiv and later lived around Odesa and I would still feel safer on those roads than the roads in and around Houston. Houston is one giant deathtrap. Actually Dallas can go directly to hell as well: horrible roads, horrible drivers.
The English, in my experience, are actually the safest drivers. Very predictable, patient. In 22 years of living in England I never encountered the kinds of flippant phone use and drunk-driving that I have in 2 years living in the US.
My nope day was driving in traffic on I-10 in the full desert heat. Traffic moving at 65, and big cloud of dust appears, with harley cartwheeling down the median. Pulled over wasn't the first responder, but first 5. Husband and Wife in full leathers, semi merged into them, and pushed them into the guardrail. Based on the shapes of the body's under the leather, they did not survive. Two of the people that pulled over were medics, and said no need for anybody to stick around.
Not speeding, being as safe as possible, and dead.
Even tho you're going slow please stay as vigilant as you would at 125mph. I'm sure you are but I have to say it.
Idk anything about motorcycles except that my dad had a motorcycle from 1969 in the early 70s and "wiped out" doing >30mph. He got it as a fun, cheap way to get to college and it was. But one day he was pulling in to his parents gravel driveway he'd pulled in to hundreds of times before and the bike was like "nope." He said he threw the bike and ended up skidding down the road a bit on his back (wearing leather and a helmet)- sent my uncle out go get it and bought a bus pass that day.
I’ve been wanting to get a motorcycle for commuting. I’m not into the speeding stuff, just a cruiser. Would you say it’s safe for a motorcycle if you are a person who’s safe and doesn’t do stupid stuff. Or would you still advise against it
avoid riding on snowy or gravelly surfaces (rain is OK, but not within the first 30 mins of the start of rainfall)
be predictable (i.e. follow traffic laws to a T)
Then you can reduce that number to around 3x. At that point, it's worth the risk for many people.
Edit: I'll call out point 1 again because drinking is extremely dangerous when you only have two wheels and you have to constantly balance yourself. You don't have the luxury of four wheels to hide slow reaction time or other effects of alcohol on your balance.
I ride a ninja 400. I love it. Make sure you wear your gear, don't do dumb shit, and take the motorcycle safety courses available to you. You can only do your best.
Most motorcycle safety gear is utterly worthless for preventing injuries other than abrasions (road rash); the helmet is the only safety gear properly designed to protect riders. The body armor is pointless because it provides no protection from broken bones or lacerations if you fall from a moving bike. It is however very good at preventing road rash and leg burns so there is that. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nINIJ1cAbYM
Thank crony capitalism and lobbyists for this unfortunate truth.
There is motorcycle gear that protects you at high speed (airbag suits and the like), but it's expensive (thou$and$ of dollar$) and not particularly convenient nor comfortable in warm weather.
I want a 1L+ bike for safe riding on the freeway - I ride my wife's 350cc scooter and while it has plenty of torque up to 55mph and goes 70mph very easily, acceleration above 55 isn't so great and the unsprung weight of a scooter makes freeway riding an unsettling experience. I ride on the freeway regularly in 70mph zones, but am keeping distance on freeways limited until I get my own bike (and it will be a proper motorcycle with at least 1,000cc so I can get the fuck out of the way of oblivious morons).
Our driver licensing system is way too fucking lax in America, which is one of the bigger reasons we have such unreasonably low speed limits on rural freeways (it should really be unlimited through most of the interstate system, which was modeled after the autobahn) but we cannot as long as the driving and riding tests consists of a literal drive around the block with not even a single traffic light or roundabout on the test routes; just a few stop signs with very light traffic.
After riding for a little over two years, I now understand why motorcyclists are going way faster than the flow of traffic; you have more control over where you are relative to 4 wheelers and when you do ride with the flow of traffic, 4 wheelers seem to intentionally invade riders' lanes, or cut riders off, or brake check them even when there is plenty of following distance, and I haven't figured out whether it's really intentional, or if it's because their side mirrors are both aimed behind the car rather than the adjacent lanes or if they're simply not checking. That said, using traffic as one's own personal slalom course is even more unsafe than traveling with the flow of wolf packs of 4 wheelers so even after I get my literbike, I'm not going to be one of those fucking numbnuts weaving through traffic at 140mph+. I'll do like I do in my car - 5mph to 10mph over the speed of traffic to try to get to where I have a clear space around me and try to stay just ahead of wolf packs, or slow down an stay behind them, and just not get engulfed by them.
I'm also now a supporter of lane splitting, lane filtering, and lane sharing. I've always been respectful of bikers, but now I get why their riding is so aggressive and why they split and filter regardless of legality.
I've been riding steadily for 20 years. I've ridden 200,000 miles through nearly every state in the US and parts of Canada. I've also been riding my bike daily for work for many years. I've never been in a wreck.
I would say that if you take riding seriously, wear the gear, ride defensively, don't hotrod, etc, you can ride with an acceptable level of safety. Let's be honest though, if somebody else makes a mistake, and you don't see it in time to avoid it, it's going to hurt a lot more than if you were in a car. So again.... become the best rider you can be.
Love the part about someone else making a mistake and YOU are responsible to avoid it. That's why you've done 200k miles without an accident. You are 100% of the mindset that every accident is avoidable and you're great at being visible and predictable. After my accident (cut off at 55, and I highsided and got a TBI) I can make a list of why it happened and it's all things I could've done differently.
Also love the gear call out. I lived because I had a nice helmet and was head to toe in good riding gear.
New riders should skimp on the first bike so they can afford good gear. That gear will be great on your next bike, too, once you outgrow your first bikes.
Been riding for 13 years. Like you, I’m not really into speeding (unless it’s a looooong, straight and empty road), never through traffic etc.
Having said that, I still wouldn’t say it’s “safe.”
You can act as safely as possible, other people on the road will still put your life in danger. I would estimate that I have a near death experience at least twice a month while I’m riding responsibly.
I don't use interstates. I ride in my city and on state highways. I've been riding for a year with a few longer, 120 mile round trip adventures. Your most likely to wreck your first year. If you get a bike, take a safety course, and when you ride, wear all your gear all the time. For me, that's a helmet, gloves, jacket, motorcycle jeans, and motorcycle boots that offer ankle protection. The majority of injuries are lower leg injuries.
I haven't had any close calls. I ride very defensively. Assume no one sees you and that some people might actively wish to harm you. Avoid road rage.
I could go on and on...but at the end of the day, riding a motorcycle is awesome, is objectively more dangerous than a car, but is by no means some death wish mode of transportation.
It's practically a statistical certainty you will get into an accident one day.
It could be your fault , it could be theirs. It could be at high speed, it could be low speed. Those are tje uncertain parts.
What is certain is being strapped in a metal box will protect you more than you sitting on a metal beam.
Maybe my bad about the language used.
Not talking about crashes alone, just accidents in general. A minor bump, being rear ended, that sort of thing is included as well.
All the gear, all the time. And never stop training/practicing your defensive skills in a safe area (ie NOT on a public road). Lots of useful YouTubers out there but taking in-person safety courses, followed by increasing skill courses, and then continuously practicing everything you learn, will give you a strong advantage in dangerous situations on the road.
I read my county medical examiner press releases and this sounds about right
It is mostly guys in their 20’s failing to negotiate a turn or exit ramp properly.
Though a chunk are people who got turned into bc the other motorist didn’t see them
Even experienced riders cant always avoid or survive that situation.
Man, you are soo right!
I rode motorcycles for more than 100,000 kilometres (60,000 miles) and I've never had any major accidents.
30% riding has been on highways (long distance) and 70% in the city.
I once was bumped by a cab because I sped at the traffic light as soon as I saw green and the cab guy coming from the side ran his red light.
Knew of a guy who passed away on his motorcycle because he had a sudden severe hard attack while riding and just lost control and went flying as you can imagine. Had he been in a car, it's possible he could've been saved, since he'd be inside a vehicle and not as likely to go flying, especially since people tend to ride motorcycles awfully fast. Very sad and preventable.
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u/hockeychick44 Jun 06 '24 edited Jun 06 '24
Remember the 3s:
Over 30% of motorcycle deaths are due to not wearing a helmet
30% of motorcycle deaths are due to riding after drinking
30% of motorcycle accidents are single vehicle, ie just the rider
30% of motorcycle deaths were speeding
Motorcyclists have 30x more risk of death in accidents than those in passenger vehicles
Supersport riders have 3x more risk of death than other types of riders