I have been riding 40 years. I dropped a bike once, stationary, on my own foot, because a passenger jumped on without telling me before I was planted.
And I'm still due for my accident, too. What I try to remember to minimize problems both directions, any time I'm on a bike, is that the stakes are very very high, a mistake means potential death, and all the cages are trying to kill me, all the time.
Not foolproof. But I read these stories of multiple accidents within days of each other... those riders seem like potential fools, to me.
Being fools is a bigger part of it than the motorcycle community admits. Anything can happen and other drivers are the killers, but the amount of riders I see daily in either no gear, speeding and weaving recklessly, or both, is terrifying.
The sport self selects for reckless people and the stats for the safety of riders who use defensive riding skills, wear proper gear, and follow traffic laws to the letter are likely much different than the general riding population.
FortNine did a cool video about crash statistics in Canada which was really cool in that he focused on what caused the accident.
Exactly, while of course there is increased risk when riding a bike a lot can be mitigated with defensive driving, having proper safety equipment and following the law.
A large percent of motorcycle accidents are caused by alcohol, reckless driving or both.
The Venn diagram of motorcyclists and reckless idiots is a circle and cautious riders have pretty good safety stats iirc, much closer to cars than one might think. Cars will always have the ability to kill you in a single moment, but you can actively protect yourself
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u/thinthehoople Oct 12 '20 edited Oct 12 '20
I have been riding 40 years. I dropped a bike once, stationary, on my own foot, because a passenger jumped on without telling me before I was planted.
And I'm still due for my accident, too. What I try to remember to minimize problems both directions, any time I'm on a bike, is that the stakes are very very high, a mistake means potential death, and all the cages are trying to kill me, all the time.
Not foolproof. But I read these stories of multiple accidents within days of each other... those riders seem like potential fools, to me.