Southern Bread

Since I started back riding a motorcycle in June, I’ve been thinking a lot about motorcycle safety issues. There is a common belief amongst non-motorcycle enthusiasts that riding a motorcycle is inherently more dangerous than driving a car. I know this to be the case becuase I ride my bike to work every day, rain or shine, and I get hit with the “man, that’s dangerous” comment all of the time. I’ll say this up front just to make things clear: In a crash, of course being surrounded by seat belts and air bags is safer. That being said, I’m not really concerned with the crash itself here. I’m talking more about the factors involved in having the crash in the first place. There are obviously tons of old-timers that have been riding motorcycles for decades with no problems. So, disregarding those “freak” accidents that are always going to happen, there must be some kind of mitigating factor involved in a good percentage of crashes. What are those factors?

I think the answer is kind of complicated. It’s true that motorcycles are harder to see on the road than cars because of the much smaller profile they present. When riding, you are simply not as visible to other motorists. There is a saying amongst riders: “Remember, you are invisible!” But whether this leads to more accidents amongst riders is probably not as certain as you might think. When analyzing stats that involve any skill-related activity, it’s always necessary to seperate the people who have those skills from the ones that don’t. Otherwise the stats don’t mean that much. For instance, if there were 300 fatal crashes in a certain state but only 60 of them involved riders who were licensed, not intoxicated, wearing a helmet and have good driving records then that makes a huge difference to the meaning of the stats.

So what do the most recent stats say about fatal motorcycle crashes? I’ll list out the ones I found the most relevant here:

• 45% were not wearing helmets
• 71% occurred on non-divided roadways
• 37% were speeding related
• 42% were alcohol related
• 36% were improperly licensed

That means if I don’t do any of these things then I have a 231% chance of not having a fatal accident! Just kidding. Seriously, these numbers are telling. The first number that leaps off the page is the non-divided roadway stat. Only 29% of fatal crashes occurred on interstates and divided highways. There is a general feeling amongst people that riding on the interstate is a lot more dangerous than riding on side-streets and back roads. These stats show just the opposite, and I would have to agree. I tell people all the time that I feel a lot safer on the interstate where I have a wide field of vision and very few entrance points. Sure, the speed is higher, but everyone is going the same direction and roughly the same speed, so things seem to happen slower and the reaction time needed is actually slower. This post is getting long so I’ll have more later…