What are we doing wrong?
 

I was reading this morning about another biker killed yesterday when he ran off a curve and crashed into a wall. No other vehicles were involved.

There was two statistics the instructors told us at the motorcycle safety course that have stuck with me;

1. Over 50% of motorcycle deaths are single vehicle accidents.
2. Over 50% of motorcycle accidents involve alcohol.

The fix for the alcohol statistic is obvious, but how can we fix single vehicle accidents? I see these single vehicle motorcycle accidents a lot in the news, usually on curves. But I have personally passed a couple of accidents the last couple of years where the rider ran off the curve. What are we doing wrong?

Beary

Practice, practice, practice.

Motorcycle safety course should be mandatory to get a license. Inexperience on 2 wheels is a recipe for disaster as well.
No offense to anyone but I gotta think with Radios, GPS & cellphones on motorcycles it has to add to the accident rate some.. just like cages.

I should ride the same when I am alone as I do with the woman on the back...

There is no substitute for experience - and sometimes that's not enough. As with everything, accidents will happen.

Inexperience, excess speed, or both. Remember to ride your ride and stay within your abilities.

Speed is the biggest factor in not making a curve. The simple solution is to slow down.

Yup, just read about one here in Central Ohio from last Sunday morning right before dawn. Happened on the interstate. Guy lost control and slid into the guardrail off the right side of the road. Not sure if he fell asleep, but they say alcohol may have been involved. If so, may have been a late night of drinking and he should have stayed put until he slept the alcohol off. If not, it could have been speed related like one earlier mentioned.

...and yet it seems half the posts we read around here are about how to make our bikes faster...go figure..riding is dangerous...no doubt about it...

you can't fix Stupid

I bet there was a death in a car as well.

Local newspaper ALWAYS posts mc deaths. Of the 12-15 around here, I believe only 2 were the result of a cager. The most recent, 3 riders hit the back end of a truck at 110 on the thruway, truck going like 55-60.

Thank GOD I quit drinkin' in '08 or I would be missing the curve!

How many of the single bike accidents involve alcohol would be a better stat.

Inexperience, alcohol, excess speed and distracted drivers are probably in the same percentage as they were before. I think we are reading about more accidents simply because there are more riders on the road these days.

What they don't tell us, is how many motorcycles went through the same curve each day without incident?

Accidents
 

Every experienced rider knows you cannot let your guard down, ever.
I realized myself after riding the Street glide for 20,000 miles, I've gotten much more comfortable and can handle her alot better than when I first drover her off the lot, but I know better than trying to bite off more than I can chew. Geeze, these bikes are in excess of 800 pounds, it's like trying to control an elephant

Because the average biker doesn't know the first thing about braking in a turn - and that is don't brake in a turn! However, there is a way to do it but most guys just think if you hit a turn too fast you can just brake like a cager - wrong!

Roll off, straighten out, THEN brake! It takes practice, because it goes against instincts since you are not laying into the turn harder, but instead you straighten out INTO the danger area (outside of turn).

I second that as well. Speed is the big killer along with riding beyond ones own skills.

Don't ride beyond your limits and don't drink and ride. Simple.

Drew

I'd say speed and inexperience kill the most...add alcohol and I'd bet that stat goes way up. I have to agree and disagree with Jon 2005 above. Agree that most people (especially new riders) lack the ability and experience to safely brake in a turn. But disagree in the fact that experienced riders should know how to and use trail braking when necessary. IMHO, new riders should learn this technique. Effective trail braking is a very effective method to slow while in control during those "OH SH*T" moments....decreasing radius blind curve with a deer standing in the road for example. Trouble is, it takes a lot of practice and experience to master trail braking in order to be ready for those "special" moments we all have. My humble opinion, too many people take thier riding skill for granted and don't invest in themselves through genuine practice and evasive control techniques. If people took their riding technique as serious as they took other aspects of their life, we'd see far fewer of these single vehicle road departure accidents.

Stay awake and pay attention.

There are several ways to do that at individual points but I agree with you.....a good guide to cornering. Another I often add is slow in and fast out but that takes a bit of practice too...
all the best, ride safe,
R

Its usually the ones that ride like its a recreational vehicle that don't survive. Sunday warrioeswarriors Its the riders that ride their bike as a vehicle for transportation that survives.

Remember what you are driving. A touring bike not a sport bike.

I watched a guy miss a curve going slow and completely sober. What a lot of newer riders don't do is look through the turn. Look to where you want to go, not at your damn front tire as you try to hold a consistent line/arch through the turn.

bingo!!!

inexperience and speed would be my guess there. Just a quick story.....stopped off at a rest stop least month and met a group of riders heading to the dragons tail...1 of them admitted to not being very good at right hand curves...always goes really wide and sometimes dips off the road.....I had 2 thoughts...the first was thank god I am NOT heading to the dragons tail...and the second one was how the hell are you gonna ride probably the triwistist road in america with the basic skills required to go around the block.....that said I am all for new riders joining our brotherhood but I am also worried about them and the reputation they pass along to those of us why actually know how to ride....just sayin....

I certainly agree. I've been riding for years, but I will still be taking the course when the OL takes it...I'm SURE there are things I haven't learned yet. Michigan has a "basic" and an "experienced" course. I might take the experienced course.

I agree. I feel comfortable riding on curves, I have been riding for 7 years, 25K miles. I took the Skilled Riding Course this weekend and I sucked at looking through the turns. I know they are artificial in the parking lot, but I am going to concentrate a lot more on that in real life.

alot of times you have no chance...like last sunday when a illegal drunk immigrant pulled out in front of this man and his son had to watch the whole accident happen...its sad
http://www.nwherald.com/2011/07/26/d...crash/avi3gk3/

Even experienced riders, while understanding the concept of braking in turns, rarely actually practice it. Ask yourself when was the last time you balled into a corner too fast, on purpose, just to practice braking?

Personally, I think the DMV riding test is bunk. Nobody gets killed turning at 2mph in a parking lot while negotiating a turn around a shopping cart... you might look like an idiot when you tip that scooter in the parking lot, but chances are it aint gonna turn you into road-pizza. I think that DMV riding test should actually test your skill as a rider, instead of testing your skill as a parker. And if they won't test your skill, then like others suggest; manditory driving course. At least then you will learn it.

exit ramp posted speeds are probally a good indication of how fast you should go....and thats at ideal conditions....no rain...no leaves on the ground....no oil on tires from lst toll plaza, etc.

No Jim Beam either

Get struck by lightning...that's an accident....everything else is human error...same with bikes...operator error. The riders overinflated sense of riding ability is probably the underlying root cause in most incidents.

What are we doing wrong?

We are buying more bike than we can handle. We are starting out on what should be our 3rd or so bike. Harleys are not first time bikes.

Thanks for your input Jon....yesterday.

Several of you hit the nail on the head....slow down, pay attention, don't ride like a idiot. I work a lot of MC accidents. Most of the ones after dark are alcohol related, but they only account for less than 5% of our accidents. Most of the one vehicle accidents are the result of one of the factors mentioned above. Most of the one vehicle fatalities are riders not wearing helmets. I see this live and in color so don't try to convince me helmets aren't a good thing. (For the record, I don't like to wear them and very occasionally don't.)

I am NOT for government mandated riders courses. We have way too much government in our lives now (seen the news lately?) Should people take advantage of the riders courses out there? Sure, that would be a smart thing to do. But you can also teach yourself, especially with the materials that are available now days. A good dose of common sense, a little self education and some pointers from more experienced riders have taught most of us. Leave the government out of it!!!

The problem is it is too easy to buy a bike and get a license. Just look through these forums to see all kinds of posts about not touching the front brake, not using any brakes in a turn, running car tires on a motorcycle, riding faster than the flow of traffic at all times on the interstate, running loud exhaust to save your life, full face helmets will break your neck, throwin $hit at cars that cut you off is cool, etc... The proliferation of bad info/ half truths is staggering.

Not to mention the ratio of threads about how to make a bike faster compared to how to upgrade the brakes.

It seems everyday there are another few posts by folks who dropped their bike doing something silly. Yes accidents happen but if folks are routinely dropping their bike they probably should sit in the garage and make vroom vroom noises instead of hitting the open road.

IMHO opinion, you learn to ride by buying a $500 enduro and spending a few years riding gravel roads. You do not learn to ride by buying a pile of DVDs and doing low speed figure 8's in a parking lot.

No one has mentioned our aging society. It's a lot more likely that someone that is between 50 and 70 to have an medical emergency.
My brother rode by an accident that happened this weekend up here in Wa., on Stevens Pass. He said they figure the 61 year old rider from Canada had a heart attack, went across 4 lanes into the guardrail, and then was thrown 150 feet down an embankment.
This accident happened on a fairly straight stretch of the pass.

A few years ago I was riding with a guy that was really overweight and in his sixties in 104* weather. Luckily when the heat stroke hit him and he passed out, we had just stop for gas. If it happened 5 minutes earlier, he could have wrecked, and taken one of us out with him.

Your going to go, where your looking.

I know three people who have driven straight through a curve. ALL were beginners! One was on his way home from the dealer, on a brand new Wide Glide. One crash was fatal. And the other took a ride in a helicopter. One admitted to me that he "just couldn't turn the handle bars"! I'll bet the other two were trying to physically turn the bars also! So it's just my guess....but i'd bet that over 50% of single vehical motorcycle crashes are due to INEXPERIENCE!!!