This is why you crash your motorcycle according to science....
The study followed 100 motorcyclists over a one year period. Riders where chosen from a broad spectrum - male, female, old, young, with a broad spectrum of experience levels. All bikes where outfitted with sophisticated package of multiple cameras, geo locating device, and motion sensors to capture the entire event, including precipitating events leading to the crash. Approximately 120 near crash events and 30 crashes occurred among the 100 riders over the course of a year. Most, but not all, were so minor as to not cause injury to the rider or require reporting.

Article/Summary http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/motor...snbcrd#image=1

Full Study https://www.msf-usa.org/downloads/ms...tudy_Paper.pdf

Low speed ground impact (17 crashes)
Leaving the road (3 crashes)
Colliding with a vehicle turning left at an intersection (3 crashes)
Rider striking the back of another vehicle (2 crashes)
Vehicle crossing the rider’s path (1 crash)
Being rear-ended (1 crash)
Getting cut-off by a driver travelling in the same direction (1 crash)
Poor curve negotiation (1 crash)
Falling once underway (1 crash)

It would appear low speed bike handling (i.e. tight turns at low speed, U turns in confined space, etc.) was the main cause of crashes. The kind of skills they drill at MSF courses. If you eliminate these along with other rider caused crashes, it leaves striking a left turning car at an intersection (3 crashes), vehicle crossing path the rider's path (1 crash), and rear ended (1 crash)

 

Thanks for posting that up! It's a good read and helps confirm what I've always believed, that riders don't spend enough time improving their skills as motorcyclists, believing somehow that their ownership of the bike connotes having the ability; and they're very wrong. You ride on technique, not instincts

 

I'd have to concur...rolling a 800lb bike around at slow speeds is definitely tough. Getting that balance during low-speed tight maneuvering is very challenging. Good info - thanks!

 

I found taking the Advanced Rider Course offered under the MSF umbrella was really helpful with low speed maneuvering. They have you do some parking lot exercises I guarantee no one who has not taken the course can do right the first time.

 

I was doing slow speed parking lot exercises yesterday afternoon. I've practiced parking lot exercises for ages and I'll even set up exercises with cones at the local high school parking lot; and do you think I can get one rider I know to come out and try the exercises?

Over the winter I went to +2" over Wide Glide tubes (+4" Dyna) and they did change slow speed handling, I'll be spending quite a bit of time out there getting a real feel for the changes.

If you can't find a local course look to the 'Ride Like a Pro' series of books and DVD's. Learn the 3 techniques you need for slow speed handling control and then get out there and practice it...

https://www.ridelikeapro.com/

 

I'll take a low speed crash any day vs a high speed crash!

 

I'd be interested in seeing a parallel study that would rank the cause of accidents according to the severity of injuries or death. (I read only the summary, so if the full study touched on that subject..."never mind.") The people who conducted the study surely have that data already, so it wouldn't be difficult to crunch the numbers. If I had to guess, I'd rank the causes of accidents according to the severity of injury/death this way:

1. Colliding with a vehicle turning left at an intersection
2. Vehicle crossing the rider’s path (pulling out in front of the rider)
3. Being rear-ended
4. All the rest.

I'm not making disparaging remarks about the study. It was interesting, educational, and important. More information is always good. With that in mind, the data says that low speed ground impacts were most common, but how many people end up in the hospital or morgue after they drop their bike doing a U-turn in a WalMart parking lot?

Speaking of fatalities, here is a link to enough mind-numbing data about motorcycle deaths to put anyone to sleep. Even though the info is right there in black and white, it is still subject to interpretation. For instance, in 2015 the age group with the most deaths was us old guys 50 years old and older, and that rate was twice that of people 30-39 years old. That means that us geriatric types are twice as likely to die in motorcycle crash...right? What they don't show is how many older riders are on the road compared to younger riders. If there were twice as many of us old farts that ride, that could account for the disparity in the number of deaths.

I dunno...it's so confusing!
.

 

Everyone should practice their slow speed riding. I like to go to the grade school on weekends to practice. Nobody is there. I also practice my braking there. Practice makes perfect.

 

Stop trying to talk common sense here. We all have gigantic ***** of steel and even larger egos. Stop talking about dumb-*** things like traction pies and target fixation -it's all just mumbo jumbo invented to keep me from blaming other cars on the road...



The advanced rider course WILL save your life. It has saved mine more than once.

 

So much for the aurguement of texting drivers. We are our own statistic. But I'd drop my bike 20 times vrs getting hit once. Interesting article.