Different thangs. Ortega is the deadliest motorcycle road in California, Angeles Crest isn't far behind. That's not because the roads are dangerous, but because motorcyclists go there to ride fast.
Right.
"Rider: Doc, I die when I ride too fast on Ortega." "Doctor: Don't do that."
Make no mistake, if any of these roads are dangerous for their own sake, OH is at the top of the list with its narrow shoulders, and tight, blind curves.
17 is a commute route, with freeway speeds and density but without the space to build a proper freeway.
From 2014 to 2018 (latest data I have from CHP), on 17 between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz...
- there were 120 reported motorcycle crashes
- 60% were multiple vehicle
- half of the MV were the other driver's fault, usually a cut-off
- of the MV crashes that were the rider's fault, nearly half were rear-enders, (i.e. riding too fast)
- most of the rest of the MV resulted from motorcycle loss of control (i.e. perhaps riding too fast, could also be a road condition issue)
- in half of the single-vehicle crashes--20% of the total--the motorcycle overturned while going straight (crash under braking?) (i.e. probably riding too fast)
(italics mine)
I appreciate that riders speed, and how "going fast" is a key component to riding for some. But if there's anything in the gross dynamic that's within the riders control, "going fast (or not)" is at the top of the list.
Are the speed limits too high for this road? Is it simply artificially dangerous due to poor engineering, enforcement, and signage? Does it have a lot of blind intersections and dangerous cross traffic? Nefarious road conditions?
What makes AC and OH dangerous is not the road (modulo some rocks in the corners), it's the riders themselves. And MOST of the time, they only hurt themselves (there's always exceptions). But those are 2 lane undivided roads where someone crossing the double yellow is a real possibility and can affect others. That does not seem to be an issue with 17 as far as I can tell.
Can you be in the slow lane and some yahoo in the fast lane overheats a corner and goes bowling for others? Sure, I guess, but that's not a hazard to a novice rider -- that's hazard to anyone. Novice or expert. If that threat is bad enough for a novice, it's bad enough for others as well. Maybe the experts expect to be leading traffic the entire time (and "good enough" to not go bowling themselves) so they're under less threat of being hit from behind. That's almost reasonable, incurring the risk of riding faster over the risk of being struck from behind by someone else who's chosen the risk of riding faster. Twisted logic there, to be sure, but there's a glimmer.
Out here in the IE, I do 70 on the freeway and I'm like a rock in the river sometimes. Aggressive driving all around me. And that's just on 4-5 lanes of interstate. Cars feel entitled to just roar down this stretch of road, in and out and around other cars. 75 is often not fast enough. I've seen my share of cars doing just that and rushing in to density, only to not, quite, make it. Dangerous to everyone.
Finally, 120 crashes over 4 years, 50% another vehicles fault. So, in theory, 60 are in direct control of the rider. 15 per year. 1 every 24 days. How many vehicles travel this road every day? How much better are the other roads?
I don't want anyone to get hurt, naturally. I don't want to pressure someone to do something they're not comfortable with, of course. Heck, I don't recommend motorcycle riding to anyone. But it seems to me that this road is mostly unsafe to folks making it unsafe, and mostly to themselves, and much of the control appears to be in the hands of the rider.