DataDan
Mama says he's bona fide
Here at 1Rider one aim is to equip you with the knowledge you need to make choices that will help you get home safely from your next ride--and from every ride. If you're new to motorcycling, you have a lot to learn as you start out, and this thread will help you get off on the right foot with three essentials. We hope to show you how training can help prevent crashes, persuade you of the value of good safety gear, and help you understand the importance of choosing the right bike. Some riders learn these lessons the hard way--by crashing. The easy way is to learn from others' experiences, and many of those lessons can be found in crash research. Statistics aren't destiny, of course, but they can enlighten us about errors others have made.
The Right Skills
One startling finding from motorcycle crash studies is that many riders fail to take evasive any action to prevent the crash. In Harry Hurt's study of 900 crashes in Los Angeles County, 54% of riders failed to take the proper evasive action and 32% took no evasive action at all. MAIDS, a European study, found that 27% took no action and also discovered that untrained riders failed to take action 30% more often than trained riders. So an essential first step to acquiring the skill you need for safe riding is training in a Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) course available through most state training programs (including CMSP, the California Motorcyclist Safety Program), Harley Davidson Rider's Edge, and the armed services.
The effectiveness of skills taught by MSF was demonstrated in a CMSP study comparing the crash experiences of trained and untrained riders. Novices with no previous riding experience but with training crashed at a 24% lower rate per mile ridden than similarly inexperienced but untrained novices.
Just as remarkably, the CMSP study also found that trained riders rode 40% more miles in the year following training than untrained riders. This conclusion was similar for raw novices, more experienced novices who also took the basic rider course, and veterans who took the experienced rider course. The greater mileage suggests another benefit of training: it makes riding more fun. By helping you develop the skill to handle the motorcycle, training boosts confidence, so you get more out of riding. As MSF says: The more you know, the better it gets.
The Right Gear
While proper training prevents some crashes, others can still occur either because of extraordinary situations or simply due to rider error. That's not to say that crashing is inevitable. In 2009, nearly 8 million motorcycles were registered in the United States but only about 100,000 crashes were reported. So 7.9 million riders, more or less, made it through the year safely. But the injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash can be so severe that even a small chance of crashing is a good reason to protect yourself as well as possible.
The essential piece of safety gear for all riders is a helmet made to US Department of Transportation standards. The most compelling reason to wear a helmet is that it can save your life. No one claims that helmets are 100% effective, because not all fatal injuries are head injuries and not even a helmet can save your life in every head impact. But in a study of fatal crashes over 10 years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, part of US DOT) concluded that 37% of unhelmeted riders who died in crashes would have lived if they had worn helmets.
Much more often than they save lives, helmets prevent less serious but potentially disabling injuries. MAIDS found that in 68% of crashes the helmet prevented or reduced head injury. And a US study found that 67% of unhelmeted motorcyclists who incurred brain injuries would not have suffered the injury had they worn helmets.
While a helmet is the one piece of gear that can save your life, protective clothing made for motorcycling--jacket, gloves, pants, and boots--can prevent or reduce many non-life-threatening injuries. MAIDS found that more than half of the injuries suffered by crash victims were to arms and legs. Protective gear usually can't prevent a fracture or amputation, but it can prevent or reduce painful and disfiguring lacerations, abrasions, and bruises.
The Right Bike
We have available today the most extraordinary motorcycles ever built for street riding. Current sportbikes are more capable than grand prix bikes of 20 years ago. The dark side of that capability is that sportbike riders are more likely to be killed than riders on other kinds of motorcycles. It's not the motorcycle's fault of course. Sportbikes turn and stop exceptionally well, so they're at least as capable of avoiding a crash as any other bike. But with enough horsepower to reach 100 miles an hour in 7 seconds and cover a quarter-mile from a standing start in 10 seconds, a sportbike can easily suck an inexperienced rider into trouble he can't get himself out of. One of the most important things a good rider learns is when and where not to use his bike's superlative capabilities.
Studies of sportbike crashes show that deaths are often the result of excessive speed. Across the US in 2006, 25% of motorcycle deaths were on sportbikes, yet they accounted for only 10% of bikes on the road. And 57% of fatal sportbike crashes were speed-related compared to 29% for non-sportbikes.
A detailed analysis of 390 fatal motorcycle crashes in the San Francisco Bay Area 2005-2009 included 194 sportbike deaths, and excessive speed was often a contributing factor. Not just speed over the posted limit, but beyond the rider's ability to control or far greater than other traffic. Most often, speed caused the rider to run wide in a curve and hit an oncoming vehicle or fixed object. Nearly as often, riders lost control while riding in a straight line--some while stunting--and collided with another vehicle or fixed object. Others added their own reckless speed to the danger posed by inattentive drivers in a dense traffic environment to cause a crash. Some may dismiss these crashes, blaming them on immature riders. But those who die on sportbikes aren't all "kids." Among Bay Area sportbike riders killed, nearly half were over age 30.
The Right Choices
As you gain riding experience, you will come to understand that in spite of uncontrollable factors in the environment and unpredictable behavior of other motorists, good choices can still protect you. Gravel may lurk in a blind turn and drivers may turn left in front of you, but you can usually prepare for the unexpected, and prevent crashes or minimize injuries resulting from these unknowns. And preparation starts with skills, protective gear, and the right motorcycle.
Notes
The Right Skills
One startling finding from motorcycle crash studies is that many riders fail to take evasive any action to prevent the crash. In Harry Hurt's study of 900 crashes in Los Angeles County, 54% of riders failed to take the proper evasive action and 32% took no evasive action at all. MAIDS, a European study, found that 27% took no action and also discovered that untrained riders failed to take action 30% more often than trained riders. So an essential first step to acquiring the skill you need for safe riding is training in a Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) course available through most state training programs (including CMSP, the California Motorcyclist Safety Program), Harley Davidson Rider's Edge, and the armed services.
The effectiveness of skills taught by MSF was demonstrated in a CMSP study comparing the crash experiences of trained and untrained riders. Novices with no previous riding experience but with training crashed at a 24% lower rate per mile ridden than similarly inexperienced but untrained novices.
Just as remarkably, the CMSP study also found that trained riders rode 40% more miles in the year following training than untrained riders. This conclusion was similar for raw novices, more experienced novices who also took the basic rider course, and veterans who took the experienced rider course. The greater mileage suggests another benefit of training: it makes riding more fun. By helping you develop the skill to handle the motorcycle, training boosts confidence, so you get more out of riding. As MSF says: The more you know, the better it gets.
The Right Gear
While proper training prevents some crashes, others can still occur either because of extraordinary situations or simply due to rider error. That's not to say that crashing is inevitable. In 2009, nearly 8 million motorcycles were registered in the United States but only about 100,000 crashes were reported. So 7.9 million riders, more or less, made it through the year safely. But the injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash can be so severe that even a small chance of crashing is a good reason to protect yourself as well as possible.
The essential piece of safety gear for all riders is a helmet made to US Department of Transportation standards. The most compelling reason to wear a helmet is that it can save your life. No one claims that helmets are 100% effective, because not all fatal injuries are head injuries and not even a helmet can save your life in every head impact. But in a study of fatal crashes over 10 years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, part of US DOT) concluded that 37% of unhelmeted riders who died in crashes would have lived if they had worn helmets.
Much more often than they save lives, helmets prevent less serious but potentially disabling injuries. MAIDS found that in 68% of crashes the helmet prevented or reduced head injury. And a US study found that 67% of unhelmeted motorcyclists who incurred brain injuries would not have suffered the injury had they worn helmets.
While a helmet is the one piece of gear that can save your life, protective clothing made for motorcycling--jacket, gloves, pants, and boots--can prevent or reduce many non-life-threatening injuries. MAIDS found that more than half of the injuries suffered by crash victims were to arms and legs. Protective gear usually can't prevent a fracture or amputation, but it can prevent or reduce painful and disfiguring lacerations, abrasions, and bruises.
The Right Bike
We have available today the most extraordinary motorcycles ever built for street riding. Current sportbikes are more capable than grand prix bikes of 20 years ago. The dark side of that capability is that sportbike riders are more likely to be killed than riders on other kinds of motorcycles. It's not the motorcycle's fault of course. Sportbikes turn and stop exceptionally well, so they're at least as capable of avoiding a crash as any other bike. But with enough horsepower to reach 100 miles an hour in 7 seconds and cover a quarter-mile from a standing start in 10 seconds, a sportbike can easily suck an inexperienced rider into trouble he can't get himself out of. One of the most important things a good rider learns is when and where not to use his bike's superlative capabilities.
Studies of sportbike crashes show that deaths are often the result of excessive speed. Across the US in 2006, 25% of motorcycle deaths were on sportbikes, yet they accounted for only 10% of bikes on the road. And 57% of fatal sportbike crashes were speed-related compared to 29% for non-sportbikes.
A detailed analysis of 390 fatal motorcycle crashes in the San Francisco Bay Area 2005-2009 included 194 sportbike deaths, and excessive speed was often a contributing factor. Not just speed over the posted limit, but beyond the rider's ability to control or far greater than other traffic. Most often, speed caused the rider to run wide in a curve and hit an oncoming vehicle or fixed object. Nearly as often, riders lost control while riding in a straight line--some while stunting--and collided with another vehicle or fixed object. Others added their own reckless speed to the danger posed by inattentive drivers in a dense traffic environment to cause a crash. Some may dismiss these crashes, blaming them on immature riders. But those who die on sportbikes aren't all "kids." Among Bay Area sportbike riders killed, nearly half were over age 30.
The Right Choices
As you gain riding experience, you will come to understand that in spite of uncontrollable factors in the environment and unpredictable behavior of other motorists, good choices can still protect you. Gravel may lurk in a blind turn and drivers may turn left in front of you, but you can usually prepare for the unexpected, and prevent crashes or minimize injuries resulting from these unknowns. And preparation starts with skills, protective gear, and the right motorcycle.
Notes
- Hurt's data on evasive action is from Table 7.17.2 of his study, Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures (huge PDF).
- European data on evasive action is from table 5.20 and Figure 7.14 of the MAIDS report (PDF available after free registration).
- CMSP data on the benefits of training are in Tables 2 and 3 of the California Motorcyclist Safety Program evaluation.
- US data on 2009 registrations and crashes is from the DOT publication Traffic Safety Facts 2009 (PDF).
- The NHTSA study on helmet effectiveness is in the publication Motorcycle Helmet Effectiveness Revisited (PDF).
- MAIDS data on helmet effectiveness is from Table 9.8.
- The US study of effectiveness of helmets at preventing injuries is the CODES Report (PDF).
- MAIDS data on the frequency of arm and leg injuries is from Figure 9.3.
- The study of sportbike deaths in the US was done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (PDF).
- For more on the Bay Area studies see the BARF 1Rider Motostats threads.
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