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Gowing wrote:According to NHTSA, motorcycle riders are 35 times more likely than people in a car to be in a fatal accident.

...mostly due to those people in cars whose surnames are all Snow. I can't believe how every one of them has to be 10 feet or less behind me no matter the speed when we're the only two vehicles on the road. I need a flame thrower.

tlbranth wrote:

Gowing wrote:According to NHTSA, motorcycle riders are 35 times more likely than people in a car to be in a fatal accident.

...mostly due to those people in cars whose surnames are all Snow. I can't believe how every one of them has to be 10 feet or less behind me no matter the speed when we're the only two vehicles on the road. I need a flame thrower.

AMEN to that

Agreed. For some reason, a tailgater will boil my blood quicker than just about anything. Hopefully, this won't sound sexist, but it seems that 99.9999999% of them are women!

They say most accidents happen close to your home.

That's it, I'm moving.

^^^

If I quit doing everything that I do that's risky, I wouldn't be having very much fun!

It's getting down right dangerous to live these days.

If the numbers say most thinks happen close to home,....probably smarter to ride as far from home as you can

After a while, it does get a bit tiring hearing people who don't ride tell you how dangerous it is to ride. Give me a break. Like I didn't know, or it would make any difference to me if they had just told me something new.

Perhaps they expect me to go home that very evening and put my motorcycle up on craigslist?

desertrefugee wrote:Perhaps they expect me to go home that very evening and put my motorcycle up on craigslist?

Have you no shame? Now you would be passing the risk on to someone else! (tongue n cheeck).

I know someone who tries to convince me that I should give up bikes because they are too dangerous nearly every time we meet. I've had 1 accident in over 30 years of driving only bikes but he's had 3 or 4 car accidents in the last 15 years or so. But bikes are more dangerous than cars.

BTW: More people in Ontario die on snowmobiles than motorcycles but you almost never hear people ranting about how deadly they are...

I've been lucky/observant enough to spot a couple cagers not paying attention and putting me in jeopardy. So far. I'm not tempting fate by bragging though. I've been down a couple times and had a scare or two but lucky enough to not have hit or been hit by anything. So far.

Here's a statistic. You,I, everyone is going to die. Some people just get to die doing what they love.

Reminds me of a story I heard about one of the guys who raced those big-wheeled, open cockpit racers in the 20's...the guy was the fastest human on wheels at the time, doing an incredible 60-plus miles an hour around the race track.

When interviewed by the newspapers of the time, one reporter asked him if he was afraid he might get killed doing it.
"Let me ask you a question," the driver asked the reporter. "How do YOU hope to die...?"
The reporter replied "I hope I die at home, in bed."
"So how do have the courage to go to sleep every night?" the driver asked.


Indeed, one of my friends who rides once told me he fully expects to get killed on his bike - I though that was a bit morbid at the time (PRE-motorcycle license), but once I started riding I discovered the truth to that statement. People don't see you; you have to see THEM, and be ready for whatever idiocy they have in mind, Everywhere. On corners, on straightaways, and Especially at roads that come in from the right.

I think as riders we've All that that experience of some slack-jawed idiot "who didn't see us" turning Left in front of us - I know I have. Shoot, I once had one brainiac look directly AT ME and Still pulled out...!
Wet roads, grassy roads, sandy roads, other idiot drivers...DEER - especially here in rural Virginia (makes my palms sweat just thinking about it)…another friend of mine got torpedoed on her V-Strom by five of the furry little cockroaches that decided to sprint across the road as she was passing by. One hit her front wheel, one directly mid-center and another on on her rear wheel, the other two missed. She went down but was okay besides some bruises and abrasions.

It's all about Risk Management - wear the right gear (ATGATT), don't be an idiot, and especially ride within your ability. I had a CBR600 once (Once!) that tried to kill me on the Blue Ridge Parkway because Honestly, I was riding outside my 'envelope.' Luckily I reined it in before I went over a 1,500 foot cliff, but nothing brings you back to reality better than a brush with possible death or worse, paralysis, than realizing your own abilities.

Still - I'm 57, I ride, I smoke, I drink, I eat meals alone, I've been married twice, I'm a former soldier, I own guns - if you start worrying about dying all the time, I believe you never truly Live, and even if you stayed home (eating and drinking and smoking, Especially...!), Death would still (and Will) find you one day.

So rhetorically, what are ya gonna do...? Stay home, close the blinds and stay quiet...?
Nah. It's a sunny day, the tank is full, and this is why we're here anyway - to See The Sights! So let's ride!

Sex and Death by Dr. Frankenstein1, on Flickr

There is some risk in everything. I have often said that there's a chance that you could be hit on the head by a rock from outer space when you step out of your door tomorrow but the chance is so slim that worrying about it doesn't keep you indoors.

If you expect to die on your motorcycle you are doing it wrong. There are lots of things you can do to make yourself safer.
- If you haven't already done so take a rider course.
- Make sure you have good mirrors and that they are aimed properly and don't neglect the condition of the rest of the bike either.
- Don't "play" in traffic. No matter how much fun your bike may be public roads are not the place for showing off or trying to prove how cool you are. There are enough idiots on the road already, don't be another one.

I think I've mentioned Charlie Mahoney here before. When I met him he was 78 years old and just back from a rally somewhere in the US that he rode to on his Indian 4. Ontario requires a mandatory driver's license test when you turn 80 and when Charlie went for his he did the written test and complained to the official that it was not the correct test for the motorcycle license, telling them he didn't care if they took his car license away as long as they renewed his motorcycle license. From what I heard he was still riding not long before he passed away at age 85.

I'll be 68 in a few weeks. Like Charlie, I expect to be riding as long as I can get on a bike but I do NOT expect to die on a bike.