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[bgreer]

  I thought this was an interesting read...wondering what yall thought

http://davedragon.rilysi.com/2008/06/motorcycle-safety-myths-and.html

[RedDragon]

Looks about right to me! 

[HeadGuess]

Can't say I disagree with any of it.

[Morgan Buchanan]

My counterpoints...

Myth 1: Other Drivers Don't Care About Motorcyclists

Truth.  Other drivers don't care ENOUGH about motorcyclists to take more than a cursory look around before doing things.  Their NEAR obliviousness to our existence makes it SEEM that they don't care.  They of course aren't TRYING to kill us, but because our existence matters so LITTLE to their convenience, it come out to the same thing in the end....  careLESS (not careFREE) drivers run over folks on motorcycles.

Ergo...this "myth" doesn't belong in an otherwise excellent article.


And just because I'm an "extreme situation" thinker....

Myth 8: If You Are Going to Crash, Lay It Down

I generally agree that this is stupid.  But I can think of a case where it's true.  If you find yourself hurtling toward a non-moving semi trailer (probably due to your own carelessness) and you know that you can NOT stop before you t-bone it, then laying it down is probably better for you than just scrubbing off as much speed as possible before hitting. 

But that'd be pretty rare.  LOL

[hipshot]

Put yourself in a hard curve where you're dragging pegs, or close to it. Coming around the blind curve you encounter an obstacle (in my case it was a car sideways across the whole ramp) you can't go around. In a straight line you may get it stopped in time, but at the lean angle you are currently in, you don't have enough traction left to brake hard enough to stop in time. You can hit the car, or lay it down. That's one of the rare instances where you have more traction (or more accurately, braking friction) sliding on your side than up on the tires. A lot of instructors will tell you that you should NEVER do this, or ALWAYS do that, but few "rules" cover 100% of all possibilities; there are often exceptions. I have seen many elevated freeway ramps with high walls that limit your visibility to what's immediately in front of you, and traffic won't always allow you to safely slow to where you could see a lost load, a spill, or any of a number of other hazardous obstructions in time to stop or circumnavigate the hazard. Never and always are dangerous words for instructors to use. In the case of an elevated ramp, trying to scrub off all the speed you can before you hit the wall could get you ejected over the wall, whereas laying it down will cause you to slide through the obstruction and into the base of the wall. I'll take the base of the wall over the 50' drop any day; with my luck the drop would end 5' in front of a speeding 18-wheeler convoy. They'd have to identify me by my license plate, because there wouldn't even be trace DNA left.

[VT-XS]

Thanks Brian. Real good article.

[snake]

My counterpoints...

Myth 1: Other Drivers Don't Care About Motorcyclists

They of course aren't TRYING to kill us, but because our existence matters so LITTLE to their convenience, it come out to the same thing in the end....  careLESS (not careFREE) drivers run over folks on motorcycles.

My counterpoint to your counterpoint:
Careless drivers run over anything that gets in the way! It's not so much that we matter little to them, if they will pull out in front of a speeding pickup or semi because they "didn't see it", they sure won't have noticed us. The myth is just that. We have to realize what blind spots are present in the minds of a reckless driver that is not only oblivious to us, but to tractor trailers, trains, m/c's, etc. They are just not aware, period. Granted, Morgan, there is the odd case, to be sure, where a car pulling out onto the main road will "see" the motorcycle and will pull out anyway, thinking the motorcycle will do everything not to hit them, and they might not have done it had they seen a large vehicle approaching at the same rate of speed. I think this to be the extremely rare case though. But, as Crew says...opinions vary!

[zoomie]

I'm a firm believer in Myth 10,"Lane Splitting."  Rode motorcycles all over Europe while stationed there.  Lane splitting is the norm there.  It permits traffic to flow quicker and it's safer for the the rider.

Motorcyles are designed to remain upright at speed.  The slower the speed, the less control the rider has over the motorcycle.  Stop and go traffic increases the likelyhood of loosing control and increases the chances of being struck from the rear by an inattentive driver.

Personally, I continue to practice lane splitting whenever safe.  I'd rather risk a ticket and some dirty looks, than getting into an accident.

[snake]

Yeah zoomie, but what happens when someone opens a door in front of you? Assuming the traffic is at a stop at the moment, that is. I alwys wondered how that fits into lane splitting.

[hipshot]

That's why it wouldn't work here. Too many drivers who are too competitive; they'll open their door on you or cut you off in a heartbeat, because they aren't about to let anyone get ahead of them. If lanesplitting was to become legal here there would have to be a bunch of martyrs die and a bunch of a$$hole drivers go to prison before the vehicular assaults on lanesplitters would begin to taper off. That's the American way.............

[zoomie]

Well Snake, short of only seeing that hapen in the movies.  I've never expierenced a driver thowing open a door in front of me.  And I've been riding for 25 years now.  I'll admit I'm cautious when splitting, there's more than a few nut jobs on the road and anything is possible, I guess.  

But I tell you, if that should ever happen, a can of whoop Cranberries would be in order!  

[zoomie]

Hipshot you're right about the competative driver's on the road!  I'm cautious and attentive to the situation before deciding whether to split or not.  Splitting is not my norm, but the exception to the rule here.  Like you said earlier, "...you should NEVER do this, or ALWAYS do that, but few "rules" cover 100% of all possibilities; there are often exceptions."  Sometimes you're in a situation where the hairs on your neck are telling you you're in a dangerous situation and action is needed.  Splitting is sometimes and option to consider.

[Luckys Lover]

Ask Lucky about lane splitting to save her Cranberries and my bike. She tells the story better than I do.

[zoomie]

Well Lucky, let's hear the story if you wouldn't mind - please.

[Lucky]

Honestly I think Wayne makes this out to be more than it really was, probably because it was a first for both of us.  Towards the end of a ride with some friends Wayne and I switched bikes.  He had just gotten his 1800 C and I wanted to ride it to see what it was like compared to my 1300C.  We were moving on down 59 coming into the downtown area of Houston when all of a sudden traffic stopped. Neither one of us saw it coming and neither did the few cars around us.  I could tell that I wouldn't be able to stop the bike before rear ending the car in front of me and I DEFINATELY didn't want to lay down Wayne's brand new bike.  Fortunately, even with the shucking and jiving that was going on around us I was able to slide inbetween the car in front of me and the ones to the left of me.  I guess it was a big accomplishment in my eyes cause I knew my typical reaction in the past was to lay on the brakes and try to steer out of the path of danger, which has caused me to go down before.  This time I didn't lay on the brakes, just found an avenue out and gave the little caress to his throttle that was needed to get the hell out of that mess.  And boy oh boy, do those 1800 get up and go when you ask them to.