I know, I always hear that you will eventually go down but I still believe its so totally avoidable ... heres my take ..

I know I dropped my bike but I still believe going down is avoidable as opposed to inevitable ... I rode for 17 years between the ages of 16 and 33 and never crashed in all that time ...I dont believe it was just "luck" .. I was trained properly and I actively avoided danger and always rode within my limits and the bikes limits on the road ... I rode as if I wore a cloaking device, ie, totally invisible to cars and other moving objects ... I wound the bike up out in the country where it was safe ..I rode brisk but safe, in town and built up areas I am at a snails pace and my hand covering the front brake at all times ... I am on red alert for that car pulling out of a side road ... yes, I crashed but I was not fit to ride really, I had no strength and had been off the bike over 6 months ... I was not used to the way it would fly up to speed and I misjudged a situation to my cost ..if I hadnt taken it out or been off the bike the way I had I believe I still would not have crashed to this day ...

Some people dont crash for 10, 12 or 17 or maybe even 40 years like my dad but others seem to drop their bikes once or twice a year, sometimes more ...

What do you think?? ..I know there can be luck involved here and some can have a bad year but repetitively crashing begs the question should you be riding?? ..or at least, should you be riding somewhat differently??

I know I simply would not ride a bike if I believed crashing was inevitable, I like living ..I dont want to die so I am not going to ride if everytime I go out on my bike I think ...

"oh well here goes I may or may not make it back, bikes are just dangerous and crashing is inevitable!!"

We mustnt think that way, its a self fulfilling prophecy, a negative ..we must believe that biking is as safe as we chose to make it by riding well and riding with good gear ...

Take care out there, you dont have to crash!!

Jules

 

Of course you're right about crashing being totally avoidable. No matter what sayings are floating around out there, everyone does not inevitably crash at some time. I'veknow quite a few people in there 50's and 60'swho have beenriding theirentire lives and have never crashed.I'll admitthat the moreyou ride, the more you expose yourself to the possibility of crashing, but it's not written in stone that you will. You must factor in your skill level, how much risk you take upon yourself, traffic conditions in which you ride, and many others that are too numerous to mention including dumb luck (sometimes you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time). In my experience, public roads are not good places to drag knees and do wheelies and other such "risky" riding techniques and you greatly increase your chances for a spill. Too much loose gravel, cagers, and other negative road conditions.I think you should save those thingsfor thetrack.

 

There is nothing to prove actually that you will crash eventually if you ride. It is the risk involved.
So what is the amount of risk involved when you go riding? Simply put as the greater the risk, the bigger the consequences. The severity and probability of crashing does counts here as well.

By the way, well said Jules!

 

True dat Jules

Yeah if I knew that crashing was inevitable, I would not also ride as well as there is no telling what injuries I would get. Its all about doing your best to avoid any tricky situation and riding safely. The same goes for driving a car.

There is a great non profit group here in South Africa call "Think Bike". Where there are the same kind of forums like CBRForum and there is a huge following of safe riding here and it's endorsed by the traffic department and road safety organizations. There are marked reflective jackets that we wear over our leather jackets to aid visibility of the riders during the day and especially at night.

Its mainly aimed at teaching cagers as well that we are humans just like them but we prefer riding on two wheels instead of four and to help create a mentality of safe driving for them as well as safe riding for us.

 

That is a very nice movement out there in your place there Duke! Anyway it will boils down to the mentality of the people. Here in Malaysia, majority of the peoples travels with cub bikes or scooters and you can see them blatantly violating all the traffic rules in one go! No respect to other road users as well.
The sad part is we have a very high class road facilities here but all down to drain when it is occupied by third class mentality people!
Not all is lost either, I had been to my neighbor countries like Indonesia, Thailand and India too; I will be lucky to survive a day in their road!

 

While your post is eloquent and well stated Jules there is something important in what MethuselahClassic stated .. while you're probably thinking of all the reasons you shouldn't have crashed, there's always that one freak situation that can happen that's just dumb luck and practically unavoidable regardless of mode of transportation so fear is actually a good thing. Not fear or ambivalence like you described but fear more in the sense of respect for what can happen if you do stupid stuff. Most accidents are a result of operator error in one way or another and many look everywhere but themselves for the reason but that does not discount the fact that even the safest riders can be taken out by simple everyday occurrences beyond our control.

Sure I can pat myself on the back for having ridden well over 20 years without an accident and get overconfident with myself knowing that those weren't just fair weather rides but many spirited twisty rides as well as many many thousands of heavily congested urban commute miles but all that doesn't mean much to me because every time I ride I notice all the "what if's" and know we are always a split second away from disaster no matter how well trained we are or how much experience we have. Luck IS a part of it regardless of skill or experience. As an example, take this routine situation that all of us deal with; your riding along at night and an oncoming car passes you on a dark road. You have a few brief blind seconds right after they pass that you really can't see much. What if during those seconds something jumps out in the road or if there was debris there in the corner? Sure you can think "I should go slower" but then you'd be going 20 mph every time a car passes you and we all know that's not going to happen. There are other answers but the basic point is that there is some FAITH involved and inherent with riding imo.

So am I saying that I just throw my hands up and give in that it's a gamble every time I ride and just hope for the best? A definite NO to that! What I'm saying is that if you ride reasonably sane and cautious and do everything you can to minimize the risks (e.g. Wear ATGAT, slow down, scan your environment and refresh that scan rapidly and routinely, etc.. etc..) then you have done all you can about the "what if's" and without getting religious, the rest is in the hands of [ insert your choice of diety here ].

 

Around here, we have factors that many others dont have.....Deer!!!!
In the fall time, its really not safe to ride at night, day time is a lil if-y also. Its mating season in the fall and they are chasing each other all over the place. I've hit several in a car or truck. 2 of the last 3,I didnt even have time to hit the brakes, they just jumped out from the woods right into the road in front of me. The last one, I slowed down cause I saw a bunch of them coming across a field, I let them cross but the last one, a buck, was trying to play catch up and was watching his buddies instead of me and he plowed right into the side of my truck, head first..LOL
I havnt hit one on a bike yet and I hope I never do. I have a buddy who rides constantly and he has hit 5 on a bike over the years. I think he's lucky to still be alive.

 

Kewl, I hear exactly what you are saying :-) ... my point is we can take the controllable out of the risk equation, yes there will always be the unforseen deer or an owl at night ...bright headlights that stopped you seeing that object right in your riding line but really those events for most of us, unless like Rod you have deer everywhere, are much less likely than operator error ..so many riders go down through their own poor judgement (me included now), from over cooking it on a bend .. getting target fixation, going too fast for the conditions .. with any single vehicle crash be it car or bike it is just about 99 times out of 100 operator error ... on that basis if we avoid operator error we start to look at 10, 20, 30 or even 40 year riding carreers that are blemish free .. but if you are going down 3 times a year then something needs addressing, yes??

I just simply believe the majority of bikers crashing is down to operator error/misjudgement and this is avoidable, not inevitable.


Jules

 

Funny, I was going to throw deer into the equation myself...after all, the furry bastards gave me this

Sonsabitches.
While I agree that there is a multitude of things that you can do to reduce your risk to negligible levels, there will always be the x-factor that comes along and knocks you on your *** whenever it can.