Then you were doing something wrong when you were riding a bike. Sorry you missed out on the fun.
Motorcycles - How dangerous are they?
- Thread starter buster
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I'll echo Gurkha's sentiments. Been street riding since I was 15, playin in the dirt since 6. Roadraced for several years, motored on duty, and am a MSF instructor. Never been down or crashed into on the street and ride a big bore sport bike. I have a healthy respect for the throttle, don't ride beyond what the enviroment dictates and treat EVERYTHING out there as a potential threat. In spite of this, I still have fun and my life would be less full had I not gotten into bikes.
I'm now kinda changing gears a bit. With only a few thousand on the clock, I think my street bike is going to go. Not because of it being "dangerous", but because I just don't have the time to ride much anymore. I enjoy the time with my boy much more. Plus I'm paring down my "hobbies" to focus mainly on the car. I do think, however, that I will purchase 2 dirtbikes with the proceeds from the streetbike sale. One for me, one for the boy. Still need to to keep myself involved with 2 wheels somehow I suppose.
I'm now kinda changing gears a bit. With only a few thousand on the clock, I think my street bike is going to go. Not because of it being "dangerous", but because I just don't have the time to ride much anymore. I enjoy the time with my boy much more. Plus I'm paring down my "hobbies" to focus mainly on the car. I do think, however, that I will purchase 2 dirtbikes with the proceeds from the streetbike sale. One for me, one for the boy. Still need to to keep myself involved with 2 wheels somehow I suppose.
Ask an actuary. Right up there with skydiving, owning an experimental plane and other less desirable activities for insurance purposes.
As said above, not for the family man.
As said above, not for the family man.
I managed to put over 250k miles on street bikes, and as expected odds will catch up with one eventually:
Ran over sheets of drywall at speed on a slow highway turn, which wasn't too bad as it was pretty dry at the time and I just slid over a bit.
Was run off the road into a plowed field by crackers in a pickup in Oklahoma, managed to keep it up and get back onto the road.
Was almost hit by a Ferrari trying to pass me, the bike in front of me, and the car in front of the bike, as I had pulled out to pass. He hit the shoulder and got away ok.
Hit a dog and killed it in the suburbs, after changing direction three times, but he switched direction each time into my path.
Hit gear oil on a freeway off ramp next to the house, and manged to keep the bike up as the 750 didn't weigh too much.
While merging and glancing over my shoulder hit a warning sign on a freeway on ramp, which shattered a fork leg, shaved a couple of inches on one side of the engine, and bent the brake pedal back 180 degrees. I was wearing steel toed boots, ended up with a broken toe, but managed to keep the bike up across two lanes even though the front tire went flat. A CHP had just asked the work crew to move the sign as he said that someone would hit it - that would be me :^)
Hit morning dew on an oily street on a slow turn abut a mile from home, wrestled with the bike but high sided it as teh 1100 was heavy with a full tank. Not even a scratch but over $200 in damage.
While slowing down hit a lane full of oil on a rain sicked street, went down instantly. A slight amount of road rash on one leg, a few hundred dollars in damage.
Dodged rocks, boxes, lumber, and even a toilet, not to mention many cars over the years.
Ran over sheets of drywall at speed on a slow highway turn, which wasn't too bad as it was pretty dry at the time and I just slid over a bit.
Was run off the road into a plowed field by crackers in a pickup in Oklahoma, managed to keep it up and get back onto the road.
Was almost hit by a Ferrari trying to pass me, the bike in front of me, and the car in front of the bike, as I had pulled out to pass. He hit the shoulder and got away ok.
Hit a dog and killed it in the suburbs, after changing direction three times, but he switched direction each time into my path.
Hit gear oil on a freeway off ramp next to the house, and manged to keep the bike up as the 750 didn't weigh too much.
While merging and glancing over my shoulder hit a warning sign on a freeway on ramp, which shattered a fork leg, shaved a couple of inches on one side of the engine, and bent the brake pedal back 180 degrees. I was wearing steel toed boots, ended up with a broken toe, but managed to keep the bike up across two lanes even though the front tire went flat. A CHP had just asked the work crew to move the sign as he said that someone would hit it - that would be me :^)
Hit morning dew on an oily street on a slow turn abut a mile from home, wrestled with the bike but high sided it as teh 1100 was heavy with a full tank. Not even a scratch but over $200 in damage.
While slowing down hit a lane full of oil on a rain sicked street, went down instantly. A slight amount of road rash on one leg, a few hundred dollars in damage.
Dodged rocks, boxes, lumber, and even a toilet, not to mention many cars over the years.
Lots of guys here telling you not to get a bike, as it's just too risky. I wonder if any of them are overweight, sedentary, smoke, drink too much, work too hard, etc?
Motorcycling is more dangerous than driving a car. No doubt about that. There are additional risks involved that have been covered in this thread already.
Life is all about risk assesment and management. Motorcycling is no different. What you need to do is to study the risks and decide if you're willing to accept them. Personally, I've decided that by getting training (MSF and the like), riding a manageable bike, not riding at night or in the rain, wearing full gear every time I ride, and being a cautious, careful rider who knows the major risk factors, that I can keep the risks down to an acceptable level.
jeff
Motorcycling is more dangerous than driving a car. No doubt about that. There are additional risks involved that have been covered in this thread already.
Life is all about risk assesment and management. Motorcycling is no different. What you need to do is to study the risks and decide if you're willing to accept them. Personally, I've decided that by getting training (MSF and the like), riding a manageable bike, not riding at night or in the rain, wearing full gear every time I ride, and being a cautious, careful rider who knows the major risk factors, that I can keep the risks down to an acceptable level.
jeff
From memory, my list of near misses:
Nearing a bend, car racing towards me with much of the car on my side of the road! My foot peg hit the car bumper and tore off the bumper. About another 6 inches to my side and I wouldn't be here to tell you about it. The car was going at least 60 mph and I was doing maybe 45 mph. 105mph impacts are not good!
Came to a bend and the road was covered in gravel. Braked cautiously and the bike went straight on into a tree. Bent the handlebars and my knee. The knee was never the same after that and is hurting as I write this, 20 years later.
Hit diesel spill on a bend, dropped the bike and slid for goodness how long. Wearing leathers, and boy did the heat build up quickly on my arm. The bike had engine protector bars and they were worn away. Better them than my body.
Hit a monster pothole and bent the front rim, threw me off the bike and into the kerb. Ouch.
Hit a monster pothole on a bend and the rear suspension bottomed out, then the exhaust hit and then parts of the frame. Left a mark on the road, but I managed to gather it back up and barely avoid the oncoming cars.
Going about 100mph on a 6 lane wide highway and met some roadworks that had no warning signs. The road had been "combed" prior to resurfacing. Not much fun at 100mph I can tell you. Somehow I was able to slow down and get through it. A guy behind dropped his bike (Honda 400 Four - gorgeous bike) and actually overtook me on his backside! He was wearing leathers and helmet and wasn't too badly hurt but the bike was totalled.
Here's a couple of funny ones:
Pulling up to a red light, going at walking speed, and the front wheel went sideways and I dropped the bike in front of a crowd of people. Hadn't noticed the wet leaves on the road there. As slippery as ice.
Forgot the bike was running on the fuel reserve. Noticed the fuel gauge was below empty and then was cruising towards the nearest gas station. The engine cut out and I was able to coast silently into the station and fill up. It was a hot day with a heavy bike and there was no way I was pushing it far.
All told, I have no clue how many miles I've accumulated. Lost count of the times I've dropped a dirt bike offroad, but that's part of the deal. Been riding for a little over 30 years but pretty much retired now. Have an old Honda 400 Twin in the garage in case the bug bites, but then I look at my 3 kids and think better of it.
According to National Geographic's latest issue, you have a 1 in 1 chance of dying (imagine that!). You have a 1 in 5 chance if dying from heart disease, 1 in 7 from cancer and 1 in 84 in a automobile accident. There stats are something like 1 in 1200 (+/- a few) for a motorcycle related incident.
In 1974 when I was 17 years old I drove my then new Kawasaki Z1 into Chicago on a Friday night during rush hour. I'd had that bike all of 2 months but I'd been riding for a couple of years before that.
I rode street bikes pretty much constantly for the next decade and never had an accident on the street that involved another vehicle. I never had an injury on the street and even rode through 2 Illinois winters without hurting myself.
Even though I don't have great memories of being wet, freezing my buns off, changing flat tires on the road, fixing things 1000 miles from home, people in cars and trucks almost killing me, and lots of other stuff that went along with it I can honestly say - I wouldn't have missed it for the world. One fond memory I have of riding across this high plateau on the way to Pikes Peak about 7:00 one beautiful clear morning on that same Z1 more than offsets every bad experience I ever had.
Life's for living...
Life's for living...
So's flying small planes and skydiving. Not to mention rock-climbing, and all the rest. Of course they're fun. But a smack-the-road injury can remove the pleasure from most everything else. That's what's to be weighed in the balance.
Nothing stupid about risk-aversion. Fat can get thin, slack-muscled can get toned, etc; just try not to make it the wheelchair-bound-someone-wipe-my-behind-please-type of disablement.
So's flying small planes and skydiving. Not to mention rock-climbing, and all the rest. Of course they're fun. But a smack-the-road injury can remove the pleasure from most everything else. That's what's to be weighed in the balance.
Nothing stupid about risk-aversion. Fat can get thin, slack-muscled can get toned, etc; just try not to make it the wheelchair-bound-someone-wipe-my-behind-please-type of disablement.
Wow. A lot of anti-cyclists on this board. Not for the family man eh? Riding a bike isn't for everyone. I see a lot of cage drivers who can't walk and chew gum at the same time much less pilot a 2 ton 4 wheeler down a straight road. Proper instruction, and that means a refresher course every few years, proper gear, and having the mindset that danger IS around the corner will save your rear.
That's where I am coming from. You can't let fear rule your life, but I'm not anxious to leave this world quite yet.
Wow. I am amazed at the replies here.
I do the following, as safely as I can:
Skydive
SCUBA Dive
Ride Motorcycles
Climb Mountains (when I can)
Ski
Rollerblade
I just don't see giving up life because things are dangerous.
Again, many people eat McDonald's, sit in front of the boob-tube and not much else.
Not me.
I'll take my risks with education and good equipment to hopefully get me home safely.
I thought this place would be more open-minded, but then again, half of the people here dive two states just to find bottles of GC.
Yowza.
I do the following, as safely as I can:
Skydive
SCUBA Dive
Ride Motorcycles
Climb Mountains (when I can)
Ski
Rollerblade
I just don't see giving up life because things are dangerous.
Again, many people eat McDonald's, sit in front of the boob-tube and not much else.
Not me.
I'll take my risks with education and good equipment to hopefully get me home safely.
I thought this place would be more open-minded, but then again, half of the people here dive two states just to find bottles of GC.
Yowza.
Yes, but if you ride your cahances of being killed in a MC accident are 15 to 20 times that of a car driver/passenger.
I had my first ride in a light plane when I was 6 years old, in a J-3 cub owned by an uncle. I could have learned to fly for free from another uncle who was an instructor and pilot for American Airlines and that owned 3 small planes. But as a 14 year who was being taught to fly it got to me when we started doing stall recoveries and that's as far as I got with flying.
It's one of the biggest regrets I have in my life, that I couldn't suck it up and get it done when it was offered.
Nothing wrong with being risk adverse I suppose. It keeps us alive. But it's good to experience enough to be able to look at risks objectively and separate real ones from your fears.
I'll still jump in a light plane every time it's offered as long as I know the pilot is competent and the machinery is in good repair. But you have to drag me sedated onto a commercial airliner. Go figure...
Actually, NO.
"This chart shows what the lifetime probabilities are of a US resident dying in a relatively common event, such as a pedestrian accident, or a less common but larger scale catastrophe, such as an earthquake."
Heart Disease - 1 in 5 Ranks 1st
Cancer - 1 in 7
Stroke - 1 in 24
MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT - 1 in 84 (ranks 4th)
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PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT - 1 in 626 Ranks 8th
MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT - 1 in 1020 (Ok, I was off by 200) Ranks 10th.
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Bicycling Accident - 1 in 4919
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Hot Weather - 1 in 13,729
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Fireworks Discharge - 1 in 340,733 Ranks last
This information was taken straight from the August issue of National Geographic. According to this, it appears as though you are 12+ x's more likely to die in an AUTO accident! This is just food for thought. Flame NG not me.
They are if you're clueless statistic. The rider can shift that number a long ways one way or the other.
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Hear, hear!
*** BOGUS STATISTICS ALERT ***
If I don't ride a motorcyle, my risk of dying in a motorcycle accident is precisely ZERO, not 10th in rank. (assuming that statistic is for the rider only).
There are way more than 12 times the number of active car drivers than motorcycle riders. Unless the statistics take that into account, and they do not appear to, they are totally 100% useless. The risk has to be normalized to it's set, not to everyone.
Motorcycle deaths rise sharply
"Last year, 4,008 motorcycle riders were killed in highway accidents..."
"Meanwhile, passenger car deaths dropped 3.2% to 19,091"
"In 2003, the most recent year for which statistics are available for motorcycles, the fatality rate was 38.38 per 100 million miles traveled"
"By contrast, the fatality rate for all highway drivers has improved for decades and in 2004 was 1.46 per 100 million miles traveled"
By my math, 38.38/1.46 = 26 times higher risk of dying if you ride a motorcycle versus driving a car. [EDIT - even allowing for the typically lower annual mileage of bikes versus cars, the National Geographic stats are meaningless without context]
National Geographic need to hire some mathematicians, or at the very least, people with common sense enough to know that riding a motorcycle is more dangerous than driving a car
[ July 31, 2006, 09:41 PM: Message edited by: keith ]
Enough.
If you're too frightened to ride - DON'T!
If you do ride, be careful.
Simple, eh?
If you online nanny's are done now, I think I'll go polish my lid.
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