From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!CAD:tektronix!zehntel!sytek!menlo70!hao!seismo!rocheste!ritcv!kar Newsgroups: net.cycle Title: Re: motorcycles dangerous? Article-I.D.: ritcv.150 Posted: Wed Mar 9 08:39:05 1983 Received: Sat Mar 12 05:27:02 1983 References: sdcarl.4267 Yes, it is dangerous to ride a motorcycle, but I think the 1/50 chance of death per year is misleading. The intrinsic danger in riding is mechanical in nature. If one of your tires blows out, you've lost half of them, not a quarter of them as in a car, with the resulting (likely fatal) loss of control. I suppose similar things could also cause an untimely death (such as a chain snapping at 55 mph), but the tire example is easiest to visualize. To guard against these types of accidents, one must keep his/her bike in top mechanical condition and must also be more alert while riding than an auto driver is (a pothole that would break a shock in a car can break your neck on a bike). It is my opinion that the greater part of the 1 in 50 statistic is the extrin- sic danger, that which the rider can avoid. It is often claimed that one of the problems with motorcycles is that auto drivers have a hard time seeing them. There is little that can be done about the size of the vehicle, but your visibility can be increased in other ways. I, for example, wear a blaze-orange jacket whenever I ride. More important than this, by far, is the problem of being where you are not expected to be. I have seen many riders that zip in and out of traffic, or zoom to the right around a car that is turning left at an intersection, or riding down the shoulder of the road. This compounds the visibility problem: not only do other drivers have a hard time seeing you in the first place, but now you show up where they never would have thought to look at all! No wonder some many of these riders get clobbered! The real problem here is not with the auto drivers, there's no way we can educate the majority of people on the road to watch out for the minority. The real problem is the fact that it is FUN to do many of these dangerous things. Most people wouldn't dare ride a bike, and here you are, brave and bold, zipping past these poor frightened cretins who are waiting like cattle behind a stop sign. I used to do it also, until, as I flashed thru an intersection once, I thought, "What if some guy were turning left in my path?" Riding at night poses its own set of problems, but I think I've made my point by now. I believe that the main cause of cycle accidents is bad riding habits. By developing good habits, you can significantly reduce the risk of riding. Remember, the 1/50 statistic is an average: there are probably a fair number of jerks for whom the proper probability is closer to 1/5, and this skews the statistic somewhat. Just as a point of information, I started riding 5 years ago when I was 25 and already an experienced auto driver. (Personal opinion: there ought to be a minimum age for cycle licenses several years higher than the minimum age for auto licenses.) - Ken Reek Rochester, NY