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Book on Safety

Thanks DoggyDaddy,

Excellent.:thumbup:

By the way, it appears you may be a proactive type of person in other areas of life than riding. Just a guess, since I don't know you.
 
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Doggy Daddy...to you question, I am one that wears riding boots and all the gear except proper riding pants to work and I do carry my work shoes in the trunk. The riding boots I have do have the zipper so it is a really quick change. I wonder if the sneaker crowd doesn't know about the easy off boots or more likely just do not care.
 
dressing

when i rode two wheels i never wore a jacket during the summer. i always wore long denim pants, a short sleeve shirt, a 3/4 helmet with a face shield, and work boots. when i did have my accident in 08 i was wearing a denim jacket that day so not to much road rash. but now with the spyder i find myself wearing just street shoes, short sleeve shirt, still denim pants and a half helmet with no shield, so i guess i have that feeling of more security on 3 wheels. i do carry another helmet on the bike in case it rains because it has a shield.
 
Some people(riders) thinks their freedom is being taken when the gov't requires them to wear helmet or any safety gears.

I lost one of my friend on mc accident. His helmet was found 50 feet away his body. Probably he forgot to fasten his strap.

Unintentional excess speed will cause lose control.
Horseing around will do the same
Showing off is another
DUI will tanked someone.
 
Some people(riders) thinks their freedom is being taken when the gov't requires them to wear helmet or any safety gears.

I lost one of my friend on mc accident. His helmet was found 50 feet away his body. Probably he forgot to fasten his strap.

Unintentional excess speed will cause lose control.
Horseing around will do the same
Showing off is another
DUI will tanked someone.

Alcohol is deadly on a bike. According to MSF 34% of MC fatalities had BAC >.08, according to NHTSA 41% of fatalities had BAC > .01. Those are HUGE numbers. This means that alcohol was identified as a contributing factor in 7% of motorcycle fatalities, and was the primary cause in 34%.

The costs to all of us are very high: increased health insurance premiums, higher car an MC insurance, more expensive social security disability, loss work productivity, loss of time with children and family, foreclosures due to loss of income...to say nothing of pain and suffering.

the numbers I've been able to get so far:
1) DUI Fatalities: 34%
2) Alcohol Involved Fatalities (includes #1): 41%
3) 39% of injuries are to toes, feet, ankles
3) lack of motorcycle endorsement: 24% of fatalities
4) lack of professional training 82% of fatalities (this number is somewhat suspect because it came out of a study done in 1981, befoe training became more common place. But there has not been another study that I have found).
5) Average speed just prior to MC crashes: 29 MPH
6) 82% of MC crashes occur at less than 32 MPH. This means that those who are about to crash work very hard to slow down. This number comes from a study in Europe, so in consideration of #5, its applicability in the US is questionable.
7) Driving over the speed limit was a cause of 15% of fatalities.
8) Erratic lane changes (splitting traffic) was responsible for 14%
9) single vehicle accidents (high or low side crashes, hitting fixed objects, loss of control due to road surfaces) was 52%. We are not immune from this category on a Spyder, but I don't have any data yet to ascertain how much better off we actually are. I think we are a lot better off, but I have no data to show that.
10) on dry pavement denim slides for 3 to 5 feet before it is worn through. Leather MC gear, up to 90 feet, armoured mesh a little less than leather MC gear...note tihis is not all leather, this is high quality MC leather.
11). Color of clothing does not seem to matter with one exception. According to a very well done study in New Zealand, which may or may not be applicabe in the US, the color of clothing does not matter, the color of the MC does not matter, ONLY the color of the helmet matters. And the only color that makes any difference is white. Motorcyclists who had white helmets were 24% less represented in crash statistics than with ANY other color. Was this because people who wear white helmets are more safety conscious? I don't know yet. It is a very good study. It is about 128 pages long. I ordered it from the library at the university. When it come in, I'll read it. I would have ordered it on line, but on line cost a lot, the library doesn't charge me.
12) 61% of fatalities occur in intersections.
13) dropping from 40 MPH to 30 MPH eliminates 50% of kenetic energy.
14) MC tires are soft high performance tires. They are designed to have much higher traction than car tires. But the don't last as long.
15) road rage seems to be a cause of about 5% of fatalities--however, the studies are too questionable to be accepted as "final".
16) human perception, like most animals, sees movement first.


So what I learned so far:
1) gear up--at least with armoured mesh.
2) wear boots
3) wear gloves
4) wear a helmet--since you have to pay for it anyway, and you can't see it when you are wearing it, get a white one. Not a silver one, not a yellow one-- a WHITE one.
5) don't drink...not even one ---"24 hours from bottle to throttle"
6)no speeding....now be real: when the interstate has a limit of 65 and traffic is going 70 to 75, staying up with traffic is not what I mean by "don't speed". It means when the sign on the twisty says 25, don't try to take the corner at 35. And keep the speed down in the city. ...and don't go 85 or 90 on the freeway--crashes at those speeds are almost always fatal. However freeway travel is some of the safest--because of the lack of intersections an the lack of twisty corners.
8) don't split traffic. I know on a Spyder we can't...but don't do it on a two wheeler either.
9) slow down before entering intersections, not while you are in the intersection. While you are actually in the intersection: speed up--get outta there!
10) get trained. And take refresher courses every few years.
11) use motorcycle tires on your motorcycle. Use car tires on your car. Don't give up the extra safety provided by soft, high performance tires for a few dollars. Tires are not that expensive--when you really think about it.
12) if you experience road rage, that is if YOU have the anger, not if it is directed AT you, then maybe you shouldn't ride a motorcycle.
13) when watching other vehicles entering the roadway, from cross streets or driveways, watch their tires--the top of their tires move faster than the car itself--so it is easier to see.
 
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Alcohol is deadly on a bike. According to MSF 34% of MC fatalities had BAC >.08, according to NHTSA 41% of fatalities had BAC > .01. Those are HUGE numbers. This means that alcohol was identified as a contributing factor in 7% of motorcycle fatalities, and was the primary cause in 34%.
Wouldn't that make it 75%?
 
Watch their tires

Amoung the best advise I've picked up from reading assorted motorcycle magazines and I didn't even see the actual article. Just a letter to the editor thanking her for the advise. Watching their tires has saved me on more than one occasion this ummmer.

Ride and ride safe,
 
I'll make sure to put it in the book then.

anyone else have any comments, good or bad, about what I presented above? I thought one chapter on that kind of stuff, two on city driving strategies, one on freeway, one on twisties, one on group rides, one on alcohol, two on gear and helmets, one on training/licensing, one on visualization, and one on case studies. This makes 12 chapters --about 360 paperback--or "dummies guides" pages. :helpsmilie:

:read:Comments? I want to make this useful, and maybe save some from wrecks...:chat:
 
I'll make sure to put it in the book then.

anyone else have any comments, good or bad, about what I presented above? I thought one chapter on that kind of stuff, two on city driving strategies, one on freeway, one on twisties, one on group rides, one on alcohol, two on gear and helmets, one on training/licensing, one on visualization, and one on case studies. This makes 12 chapters --about 360 paperback--or "dummies guides" pages. :helpsmilie:

:read:Comments? I want to make this useful, and maybe save some from wrecks...:chat:

I'd buy it, Dan


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
In the UK we have The Institute of Advanced Motoring, (IAM). It's the next level up once you have passed the mandatory Dept of Transport driving or riding test and it exists to teach you how to be a better, safer driver or rider. It also aims to rid you of the bad driving habits that most of us pick up over time without realizing it.

So I joined my local IAM motorcycle group in 1986. I was assigned an instructor and we arranged to meet up on our bikes one sunny Sunday afternoon. He wanted me to lead so I set off along a countryside route of about 10 miles that I had enjoyed many times before and knew well. Eventually he flashed his headlight, his signal for me to stop. Naturally, I was keen to know what he thought of my riding technique and I wasted no time in asking him outright. He said my riding was reasonable, I had kept to the posted speed limits and hadn't been a danger to other traffic, etc.. He was confident that I would benefit from the IAM Course and I'd be a better, safer rider once I had passed the IAM Test.

This was good to hear, I had been riding a long time and had never had an accident. But then he said there was something I'd have to attend to by the time we met up again. My heart sank, was there something bad I was doing after all and he had spotted it?

He told me that the canvas shoes, jeans and cotton jacket I was wearing would have to go. From his back pack he produced a couple of sheets of paper which outlined the good sense of dressing with a potential accident in mind. It was good advice, I hadn't ever looked at it that way before. If it was sunny and warm I dressed in lightweight kit to be comfortable, never giving a thought to how useless a thin cotton shirt would be in an accident at any speed.

I was wearing appropriate motorcycle gear when we met up for our next IAM pursuit riding session and I've been wearing something similar ever since. :thumbup:
 
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