Is biking too dangerous?

The thing is, do us bikers have this kind of subconscious idea where we know we're doing something risky, but we're kinda hoping/banking on the fact that the worst wouldn't happen to us?

Motorbikes aren't just putting you at risk of death. I'm 22yrs old. If someone was to tell me that I would be eating through a tube and never be able to move again at the age of 25 because of an off, I would ditch the bike in a second - that's not a worthwhile trade off regardless of what anyone says.

But obviously, in real-life (not knowing what lies around the corner), you put these thoughts to the back of your head, take every day as it comes, try and ride as safe as possible, and hope you're not unlucky.

We're all playing the game, and know what the risks are. Just because I ride a motorbike, it doesn't mean I'd do something like this


life IS full of risks. A biker forum will present you with a loada people who have come to the conclusion that riding IS worth the risk. The majority of the population wouldn't agree - but heck they have no idea what they are missing do they!!?

See my sig.

Originally Posted by thulfi

The majority of the population wouldn't agree - but heck they have no idea what they are missing do they!!?

No, and if they are not bikers or familiar with bikes themselves they also have no idea what they are talking about, they think bikes fall over on their own.

See my post about statistics above.

Riding a motorbike is NOT particularly dangerous, riders are dangerous!

I don't have many family members who are ignorant of bikes, but there are one or two and also most of my friends, they say "When are you going to sell that motorbike? You are mad, they are so dangerous", whereas my family say "Now, please be careful on your bike". The difference between the two is an understanding of the risks.

Originally Posted by thulfi

but we're kinda hoping/banking on the fact that the worst wouldn't happen to us?

Only if your taking unnecessary risks in the first place. If you don't the worst is not all that much more likely to happen than if you were in a car. I take unnecessary risks just like everybody else, but if I hurt myself I don't blame the motorbike, neither will my family if I get killed.

Jamesw1024 - Go out and enjoy your motorbike, remember that you have control of your throttle, your observations, practice your braking and machine control and make good decisions.

To give you an example, I crashed in a fairly big way last November, it was a cold icy morning and I completely lost traction on a corner, so in terms of machine control, there was very little I could do to avoid it, BUT, I knew the conditions were borderline and I had the choice to take the well gritted motorway that had already been in use for hours that morning. I thought, nah, bugger it, it'll be fine and I'll take the interesting route. Bad decision and unnecessary risk! Making good decisions extends beyond just your speed and machine control.

I think there is a lot of sense here.

I know some people would ban a lot of things just because they're what they consider "too dangerous", but everything we do has some kind of risk attached. If we can't decide for ourselves, or if we give it no thought whatsoever and assume because we can do it it's safe enough, then something is wrong.

Who's going to tell someone not to climb Everest because it's "too dangerous"? Who would climb Everest ignorant of the risk and high death toll each year?

People drive cars in blissful ignorance. I don't think many motorcyclists do. Make your own mind up and be accountable for the consequences.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Riding a motorbike is NOT particularly dangerous, riders are dangerous!
...
Making good decisions extends beyond just your speed and machine control.

Now, we disagreed quite a lot only very recently, but those two sentences, I agree with completely.

Remove the rider from the bike, and the bike will just sit there (probably on it's side stand). Remove the bike from the rider, and you'll look like a fool in leather & a helmet walking down the road.

As the saying goes, it takes two to tango.

[G]

Riding is only as dangerous as you make it.

I work in a risk related job, my work mates think I am mental and alway say they would never even think about riding a bike because it is to dangerous and you will at some point hurt yourself.

At the end of the day you can make it as dangerous or as safe as you like it.....people who say it is 100% dangerous are narrow minded and need to lighten up.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

But the statistics are definitely lies. They completely skew the public perception. I recently posted this in another thread....

Rupert Paul wrote an article in Bike magazine, which I agree with, to summarise:

Inspector Simon Labbert concluded in 2004 after investigating 55 fatal bike crashes in Sussex in over a three year period, that

• 37 of the dead riders were on sports bikes, 11 on sports tourers
• 92% of those died due to rider error

The conclusion was that the riders effectively all killed themselves, and that thrill-seeking was the cause of a huge majority of bike fatalities in open road collisions. Open road collisions make up the vast majority of bike accidents. If you ride sensibly, biking actually isn't all that dangerous. Take the remaining 7 or 8 fatal crashes that were a genuine unavoidable accidents, not some idiot trying to kill himself, then ask how many fatal car accidents were there in Sussex in the same three years? If you took out all the idiots, suddenly bike accident statistics wouldn't look so bad would they? The public and the politicians wouldn't have the impression that what we do is so dangerous

I don't really think a valid conlcusion can be reached simply by looking at 55 fatal accidents over 3years in one specific area.

If any of you have not seen the following article, I strongly recommend it - very good read.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety...orcycleacc.pdf

Its a publication from the department of transport, sampling 1,790 accident cases (including 1,003 in detail, from Midland police forces, involving motorcyclists of all ages, from 1997 - 2002).
If you go to page 40 of the article, you will see a table that summarises who is at fault in the 1,790 accidents.

Riders are accountable for 42% of the accidents, and the drivers 44%.

Also, they found 38% of the accidents to be due to a Right of Way Violation, with the majority of these violations down to the drivers error, usually not checking their blind spots, etc.

Anyway, just thought I'd post this in response to some of the other stats that have been highlighted.

Despite all of of this...BIKING is still worth it

I disagree.

Riding is dangerous...to a point.

I no longer own a motorcycle...wimped out I suppose.

But I had so many close shaves that I did wonder.

A turning point was on my IAM course when *riding perfectly* A Vauxhall Agila pulled out clean in front of me. I would have eaten the bloody thing at 60mph. The only good thing is that it turned left so i could aviod it but had it turned right then I would have been in the back seat.

I lost heart after that. I realised that I was no more in control and the concept of control was an illusion.

I didn't like my bike either...the SV...so i didn't shed a tear when I sold it.

I still love Motorcycles and always will but my riding days are passed.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Only if your taking unnecessary risks in the first place. If you don't the worst is not all that much more likely to happen than if you were in a car.

Agree about the likeliness being the same. Lets say you're driving and riding, not taking any unnecessary risks at all.

Now lets take a 'worst case scenario' I'm just gonna make up:

You're riding on a country road at night. Lights on. No bends or anything. Just straight open road. A car with lights on is coming down the opposite lane. Everything looks ok - last minute - literally just as you're about to pass the car, it swerves into your lane - no time to dodge it - you come off and get paralysed or die. Police find out later the driver was drunk of his face.

Now suppose you were in your car. The likeliness of this happening is EXACTLY the same, wether in a car or on a bike. The likeliness of getting seriously injured or hurt however is much more significant - and this is where the danger lies.

I know this a very unlikely case, but just trying to highlight the point im making.

I think by dangerous, most people aren't talking about 'likelihood of an accident' but more the 'danger to one-self should an accident arise'. This IS much higher on 2 wheels than in a cage wether we like it or not.

I know in a 'worst case scenario' as you put it, I'd much rather be surrounded by metal than simply some expensive clothing and a good lid!

So I guess this is kinda what I mean by hoping the worst doesn't happen to you. When riding at night, I try and suss out any potential dodgy/drunk drivers and stay away. But whenever I ride, I do HOPE the worse doesn't happen to me. (Drunks/animals, etc). Surely most people do dont they?

Originally Posted by The Basket

I realised that I was no more in control and the concept of control was an illusion.

agree there mate. I don't really believe there's such thing as 'expecting the unexpected'!

Expect the expected.
As for the unexpected - just hope it dont happen to you, or as in your case, hope you're lucky enough to get away with it if it does!