Motorcycle Safety 101

This is a brief tutorial I came up with for my daughter when she got her first scooter:

A motorcyclist/scooter rider is pretty much unprotected, and upon collision with another solid object, you’re likely to get hurt. But if a rider approaches the sport in a mature and safety-oriented manner, most accidents can be avoided. Here are some lessons to enhance the riding experience and hopefully lessen the pain:

1) Protect your body as much as possible: Full-face helmet, cordura or leather jacket with shoulder and elbow armor, gloves and motorcycle boots should be a minimum. Touring overpants with hip and knee armor, and additional back pads are slightly inconvenient but are worth their weight in gold in an accident.

2) Be as conspicuous as possible. Every little bit helps in traffic--you do NOT want to blend in to the background or be stealth-like. There are certain times you want to be noticed from the back, at a stop for instance, so reflective strips and a BRIGHT stop light will help here. Auxiliary driving lights, white or yellow helmet, reflective vest, can all help drivers see you better. Remember, the most common thing a driver says after hitting a motorcyclist: “I didn’t see them!”

3) Learn and practice accident avoidance skills.

Before getting into accident avoidance, though, let’s go over some reasons why you got a motorcycle/scooter in the first place:

1) It’s fun

2) It’s convenient

3) It gets you somewhere faster

4) You can zip through traffic easier

Though it’s fun and convenient and faster and easier, you should remember not to let your guard down. Seasoned riders get that way because they are always vigilant and “expecting the unexpected”...and lucky. If you’re brand new to motorcycling, all of a sudden you’ll start seeing motorcycles you never noticed before. Like buying a yellow car thinking it’s unique and then there’s yellow cars all over the place.

You’ll start hearing more news reports of “motorcycle-down” accidents and friends will tell stories of how their friend lost their leg, or worse. Seasoned riders who spend time on the internet discussing motorcycle safety, hear hundreds of motorcycle fatality reports each year. It’s sobering and causes them to become ever more watchful and careful and thinking how to help others in the sport.

I have a friend who is an accident investigator and motorcycle racing coach. Years ago he convinced a young gal to get started in racing and on her first day on the track, she went down in Turn 10 at Sears Point and didn’t survive. He never again tried to talk someone into racing, or motorcycling for that matter, after that. We all have our personal reasons for getting into the sport and the more we can help others, the better.

Motorcycle skills aren’t like baking skills, where you easily master something and that’s it. They come gradually and each level feels better and makes you want to learn more. You’ll find yourself reading something in a magazine or book that you think you can apply to your day-to-day riding, and then you can’t wait to get on the bike to practice it.

One book I highly recommend is David Hough’s “Proficient Motorcycling,” full of practical street riding tips and analysis. Mr. Hough has become a guru to motorcyclists interested in improving safety and skills.

You may never have the desire to start motorcycle racing, but there are a lot of skills one can learn from racers. Another book I recommend is: “Sport Riding Techniques,” by racer Nick Ienatsch. The author covers a LOT of ground about acceleration, braking and cornering.

Another good publication you can get at half price at motorcycle shows: “Motorcycle Consumer News.” Great articles on gear, new motorcycle reviews and practical riding tips. Start a library to learn new skills and help increase the fun-factor.

Getting back to learning from racers, one thing you can start thinking about and visualizing now is increasing your sight distance. The natural tendency when starting out is to look directly in front of the front wheel. (“Watch out for that rock/curb/block of wood/etc.”) But to start taking in all the information you need to avoid bad situations, you need to start looking up the block, taking in all the information in between with your peripheral vision. Easier said then done, but it will come with a concious effort. It’s said that the difference between a good motorcycle racer and a great motorcycle racer is 30 feet. They’re both looking a quarter mile up the track, but the better motorcycle racer can see 30 feet further up the track.

Motorcycle Safety classes

All new riders should be required to take them. Currently, only riders under the age of 25 are required to take them in California, which is resulting in fewer new rider casualties, but only in that age group. ALL new riders should take them, especially “re-entry” riders who think that since they rode motorcycles in their teens, they should be able to pick up where they left off. Like riding a bicycle, right? Only now the motorcycles are twice as heavy, twice the horsepower and there’s twice as many cars on the road. The technology’s different and the riding techniques are WAY different. Everyone should take a class to get off on the right foot.

Accleleration

It’s exhilirating to go fast and that speed is especially addictive to adrenaline-junkies. It’s also the easiest thing to do on a motorcycle and the beginning rider can think, “Boy, this motorcycling is EASY!” And that’s all they want to do: go fast in a straight line. For about a week. Then their buddies want to go “for a little ride” and what a rude awakening when they learn they don’t know anything at all, when they get into the first corner and discover they’re in over their heads.

Back to basic acceleration. Like in everything else in motorcycling, strive to be smoooth. The fastest racers are the smoothest ones. So treat the throttle as a rheostat, not an on-off switch. Gently roll on the acceleration. When coming to a stop, don’t snap the throttle shut, but roll back as slow as practical. Panic stops would require a little quicker response, but you get the idea.

The smooth acceleration/deceleration is especially important in corners, and we’ll cover that in a moment.

Braking

Get used to using the front brake. The natural tendency, after driving a car all these years, is to stomp on the footbrake (the rear), but this is the main reason the rear tire locks up. When the rear tire locks up it will swing around and try to pass the front tire, with the common result being a “low-side” with you sliding on the pavement behind your bike.

Practice, practice, practice. First in an empty parking lot, then out on lightly-traveled roads. Every time you go out, practice panic stops. Accelerate to your maximum speed and bring the bike to a stop as smoothly(!) and quickly as possible. Ideally, in a straight-line stop, 70% of the braking should be done by the front brakes and 30% rear. Some people will tell you to only use the front brake, but get used to using the rear, also. In a panic situation, you need all the stopping power you can get. Practice it.

Braking in a corner calls for different techniques. Ideally, all braking should be done when the bike is in an upright position. So when approaching a turn, your braking should be completed BEFORE the corner...and then you accelerate out of the corner. If you need to “scrub off speed” in the middle of the corner because you came in too hot, you can bring the bike to a more upright position, brake, then lean over again. You DON’T want to be braking while leaned over.

Cover the brake

Get in the habit of always having two fingers over the brake lever should you need it in a hurry. Accident investigators use a basic 1.5 second reaction time in their figuring. The first half second is recognition (yikes, that idiot’s pulling out in front of me!), the second half is decision-making (I’m going to decelerate, brake and then swerve right), and the third half is actually doing what you’ve decided to do. I think a quarter-second can be shaved off by having your fingers already on the brake. And that quarter second at 45mph translates into 16.5 feet, which can mean the difference between t-boning a car and missing the rear bumper.

Fingers can’t reach to rest comfortably on top? The levers can be adjusted until they do.

Steering

Up until 15mph or so, you should be steering the motorcycle pretty much like a bicycle. Over that and you’ll want to learn countersteering. Countersteering can be slightly non-intuitive, but once you practice it and get it, it will help propel you to more and faster motorcycling skills.

Basically, countersteering is “push the handlebar in the direction you want to turn.” If you are approaching a right hand corner, you push your right hand against the handlebar. What this does is cock the front tire to the left, changing the front tire patch (the area in contact with the road), causing the bike to lean right. Try it. Practice it.

Accident avoidance

One thing to ALWAYS remember: Most motorcycle vs. vehicle accidents are caused by LEFT-HAND TURNING DRIVERS. So start looking for left-hand turning drivers and when you see one, something should go off in your head: POTENTIAL ACCIDENT, POTENTIAL ACCIDENT! Look for an escape route, flash your high-beams, get prepared to brake and swerve.

Stop lights/stop signs If traffic is backed up at a stop light or sign, there are basic things to do to help from getting rear-ended. 1) In California, it’s allowed and almost expected to “filter up” to the front. Once you feel comfortable riding between stopped cars (more on that later), proceed slowly to the start of the line and be prepared to make a quick getaway when the light turns green. 2) If there’s only one lane, do NOT pass cars on the right hand shoulder. It’s a quick way to get a ticket and the shoulder has a lot of debris to puncture your tires. 3) If there’s only one lane and you need to stop behind a car, stop 10 feet away from the car in front of you (never right on the bumper) and OFF TO ONE SIDE, preferably the left. That way, you’ll have an escape route should they back up OR you hear tires squealing behind you. Always keep your eye on your rear view mirrors while stopped. 4) Every time: Clutch in, first gear selected, left foot down. If you’re feeling tired or unstable, put both feet down.

Practice starts from a stop in a parking lot. Not jack-rabbit starts, but smooth and quick getaways.

Rain or slippery situations

Try to ride as upright as possible and avoid trolley car tracks and manhole covers like the plague. If they’re unavoidable, try to cross as perpendicular as possible. Don’t worry about getting soaked as much as getting home safely.

Make sure all your lights are functioning properly.

Stopped traffic

When in totally stopped traffic or riding next to parked cars, watch for drivers about to get out of their car. Getting “doored” can ruin your whole day.

Ride at a reasonable pace between slowed or stopped traffic. Don’t be tempted to treat cars as immobile objects. They WILL swerve in front of you into the next lane, so be prepared and drive slow enough so you can avoid contact should they do something stupid.

Try looking further ahead for clues. Do a number of cars seem to be merging in one direction? Is there smoke or dust ahead in one of the lanes? Always keep the next car in your peripheral vision--be concious of what it’s doing but don’t focus on it.

Looking further ahead also makes it easier to go through narrower spaces.

Your head should be on a swivel. Left mirror, right mirror, gauges, look where you’re going (80-90%). Constantly alert to changes that might affect you and your predicament.

Riding alongside cars

Stay out of drivers’ blind spots. If there’s not a safe way to get in front of them, at least speed up enough to “show them a wheel” to let them you know you’re there.

Be prepared for them to swerve into you, either to change into your lane or make a turn in front of you at the last minute. Be far enough off their rear bumper so you can take evasive action if those things should happen.

Debris

I hate this one, because it’s SO unpredictable. Certain things, like a 2x4 or plastic bucket can be pretty innocuous, but a metal car bumper or a sofa or ladder suddenly appearing in front of you and there’s no time to swerve?? This is where luck comes into play. All I can say is, just watch for the unexpected and realize it can bite you at any moment. Remember: “Trouble rides a fast horse.”

Critters

“If it’s too big to eat in one sitting, it’s probably best not to run over it.” Be especially careful when riding in deer-prone areas at dusk. If you get into touring long distances, wildlife will become a bigger concern, but you still have to be careful in some areas of the Bay Area. A deer can be standing right around the next corner...

This is pretty elementary stuff, but look for deeper coverage of some of these topics in the future. Ride safe!