I'll try doing comics again.
Save a life, look twice says the bumpersticker
Posted June 24th, 2012 at 07:29 PM by old hat
I see stickers and signs like this routinely.
The idea it is expressing is obvious. Accidents involving motorcycles and automobiles are caused by automobile drivers simply being inattentive and not looking. I can't help but notice how convenient this view is for motorcycle riders. It puts all of the blame for accidents on autmobile drivers and all the burden of reducing accident rates on them as well. Is it accurate? Given what I have personally observed on the road, I very much doubt it.
At an extremely conservative estimate, half of all the motorcyclists I see on the road do something stupid, reckless and illegal in the few minutes that I can see them. They speed. They tailgate. They pass on the double yellow. They pass between lanes. They pass in intersections. They run red lights. They turn against lights across the flow of oncoming traffic. They are perpetually someplace they shouldn't be doing something reckless, stupid and illegal. Let's look at the numbers.
A bit more than half of motorcycle accidents involve at least one other vehicle. About 40% of those involve a single vehicle turning left while a motorcycle was going straight, passing or overtaking. Presumably these are the accidents that are supposedly cause by auto driver inattention. Given the behavior I routinely see from motorcycle riders, I have to wonder how many of these are caused by motorcycle rider recklessness rather than auto driver inattention. If a motorocycle rider overtakes a car in a no passing area, crosses the double yellow to pass illegally in an intersection and is then hit when the car turns left at the intersection, is that an accident caused by auto driver inattention? No, it is not. It is caused by the motorcycle rider's own stupidity and recklessness. He probably pulled that same stunt dozens of times and got away with it. If you roll the dice enough, they will eventually come up snake eyes though. Luck runs out.
Nothing is ever going to change as long as motorcycle riders blame accidents on other people's inattention and ignore their own reckless, dangerous and stupid behavior. The trend I am seeing is in the opposite direction. I am seeing more and more signs extoling auto drivers to look twice and more and reckless, stupid motorcycle riding.
The idea it is expressing is obvious. Accidents involving motorcycles and automobiles are caused by automobile drivers simply being inattentive and not looking. I can't help but notice how convenient this view is for motorcycle riders. It puts all of the blame for accidents on autmobile drivers and all the burden of reducing accident rates on them as well. Is it accurate? Given what I have personally observed on the road, I very much doubt it.
At an extremely conservative estimate, half of all the motorcyclists I see on the road do something stupid, reckless and illegal in the few minutes that I can see them. They speed. They tailgate. They pass on the double yellow. They pass between lanes. They pass in intersections. They run red lights. They turn against lights across the flow of oncoming traffic. They are perpetually someplace they shouldn't be doing something reckless, stupid and illegal. Let's look at the numbers.
A bit more than half of motorcycle accidents involve at least one other vehicle. About 40% of those involve a single vehicle turning left while a motorcycle was going straight, passing or overtaking. Presumably these are the accidents that are supposedly cause by auto driver inattention. Given the behavior I routinely see from motorcycle riders, I have to wonder how many of these are caused by motorcycle rider recklessness rather than auto driver inattention. If a motorocycle rider overtakes a car in a no passing area, crosses the double yellow to pass illegally in an intersection and is then hit when the car turns left at the intersection, is that an accident caused by auto driver inattention? No, it is not. It is caused by the motorcycle rider's own stupidity and recklessness. He probably pulled that same stunt dozens of times and got away with it. If you roll the dice enough, they will eventually come up snake eyes though. Luck runs out.
Nothing is ever going to change as long as motorcycle riders blame accidents on other people's inattention and ignore their own reckless, dangerous and stupid behavior. The trend I am seeing is in the opposite direction. I am seeing more and more signs extoling auto drivers to look twice and more and reckless, stupid motorcycle riding.
Total Comments 7
Comments
-
Driver inattention is a fact, and gods know that there are any number of automobile drivers out there who simply don't see bikes, motorcycles and the like because they're not looking for them. They're looking for other cars, and when they don't see one, they pull out or turn assuming the coast is clear.
That said, I agree wholeheartedly with your post. If motorcycle riders drove their motorcycles in exactly the same fashion they drove their cars, there'd be a lot fewer accidents out there.
My pet peeve is motorcycles driving between lanes of traffic. I don't even do that on a bicycle. That's asking to die. Stay in your lane, directly behind the car in front of you. If you have to wait, SO BE IT. If you don't like waiting your turn, then TAKE THE BUS OR WALK.Posted June 24th, 2012 at 08:58 PM by Leader Desslock 
-
As a future motorcycle rider myself, I do have to say that you need to watch out for cars much more so than if you're driving. You need to make eye contact before turning, watch out for driver behaviour, maintain a certain distance, make sure you never get boxed-in on the highway, etc. That kind of stuff.
This is as much the rider's responsibility as it is the car driver's, and motorcyclists cannot take anything for granted. You're naked out there on a bike. You can't just "zone out" like with a car, lol!
That said, I haven't really noticed that kind of behaviour out of motorcyclists here, presumably because we are all required to take riding classes. The majority are fairly careful, attentive riders. The reckless guys are really the odd ones out, I think.
Must be an American thing.
Posted June 25th, 2012 at 06:54 AM by Holy Knight
-
Every time I come up on a motorcycle doing something retarded I have an almost unquenchable urge to open my door on the way past him and score some points.Posted June 25th, 2012 at 12:07 PM by Mikosage
-
Certainly driver inattention is a real problem and does contribute to accidents. There's no question about that. What I question is the apparent assumption on the part of motorcycle riders that it is the whole problem. I have seen too many motorcyclists doing too many crazy, stupid and reckless things to believe that. Motorcyclists passing between lanes is something I have seen many times. It's no wonder someone doesn't see them there. They shouldn't be there in the first place. It always boggles me to see someone on a motorcycle tailgating. What does he think is going to happen if the car in front of him has to suddenly stop. It won't end well for him.Posted June 26th, 2012 at 01:38 AM by old hat
-
Well, it sort of is the problem. As a motorcyclist, the best you can hope is to make yourself as visible as possible, but at the end of the day, if the guy doesn't see you, you're toast and there's nothing to do about it. You're plain vulnerable on a bike and the driver won't even feel it.
But yeah, if the 'cyclist isn't paying attention or being reckless, then he's the one just asking for it and he will get hit eventually.
Anyway, I find bicycle riders much more annoying than any motorcyclist I've seen. Especially the "sporty" competition types who hog the middle of the lane or swerve over any and all cars that aren't moving. Frick, you're asking me to run you down! They're worse in groups, as they tend to ride side-by-side right in the middle of the road. Wtf, guys?!
Posted June 27th, 2012 at 11:54 AM by Holy Knight
-
I find it's mostly just kids on rockets that weave in and out of traffic and act like idiots. The older guys on cruisers, or the "bikers" don't do it so much. A lot of those bumper stickers are aimed at their group anyhow.
There's an Asian gang in my city that race their rockets on a road that weaves in and out down by our River Valley at night, they're not the smartest group. If I see any accidents, it's mostly, if not always, a kid being an idiot on a rocket.
EDIT: as a point of reference, me and the guy I ride with don't do anything stupid on our bikes, but than again I don't ride a rocketPosted June 28th, 2012 at 03:07 AM by JoeStrummer
-
I would guess that 70% of all the people I see on motorcycles do something dangerous, stupid and illegal while they are within sight of me. The 18-24 male demographic does have the most accidents though. That's why their insurance rates are so high. They are far from the only people I see doing this stuff though.
A friend of my mother's had a motorcycle. Last I knew, she was a point away from losing her license for good. She was pulled over three times for going over 125 mph. She smashed her hand and totalled her bike when she hit her hand on the side view mirror of a car while passing between lanes. Woman. Early 40s. Two kids.Posted June 28th, 2012 at 10:02 PM by old hat
Total Trackbacks 0
