How Safe is Your Motorcycle?

By Diane Tait

Image courtesy Pexels

It’s been almost a month since Bike Week Daytona.  Now that April is here in Florida and many motorcycle owners are chomping at the bit to get back on the road, I thought it was high time to do a blog on motorcycle safety.  It’s especially poignant to me since I saw an accident about a week ago involving a car and a Harley where the bike owner wound up sprawled over the hood of a BMW.  Fortunately for him, the accident occurred at a stoplight where both the bike and the car were only going 5 MPH.  But the bike owner did wind up being taken to the hospital with a fractured ankle.  The driver of the car was talking on his cellphone and never saw the bike turn into the intersection until he felt the impact.

Can drivers see you?

Just as in the accident above, at the scene of many car/bike accidents it’s not unusual for car drivers to tell the cop on the scene, “I never saw the bike.”  Like it or not, due to their sleek profile, motorcycles are hard to see.  When the bike is in front of a car, the view presented to a car owner differs depending on whether the bike is located on the right or the left side of the lane.  Even then, some SUV drivers have a hard time making out a bike right in front of them.  What’s even worse is when a bike is following a car, since a car mirror’s blind spot is doubly so for a motorcycle, even if the sound of a car stereo doesn’t completely drown out the sound of the motorcycle’s engine. 

Image courtesy Max Pixel

Depending on the color of your bike and your garb, this can also affect a motorist’s ability to see you.  Dark colors are hard to see during the day and especially at night.  If you’ve ever seen the Tour de France bicycle race, you’ll notice how colorfully attired the riders are.  They aren’t trying to show off by sporting bright jerseys, they’re trying to avoid becoming a French speed-bump.  As hard as motorcycles are to see, bicycles are even more so. 

Speaking of clothing, riding a motorcycle in flip-flops and shorts is a kind of death wish, since as the Motorcycle Safety Foundation points out, “The only thing between you and the road is your protective gear.”  As bad as road rash can be on a bicycle that tops out at 25-MPH, take a tumble from your motorcycle at speed without protective gear and you’ll bleed all the way to the hospital.

Here’s another important safety tip; Always wear a helmet.  Even though it’s perfectly legal to ride without one in Florida, that doesn’t mean you should do so.  Since they don’t equip motorcycles with seatbelts, odds are you are going to part company with your bike in any collision.  That being said, the odds of your sustaining a serious injury quickly multiplies if you don’t protect your head.  I read about an accident a year ago where a motorcyclist fell his bike after hitting a pothole.  He died when his head hit the curb.  Chances are, if he was wearing a helmet, he might have walked away from the accident.

1.      Separation and stopping distance – Here’s another sad fact of physics – Your bike stops a lot quicker than any car or truck following you.  Should you suddenly need to jam on the brakes, there’s a 99% probability that the vehicle behind you won’t be able to stop in time to avoid hitting the back of your bike.  The same holds true if you are thundering down the highway and a car or truck stops suddenly in front of you.  If you’re following too closely, you could suddenly find yourself sliding under or flipping over the vehicle in front of you.  What that means is as bad as tailgating is in a car or truck, doing so on a bike is asking for trouble.

2.      The Best Defense – As much as most motorists drive with their head on a swivel while trying to anticipate what other drivers might choose to do next, riding defensively is always a biker’s best defense.  I sometimes shake my head when I see motorcyclists weave in and out of traffic or speed past slower traffic.  What most bikers don’t understand is that while other motorists aren’t out to get them, if a car or truck were suddenly to change lanes or tap the brakes in front of a speeding motorcycle, it could be game, set and match for the cyclist.  I recall an incident that happened to me a few years back where a motorcycle roared past my car so fast and close that it was a wonder the biker didn’t wind up in my back seat. 

Image courtesy Max Pixel

3.      The Best Bike for You - Another thing that gets some motorcyclists into trouble is having too much bike beneath them.  When someone asks me how much bike is too much, my answer is, “It depends.”  It depends on the experience of the rider and the type of commuting they intend to do.  Just as most Americans buy cars based more on ego than common sense, so to do some bikers.  While that crotch rocket might look good at the dealership, it could quickly get you in big trouble if you don’t know how to handle it.  For commuting, a 500-750cc bike has plenty of power.  Leave the 1,200+ cc bikes to the pros.

4.      How Much Tech is Too Much? – Just like cars, motorcycles now sport oodles of tech.  While modern collision avoidance technology like traction-control, low-rpm assist, variable braking and lane-departure warnings can make riding safer, too much technology can have the opposite effect by distracting the rider.  I mean, do you really need smartphone-enabled apps that control everything on your bike from the suspension to braking functions?  Even worse are apps that force you to take your eyes off the road to see what the display is trying to tell you.  Just as it’s dangerous to text and drive in a car, the last thing you want to encounter on your bike are constant distractions that could quickly put you in peril.

Diane Tait owns and operates A&B Insurance.  To find out more about how you can save money on motorcycle insurance, go to her site or fill out the form at right.