“Here, put a handful of these in your shirt pocket when you ride.” Dave was an old school biker who is perhaps the smartest man I have ever met.

I took the 10mm steel balls and wasn’t going to ask why, because Dave seemed to have his own reasoning at times and it really didn’t match anyone else’s.

But, he offered up the reason in his next breath, “Sometimes ya gotta teach those idiots a lesson.”

It wasn’t until a couple of years later did I realize what he meant. I was south of Dayton riding about 5 mph over when I saw an older lady pull up to a stop sign, look right at me, and pull out in front of me.

I had to swerve or lock ‘em up. As you riders know, lock ‘em up ain’t much of a choice. So, I swerved into the oncoming lane a bit and cruised right by her. Apparently, she wasn’t too interested in me letting her know I thought she was number one as she was staring straight head, white knucklin’ the steering wheel.

I didn’t have it in me then, and I don’t today. I just can’t see myself tossing a handful of ball bearings over my shoulder at 60 mph. Besides, I did do my part and pay attention, and that seems to have saved me a lot of grief over the years.

The truth is, most motorcycle related fatalities are the fault of the rider, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows us with results from a study reported in 2003.

The number of deaths has risen steadily over the years since 1998. Sure, some of you are going to cite that ownership has risen as well, but the deaths have doubled per million miles traveled. That is an impressive increase.

Speed and Juice

The major factors? Two of them have been excessive speed and alcohol impairment.

For a couple of years, I quit attending bike nights in the local area. I was concerned about the early Thursday morning news broadcast that always seemed to have a story about a biker, or bikers, that was involved in an accident within a mile of the bike night venue.

Alcohol was a factor in 100% of those wrecks for two years in a row.

In 2001, 29% of fatally injured motorcyclists were impaired with a .08, or above, Blood Alcohol Content. That’s a hefty number, to be sure, but it gets worse when we consider single vehicle crashes alone. That percentage is at 41.

Speed is another factor, and I think you could read experience into this as well.

Breaking and steering accounted for roughly 22% of single vehicle biker fatalities in 2001. The ownership and miles on the road were also in a dramatic increase at the time as more folks wanted to ride. Bikes are generally bigger and frames are radically different.

There’s also the numbers that say half of all single bike crashes involved poor negotiation of a curve, pre curve. In addition, 60% of those single vehicle crashes happened at night.

We want to ride, we ride, but we ain’t really ready to.

Other Drivers

What used to be a perception is not so much a reality, but it is true to a degree.  Bad drivers kill bikers!

In 2001, there were 1,428 two-vehicle fatal crashes involving a motorcycle and another vehicle. In 36 percent (516) of these crashes, the other vehicle was turning left while the motorcycle was going straight or passing. Because of the motorcycles size and unique handling characteristics, other roadway users may not understand the actions that motorcyclists take to safely interact in traffic. For example, roadway users may not provide motorcycle operators enough space or allow adequate reaction time to take crash avoidance maneuvers to avoid a hazard.

Automobile operators who do not ride just have know idea what it means to control a bike, or how to share the road. In fact, in the area I live in, there is a town that is full of arrogant drivers. You can see it on their faces, “How dare there be other people driving on MY road!”

And listen, if you smoke and drive, please look in your rearview mirror before you toss that incendiary device out your window. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of watching that glowing torch rise slowly to a window, then come rushing at a raging velocity towards me at night.

Oh yeah, big dogs that sneeze too. Yep, caught a face full of Boxer snot once.

What Does All This Mean?

Riding season is coming into full swing and there will be more bikers again. More opportunities to fail at safety.

The NHTSA is taking measures to educate drivers about awareness and “Share The Road”, but there has to be some distance traveled at individual responsibilities as well. Biking is a privilege and a right, that doesn’t mean we have go about it stupidly.

Every operator of every type of vehicle needs to be more alert and aware of what is going on, and this goes doubly for bikers. We need to take great precaution in learning our bikes and keeping on our toes.

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