Some of you are talking motorcycle crashes, not deaths. Chela’s point is correct (or was, the last time I checked), that the most common type of fatal motorcycle accident involves a driver turning left in front of the biker. When riding, I often imagine hazards and then evaluate my options. The most difficult scenario is an oncoming car turning left just as I approach the intersection. The path forward can go from open to completely blocked in 2-3 seconds. There just aren’t good escape routes, and the time to brake is limited. The best solution is to anticipate the potential accident and avoid it by changing my speed well before the intersection to arrive there before or after the car is in the intersection. Another option is to approach with several cars or a large truck. Opposing drivers are unlikely to turn in front of them. And I always keep 2 fingers on the brake lever, just in case.
Not to me. I ride with a full-face helmet and wouldn’t have it any other way. You may be “tough” having bugs and rocks bouncing off your face all day, along with all the wind blasting you, but you also risk facial injuries. I find it far more comfortable and enjoyable wearing a helmet. One of my main motorcycles is of the “adventure” classification and the other is a dual-sport.
I live on the ID/WA border with a lot of moto riders. In one state, I’m the norm. In the other, I appear to be a freak.
There does seem to be a lot of rider dependency. My shop teacher (late 1940s) had a Harley that he claimed was simply practical transportation for a single passenger. As I remember the Harley, it had a large windshield, a couple of headlights, and a wide seat. He said he occupied one vehicle space on the road and acted the same he would if driving a car, as regards speed, signals and such. He arrived each day in a business suit and didn’t appear rumpled by the exposed ride. He did not wear a helmet (that was pre-helmet), but he also did not wear a baseball cap and skull mask.
Re the OP, looks like a case of justice served.
I’m very sorry about your friend, but his tragic accident in no way offers a logical rebuttal to the “sanctimony” of those in favor of helmet laws, nor does it give greater moral authority to your opinion.
I should also mention that WA has a helmet requirement while ID does not.
That’s a really good point and it speaks to larger issues regarding road safety (for all vehicles and pedestrians, not just motorcycle riders). I used to work with road safety experts, and the point they repeatedly made was that people tend to assume the crashes are almost always the driver’s fault. In fact, poor road design and maintenance play a much larger role than people realize.
A great way to reduce traffic fatalities is to pinpoint what Australian road safety engineers call “black spots” - locations where most crashes occur - and figure out and correct the problem, which might be related to lack of signage, steep gradients, insufficient shoulders, etc. Such methods can be extremely effective at improving road safety and they have nothing to do with addressing driver error.
Anyway, the tendency to blame human error first is demonstrated in that Ride Vision link. I assumed the 10 causes were listed in order of frequency, but nope, as you correctly pointed out they were simply lumped into categories and they put human error first, no doubt because that’s just how we all tend to think about crashes.
What I came to say. “He died as he lived.” He committed. There’re worse ways to go.
Then again, there’s better ways, too.
That is a key habit to develop.
Be that as it may, until we get bike-only roads that’s part of the calculus in deciding whether to wear a brain bucket or not. “At least it wasn’t my fault,” isn’t much of a last thought.
I don’t get on the bike until I’m wearing earplugs, helmet, boots, gloves, and a riding suit with extensive crash protection built into it. It’s about 15 pounds of gear, but I’d feel naked without it. The helmet is easily the most critical.
That said, I’m a little conflicted about helmet laws. If we consider it too dangerous to ride without a helmet, then why allow people to ride motorcycles at all, given that they’re ~30 times more likely to die than in a car?
From the article linked in the OP:
Does anyone else find it a little hypocritical (for lack of a better word) that someone would claim to be fighting the helmet law on principle, and after it’s repealed it looks like he was just doing it to get his own way? If he really thinks that “everyone should have their own choice”, I wonder where he’d come down on laws against abortion, assisted suicide, transgender athletes, and lots of other choices that government sometimes tries to dictate to us.
Put another way, is there anyone who fought to repeal helmet laws as a matter of individual choice, and then chose to wear a helmet?
Right. How many helmeted riders survive an impact with another vehicle at highway speeds, few if any.
It’s repulsive that the man in the OP is being mocked and derided for dying in a motorcycle accident in which a helmet the authorities said would’ve done nothing to help him.
For many, many folks, their philosophy seems to be:
“Nobody can tell me what to do, but I have the right to dictate to others what they can do.”
“Blunt head trauma”. Bet that changed his mind.
BTW, Pete Conrad went to the moon and back, died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.
This is why we always wear helmets. They aren’t going to save us if we go down at speed but they might be very helpful if we hit gravel pulling into our driveway.
From years ago when I was an insurance agent for Progressive, I remember very clearly the costs on a motorcycle policy.
Liability - dirt cheap.
Med pay - surprisingly affordable, but it capped (in most states) at or around 10k
Comprehensive/COMP - surprisingly expensive compared to a car, but still affordable, which a fellow adjust clued me into - it’s a lot easier to toss a locked motorcycle into the back of a pickup/van and drive away with it than you’d think.
Collision/COLL - if you have to have it (IE a financed vehicle) you CANNOT afford it it many cases. Mostly because even a low speed event, such as laying it down on gravel, will almost always total the bike in repair costs vs value.
So I saw and wrote (over my objections) a metric ton of motorcycle policies with liability and that’s it. Sure, they were paying (15 years ago) only $200 or so a year to insure, but they also had no real protection for themselves or their ride. Which ties back in to the theme I think we see here - almost all riders acknowledge it’s an inherently risky lifestyle, and a substantial fraction feel mitigating the risks isn’t worth it.
As a grassroots contributor to ABATE, yes, I did. When I was still riding, I had a couple of helmets, carried them with me, and put one on as situation needed - traffic, weather, etc. But I appreciated being able to take it off if the situation was reasonably safe. I’m intelligent enough to be the judge of the scenario.
we also supported abate was IIRC because the helmet laws were lacking compliance in standards wrt helmet safety testing. The state wanted to mandate equipment without setting standards for such equipment. Any helmet would pass the law, didn’t need a SNELL or DOT cert.
My riding years were mostly on pavement. Sport bike with tiny windscreen. Of course I’m wearing a helmet. Other times and places another choice. I’m don’t wear one on my ruckus 50cc.
Oh man I never knew that. It’s like George Patton surviving WWII, and then dying in an auto crash.
From the LA Times:
“Charles “Pete” Conrad, the Apollo 12 astronaut who was the third man to set foot on the moon, died Thursday night after losing control of his motorcycle on a mountain road near Ojai, authorities said.”
Sounds like a single-vehicle accident to me.
I started riding shortly before the California helmet law kicked in, and I would do the same thing too. But admittedly after I took the first MSF rider training course and saw the info on crashes, it gave me more knowledge to make better decisions.
Rider training helped me to stay safe and accident-free in my 40 years of riding. I’m fortunate that it was a military requirement for getting a base sticker on my bike.
Not everyone is fortunate that way.