VTX1300C wrote:Cool thing for me is that the MSF parking lot is marked and close by to practice on almost whenever I feel like it.
Really helps in developing and improving the ride skill to keep practicing the fundamentals.
Looking forward to taking the advanced MSF course in Sept.
heh! im lucky.
i don't need to take the ERC. i can just go and attend the skillzday, it's pretty much the same but more sportbike oriented.
one of the big difference is that MSF teaches to use both brakes at the same time.
i don't do that... i dab the rear 1st then quickly follow up w/ the front. it helps prevent the bike from doing an endo and it feels more stable that way.
If the subject is what advice to give new riders (as a category, not individuals that you may know)... then statistics matter quite a bit because you don't know enough about the individuals to fit your advice to them.
The question is, why would you direct people towards behaviors and equipment that in fact has a higher fatality rate? Would you tell someone not to wear a helmet? Not to wear a jacket? Probably not. Why not? Because statistically wearing a helmet, wearing a jacket, is safer than not, and you don't want your advice to directly contribute to their death. So why is the motorcycle itself different? Why is advising people to get a motorcycle that is statistically more likely to get them killed any different than advising them not to wear a helmet?
It isn't. Some people don't wear a helmet. Some people start on supersport bikes. Most of those people survive... but more would survive if they didn't do it.
anthonyjwhite wrote:I do not feel that most of the accidents are caused by the size of the bike.
Feelings are fuzzy. The facts say that fatalities correlate to the size of bike, with more fatalities in larger displacement bikes
In 1999 (last year full info is available) single vehicle motorcycle fatalities.
500cc or less 6%
501-1000cc 40%
1001-1500cc 33%
greater than 1500cc 1%
unknown: 20%
More than 6% of registered motorcycles were in the "500cc or less" category. You figure the implications.
But what are the stats for the number of each size bike on the road? What percent of bikes on the road are 500cc or less? 6%? The statistics need to be expressed as a percentage of that bike size on the road versus the fatalities for that bike size.
