Total Motorcycle Community Forums

sv-wolf,

Thank you. That really seemed to hit the nail on the head. It's those images that keep haunting me.

Years ago I stumbled onto a site that was nothing but gruesome pictures of dead bodies. Simply out of morbid curiosity I looked. It is very hard to wash images like that out of your memory, and you're right, there is no context for it. It's just like "BAM! Here's the most disturbing image you've ever seen in your life. By the way, this is what will happen to YOU if you ride a motorcycle!"

I would just like to say, for the record, if anyone wants to visit that site please take into account what you have read here and be prepared. There are some things that we shouldn't willfully subject ourselves to. Ride2die.com is one of those for me. I think we all understand the risks of motorcycling. We don't need something like ride2die to glorify the consequences of those risks.

Thanks for listening, guys .

What you don't know is those pictures never tell you the back story.

I recognize some of them from threads on this and other web sites. Often, the rider hurt was doing something stupid. Stunting, speeding, riding beyond his/her own skills.

While motorcycling is dangerous, the danger can be exaggerated or mitigated by the riders behavior.

Ride fast, stunt, dress poorly (ala shorts and t-top and sandals) and the results can be as bad as those shown on that site.

Get trained, respect your bike, don't ride tired, ride defensively, wear the gear, and the danger is reduced considerably.

If you want an accurate statistical understanding of the risks of riding over time.

First look at that site. It makes a claim that in 1997 motorcyclists were 14 times more likely than car drivers to become a fatality.

Then it goes on to say that in 2005 motorcyclists were 37 times more likely than car drivers to become a fatality.

Hough's book Proficient motorcycling does a good job debunking the VMD based statistics. Basically, states are not required and often don't send miles ridden data to the federal government. So what we are dealing with here is an estimate. How good of an estimate? Who knows? Is something like this worth basis decisions? Probably not.

The number of motorcyclists has been rising in recent years. If you gather some information, you'll see that 1981 was the worst year to be a motorcyclist. While fatalities are rising in the US, the number of motorcyclists is far more than it was in 1981, yet the number of fatalities isn't all that different.

So, you protect yourself from risk. You get additional life insurance, make sure that you and your wife have a plan if something happens to you (which is a good thing to have anyway) and behave yourself when riding.

I saw a rider today that was constantly passing vehicles to the right at red signal light and as traffic started up. What happens if someone makes a right when he is doing this. Well, probably not something fun.

RhadamYgg

To give you a direct answer, you are not the first motorcyclist to start out scared. Motorcyclsts don't like to talk about it, but if pressed, most will admit that at some point they reflected on their choice to ride. This is a threshold that some cross and remain motorcyclists, and some bail and end up looking at bikes longingly for the rest of their lives (and some make websites to scare others out of riding ). So you are not alone, it's normal.

Now to give you some perspective, motorcycling is to be experienced, you are not prepared to think about it rationally in light of the images you saw without any riding experience. Once you start to ride you will realize that cars don't materialize out of nowhere to hit you, that you won't just explode into a heap of carnage as you pull out of your driveway (be sure to look both ways ), and that your bike is not some evil monster ala "Christine".

In short, you'll discover that you are not powerless while riding, that your bike is your friend, and that your skill and awareness are entirely up to you, and they are the biggest determinent of your actual safety on the road. In short you have a great deal of control over what happens to you.

Give yourself a chance to experience motorcycling, and forget that site. I looked at it, and while disturbing, it is no more representative of actual riding risk then the movie JAWS was to swimming in the ocean.

Personally, I go out on every ride with the expectation that I'm going to return home safe and sound. To ensure this, I pay careful attention to everything that is going on around me during my ride. I plan my escape route at every intersection, I watch what all the traffic is doing around me, and I wear full protective gear. I choose not to ride beyond my abilities.

Keep that in mind when you go out riding.

Thanks again guys. Think I'm getting past all of this. I appreciate your comments.

Hopefully, this post can help anyone else who goes through this .

I look at it this way. I cant expect ANYONE to see me so I look for them. I mean we just had a 65 yr old women get run over by a garbage truck because she didnt see it. I mean come on how can you NOT see a garbage truck. Apparently she died 5 or so days later from internal injuries. So no matter what you do there is a chance you could die. You could walk into your garage to get into your vehicle, onto your bike and get squished by a tree that happened to break you just never know.

Not trying to scare you in any way but life is one big risk. I say why not have fun in life and take risks. Like mentioned above life without some risk is just a boring dull life. I ride thinking of my children first. If I am tired I take the van. If I am riding I watch ahead of me and ALWAYS watch the tires of any vehicle coming to any intersection. I have found riding has made me more aware of my surroundings in that I see things way before my wife does when I am driving our van with kids in the back.

You have bought a very reasonable bike. Wear all your gear, give people lots of space, plan your route, and stick to familiar roads for a bit. Don't ride a night for a bit, and don't take a passenger until you are ready. Ride as much as you can (I need to ride my bike a lot more myself!). The fear will mostly go away after a while.

Don't forget what you saw, just don't let it get to you and take the necessary precautions to ensure that it won't happen to you.

Like the others have said...ride defensively. Wear the proper gear. And get the proper training.

Safe riding.

I started riding at 13 yrs old, I am now 56. Sometimes I get a wave of fear while riding, more as I get older. I know what it feels like to crash. I am now a lot more fragile than when I was in my twenties. I read a report a while ago about an accident on a bike and it increased my feeling fear for a bit. My fear is based on reality I ride hard and fast. I do not wear all the gear all the time. These are my choices I live with them. I have over the years decided the least amount of stuff that I will ride with. I would not get on a bike without jeans and a helmet. I often wear much more than this but not always. I am not going to debate my choices with anyone. I also decide how hard I will push past being as safe as possible. I know about how fast I will still be going if something pops out in front of me ( how fast the bike I am riding at the time slows under extreme breaking). I ALWAYS approach a car or truck waiting to pull into my path with the belief that they can't see me. And still last week a car that was stopped well off the road (I thought) pulled a uturn directly in front of me on a two lane highway. My wife rides as well she crashed last week in the start of a heavy rain. One of these idiots doing the creep an entrance to the highway got to her. She was going slow enough that it was only some bruising and a broken clutch lever. Does the fact that she rides scare me? Yes of course it does. Would I ask her to stop? No of course not. She loves riding as much or more than I do. I am responsible to control my fear about her riding and about mine. I do not ride very well when I am scared. So I had better control it or quit riding. I dunno if this will help you but I think deep down most of us have some fear sometimes. It just isn't talked about very much.