Invisibility Training for Motorcyclists [video]
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Crashing on a private track is one thing, crashing in the city where you can collide with walls, posts, sidewalks, cars (even parked ones), trees ... it's unforgiving even at low speeds.
Pieces of debris lying around can make you go down hard. Brake with a wheel on a piece of cardboard and chances are you'll just slide. Same for an oil slick.
The number of times I've seen shit flying out of or off of cars & trucks (a ladder, a large piece of wood, a rolling tire, a mattress) ... all that will put you in serious harm's way.
This video should be shown at driving schools to remind everyone that shit can happen at _any_ time and hit _hard_: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOosn78WsMg
So I will say it:
The way the tire shows up again after the mega damage: just slowly rolling up into the accident; was a pretty good comic beat.
Also autumn leaves. Like sheets of graphene.
It's worth remembering that a car will always brake faster and turn more sharply than a motorbike.
It's also worth remembering that after every rain, the road is slick for a half hour or so while all the oily crap and rubbery crap washes off.
If I ever need to stop very quickly, I try to end up in the "lane split" position, stopped in between two stopped vehicles. This has saved me from some nasty rear-end collisions a few times.
All it takes to swerve at speed is a small shove on the appropriate side of the handlebar, and 1m should be enough to put you either into the 'lane split' or into the other lane entirely.
I say this because I had a friend who was killed when another driver swerved into her lane while trying to avoid rear ending another car. In that case, rear ending the other car would've been way safer. So yeah, just be absolutely certain the lane you're swerving into is clear. That should go without say but apparently it didn't for the woman that killed my friend (and I bet she thought she was pulling off a ninja move until it was too late).
Zebra pedestrian crossings as well after it has rained:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_crossing
Wet road paint can be slippery AF (also applies to bicyclists).
You can sometimes tell in advance by the texture. It's a gamble I personally wouldn't take.
And patched cracks (using bitumen with a lower melting point than asphalt's) are also slippery af in the summer heat.
I keep doing some controlled slips to stay somewhat accustomed to the gut feeling which prevents driving errors when a minor slip happens (like going over man hole cover when leaning, or having a slight/controlled slip on mended cracks in a corner).
There's a bit of a lower than street/asphalt-level manhole cover in a calm corner here. I just go over this one with a bit of an angle, started very gentle and increased speed/leaning angle a bit over time. Not for race bikes, though.
Then, when I see long-drawn-out mended cracksin a corner when its hot, sometimes I try to induce a slip on those. Takes some courage though, but the slip wont be as bad, because the patches are only one to two centimeters wide (the cracks are parallel to the road).
I ride a light dualsports bike, a KTM 790 Adventure. It has spoke wheels and takes the abuse without an issue. And it also has all the electronic features (6-axle IMU, traction control, etc).
It's just that my bum knows how a slip feels and to prevent a bad reaction in case an (semi scary) involuntary one happens. That has served me well so far, saved me from reacting badly when I was surprised in a shady & moist corner and so on.
Edit: added more text to clarify + typos corrected
Practice feeling comfortable sliding and recovering so you don't have a bad reflex and overcorrect. Absolutely saved my ass one time a few years ago driving home from work.
I was on a 55 and the roads were dry and clear. I came around a slight curve that runs next to some woods and hit black ice immediately. I lightly tapped the gas and tokyo-drifted back to the center of the lane. Felt just like what I had practiced and I felt calm while doing it. Had I panicked and slammed on the brakes, I would have gone sideways into the woods at 55.
I'd go so far as to say this is something that should be taught formally, we'd probably reduce traffic accidents significantly.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_racing
Also any kind of dirt / motocross riding (and training) would probably help. Basically getting off of asphalt and into the dirt.
Advice from my dad (who's an ex rally driver) is "if you can see tires leaving tracks in the rain, it's not safe".
Also, black ice is something.
(The annual rear-ending fest seems to mostly cater to the "I've driven this route to work for years" audience.)
Before you get to that, you'll have completed minimum 4 h classroom safety training, 10 h driving with instructor, and whatever amount of theory training gets you to pass the theory test (generally two calendar months studying on the side of being in high school).
Slippery conditions aren't really hard to find in Finland. I think the black ice phenomena is really more about distracted driving.
In the dark, how far ahead can you see a pedestrian without reflector / with reflector at waist level / with reflector at knee level, with/without high beams. How much is that in seconds while driving at inner city / street / highway speeds.
I remember an icy bend of the road, and they told us find the maximum speed we can have at a marked line before the bend, and still make that corner staying inside our lane. So, obviously, you'd spin out a couple of times trying to find the threshold. The implied lesson was that the max speed was much lower than most thought it would be.
Same thing with the moose evasion: What's the highest speed at which you can still successfully brake, let go of brakes, swerve to one side, miss moose marker, re-orient with road, and start braking again (in real life: not go in a ditch / hit a pole, come to a controlled stop).
And after people had gotten a few rounds of "getting the feel for it" on the challenges, they gave us a minimum approach speed for each, and you had to avoid a crash from that speed to pass for the day.
Black ice tends to have pretty specific weather conditions and locations (bridges, valley shapes, etc); the newspaper headline shows up at the same time of the year, every year, and sometimes mentions the same location.
And children, dogs, birds, metal plaques...
So many things out of your control, so just assume the worst, all the time if you want to survive.
Motorbikes are just dangerous, that's it.
Another thing I'd add: say no to ridding under the rain.
Don't buy a better suit, better tires, adapt your schedule and run slowly.
Just don't use it.
There is nothing in the world you can do that will make it much safer. It's a death trap. Bite the bullet, and use something else.
But who am I kidding, young me would have read that comment, say "mehhh", and just ride the storm anyway :)
I use my moto for Moto camping upstate New York. I plan my trips to avoid storms, but they happen never the less. And I love my super banana suit. It keeps me comfortable while I’m trying to hold my $#!t together out on the highway.
I grew up in CA and every year people go nuts with the first rains. Lots of accidents. Same happens here—especially the spring and early summer rains. People lose their minds and forget how to drive.
Slow down. Increase following distance. And if you’re on a moto, watch for manhole covers, leaves, road markings which can be slick.
And not running your tires to slick helps, too.
I would extend that to anything with two wheels at a speed of 30km/h+.
A while ago I restored my bicycle after years of it gathering dust in the cellar and now that I'm older and more aware of risks I see how much I have to think ahead to not run over anyone.
At certain, low from a car driver's standpoint, speeds a bicycle will just go straight unless of course you decide to slide.
Such a hard choice.
Towards the end of the trip, the roads were mostly downhill. It’s easy to go too fast for the corners, so I back off a bit, but am still having fun.
We passed a sign saying “caution, winding road”. Great!
Then a minute or so later, we passed a sign saying “warning: falling rocks”. Ok.
Another minute and we passed a sign saying “slippery when wet”. Well it’s not raining so I’m good.
Then less than a minute later it started raining, seemingly out of nowhere.
I sat up straight in my seat, dialled the throttle back and decided the rest of the ride would be entirely defensive.
$DIETY had given me enough warnings for one day.
He had a succession of prosthetic legs, the technology was always improving but one thing he said never changed: The clinics were always full of lads in their late teens. Year after year.
But that only 10% of the pilots were blameless.
If you're on a motorcycle you have to treat everyone and everything as out to get you, because they are.
When you filter all these elements out (you're a rider with experience who "knows" the traffic and doesn't do stupid) then it's safer then you'd think.
After so many years of riding a bike in the city I feel like I just have a sixth sense about how cars are going to behave. It can be really small things. For example a car with plates from out of town approaching a crossroads driving a little too slow is probably wondering where the hell he should turn and is likely to suddenly change course, so keep your distance. And if you look several cars ahead you can predict what the car in front of you is likely to do.
The kicker for me is you can do everything perfectly correctly and a drunk driver sideswipes you and you’re just a list of organs available.
It wasn’t for me; I’m not saying it’s not for others.
But if you do want to ride, take those defensive motorcycle courses and, like a pilot, be willing to say “today is not my day to ride” and don’t mix alcohol (the eight hour bottle to throttle is a good rule for any piece of heavy machinery).
It was for me for a while until I got the fear after a near crash, became a father and ... it's not really worth it anymore. Still get dark thoughts about all the close calls I had and stupid shit I did (riding 6K km through Africa with fork oil dripping all over my front break disk). Problem is as soon as I get on the bike I become fearless again.
> The kicker for me is you can do everything perfectly correctly and a drunk driver sideswipes you and you’re just a list of organs available.
Yeah that's the old "you have to get it right all the time, they only need to get it right once"
But I get unreasonably annoyed when people who don't ride, or are very new to riding, parrot statistics about rider injury and mortality rates compared to cars and essentially wag their finger in smug disapproval. The reality is that the "dangerousness" of motorcycling is nuanced. You are not simply X times more likely to die on a motorcycle than in a car, there are a whole host of factors involved, like: Did you take a safety class? Do you look for opportunities to improve your safety? Is your bike well-maintained? Did you inspect it before riding? Are you completely sober and awake? Are you stressed or worried about something? Are you wearing your helmet and gear? Is your gear reflective and/or bright? Do you typically ride along in your own little world or are you constantly scanning your environment for danger?
Around here, the two most common kinds of riders are pirates (on Harleys) and squids (on sport bikes) tend not to worry about trivial details such as these and both groups represent motorcycling quite poorly in the safety department. They generally don't wear helmets (or any riding gear at all), tend to have obnoxiously loud exhausts (which don't save lives), and are attracted to motorcycles as a means to achieve a certain kind of personal image and/or to fit in with their desired peer group.
There is a third, smaller group that believes you don't have to sacrifice much fun in order to get quite a lot of (relative) safety. I like to think I am part of this group. I would love to see some research comparing motorcycle-related injury rates, taking into account more factors than just, "was the vehicle a motorcycle or not?" I suspect that a safety-conscious rider is not THAT much more at risk than the average car driver. (Accounting of course for the fact that riders are not surrounded by a strong steel cage.)
I suspect that your third group becomes better drivers in all vehicles because they learn more things to pay attention to, which permeates everything you do.
Common in SF as the anti-theft rock. You keep it hidden in your car to prevent the car from being broken into. Works really well.
I mean, presumably in 2-vehicle collisions one person is at fault. So "50% of people not at fault" is just the baseline (if all collisions are 2-vehicle)
Whereas presumably collisions between aircraft are very rare.
That's not the best way to put it because it implies that motorists will purposefully try to crash into motorcyclists. In reality, it's due to inattention and the risk of a collision can be reduced by the motorcyclist through defensive driving techniques. For example, when approaching an intersection, is there a motorist approaching or waiting there who could cross my path? What's my plan to avoid that? It comes down to planning rather than reacting.
If they really were all you to get you, you'd be dead.
To me it’s more of a "You are the only one with a vested interest in you making it home alive and in one piece".
I'll take that very seriously in my car too - and back off if I see a badly loaded vehicle. There's not much protection from a windshield.
I had time to register it happening but not sure I had time to move much - and I'm pretty sure it could've wiped me out. I paid a bit more attention to loads after that - but I suspect the lesson slowly faded.
“Road furniture” as they call it in MSF
I've had trouble a couple of times, at a full stop, just balancing the bike when there's a bit of oil with fresh rain.
I have a side job delivering pizzas on a motorcycle. Recently I had an accident by myself, I slipped out of the road but not too fast, around 75kmh (50 mph). The falling was terrifying but I had luck to not have any really severe injury.
This experience made me reflect on all the crazy things I did with the bike where I could easily had died. So I feel lucky. I'll try to go slower and be extra vigilant. What really terrifies me are people who don't know how to drive (I live in a touristic area) and you spot them immediately.
Also phones, keep them down or hold them on a mount but don't hold them with your hands!
I invite you to Indian cities of today. A large fraction of riders is on a conversation on mobile phone -- either held up to ear by one hand or with the mobile pinched between ear and shoulder.
How they manage to get home alive every day - I don't know.
https://www.bikesrepublic.com/featured/10-countries-with-the...
near 100k fatalities per year. Granted it is well populated country but still.
The US has 8.6 million motorbikes [2] deaths and 5172 deaths [3]. That is 6E-4 deaths/motorbike.
Now, the better metric would be deaths/kms. But at least on the above metric, India is doing fine.
[1] https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto/news/india-has-over-21-...
[2] https://www.iihs.org/api/datastoredocument/bibliography/2225
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_fatality_rate_in_U....
The best advice I've seen for maximizing visibility is 1) have two headlights instead of one, 2) be mindful of your lane position, riding a little closer to the center line will maximize visibility at junctions.
And of course, never rely on visibility to ride safe. Defensive riding is always the priority. You should see and prepare for the dangerous junctions long before a driver needs to see you approaching it.
(Been riding for 8 years and no accidents)
You also have to guess where people will be going before they know it themselves. It sounds a little magic and impossible, but after a while it becomes second nature.
Just don't count on other drivers seeing you, because
1/ they don't
2/ many hate you, and think it's fun to make your life difficult. Don't let them.
This really is only applicable when going through intersections where paths can cross. A motorcyclist on the road right in front of a motorist will be seen because they're right in the center of their field of vision.
> but in reality there isn't much you can do, as a rider, to become visible.
Colloquially known as the SMIDSY weave. SMIDSY is "Sorry Mate, I Didn't See You", and the most significantly manifest as someone making a left turn (in the US) in front of a rider. This exact situation killed actor Treat Williams just the other day.
The SMIDSY weave is when you approach an intersection with someone waiting to turn, weave the bike across the lane. A simply swerve. This makes the bike stand out against the background clutter. Combined with the headlight, that swerve makes you look more dangerous than you were before so the drivers brain will highlight you. Going from one side of the lane to the other makes you "suddenly" appear someplace you weren't before.
It honestly takes a lot of concentration to do this, being aware of where you are, that there is a driver waiting to turn, and actually making the maneuver. Seems simple, but riders are in this situation more than you think.
But it is a simple technique that can reduce one of the most dangerous situations modern riders frequently encounter.
And yes, I do recommend Ryan F9 videos, they are really outstanding.
A great reason to have cycling and motorcycling sessions as part of the driver's test.
But: I love to sail! For now , just the Croatian coast, marvellous. I also worked from a boat, the internet works also between islands, slower, but works. Starlink would be a nice addition.
As for the price, a 100k would bring you a nice 50 feet yacht, but the port costs would eat up a lot on top. But you can also anchor in a small gulf if you do not need supplies.
But really, fortnine is an amazingly well presented show, here are a few of my favorites. And I don't even own a motorcycle.
Our best sidecar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v_S8i4KSfM
Crossing Canada's only desert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2a-sUdaNJ8
The Killer Tricycle Banned by the US Government: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_C8z0rFnjk
The production values are good, and are interesting.
It's Kevin Cameron (Cameron is a famous technical columnist in the motorcycling community) combined with Bill Nye. I can't recommend any specific ones, they're all amazing.
Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well
https://www.amazon.com/Proficient-Motorcycling-Ultimate-Guid...
Also, in San Francisco a lot of the "paint" in the crosswalks is little plastic pellets melted. I have had my rear wheel slide out going over the thick white crosswalk bars. Best to keep off the throttle and roll over them. Same for the giant metal plates they use to cover up ongoing construction projects. They can be very slippery.
I take it one step further, "assume they actively want to kill you."
15,000km+ all over vietnam, cambodia, laos over 4 years and 8 years in California. Zero vehicle accidents, but many many close calls.
In SE Asia, you really have to watch for collateral damage, where another accident happens and then bounces into you.
Does it work? I’m not sure - and of course it relies on me noticing them the first time. But research does indicate it increases attentiveness, so I’m hoping it does something.
As a motorcyclist SMIDSY accidents are my worst nightmare - that is, right angle turn, car pulls out in front of the bike.
Bikes aren't super visible from a long distance and the benefit of parallax from spaced headlights is greatly reduced.
I'm a car hater who hates car centric infrastructure and rules. As a cyclist I do have a beef with motorcyclists who use noise to make themselves present. Cars are freaking well sound insulated these days but my helmet isn't.
I don't know what this video is based on but it's a great example for not taking anything on YouTube as ground truth. For this video, I would ask the creator supply some serious materials backing up the claims being made.
"As a visual neuroscientist and also a rider, I approve of this message. Very impressive depth of scientific insight into how our vision works, all presented in an easy to understand way." - World-renowned researcher Vladimir Kefalov
https://medschool.uci.edu/news/world-renowned-researcher-vla...
The optical data rate is much lower than required, the brain makes stuff up almost all the time.
(ChatGPT is just trying to catch up.)
Vision is not a process by which your camera eyes capture an image and your brain reports it, it is a process where your brain makes a guess about the world and tries to truth check it with external stimuli. It is not a faithful process, and where it renders reality, it does so because it’s expected to be sufficiently advantageous for your survival to be worth the effort.