A Lesson in Safety
Oct 28th, 2008 by Leo
There are two basic approaches to safety. One approach is what automakers have done in the US: design cars that can better sustain crashes. This often meant bigger and heavier. But it also meant better frame design and crumple zones, plastic bumpers, and air bags. But there’s a totally different highly effective approach that’s missing in the auto industry. It’s the approach to safety found in air travel.
On road travel it’s all about surviving the crash…in air travel it’s all about not-crashing. Sure there are safety features in the even of an airplane crash, but for the most part, they won’t help in a real emergency. The real goal is to make sure you never have to use your seat as a flotation device, because in all likelihood crashing into the ocean will not end well for anybody… The goal is to do everything possible to make sure the plane does not crash. As simple as this sounds, this approach is remarkably effective. Who would have thought that the safest way to travel would be to hurl through the air at 500 mph in a metal tube without any braking ability? Yet traveling by passenger plane is much safer than travelling by car, even though your chances of surviving a car crash are thousands of times higher.
Who would have thought riding a two wheeled vehicle could be safer than driving a minivan? And yet if you eliminate the accidents that are the result of drugs, alcohol, lack of training (single vehicle accidents on turns), and lack of helmet use, that’s pretty much what you can get. The key to motorcycle safety is like air safety: staying out of situations where you might crash. Having the foresight to avoid situations where emergency braking and swerving might become necessary. Of course you should always wear your protective gear (or at least most of your gear most of the time) but in the end it’s really about avoiding those situations altogether.
Link to Video – Looking at the video here, I notice a few things: [1] the biker was in the right the automobile was the one at fault for the accident. [2] the biker paid a much higher price for the accident (although he seems conscious and able to move, he probably broke some bones). [3] Nevertheless the motorcyclist could *probably* have avoided the car if he were either: more aware of his surroundings, or riding at a more appropriate speed for the traffic pattern he was in. I’m not saying that to lay blame on the guy, I hope the best for him! But I point this out as a reminder to myself that something like this can be avoided if we approach motorcycling more the way pilots approach flying – rather than with a driver’s mentality…
Anyway, that’s my take on it. Let me know what you think. Cheers and ride safe!
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- Riding Skills: An Exit Strategy
- Moving Thru Traffic
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It might legally be the driver’s fault, but it looks to me like any half-decent rider should have had no trouble avoiding that.
I mean, did I miss something?
“Nevertheless the motorcyclist could *probably* have avoided the car if he were either: more aware of his surroundings, or riding at a more appropriate speed for the traffic pattern he was in. ”
Yep. He got off lucky. Could’ve been MUCH worse. No matter who’s fault it was, avoiding it all together is a much better plan. And yeah, every rider should plan for whacked-out bat-sh!t moves like that by all drivers. That is, if they want to avoid stuff like this.
Interesting article that says in the UK they drive faster in smaller cars with higher speed limits and no stop signs – and yet there are fewer accidents and fatalities (per mile and per population) than the US. So much so that if the US had similar rates, 6000 fewer people would die every year (which is more than THREE times the fatality rate for US soldiers in Iraq).
What’s interesting about the article is that the changes he suggests are what experienced motorcyclists tend to do anyway…
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/traffic
Some interesting things about this video:
The right lane is merging, and given the camera angle, I am guessing its on a bridge or at the end of an overpass or tunnel.. Its likely the motorcycle didn’t see the car until the last second due to his merging left. As S0meguy commented, it does seem like the rider could have avoided it, but he doesn’t make any attempt to swerve and instead grabs a handful of front brake. He actually lifts his back end before the crash into a stoppie. Not the best emergency braking and avoidance maneuver. True, had he been going slower, he might have been able to avoid it but it is possible from the road configuration and his lane position, that he didn’t see anything until too late.
Some info from the Hurt Report seems relevant here:
26. Lack of attention to the driving task is a common factor for the motorcyclist in an accident.
28. Motorcycle riders in these accidents showed significant collision avoidance problems. Most riders would overbrake and skid the rear wheel, and underbrake the front wheel greatly reducing collision avoidance deceleration. The ability to countersteer and swerve was essentially absent.
29. The typical motorcycle accident allows the motorcyclist just less than 2 seconds to complete all collision avoidance action.
In this case, the rider ceretainly did not underbrake the front, but also, did not perform the simple swerve that would have saved his butt.
Also interesting is how casual the bystanders seem to be. The one guy on the right with his hands behind his back doesn’t even seem to care that a guy flew over a car onto the street. He just backs up a little and then looks away.
Anywho, just my 2 cents.
http://www.clarity.net/~adam/hurt-report.html
Having gotten hit by a cab just last night this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I am fine (broken clavicle and cracked patella), but as I type with one hand I am reminded of the sage advice of my MSF instructor, “ride alert, and as if everyone is out to get you.” This is not to say that you should be a paranoid or jerk rider – there are already plenty of those in SF – but rather to keep your head on a swivel and realize that in quickly moving city traffic people in cars simply aren’t paying the appropriate amount of attention most of the time; unfortunately that responsibility falls to us.
For me, I got hit by a cab turning left from the center lane while I was next to him (gotcha!)…not much I could have done. But, as I bounced to a halt in the middle of the road I do recall thinking, “well at least I’ve done everything right so far.” So, even with the best planning and prep these things are sometimes unavoidable. The key is to mitigate the end result – wear your gear! I’m sure I’d be in a lot worse shape if it wasn’t for my helmet, jacket, gloves, and riding pants, they did their job!
Ride safe…and watch out for cabs.
Glad to hear you are ok Jonathan. Where in SF were you? I have to admit, our cabbies are downright oblivious when they are looking for a fare.
Zac – I was on pine in pac heights. Its funny though, this guy already had a fare! Oh well…
Hey Jonathon – sorry to hear about your accident! I’m glad you were wearing your gear. The same thing happened to me a couple of years ago in Manhattan – a cab to my left turning from the center lane came into mine…
What folks might not realize is that if you were watching the accident happen from overhead, it might *look* obvious that the cab didn’t see you (were you behind the driver slightly when he turned?) – but when you’re there you don’t see it because your eyes are on the road ahead of you and our brains naturally assume that people will obey the basic rule of traffic… which is “don’t run people over.” A bird’s eye view is different from what you see on the road – because while you’re riding you’re focused on different things.
The good news is I bet you’ll never get caught in THAT situation again – because the next time you see a similar traffic pattern, you’ll either get away from it or make yourself really obvious to the driver before he does something stupid. Now if there were only a way to get that sort of avoidance radar without having to experience it…
Have a speedy recovery!