ON THE MARK

O N T H E M A R K of the situation dictated that ply looked where he wanted if to the go, rider hadn’t given up on the tur leaned the bike and continued, n, it but was simposMARK ByERS sible to complete the turn. Alcohol. A lot of victims of bike crashes were returning from an evening alternative endingS of socializing at a amount of alcohol. bar, indulging in what they may have thought was The problem is that once one starts down that road, a safe judgeIt happens about once a month between April and October: a news report about a motorcycle mishap in which the rider was killed. It’s not something about which we like to think, but we need to. I have not done any scholarly research, but I do see recurring themes. Darkness. A significant number of crashes occur after sunset. There are multiple factors: 1) lighting that illuminates where the bike is pointed versus where it is going, 2) relatively weak, single lights common to many bikes, 3) fatigue and circadian rhythm disruptions from riding well past the hour at which the rider is normally asleep, and 4) poor cultural illumination of objects, hazards, and the road. Riding at night involves riding into a relatively small pool of light, beyond which we are blind. “Overdriving your lights” means going fast enough so that the stopping distance exceeds the illuminated distance available. Speed. Day or night, most bikes add speed much more quickly than most riders can controllably subtract with the brakes. I refer mostly to the front brake because it’s the lion’s share of stopping power and the hand is a much better fine motor-skills controller than the foot. The average rider, when faced with a requirement for maximum braking, will stomp the rear-brake pedal, locking the rear wheel. This causes the inevitable fishtail, ending in a high-side crash as the bike ejects the rider and both slam sideways into the pavement. Thankfully, more bikes come with ABS as time passes, but it isn’t a panacea. Target fixation occurs when riders don’t think they can make a turn, abandon the attempt, brake, stand the bike up, and go straight off the road. They focus on the point of departure from the road - a common human reaction instead of looking where they want to go. A motorcycle accident investigator ment of what constitutes a safe amount is suspect. It slows reactions, takes away inhibitions, and adversely affects vision, especially night vision. It is compounded by the fatigue and circadian-rhythm issues discussed above. Riding gear. There are an awful lot of lightly-attired riders out there. Forget “all the gear, all the time” and just think of jeans, a leather vest, and a helmet with a fake DOT sticker that is the protective equivalent of a Tupperware bowl. One study says use of a proper helmet reduces the instance of serious head injury by about 85%. Even if it’s a fraction of that, it’s better than what the average victim appears to be wearing. Most motorcycle crash articles I read contain the words “Excessive speed and alcohol were contributing factors. ” The typical scenario is a person leaving a bar well after dark to ride home, impaired by alcohol, going at a speed well beyond their ability and the conditions, and striking an object adjacent to the road and/or being ejected from the motorcycle. Most of them are single-vehicle crashes and don’t involve right-of-way violations by cars or impacts with deer: they are simply the culmination of a chain of rider-controllable events. Here’s an alternative ending: a person rides to a bar to socialize, but abstains from alcohol because he/she is riding. Recognizing that they are tired when they leave and that it is dark, they alter their normal behavior to take a better-lighted way home, riding at a much more sedate pace than usual. They ’ ve selected good riding gear that’s appropriate for the cool night, with a real DOT full-face helmet and a clear visor. Perhaps they ’ ve installed an aftermarket lighting system to augment their bike, one that illuminates turns better. Or maybe they dispensed with all that and took an Uber to and from the bar and partied their asses off. Either way, they probably lived to tell the tale, which is sadly in stark contrast to the articles I read about once a month. Amotorcycle accident investigator once wrote that in the majority of situations at which he looked, the physics of the situation dictated that if the rider hadn’t given up on the turn, but simply looked where he wanted to go, leaned the bike and continued, it was possible to complete the turn. once wrote that in the majority of situations at which he looked, the physics

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