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MOTORCYCLES ARE SAFER THAN CARS
Everyone knows that in crash motorcycle riders usually come off worse than car drivers. Riders avoid some problems, like being trapped in a burning or sinking car, but in general an accident that dents a car can put a motorcyclist in hospital. However motorcycle fear is often based on rumor or reports, not actual experience. It is guilt by association.
Guilt by Associationcarcarcar, I feel safe because I have protection, but on a motorcycle I feel safer because I have more options. A motorcycle is safer than a car if it is less likely to have an accident in the first place. That the careless can kill themselves more easily on a motorcycle is not denied. However what about competent riders? Competent riders are less likely to have accidents because they:
Do motorcycles cause deaths?
The death rate for riders is higher than for drivers, but perhaps that is because so many motorcycle riders are young men, who are still developing risk awareness. It seems a hard thing to say, but were they not on motor-cycles, perhaps they just would kill themselves in some other activity, as young men and risk go together. But here is a puzzle. If the risk of riding is so high, how can some people ride motorcycles every day for decades? Even with a tiny risk, sooner or later, their number should come up. Yet such people exist, and I know, because I am one. If the risk of riding is so high, how can some people ride for thirty years and live? Safe riders prove that safety is no accident, and that motorcycle riding is not inevitably dangerous.
See more
A rider is usually higher than a car driver, and so has a better view. A better view means you see danger earlier, and can avoid it better. Riders have no car body around them to create vision blind sports. Just turning their head gives a clear all round view. A bike can also move left or right in the lane for a better view, if a truck blocks your vision. A car driver in contrast must remain on the steering wheel side. A motorcyclecar. When I drive a car, I feel I have a much more constricted field of view.
The ability to see more lets you avoid more. If a person in a car three cars ahead stops suddenly, as a rider, I see it earlier, and have more time to make adjustments, to avoid a crash. If seeing danger first means avoiding it better, a motorcycle is safer.
Evade better
A motorcycle is smaller than a car, and so less of a target to be hit. Being smaller, it also has more places to go safely. If the car ahead stops suddenly, the car behind must hit it. Highway pile-ups occur because cars in a lane have nowhere to go in sudden stop. However a bike can swerve to the side, or fit between two cars on a many lane highway. It can pull onto the safety shoulder if necessary. A motor-cycle has evasion options not available to a car. It can accelerate better out of a trouble situation. In nearly every situation, a motorcycle has more evasive choices, because it is smaller and more mobile. In terms of accident evasion, bikes are safer.
Attend more
There is something about traveling at high speed a few feet above hard ground that gets your attention. When the body is right there, the brain tends to be right there with it. By comparison, a driver is separated from the world by the car body, air-conditioning and comfort. Drivers are distracted from the road by:
Driven to distraction
One has visions of some driver talking on a cell-phone, while listening to and adjusting the radio, turning to look back at a child, with a cup of coffee in the other hand. My personal dislike is soccer Mums in big SUVs trying ineffectively to discipline rowdy children in the back seat while driving. Kids are the most effective distraction machines every invented. Its much better to stop the car and deal with them.
Assume less
Car safety features cannot avoid the "nut behind the wheel" problem. Safer cars are no use if people are more careless. If drivers with anti-skid brakes just drive faster in the rain, what is the safety benefit? The accident rate depends as much on attitude as on mechanical safety features. Motorcycles create a better attitude, because on a motorcycle, you know you are vulnerable. No matter how big the motorcycle, what happens is likely to happen to you, personally. Motorcycle riders assume less, which makes a motorcycle safer than a car.
The Anti-SUV mentality
There are two approaches to avoiding accidents:
Bigger is better?
Americans have a fixed idea that to ride a motorcycle you have to be big, strong and tough. Yet in countries like Italy, Malaysia or New Zealand, everyone rides: young and old, men and women. Young women ride motorcycles and scooters all around Rome. In Kuala Lumpur, everyone rides motorcycles everywhere. These countries dont have the same fear mentality regarding motorcycles as America does, and they don't see size as the solution. On a motorcycle, size doesn't matter. What matters is your ability to see risk.
Conclusion
Riding a motorcycle is safer than driving a car because riders see more, evade better, are more attentive, and assume less. The rider has higher stakes, but if they ride safely, is less likely to have an accident in the first place.
Building character
I knew a good father who suggested his son ride a motorcycle not a car
MOTORCYCLES ARE SAFER THAN CARS
Everyone knows that in crash motorcycle riders usually come off worse than car drivers. Riders avoid some problems, like being trapped in a burning or sinking car, but in general an accident that dents a car can put a motorcyclist in hospital. However motorcycle fear is often based on rumor or reports, not actual experience. It is guilt by association.
Guilt by Associationcarcarcar, I feel safe because I have protection, but on a motorcycle I feel safer because I have more options. A motorcycle is safer than a car if it is less likely to have an accident in the first place. That the careless can kill themselves more easily on a motorcycle is not denied. However what about competent riders? Competent riders are less likely to have accidents because they:
- See more
- Evade better
- Attend more
- Assume less
Do motorcycles cause deaths?
The death rate for riders is higher than for drivers, but perhaps that is because so many motorcycle riders are young men, who are still developing risk awareness. It seems a hard thing to say, but were they not on motor-cycles, perhaps they just would kill themselves in some other activity, as young men and risk go together. But here is a puzzle. If the risk of riding is so high, how can some people ride motorcycles every day for decades? Even with a tiny risk, sooner or later, their number should come up. Yet such people exist, and I know, because I am one. If the risk of riding is so high, how can some people ride for thirty years and live? Safe riders prove that safety is no accident, and that motorcycle riding is not inevitably dangerous.
See more
A rider is usually higher than a car driver, and so has a better view. A better view means you see danger earlier, and can avoid it better. Riders have no car body around them to create vision blind sports. Just turning their head gives a clear all round view. A bike can also move left or right in the lane for a better view, if a truck blocks your vision. A car driver in contrast must remain on the steering wheel side. A motorcyclecar. When I drive a car, I feel I have a much more constricted field of view.
The ability to see more lets you avoid more. If a person in a car three cars ahead stops suddenly, as a rider, I see it earlier, and have more time to make adjustments, to avoid a crash. If seeing danger first means avoiding it better, a motorcycle is safer.
Evade better
A motorcycle is smaller than a car, and so less of a target to be hit. Being smaller, it also has more places to go safely. If the car ahead stops suddenly, the car behind must hit it. Highway pile-ups occur because cars in a lane have nowhere to go in sudden stop. However a bike can swerve to the side, or fit between two cars on a many lane highway. It can pull onto the safety shoulder if necessary. A motor-cycle has evasion options not available to a car. It can accelerate better out of a trouble situation. In nearly every situation, a motorcycle has more evasive choices, because it is smaller and more mobile. In terms of accident evasion, bikes are safer.
Attend more
There is something about traveling at high speed a few feet above hard ground that gets your attention. When the body is right there, the brain tends to be right there with it. By comparison, a driver is separated from the world by the car body, air-conditioning and comfort. Drivers are distracted from the road by:
- Coffee and food
- Talking on cell-phones
- Listening to the radio
- Talking to passengers
- Adjusting seats or windows
- Disciplining children
- Adjusting make-up
- Shaving
- Perhaps shaving is uncommon, but the others happen all the time. Studies show that inattention is the main cause of road accidents. You only have so much attention. Attending to one thing degrades your attention to another. Distractions reduce your attention to the road, which leads to accidents. Cars have many distractions, but on a motorcycle, it is just you and the road. Motorcycles are safer because they increase attention and reduce distractions.
Driven to distraction
One has visions of some driver talking on a cell-phone, while listening to and adjusting the radio, turning to look back at a child, with a cup of coffee in the other hand. My personal dislike is soccer Mums in big SUVs trying ineffectively to discipline rowdy children in the back seat while driving. Kids are the most effective distraction machines every invented. Its much better to stop the car and deal with them.
Assume less
Car safety features cannot avoid the "nut behind the wheel" problem. Safer cars are no use if people are more careless. If drivers with anti-skid brakes just drive faster in the rain, what is the safety benefit? The accident rate depends as much on attitude as on mechanical safety features. Motorcycles create a better attitude, because on a motorcycle, you know you are vulnerable. No matter how big the motorcycle, what happens is likely to happen to you, personally. Motorcycle riders assume less, which makes a motorcycle safer than a car.
The Anti-SUV mentality
There are two approaches to avoiding accidents:
- The SUV mentality: Have accidents, but avoid the results.
- The Anti-SUV mentality: Avoid accidents entirely
Bigger is better?
Americans have a fixed idea that to ride a motorcycle you have to be big, strong and tough. Yet in countries like Italy, Malaysia or New Zealand, everyone rides: young and old, men and women. Young women ride motorcycles and scooters all around Rome. In Kuala Lumpur, everyone rides motorcycles everywhere. These countries dont have the same fear mentality regarding motorcycles as America does, and they don't see size as the solution. On a motorcycle, size doesn't matter. What matters is your ability to see risk.
Conclusion
Riding a motorcycle is safer than driving a car because riders see more, evade better, are more attentive, and assume less. The rider has higher stakes, but if they ride safely, is less likely to have an accident in the first place.
Building character
I knew a good father who suggested his son ride a motorcycle not a car
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