Poll
Question:
If you've had an accident on your motorcycle, which of the following best characterizes the cause of the accident?
Option 1: Equipment Failure (i.e. something with your cycle's mechanics went wrong)
votes: 1
Option 2: Operator Error (you messed up)
votes: 9
Option 3: Other Operator Error (someone else messed you up - e.g. cager, another rider)
votes: 8
Option 4: Environmental Conditions (e.g. weather, darkness, oil slick, unconsolidated road surface)
votes: 4
Option 5: Track-Day Accident
votes: 0
Option 6: None of the Above
votes: 1
I thought maybe we could run our own stats and see what's fact and what's myth regarding the causes of motorcycle accidents. I set it to allow folks to put in up to three votes, but I guess it will only let you vote once per username...sorry.
I truely think that it depends on how experienced the rider is. If the rider is a newbie, they will be involved in an accident because of operator error. The chances that this is the cause for a more experienced rider goes down.
I can't vote twice. :(
What if it was a combination of factors too? My first one was rider error and bad pavement.
In my case it was definately the cager's fault(that's how I voted), but I gotta take a little bit of the blame for not being 100% prepared for the cager to be an idiot. :mad:
May be beating a dead horse, but Always ride like they are trying to get you!
Four "incidents" in the last 40 years.
#1. As a very new rider, I didn't know how to read roads. First drop due to an oil spill in a slow corner. :dunno_white:
#2 After about 4 years of riding(1970), a young girl makes a left turn IMMEDIATELY in front of me. One Triumph 650 totalled :2guns:
#3 One year later, old woman rear ends me while I'm stopped at a red light. :flipoff:
#4 Around 1976, I REALLY overcooked a corner out in the (Indiana) countyside. :nono: I lowsided at about 60 per and slide into an alfalfa field. Got lucky on that one, I was able to ride home.
Lessons? Watch the road surface, always assume a driver will do something stupid, wear gear, and it's not how fast you go, but how you go fast.
Won't let me vote more than once.
I have been riding for 30 years on the street. 3 accidents caused by vehicles hitting me. 4 accidents from road surface slickness. Two oil, one antifreeze, one diesel oil slick. Only one accident ended with injuries. Wear your gear kids.
On the track for 10 years. 7 years racing, then a long layoff, and now doing track days. Two accidents while racing, both of them, rider error. No injuries, even after tucking the front end at the braking zone going into corner 5 at Road America at over 100 mph. Wear your gear kids.