Out of Pod Experience

So, riding in to work this morning in a warm, balmy 40 degrees F up here in upstate NY, and contemplating the (likely soon) end to the riding season, it got me thinking about who else out there in the community rides and what they ride.

Personally, I ride a 2008 Yamaha FJR1300. Has 88k miles on the odometer now.

http://i.imgur.com/GjFYMiz.jpg

That's loaded up for a trip. Bags packed, tent, camp chair, etc. Pretty short trip, comparitively. The longest trip I've done was Phoenix, AZ to upstate NY. 3000 miles in 6 days.

So, who else rides, and lets see pictures!

Whilst i don't ride anymore, this was my steed for a few years.

Not sure if it really counts

motorcycle season doenst end till theres snow or ice on the road

dont have any pictures right now, will see if I can upload some tomorrow

I used to own a CZ 125

tractor tech ftw

CBR 1000 Repsol. I used to take it to school, and visit a friend at work between classes, who took these pictures on his phone. I don't have any other pictures of myself on it. I could take some--it's at home with me. It has a power commander tune thing, titanium exhaust, upgraded suspension, and a bunch of lighter-weight bits in the handlebar area. I've taken it to 175mph. I would've kept going but I tipped my head above the windshield and the wind ripped my visor off.

of course not. that would be illegal and unsafe, and I do not condone the reckless endangerment of oneself and others.

I believe the exact term is "donorcycles".

My license has the little donor heart on it. Generally a wise thing to do when you get a motorcycle, as no matter how safe or careful you may be, there's always some teenage cager too busy texting a friend or paying Farmville to pay attention to their surroundings. Hopefully they're on a different road than you, but often they aren't.

Hell, from the picture I posted, you can see I'm on a pretty large bike and am a bright yellow obnoxious bumblebee. While the hi-viz gear has definitely helped a number of times (and thus I swear by it as those are times that the danger was averted before it occurred), I've still had people try to merge into me, cut me off, slam on the brakes ahead of me (yay, ABS!), tailgate me, etc. While I may be a safe and responsible rider, I still worry about all those people around me who are not.

Deer, however, remain my primary fear.

I almost hit a horse once...

Slade, I don't think you'll find any of us disagreeing that in many cases there is at least some fault on the part of the rider in an accident.

However, according to multiple studies, it is predominantly the other driver who is at fault in motorcycle collisions.

Some statistics according to the Hurt Report (1981, sadly, the last time it was conducted due to lack of funding):

75% of accidents involved a motorcycle and a passenger vehicle, 25% were single motorcycle accidents.
In single-vehicle accidents, motorcycle error was the precipitating factor in about 2/3rds of the cases, usually slide-out and fall due to overbreaking or running wide on a curve. - These are purely the rider's fault.

In the multiple-vehicle accidents, the driver of the other vehicle violated the motorcycle right-of-way and caused the accident in 2/3rds of those accidents.
"The failure of motorists to detect and recognize motorcycles in traffic is the predominating cause of motorcycle accidents... Conspicuity of the motorcycle is a critical factor in the multiple vehicle accidents, and accident involvement is significantly reduced by the use of motorcycle headlamps-on in daylight and the wearing of high visibility yellow, orange or bright red jackets."

So, in those above statistics by a rather well-regarded report which has influenced law enforcement and regulation, it states that the other motorist is more-often-than-not at fault for violating the motorcyclist's right-of-way and causing the accident.

The MAIDS report, conducted in Europe 1999-2000 provides similar conclusions, and places more weight on the usage of hi-vis gear as "69% of OV (other vehicle) drivers attempted no collision avoidance maneuver", signifying that they generally did not see the motorcyclist.

The greatest danger to motorcyclists is well known to be another vehicle performing a left turn and violating the motorcyclist's right-of-way.

So, yes. On the water small boats must yield to large boats. However, on the street where there are laws regarding right-of-ways, just because you're in a bigger vehicle it doesn't mean you have the right-of-way.

Motorcyclists should certainly do everything they can to be seen on the road as being unseen is a large contributing factor to accidents (and the dreaded left turn), hence why I wear hi-vis gear. However, "I didn't see him" isn't really a good defense as it just means you didn't really look. Motorcyclists should also ride far more defensively than most people drive, and never assume that a cager isn't going to do something phenominally stupid and try to kill them. That's what the Motorcycle Safety Foundation teaches as the game of "What Ifs", where you should always be considering "what if X does Y, what will I do?" as you are riding.

When I take to the road, I assume everyone out there is trying to kill me, and I always keep my head on a swivel.

While I don't agree with much of your argument, Slade, I can see where your beliefs come from and agree with parts (specifically, it's on the rider to ride safely, but not agreeing that it's not the driver's fault because they're in a bigger vehicle). Either way, I appreciate your voicing your opinion.