#safety

In recent months, the passage of a bill legalizing lane splitting in California has gotten a lot of press. We believe the legislation is a good thing ( Gabe’s opinion, notwithstanding). However, even in states where the practice is not legal, riders should position themselves such that they can take advantage of the space between vehicles at a stop. No cop is going to cite a rider who jumps between stopped traffic to avoid becoming a minivan sandwich.

“It’s clear to me that more of us are dying because there are too many people who really shouldn’t ride motorcycles and the industry and advocacy groups do nothing to discourage them.”

If the technologies driving motorcycle components progressed at the same rate as motorcycle helmet technology we’d still be riding around on drum brakes. Where’s the motorcycle helmet equivalent of cutting-edge technologies such TC, C-ABS or semi-active suspension? The general construction of motorcycle helmets hasn’t changed much since leather lids became passé: a hard outer shell, impact-absorbing EPS (expanded polystyrene) liner, comfort padding. Helmets are certainly lighter, quieter, more comfortable and safer than their bygone counterparts, but I would have argued 20 years ago that the features touted by failed helmet company start-up, Skully, would have been commonplace by now.

Riding large motorcycles off into the boonies is a fairly recent phenomenon for most of us city kids, a thing the MO crew did last week that you’ll be reading about soon. It really does open up a whole new world of, ah, adventure, but it can also come as quite the surprise when something goes wrong, you get stuck, and it suddenly occurs to you that no good samaritan is going to come along in a pickup truck to help you out; in fact nobody is likely to come by for days except small woodland creatures and maybe even big dangerous ones. And the sun really is beating down, isn’t it? The Boy Scouts are right, it’s best to be prepared.

If you’re a motorcyclist, odds are that you aren’t one of those car drivers that squats in the left lane plodding along exactly at the speed limit while everyone else stacks up behind you with their blood pressure nearing the bursting point. Then again, maybe you are one of those mouth-breathers who believes it is their God-given right to drive in whatever lane they want, no matter who it inconveniences. (If you are, we’ve got a special place in Hell carved out for you to spend all of eternity listening to the Barney Song turned up to 11.)

I have thought for the longest time that if you need to depend on your horn to save your bacon on your motorcycle, you’re doing it wrong – an idea borne out by this Canadian maroon Troy posted on MO last week. In that situation, your horn just sounds like whining. The fat lady in the Kia has already sung, she beat you fair and square, and running to tell the policeman is only going to compound your shame.

Motorcycle safety instructor, researcher and advocate Duncan MacKillop was the first presenter at the International Rider Training Symposium. MacKillop, Alf Gasparro, and Kevin Williams are the founders of No Surprise: No Accident – an initiative proposing that motorcycle crashes are largely a product of prediction failures.

If your occupation is testing motorcycles there’s a certain measure of accepted risk that comes with the job. When cornering ABS (C-ABS) arrived a couple years ago, the general consensus among the motojournos was, Hey that’s awesome, we’ll take your word for it working as described, because no matter how professional we try to be, grabbing a fistful of front brake mid-corner to evaluate this new technology is a line few were willing to cross. Just thinking of the action conjures images of impacting asphalt at a rate approaching lightspeed.

“Eh,” the trauma surgeon said as he tossed my $200, CE-approved back protector aside like it was a toy, “it probably wouldn’t have done much.”

It’s nearly impossible to purchase a new motorcycle that doesn’t include some form of pre-installed electronic rider aid. From cornering ABS to switchable ride modes, on-the-fly adjustable traction control to hill-hold start, the variety of rider aids made available in just the last few years is mind blowing.

We live in a contentious time, and, no, I’m not talking about the present-day election cycle. We daily encounter a world where the outrageous garners our attention, where “news” stories are presented to us in an inflammatory fashion, where the purveyors of this new-age “news” seek to stir our emotions rather than to inform us or make us think: A new age of the aggrieved and the angry.

The International Driver & Rider Training Symposium was a weekend-long event comprised of demonstrations, test rides and presentations all geared toward understanding and improving motorcycle safety via training, research, education and technology. The event was sponsored by the newly created powersports division of Bosch, and presented by Cedergrens MEK, creators and manufacturers of an innovative new training tool called Skidbike that we got to test for ourselves.

Houston-based injury and accident attorney, John Zaid, provides some sound advice for what not to do following a motorcycle accident – or any vehicular accident. —Ed.

For the longest time  Ducati was the only brand with winglets on their MotoGP bikes, but now they’re popping up like mushrooms.  Yamaha‘s machinery has been sporting them most of this season, and now  Honda just tested six, yes six of them, on Marquez’ bike in the Jerez test that took place yesterday.

After a long winter, motorcyclists are coming out of hibernation and reclaiming their place on the streets. Unfortunately, spring is usually the most dangerous time of the year to ride as riders shake off the rust and other motorists learn to start sharing the road once again with motorcycles.