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MOTORCYCLE RIDING SURVIVAL TIPS

MORE TIPS TO KEEP IN MIND

1. Assume that you are invisible
To a lot of drivers, you are.
Never make a move based on the assumption that another driver sees you,
even if you've made eye contact.
Bikes don't register to the four-wheel mind.

2. Be considerate
The consequences of strafing the, "Jerk du jour" or cutting him off, start out bad, and get worse.
Pretend it was your grandma and smile.

3. Dress for the potential crash, not the pool, the bar, or a picnic
Sure, McDonalds is a 5-minute trip, but nobody plans to eat pavement.
Modern mesh gear means 100 degree heat, and is no excuse for a T-shirt and board shorts.

4. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst
Assume that car across the intersection will turn across your path when the light turns green, with or without a turn signal.

5. Leave your ego at home
The only people who really care if you were faster on the super slab, will be the officer and the judge.

6. Pay attention
Yes, there is a half-naked girl on the billboard.
The shocks do feel squishy.
Meanwhile, you could be drifting toward big trouble.
Focus!

7. Mirrors only show you part of the picture
Never change direction without turning your head to make sure the coast really is clear.

8. Be patient
Always take another second or three before you pull out to pass, ride away from a curb, or into super slab traffic from an on-ramp.
It's what you don't see that gets you.
That extra look could save your butt.

9. Watch your closing speed
Passing cars at twice their speed or changing lanes to shoot past a row of stopped cars is just asking for trouble.

10. Beware the verge and the merge
A lot of nasty surprises end up on the sides of the road, empty McDonalds bags, nails, TV antennas, Ladders, you name it.
Watch for troublesome debris on both sides of the road.

11. Left-turning cars remain a leading killer of motorcyclists
Don't assume someone will wait for you to dart through the intersection.
They're trying to beat the light too.

12. Beware of cars running traffic lights
The first few seconds after a signal light changes are the most perilous.
Look both ways before barging into an intersection.

13. Check your mirrors
Do it every time you change lanes, slow down or stop.
Be ready to move if another vehicle is about to occupy the space you've planned to use.

14. Mind the gap
Remember Drivers Ed?
One seconds worth of distance per 10 mph is the old rule of thumb.
Better still, scan the next 12 seconds ahead for potential trouble.

15. Beware of boy racers
They're quick and their drivers tend to be aggressive.
Don’t assume you’ve beaten one away from a light or outpaced it in traffic and change lanes without looking.
You could end up as a Honda Civic hood ornament.

16. Excessive entrance speed hurts
Its the leading cause of single-bike accidents on twisty roads and racetracks.
In Slow, Out Fast is the old adage, and it still works.
Dialing up corner speed is safer than scrubbing it off.

17. Don’t trust that deer whistle
Ungulates and other feral beasts prowl at dawn and dusk, so heed those big yellow signs.
If you’re riding in a target-rich environment, slow down and watch the shoulders.

18. Learn to use both brakes
The front does most of your stopping, but a little rear brake on corner entry can calm a nervous chassis.

19. Evaluate
During Search, Evaluate, Execute, if the hairs on the back of your neck stand up,
prepare yourself and cover that front brake.
Save a single second of reaction time at 60 mph and you can stop 88 feet shorter. Think about that.

20. Look where you want to go
Use the miracle of "Target Fixation" to your advantage.
The motorcycle goes where you look, so focus on the solution instead of the problem.

21. Keep your eyes moving
Traffic is always shifting, so keep scanning for potential trouble.
Don’t lock your eyes on any one thing for too long unless you’re actually dealing with trouble.

22. Think before you act
Be careful whipping around that old truck going 10 mph in a 40 mph zone or you could end up with your head in the driver’s side door when he turns into the driveway right in front of you.

23. Raise your gaze
Its too late to do anything about the 20 feet immediately in front of your fender, so scan the road far enough ahead to anticipate trouble and be prepared to change trajectory.

24. Get your mind right in the driveway
Most accidents happen during the first 15 minutes of a ride, below 40 mph, near an intersection or driveway.
Yes, that could be your own driveway.

25. Come to a full stop at that next stop sign
Put a foot down.
Look again.
Anything less forces a snap decision with no time to spot potential trouble.

26. Never dive into a gap in stalled traffic
Cars may have stopped for a reason, and you may not be able to see why until it’s too late to do anything about it.

27. Don’t saddle up more than you can handle
If you weigh 95 pounds, avoid that 795-pound cruiser.
If you’re 5-foot-5, forget those towering adventure-touring bikes.

28. Watch for car doors opening in traffic
Smacking a car that’s swerving around some goofballs open door is just as painful.

29. Don’t get in an intersection rut
Watch for a two-way stop after a string of four-way intersections.
If you expect cross-traffic to stop, there could be a painful surprise when it doesn’t.

30. Stay in your comfort zone when you’re with a group
Riding over your head is a good way to end up in the ditch.
Any bunch worth riding with will have a rendezvous point where you’ll be able to link up again.

31. Give your eyes some time to adjust
A minute or two of low light heading from a well-lighted garage onto dark streets is a good thing.
Otherwise, you’re essentially flying blind for the first mile or so

32. Master the slow U-turn
Practice.
Park your butt on the outside edge of the seat and lean the bike into the turn, using your body as a counterweight as you pivot around the rear wheel.

33. Who put a stop sign at the top of this hill?
Don’t panic.
Use the rear brake to keep from rolling back down.
Use the Throttle and Clutch normally, and smoothly to pull away.

34. If it looks slippery, assume it is
A patch of suspicious pavement could be just about anything.
Butter Flavor Crisco? Gravel? Mobil 1?
Or maybe its nothing.
It's better to slow down for nothing, than to test it out on your head.

35. Bang! A blowout! Now what?
No sudden moves!
The motorcycle isn’t happy, so be prepared to apply a little calming muscle to maintain course.
Ease back the throttle, brake gingerly with the good wheel and pull over very smoothly to the shoulder.

36. Sprinkles on your face shield?
Its raining.
Lightly misted pavement can be slipperier than when it’s been rinsed by a downpour, and you never know how much traction there is.
Apply maximum-level concentration, caution and smoothness.

37. Emotions in check?
To paraphrase the rapper, "Ice Cube", "Check yoself before you wreck yoself." Emotions are as powerful as any drug, so take inventory every time you saddle up.
If you’re mad, sad, exhausted or anxious, stay put, time out.

38. Wear good gear
Wear stuff that fits you and the weather.
If you’re too hot, or too cold, or fighting with a jacket that binds across the shoulders, you’re dangerous.
It’s that simple.

39. Leave the iPod at home
You wont hear a cement truck motor in time with Spinal Tap cranked to 11, but they might like your headphones in intensive care.

40. Learn to swerve
Be able to do two tight turns in quick succession.
Flick left around a few objects that you've set up as a slalom course, then right back to your original trajectory.
The bike will follow your eyes, so look at the way around, not at the objects.
Now, practice until it’s a reflex.

41. Be smooth at low speeds
Take some of the angst out, especially of slow-speed maneuvers, with a bit of rear brake.
It adds a welcome bit of stability by minimizing unwelcome weight transfer and potentially bothersome driveline lash.

42. Flashing is good for you
Turn signals get your attention by flashing, right?
So a few easy taps on the pedal or lever before stopping makes your brake light more eye-catching to following traffic.

43. Intersections are scary, so hedge your bets
Put another vehicle between your bike and the possibility of someone running the stop sign/red light on your right and you cut your chances of getting nailed.

44. Tune your peripheral vision
Pick a point near the center of a wall.
Now, scan as far as you can by moving your attention, not your gaze.
The more you can see without turning your head, the sooner you can react to trouble.

45. All alone at a light that won’t turn green?
Put as much motorcycle as possible directly above the sensor wire usually buried in the pavement beneath you, and located by a round or square pattern behind the limit line.
If the light still won’t change, try putting your kickstand down, right on the wire.
You should be on your way in seconds.

46. Everything is harder to see after dark
Even You, yourself.
Adjust your headlights.
Carry a clear face shield or clear lenses, and have your "A" game on after dark,
especially during commuter hours.

47. Don’t troll next to, or right behind that Tractor-Trailer
If one of those 18 retreads blows up, which they do with some regularity, it de-treads, and that can be ugly.
Unless you like dodging huge chunks of flying rubber, keep your distance.

48. Take the panic out of panic stops
Develop an intimate relationship with your front brake.
Seek out some safe, open pavement.
Starting slowly, find that fine line between maximum braking and a locked wheel, and then do it again, and again.

49. Make your tires right
None of this stuff matters unless your tires are right.
Don’t take them for granted.
Make sure the tire pressure is dead-on every time you ride.
Check for cuts, nails and other junk they might have picked up, as well as for general wear.

50. Take a deep breath
Count to 10.
Smile at the idiot.
Forgetting some clown’s 80-mph indiscretion beats running the risk of ruining your life, or ending it.
 

Pay special attention at dawn and dusk when

deer are most active and difficult to see.

Reduce your speed in rural areas or known deer habitat.
Scan ditches and wooded areas near roads for deer on the move.
Don’t ever let your guard down. 

NOTHING IS FOR SURE REGARDING DEER

Driving by without making any changes, no throttle change, no speed
change, no swerve, will 90% of the time at most make the deer raise its
head to look at you. The other 10% of the time is the problem.
Deer can be anywhere at any time.
Deer get little traction on asphalt.
 

Blowing your horn make deer panic, go insane, or do any number of

really stupid things, including the cartoonish start to a run, where

all legs and hooves are flying every-which-way and no

progress is made for the first five seconds.
 

If you see a deer cross in front of you, pay particular attention

to its eyes and ears. If it looks back or if its ears are pointed

back, there is almost certainly another one following.

Gimmicky, stick-on, 'Deer Whistles' do not work.

I have witnessed only one device first hand that drives all

critters crazy and get as far from its source as possible.

THE HORNET ELECTRONIC DEER AVOIDANCE SYSTEM

Don't look at the deer that crossed, scan for others.

(Target fixation can get you)
Make use of your emergency stopping techniques.

Always know if someone is close behind that may run you over...

it is their fault, but it is your body that loses.

The best cure is to scrub off as much speed as possible.

Since you don't know about the 10% problem, the only way to
play the roulette game is to bail out of the game... slow down fast!

If the deer is in the road.. don't swerve, put all of your usable

traction into slowing down, not swerving, as you have no

idea where the deer will be once you are upon it.

The best odds of surviving is to take the hit straight up.

A lot of people who have hit deer and have never gone down.

Several who went down trying successfully missing the deer,

but were worse off than hitting the deer.

The slower you are going, the less the impact force.
Don't follow a riding partner too close in deer country.

Give him plenty of room to use the emergency stop.
If the deer is suddenly there, and you have no time to slow

down, make no changes and pray that it will be one of the

90% deer and not be concerned with you.
Practice your emergency braking before you need it and do it often.

NC RIDER'S, "REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER CAMPAIGN"

 

INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS

The term “inattentional blindness” entered the psychology lexicon in 1998 when

psychologists Arien Mack, PhD, of the New School for Social Research, and the

late Irvin Rock, PhD, of the University of California, Berkeley, published the book,

“Inattentional Blindness,” describing a series of experiments on the phenomenon.

Below is an elemental, graphic example of Inattentional Blindness or I.B.
 

If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating

pink dot, you will only see one color, pink.

However...

 ...if you stare at the black "+" in the center, the moving dot turns to green.
Now, concentrate on the black "+" in the center of the picture.

After a short period, all the pink dots will slowly disappear,
and you will only see a single green dot rotating.

It's amazing and sometimes with fatal results, how the human brain works.

There really is no green dot, and the pink ones really don't disappear.

This should be proof enough, we don't always see what we think we see.

_____________________________

100 WAYS TO SURVIVE ON A MOTORCYCLE

FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT THE PIRATE'S LAIR

_______________________________

RIDING THE ROADS AND SURVIVING CAGERS'

STUNTS ARE NOT THE ONLY DANGERS OUT THERE.

AT TIMES WE CAN BE OUR OWN WORST ENEMIES.

Below are some excellent interactive group riding examples.
Credit goes to the Sunset Chapter of H.O.G. #1814 Tigard, Oregon

________________________________

WEATHER

THREE WORST CASE SCENARIOS RARELY CONSIDERED

A little knowledge really can help.
Riders have faced these problems - and survived.
YOU CAN TOO.
All it requires is an understanding of the actions you can
take to improve your odds when the worst happens.

LIGHTNING
If you are looking for one weather phenomenon

to worry about while riding, this is it.
 

According to experts, lightning kills more Americans in
an average year than hurricanes and tornadoes combined.
And they note, it can be particularly deadly for motorcyclists.

Surprisingly, people traveling in cars are actually relatively safe in thunderstorms,

because lightning tends to hit the metal cage of the car and follow that

metal to ground, often leaving the car's occupants unhurt.
Ah, but we're safe, too, right?
Because we're rolling along on rubber tires that insulate us from the ground.

WRONG!

That small amount of insulation means little when

compared to the incredible voltage in a lightning bolt.
There have been many documented cases of motorcyclist

being struck by lightning, usually with tragic results.

A senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service,

was the lead investigator into the death of a Colorado

motorcyclist who was struck by lightning last August.

He notes that motorcyclists need to be aware of

the risks when riding through thunderstorms.
Meteorologists say that lightning can travel seven

miles or more before striking the ground.
And since sound takes about five seconds to travel a mile,

that means if the time between the flash and bang is less than

35 seconds, the lightning is close enough to hit you.

WHAT TO DO

If you find yourself approaching a thunderstorm, your first, and safest option

is to stop and find shelter in a store, gas station, or restaurant. If you're caught

out of range of buildings, hiding under a freeway overpass can help, but don't seek

shelter under a tree - that can actually increase your chances of getting hit.

No buildings or bridges?
Look for a low spot, pull off the road, park your

bike and walk about 20 yards away from it.
Then crouch down to get as low as possible while keeping

only the balls of your feet in contact with the ground.
Under those circumstances, the bike may be a more attractive target than you.

If you're traveling in a group, stop and spread out, with about 20 yards
between each person, so that a single strike doesn't hit all of you.

FOG

This is another killer on the road.

Indeed, two fog-related crashes in 1990 and 2002 on one stretch
of Interstate 75 in Tennessee each involved about 100 vehicles.

The death toll in each case amounted to a dozen or less, you can imagine

the consequences for a motorcyclist in the middle of such a massive pileup.

The danger when you enter fog is that you never know when visibility

can suddenly drop to near zero, leaving you barely able to see the

road, much less keep track of other traffic around you.

You don't want to go too fast, in case someone has stopped up ahead.
But you also don't want to go too slow, since someone behind could pile into you.

WHAT TO DO

When fog gets so dense that visibility drops below a quarter-mile

(about six telephone poles), experts agree that the only safe

course of action is to stop - but not on or near the road.
If there's and interstate exit or parking lot, pull in there.
Otherwise, ride your bike as far off the pavement as you can.
Then leave it and walk ever farther from the road.

In a chain-reaction accident, cars and trucks can end up
scattered all over the road and surrounding countryside.
So get far enough away that even an out-of-control vehicle can't reach you.

Your life may depend on it!

TORNADOES
This one is easy.
 

Tornadoes are extremely intense storms that can destroy whole communities.
But there's one reason for that.
Those communities can't get out of the way of the storm.
You can, so take advantage of that mobility.

WHAT TO DO

According to weather experts, most tornadoes move at less

than 50 mph, which is considerably slower than your bike.

So if you see a tornado ahead, turn around and run from it.
Don't try to skirt the edges and don't try to predict where it's headed.
 

Just get away. Simple, right?

__________________________

HOW TO SAFELY LIFT A FALLEN MOTORCYCLE
REGARDLESS OF YOUR SIZE, OR GENDER!!
THE SMALL .GIF BELOW ILLUSTRATES THESE STEPS


STEP 1.
MAKE SURE THE KICKSTAND IS IN THE DOWN POSITION, YOU DON'T
WANT TO HAVE TO PICK THE MOTORCYCLE UP A SECOND TIME.

STEP 2.
STAND PARALLEL TO THE "DOWNSIDE" OF THE MOTORCYCLE

AND SLIGHTLY SQUAT DOWN AND PLACE YOUR LOWER BACK

AGAINST THE SIDE OF THE DRIVERS SEAT.

YOU WILL BE USING YOUR LEGS TO LIFT THE MOTORCYCLE!

STEP 3.
BE SURE THAT THE SURFACE YOU ARE STANDING ON IS
FREE OF ANY DEBRIS THAT COULD CAUSE YOU TO SLIP.

STEP 4.
FIRMLY GRASP THE RIGHT HANDGRIP WITH YOUR LEFT HAND AND PULL
THE HANDLEBARS ALL THE WAY TO THE RIGHT AS YOU FIRMLY GRASP
EITHER, INSIDE OF THE REAR FENDER, A GRAB RAIL, REAR CRASH BAR,
OR SADDLEBAG RAIL WITH YOUR RIGHT HAND.

STEP 5.
SIMULTANEOUSLY LIFTING WITH BOTH OF YOUR ARMS,

AS SEEN IN THE REPRESENTATION BELOW, FIRMLY AND

FORCEFULLY BACK YOUR BODY INTO THE SIDE OF THE DRIVERS

SEAT AREA, BEGIN TO "WALK" BACKWARDS.

STEP 6.
AS YOU DO THIS, YOU WILL FEEL THE MOTORCYCLE BEGIN TO RISE AND
WILL BE AMAZED AT THE LEVERAGE AND FORCE YOU HAVE CREATED.

STEP 7.
CONTINUE TO LIFT, PULL, AND, WALK BACKWARDS UNTIL
THE MOTORCYCLE IS IN AN UPRIGHT POSITION.

STEP 8.
AT THIS POINT, YOU WILL HAVE REGAINED BALANCE OF
THE MOTORCYCLE AND YOUR COMPOSURE. EASE THE
MOTORCYCLE ONTO THE PREVIOUSLY LOWERED KICKSTAND.

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