MOTORCYCLE SAFETY

By CATHY SECKMAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
It's easy this time of year to be startled by a motorcyclist on the road.
"Look!" you might say to your passenger. "That guy must be crazy!" You spare a moment of sympathy for the shivering biker out in a 62-degree drizzle on the kind of morning that makes us wonder whether summer will ever come.
But before long the bikers won't be a rarity anymore. Summer really will arrive, and that's motorcycle season. I'll be riding my BMW, your neighbor will be out on his Harley, and the guy at work will be bringing his Honda every day the forecast is favorable. We'll be everywhere, and you'll stop noticing us.
That's what worries us. It's what we talk about when we're sitting at breakfast, or relaxing around a campfire, or standing in a parking lot, kicking tires. Any police officer can tell you that the most common thing they hear at a car-motorcycle accident scene is the car's driver, saying, "But I didn't see him!"
It's because we're easy to miss. A motorcycle has such a narrow profile coming down the road, that your eye tends to slide right over it. I've done it myself, especially early in the spring. I've been at a stop sign, looked right, looked left, started to pull out and then jerked to a stop again as my brain belatedly registered the motorcycle I didn't quite see the first time I looked.
A car or truck is nearly as wide as the lane in which it travels. There's a lot of mass for your eye to recognize, from the wide-spaced headlights to the chrome grille to the high roof line. When you're used to seeing that, it's dangerously easy to overlook the low, compressed front surface of a motorcycle that might stretch only 3 feet from mirror to mirror.
Visibility important
Motorcyclists know this. One of the first lessons we learn is the importance of visibility. Most of us are on the verge of paranoia about it, wishing we could develop eyes in the backs of our heads. The smart motorcyclist, being very conscious of his vulnerability, follows one cardinal rule when it comes to sharing the road with larger vehicles. Always let the other guy win. Why? Because the other guy is better protected than we are. Because the other guy's vehicle is always bigger and always heavier than ours. Because the other guy doesn't care as much about us as we do.
SAFETY HAZARDS
There are specific dangers we talk about in safety classes, and specific strategies we use to deal with them. We have defensive driving tuned to a fine art. Two of the major dangers are left-turning vehicles and crowding.
Imagine you're sitting on a motorcycle at a stoplight, intending to travel straight through the intersection when the light turns. Opposite you is a car whose driver intends to make a left turn. His turn signal may or may not be blinking. Even though you're sitting right in his line of vision, you, as a motorcyclist, never assume the motorist sees you.
When the light turns, you watch for several things as you prepare to move forward. The motorist's eyes -- is he making eye contact with you? The motorist's hands -- are they turning the wheel already, or keeping it straight, waiting for you to cross? The car's front wheel -- is it moving into a turn that will take the car into your path? You, the motorcyclist, will proceed through the intersection only when you are sure the car is either traveling straight, or waiting for you before turning.
At the same time you're watching the car opposite, you're also evaluating several other things. Is there a car behind that motorist, also preparing to turn left, whose driver might not have seen you yet? Has a motorist to your left or right tried to run the red light? Is the motorist behind you paying enough attention to your speed to avoid rear-ending you? Do you have an escape route if a collision from any direction seems imminent?
Two-second cushion
Crowding happens to cars and trucks, too, but it isn't as dangerous for them. Motorcyclists like to keep a two-second cushion of space in front of and behind them at all times. Beau Allen Pacheco, a popular motorcycle journalist, once described the cushion to me as "Bubba's space." He was talking about driving in Europe, where vehicles crowd together on narrow roads, vs. driving in America, where everyone wants their space.
"Bubba needs lots of room," Beau said, planting his feet wide apart and miming a truculent biker. "All this space out here," he began, waving an arm in front of him, "it's mine. All that space over there" -- he waved to the left -- "it's mine, too. Everything on the other side is mine." He threw the arm behind him. "And darn near everything back there belongs to me, too. That's Bubba."
And it works for us. We feel safer with a space cushion. To determine how big the space should be, we watch the vehicle in front of us as it passes a fixed point like a road sign or building. We should be able to say, "One, one thousand, two, one thousand" before we pass the point ourselves. Then we should be able to say it again before the vehicle behind us passes that point.
Maintaining the two-second cushion gives us confidence that we can safely stop, accelerate away from danger, or swerve when needed without endangering ourselves or anyone else. We depend on the courtesy of other motorists to help maintain that cushion. A vehicle that follows too closely or cuts in front of us uses up our possible escape route and jeopardizes our safety.
SAFETY STRATEGIES
In the name of safety, motorcyclists do some things on the road that might seem odd to the average motorist. Why do we ride in formation, for instance? Why do we wear bright colors? Why do some bikers put only one foot down at intersections? Here are some answers.
Visibility. Haven't you ever wondered why some bikers wear painfully bright shirts and helmets, mixing every color from fuchsia to magenta to fire engine yellow? It's a safety thing. Some of us believe motorists are more likely to notice a violently orange and yellow and purple helmet than a black one.
Headlights are another easy way to boost visibility. Nearly every motorcycle you see on the road has its headlight shining. We've been doing that for years, ever since batteries became powerful and reliable enough. Some headlights are modulated for even greater visibility, and seem to stutter on and off quickly. Taillights can be made to do that, too. In fact, taillights are where a motorcyclist's creativity can really shine through. Chrome light bars that feature more red bulbs than a Christmas tree are a popular add-on for big touring rigs, and the lights can be computer-controlled to flash in tune with the music coming out of the CD player.
Staggered formation. In order to cover the full lane and give each other an escape route, two or more riders normally travel in staggered formation. The first rider stays in the left tire track of the lane, and the second rider stays in the right tire track, two seconds behind. A third rider would be on the left, a fourth rider on the right, and so on. If one rider in the group has to make an emergency stop, the next rider won't be directly behind him and will have more stopping distance. The staggered formation is especially useful on a freeway, because it discourages inattentive motorists from drifting into the same lane with a motorcycle.
A single rider will normally stay in the left tire track of a lane, both to be more visible to traffic and to have better visibility himself.
We usually save parade formation, riding side by side in a single lane, for parades.
The head check. This is absolutely necessary when changing lanes or merging with traffic. A glance at the rearview mirror is not enough. Motorcyclists physically turn their heads to look behind them, right into that blind spot, before making a move.
Covering the brake and clutch. It's that one-footed thing we do at red lights. If you notice, many bikers use just their left foot to balance themselves at a stop sign or light. The right foot is up, covering the rear brake pedal just in front of the right footrest. The right hand is also covering the front brake lever, which is just ahead of the right hand grip. Often the left hand will be holding in the clutch lever as well. We do this to shorten reaction time in case of an emergency.
Loud pipes. Loud, aftermarket exhaust pipes are controversial among motorcyclists. Some believe loud pipes save lives because they announce the presence of a bike in no uncertain terms. The motorist who notices you is less likely to run into you.
Other motorcyclists believe loud pipes risk rights. They annoy and frighten the nonmotorcycling public, sometimes to the point that laws are passed restricting motorcycle access.
Helmets and safety gear. Here's another controversial safety point. Ohio has no helmet law for adult, licensed riders, and that's why you see so many bikers on the road without them. A careful motorcyclist rides with not only a helmet, but also eye protection, gloves, protective clothing and over-the-ankle boots. A carefree motorcyclist believes that may be overkill. Many compromise by wearing a helmet, eye protection and boots all the time, but leaving the rest at home on a hot summer day.
Some motorcyclists see riding without a helmet as an important statement of freedom. Others see it as na & iuml;ve stupidity.
THE RISK
Whatever safety strategies a rider chooses, it's a fact that riding a bike involves risk.
There's a saying among motorcyclists. "There are two kinds of bikers: those who have been down, and those who will go down." It tends to work out that way. Motorcycling is more dangerous than driving a car, and we all know that.
Everyone accepts risk in a different way. Some people are smokers, some are dangerously overweight, some never wear seat belts, and some ride motorcycles. For us, the enjoyment we get outweighs the risk. And we do have ways of managing and reducing that risk, as you've read.
You, the average motorist, can help us out by doing two simple things: being aware of us and sharing the road responsibly. On behalf of all of us, thank you.