What are the chances of me dieing in a motorcycle crash?

Question

If I am wearing bright reflective clothing and helmet. Get headlight modulators. Get CE 2 body armor and a good leather or synthetic racing suit and I get lots of msf training courses. Answers from motorcyclist would be apreciated. With body armor how bad of a crash can you get in to and recover lets say.

Answer 1

clothes wont matter all that much. it's been shown that a pencil held at arm's length can hide a bike totally. cager's are 'trained' to look for other cagers or trucks...big things. small things are easily missed, and on a bike, ur only about 1/16th the size of a car.
modulating headlights help. i can see a bike from a much greater range than without.

never assume a car is going to do the right thing. always ride like u are a ghost, cause to a few of these idiots, u are exactly that....a ghost that just isnt there. u can be looking right at them; eye contact....and they still cant see u. with time, u somehow get to get a 6th sense of certain cars....that 1 is gonna try to kill me.

here's what i do: never trust a turn signal. ever. if u see a dude in the left turn lane, expect him to try to do a turn at almost point blank range. i always watch the wheels of cager's sittin at a stop sign; if they so much as twitch, i cover the brakes and clutch.
as much as possible, i try to keep the 5 and 7 o'clock area's clear when on approach to intersections. u dont have time at the moment an idiot left turns u to check the blind spots. u either gotta brake or swerve in the next half second, or become dead.
always watch ur six at red lights. especially if ur at the front. always leave a way out in case the cager coming up doesnt look like he's going to stop.

u want to avoid a wreck....dont set urself up for 1. if u know u cant handle blasting around a 30 mph hairpin at 50, dont do it just to keep up with the pack. this is where rookies get themselves killed; trying to take corners too hot for their skill level. always ride yer own ride.
beware of reduced radius curves. they are the 1's that tighten up the further u go into them. always be looking where u want the bike to be at, not where it's already at.
always expect gravel in the corners after a rain, and always count on the road being very slick for the first 10 mins of a rain. always get the big picture...be looking 1/2 mile down the road to expect the idiots and come up with countermeasures. always leave urself a way out of trouble. never get into an argument with a cage over right-of-way....he who has the most sheet metal wins.

an old timer that works with me told me this: the 1st time u think u know everything, and the 1st time u disrespect the bike, that will be the day it will kick yer azz to the ground. respect the bike, cause it wont respect u.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Your question is one that has many answer which can be given. You chances of being involved in a crash increase depending on how you ride. As an example only, If you are in the habit of riding wheelies on the highway as I see all too often then your chances are greater than myself being involved in a crash. HERE in the USA the reflective clothing mean NOTHING. People are not aware of bikers overall so the clothing plays little part in preventing a crash. And as far as all the protective clothing goes like body armor. Well, this will only work in the type of crash you are in. Example only. If you crash HEAD on into a concrete wall, with you, yourself hitting this wall head first. I don't care what your wearing I will give a million to one odds you are DEAD. Keep in mind this is a high speed crash.
I have been riding for well over 30 years. My last crash was in the early 1980's After the crash I woke up about 6 hours later in the hospital emergency room. The first question the doctor asked me was "Where is/was your helmet?" Well at the time of my crash it was on my head. A lot of good my helmet did. I never found it. My scoot was totaled and I have since replaced it. I still ride today and I ride defensively. Let me close with this. I once had an old timer come up to me. He and I had a nice chat and as he was walking away he looked at me and said "Sonny, when you think you have that bike mastered WATCH OUT, it is gonna up and teach you a new trick." Think about that.

Answer 4

It is hard to put a number on one individual's chances to get injured or killed. However, done the right way the risks involved in motorcycling can be brought down to a level that many people feel acceptable.

Gear does a lot in reducing the extent of possible injuries in a crash but nothing can protect against blunt impact against a hard object at speed. The key of safety is to try to avoid accidents, which requires a mix of attitude, experience, skills and a bit luck.

Attitude will determine how much margin you will be willing to keep.

Experience will make you estimate the margin correctly, because there are so many dangers you need to be aware of, if you ignore them you won't be prepared to avoid them (example: will you recognize the risk that the car slowing down on the opposite direction could cut you off to enter the mall since he didn't see you?). It will also allow you to take the correct decision in an emergency, whether it is braking, swerving, or perhaps stay on course and do nothing (example: panic often makes beginner straighten up the bike, brake and go off-road when they feel they took a corner "too hot", while most of the time leaning the bike and completing the corner would work just fine).

The skills will be determine the outcome of an emergency maneuver. For example, proper technique could make a dramatic difference in braking distance, and will allow you to keep the bike up.

After that it is luck, a deer running suddenly in the middle of a highway might be completely unavoidable A 747 landing on the interstate might also be unpredictable.

Answer 5

Sounds as if you are doing a good job of avoiding crashes. The beginners' MSF course should be required of people who want to get a motorcycle license, IMHO. I have been riding for quite a few years, and could relate several instances where that training has helped me avoid a crash. You can keep your materials from the course, and should review them once a year and after any layoff from riding, such as over the winter months. My wife rides now too, but I had her take the course before getting her license, and it has paid off.

The most important single thing to remember is that many car and truck drivers just won't see you at all. Pretend that you are invisible to cars & trucks ... but you can't be timid, either, or you'll get smacked. Be prepared to accelerate away, brake or take other evasive action at any time.

One other thing - your attitude has to be right when you ride. DON'T ride AT ALL when distracted, mad, under the influence of alcohol, etc. You need to be able to concentrate on what you're doing, the road, possible hazards & what everyone around you is doing.

Riding is dangerous no matter how prepared you are - but so is living. None of us are going to get out of here alive anyhow, no matter what we do. Enjoy!

Answer 6

You only need a few other things to make your riding percentages of you getting serious hurt or killed.. First and I.m sure you have heard this but it dosen"t hurt to hear it again. Know your motorcycle as well as you know yourself. Not just it's performance but it's ability to absorb punishment that way if you are going to hit something you will know what part of the motorcycle you need to hit with. Second, know your place,remember when you are riding a motorcycle you are not just driving for yourself you are driving for everyone else on the road and they are probably going to cause an accident and you want to know where you are going to go when they do, so that you don't get involved. Always be looking for an escape route every second you are on your bike. Third, don't take anything for granted. For instance if you are driving on a main road and you see a car on a side street approaching a stop sign or stopped at a stop sign. The first thing that you should be expecting is that that vehicle is going to pull out and hit you and you should adjust your speed to a point that you know you can stop quickly and safely, and keep thinking that way until you have passed the intersection. Try to drive in the inside lane as much as possible as there are lots of escape routes, such as the sidewalk and shoulders that were put there for your use.

Answer 7

I'll answer that with a local example. You are sensibly dressed as described, riding down a road minding your own business.
Regardless of the fact that you are paying attention, driving defensively and acting like a good honest citizen (eyes glued to the speedo to avoid revenue raising cameras), a myopic half-wit in a Hyundai pulls out in front of you. Using a careful application of brakes and a controlled swerve, you avoid the half wit.

In the mean time, a kangaroo hops into your path and this time you have to swerve more severely. In doing so, you strike a large concrete pole that the electricity company have thoughtfully placed just inches from the edge of the road. Your new Arai saves your head, but the impact crushes your chest and the following Volvo (sorry mate I didn't see you) crushes your vertebra to mere millimetres against the concrete pole.

Recover? Either way you are bu**ered! Sorry to be so dismal, but all of the situations described have happened. Although thank f**k not at the same time...............

Answer 8

Motorcycle Accident. Lifetime Odds: 1 in 1020. The data for the most likely ways of dying is based on the National Safety Council's Odds of Dying statistics.

Answer 9

First ignore the non-riding jackasses that pollute this site with their nonsense. There are too many variables to assign odds of surviving any type of crash. Properly equipped racers survive high-speed wrecks while others fall over at stop lights and fracture their unprotected head.

Fear of crashing will increase the likelihood of crashing. You should probably not ride, in my opinion.

I have ridden for 35 years without body armor or a racing suit.

Answer 10

You increase your odds of having a safe ride significantly if you REFUSE to drink and ride. No one has mentioned this at ALL yet, it's the #1 risk factor today. MOST accidents (and I suspect this isn't purely a coincidence) happen at night. No bar hopping, especially at night and you've beaten the adds a whole lot. How many times have you heard of this exact accident? Drunk after bar time, fatal accident. Happens ALOT. Be careful at night, even if you aren't out drinking, it's still more dangerous, be aware of that. WEAR a helmet, no matter what ABATE says, you are still statistically WAY ahead of the game by wearing one. Don't buy into the whole "oh I'd rather die than be a vegetable", BS, you could be a vegetable either way and lots more likely without a helmet. SURE a helmet won't always save you, be sure to STRESS the headlong into a tree at 90 mph and a helmet won't save you, Mr ABATE. Y'know what? I think I can manage not driving my cycle into a tree at 90 mph, but thanks for thinking of me and my "freedoms". Wear a bucket.