Look I’m as much “fuck cars” as the next guy but riding a motorcycle on a highway is unironically suicidal. I personally know a guy who got in a bad crash on one but miraculously survived; he had a year long recovery period but will have various pain and dysfunction in his body for the rest of his life. I also know some people who did pathology rotations (state medical examiner office, autopsy basically) and the big three categories of bodies coming in were drug overdoses, suicides, and motorcycle crashes.
One of the facebook comments links to a seventh person who died a few days before these on June 18th: https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/motorcyclist-killed-sr-530-crash.amp
If you eliminate people riding without proper gear, people riding without motorcycle licenses, and people riding inebriated, the death statistics for motorcycles get cut by more than half. No doubt it’s more dangerous than driving a car, but if you’re sober, properly trained and experienced, and you wear all the gear, it’s not at all suicidal.
I changed my primary care physician a few years back because literally every time I went in he would waste time trying to convince me to stop riding a motorcycle.
if he succeeded in convincing you that would have done more for your long term health and risk of death than literally any other intervention so I don’t blame him for trying
I know a lot of medical providers and they see a lot of mangled bodies from motorcycle accidents.
And if I were making appointments for life advice he might not have been wasting his time, but it turns out it was an appointment for basic medical checkups not advice on how to live my life or how to get around. He certainly didn’t offer to buy me a damn car, pay for car insurance, pay for maintenance on the car, or pay for fuel, all of which are factors in my choice to get around on a motorcycle.
if it’s literally a matter of not being able to afford it then fine, but if you can afford it you are trading a very, very large amount of risk to save that money.
Your risk of death is 100%. I drive a convertible even though it is much more dangerous than a sedan in a rollover or T-bone. Many of us here shoot guns, do direct action, have no health insurance, etc. As long as they’re registered organ donors, why should doctors hassle bikers? Bikers know the risk better than the general population, they just want it more.
If you eliminate people riding without proper gear, people riding without motorcycle licenses, and people riding inebriated, the death statistics for motorcycles get cut by more than half.
Learning this fact was a huge reason I finally sent it on my dream of owning a bike. And holy shit am I glad I did, I haven’t had this much fun in years.
The fastest car can’t hold a candle to the pleasure of a motorcycle ride on a nice day
I hate talking about motorcycles with people because they think I’m strange when I tell them I don’t want to ride one or be a passenger unless everyone has helmets, protective gloves, airbag vests, etc. It seems excessive, and I’m sure some of it may be snake oil, but some people really do think they’re epic stunt actors who just need a pair of shades and black jacket to be safe.
Everyone also thinks I’m overreacting when I tell them to wear a seatbelt in the back of the car. If you don’t value your life, fine, but I rather not have you break my spine and kill or paralyze me because you think physics make an exception for you just because you sit in the back. Fucking HATE passengers. Fucking HATE drivers of any vehicle. I want to drive a large one seat vehicle so people can’t bother me. A tank, i guess.
The motorcycle riders who refuse to wear any gear at all are ridiculous. I once caught a flat quite a ways from home on a tubed tire, didn’t have levers (or the willingness to fight that battle in 95F heat in a ditch) so I used AAA and got a ride in a flatbed home. The driver was a life long rider, she rode a hayabusa. With no gear, not even a helmet. She hadn’t even ever tried a helmet. I tried to explain to her how pleasant having earplugs and a shield over/around your head is at 80MPH and it was like she didn’t get it.
A close friend was desperate to peer pressure me into riding a motorcycle and I’ll serve crack before I’ll get on a bike.
I’m genuinely in favor of making all cars throttle limited to 65 mph and as light as possible. Fuel savings, less dangerous in a crash both thanks to speed and mass reduction, and maybe people won’t drive around like complete assholes disregarding the life of everyone around them if they can’t feel an inhumane power of speed and heft.
But until then, riding on a motorcycle in this society is basically Russian roulette.
Cars are so closely related to the idea of freedom in Amerikkka that doing this would trigger some sort of revolution.
Me reading this after just buying a motorcycle
I do try and stay off multi lane highways as much as possible tho
If you haven’t done it, I spent the money and took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation basic course. I just started riding 3 months ago and that class taught me a lot of things.
It’s a very different mindset from driving a car and demands a lot of attention.
I don’t care if it’s 100°F out - I’m wearing all my protective gear.
Saw a dude riding a dual sport wearing sandals, cargo shorts, and a tank top. That’s it. All I could do was hope that he would end up laying down in a low speed turn and learn a lesson before he gets plowed into by a pavement princess.
Is it really any more dangerous than cycling?
I think motorbikes are great. Lots of developing countries where everyone drives them, and they are significantly less polluting than cars and a lot more fun.
It’s good to take risks sometimes, so long as they’re not inherently self-destructive.
yes, it is more dangerous than cycling.
In places like southeast asia where the mopeds take over the road in swarms and there are only a couple cars that are not the dominant vehicular life form it is much different.
If I think about my times visiting the Philippines, traffic is so congested in Manila and even the smaller towns, that motorcycles can’t really Rev up to higher dangerous speeds.
And your other statement is correct, much fewer cars. Maybe some jeepneys, buses, and cargo trucks but no deranged private citizens zipping around in their Ford F-5000
Bicycle deaths per mile: ~10 per 100M miles Motorcycle deaths per mile: ~20 per 100M miles
IMO this shows that they’re more dangerous, but primarily because you can go a lot further on a motorcycle. Basically 100% of the danger from riding a bicycle comes from cars. In contrast, it’s quite practical to kill yourself on a motorcycle without external intervention. So, if you have already chosen a mode of transportation, behavioral choices on a motorcycle offer much more control over where you fall within that mode’s risk spectrum. Wearing a helmet and taking a class make way more difference on a motorcycle, and that’s borne out by the contributing factors to fatal accidents /u/nat_turner_overdrive has posted elsewhere in the thread. Seems quite possible that the per-mile risk of a motorcycle rider doing everything right is comparable to that of the average bicyclist. Biking in cities is stupid dangerous of course, every cyclist I know has been hit, but that’s a problem with cars not an intrinsic thing.
Honestly as a cyclist in an area with poor cycling infrastructure, I would feel a lot more comfortable riding a motorcycle than I do on my ebike, highways excluded. Riding in traffic is much safer than riding alongside traffic, you are far more visible and that’s the single most important aspect of road safety.
