Safe Riding

When I tell people I'm a motorcyclist, a common reaction is to say that motorcycles are so dangerous. During my hospital internship rotation at the Emergency Department I found that there was a special colloquial term attributed to motorcycles - "donorcycles." Yes I will admit there is an added danger to riding a 2 wheeled vehicle without an external body frame to absorb the impact of a crash, but I also will say riding motorcycles is not something everyone should do.

If you think about vehicular accidents logically, starting from cars and then progressing towards motorcycles you will realize why there are so many accidents. Out of the population of car drivers there's a portion that never should have received their licenses because they are terrible driver - people that have gotten into multiple accidents. Of the motorcycle population, some of these riders are derived from the multiple car crash population. With the dangers of riding and the necessity to be very vigilant and precise while riding a motorcycle, these people with terrible motor coordination encounter hospital visits almost a few months within having received their motorcycle license.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation provides incredible safety instruction and will help save rider's lives. In the courses they offer they teach you situational lessons that you may never have thought of on your own. For example, when riding in a lane there are 3 sections to the lane (left, center, right). Riding on the left side is the safest after the first rain because oil and water mixtures, which will make the rider fall if ran over, will be in the center, and riding on the right side will create the need for the driver in front of you to check his passenger mirror before seeing you (most likely on the left they will check the driver's side mirror). Another example is a reaction to the most common motorcycle accident - passing through an intersection with cars that have a yielding green. Motorcyclist should be aware of this fact and be extra cautious when passing through intersections keeping a keen eye on that yielding car. If it starts to turn, be prepared to quickly swerve right and then left and accelerate out of the situation.

Many people tend to freeze under pressure and lose control of the situation. If the rider takes control of the situation there's less of a chance that they will find themselves in a crash. And of course full gear should be warn all the time when riding a motorcycle, just in case there is a crash.