The Good Samaritan Ride

I am personally committed to motorcycle safety, and I have a compelling reason for it. Although I am not beating myself up too much any more, I am the father with whom Ellis Counts III pooled his pocket money to purchase a road bike. A freak accident on June 8, 1997 resulted in brain stem injury rendering a picture-of-health young man totally helpless and changing his life and ours (probably) forever. He was properly attired including an excellent helmet that was torn off upon impact. He was going only 35 mph and doing everything right according to the lady following him on that beautiful but tragic Sunday afternoon. He was an expert driver of just about anything that rolls on earth having been driving since age 3 on our farm. Is it possible, had he had a Motorcycle Safety Course, and Experienced Rider Course, or some form of advanced motorcycle rider training, that he might have anticipated and avoided the pothole in the apex of the curve that he probably hit on that fateful afternoon? He remains totally handicapped in Southern Tennessee Medical Center Skilled Nursing Facility to date able only blink his eyes at times, to partially raise one thumb, and occasionally to grasp for your hand. He may know everything – or nothing. Reality is probably somewhere between those extremes. We do not and cannot know. He has been unable to speak since the accident.

I would never begin to try to cover all that a biker should know about riding safely in one short article or period of time. Neither would I purport to preach to my comrades of the road about what vehicles on four wheels or more should do to help bikers avoid being hurt or killed in an accident. I would like to bring a just few ideas about what bikers could be doing to help themselves and what other users of the road could do to help us out. Please read on and think with me just a little about motorcycle safety.

BIKERS ----

1. Wear proper riding attire. Make sure your helmet provides adequate coverage – not just enough to get by the legal requirement. Be sure it is in good condition and strapped on properly. If your helmet is involved in an accident, discard it. Just wear one! Leather jackets and chaps are great, but at least wear long sleeves, jeans, and over-ankle boots. If you ever go down, you will want something between you and the surface of the road.

2. Ride both legally and safely. Be aware of road and traffic conditions and ride accordingly. Wet roads are especially slick for a bike – especially just after it begins to rain. Beware of the extra slickness of the "lines" on the road and of the hazards of debris in the road. Most road kill and other debris eventually get splattered toward the center of the lane.

3. Vary your position in your lane especially when riding alone. I generally ride just between the left wheel track and the center of my lane. As I approach the brink of hills, meet trucks, etc., I typically mover over some in the direction I think I would have to go if some hazard materialized in that area. Be aware of and avoid motorists' "blind spots." A bike can literally be hidden completely from view in the "post" in the corner by the windshield or beside or behind the driver. When the driver of a vehicle involved in a motorcycle accident says, "I never saw the motorcycle," they are probably telling the truth. The bike could easily have been hidden from view in such manner, or the driver just wasn't "expecting" to see a motorcycle / smaller vehicle. Occasionally varying position in your lane especially at strategic points will help avoid blind spots and help motorists to see you.

4. Don't do things to tick off the non-riding public. Splitting lanes makes no one happy, and smarting off just because you have the power-to-weight advantage is rather foolish. Remember, just about everything else on the road has the right of weight. I'd never shoot someone a bird no matter how foolishly they have interacted with you. Remember, they may not enjoy your loud exhausts as much as you do. Be reasonable about it.

5. Look where you're going, literally! As you ride, your bike will tend to go at whatever target you're focused upon. Focus on the point in the road toward which you want to ride – not the road kill you need to miss! If you look directly at it, you will drive directly at it, and you will hit it – or whatever else may be in your way. It is especially important to look all the way through curves focusing upon the point past the apex where you want to exit.

6. Watch the area ahead of you most of the time. Seventy-five percent of motorcycle accidents involving other vehicles come from a 90-degree field of vision to your front. As you change lanes, pull out to pass another vehicle, or get ready to pull back into your lane after passing, use a big, wide head sweep to turn around to look for the potential hazard. On a big tour bike, you should be able to see your own antenna in your peripheral vision. This works out to a total area – full left to full right – of about 270 degrees. Don't ignore the area behind you because twenty-five percent come from there! Check each rear view mirror frequently.

7. As you go by a motorist about to pull out from either side, LOCK EYES with the driver momentarily to be sure that they are seeing you. Watch for the front wheels to move. I typically "start" to execute an evasive maneuver as I approach such a situation by giving up half of my available lane. If I can't lock eyes or see the front wheels move, I move over all I can without encountering another hazard.

8. Remember a little acronym taught in Motorcycle Safety Experienced Rider Course.

A. Scan the area ahead of you for potential hazards. Adjust your speed to allow at least two seconds time to elapse prior to your arrival there for each one.

B. Interpret what you see, and think about what it means to you and your bike.

C. Predict what is most likely to occur.

D. D etermine the best possible escape route from the most immediate hazard first, and then do the same with any others in the order that they present themselves.

E. Execute the maneuver that you have determined best. I typically have already begun the initial phases of such a move as I move into the area of the hazard. Think of the tennis player in motion dancing from side to side ready to receive service.

MOTORISTS ---

1. Just be aware that we (bikers) are out there. Look for us. Motorcycles have had headlights that are always on since the early sixties. Some now have headlight (and tail lights) that modulate (dim to about 20% output and come back up to full capacity). This is by Department of Transportation / National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 49 CFR Parts 571 [Docket No. 97-57; Notice 1] Executive Order 12866. These are not meant to ask you to pull over when we come up behind you; that is embarrassing to us when it does occur. The modulation of the headlight is meant to facilitate our being seen and to differentiate the motorcycle from many other vehicles on the road with always-on Daytime Running Lights.

2. Remember that in an accident between a motorcycle and a larger vehicle, you might be hurt, but we will probably be seriously hurt or possibly killed no matter how well-equipped we are or how carefully we are riding.

3. If we move over some as you start to pull out from a side road, don't be aggravated that we didn't trust you not to pull out in front of us. We just weren't able to be sure in time and began an evasive maneuver rather than trust our life to guesswork.

4. If you observe one of us riding foolishly, call our hand on it, call the cops, or (better yet) call our mother! We don't have a right to abuse our power-to-weight advantage. Everyone else has the right of weight!

5. Most bikers do not ride because they have to – they ride because they love to. Just remember us enjoying the un-obscured view, the scenery, the power beneath us, and the wind in our face as we share the open road -- with you.

Ride! Ride often! Ride together! Ride SAFELY!