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Writing season is around the corner. How can you stay safe out on your bike?
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Welcome to the Throttle and Roast podcast. I'm your host, Niels Meersschaert. In today's episode, we'll be discussing motorcycle safety. I know this can be a touchy aspect for some riders and there are some strong opinions about riding gear.
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Certainly here in the United States, I'm sure there will be listeners who don't agree with me on everything, and that's fine. There are riders who feel that the danger inherent in motorcycling is part of the appeal, and that may be true.
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But I do believe having an open conversation about motorcycle safety is important. And even if you like the feeling of danger, there's probably an advantage to minimizing the risks whenever possible.
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So I'm going to start on a little bit of a downer note here, and I think we have to have a frank, open conversation about that motorcycling does have dangers involved in it. And while that can be appealing to a lot of riders, there is an aspect where we are more vulnerable than some other types of vehicles. So if you think of cars, you're surrounded by a cage, you're far more protected.
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Out on a motorcycle we are exposed and we only have two wheels that are providing us connection to the road, so there are more likelihood of accidents.
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You see a similar situation with bicycle riders. So I do want to acknowledge and get into a little bit of the depths of how this can be a little bit more dangerous. I'm going to start with some statistics in the United States. So in 2022 we had over 6000 motorcycle fatalities, which represented about 15% of all traffic fatalities in the United States. And that was the highest level since 1975. But there's a couple of things that are factors that contribute to this. About 35% of the fatalities actually happened with riders who lacked a valid motorcycle license. So if you're riding and you haven't gotten the training, you haven't gone and even gotten a license, you actually have a higher likelihood of actually being one of those fatalities. The other thing is 28% of 2021 fatalities had a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher. So drinking and riding is another massive factor into it. Now, I know there's the cliché image of bikers hanging out by a biker bar and drinking and then riding, and that does contribute to a higher likelihood of an accident. there are some studies where motorcycles that were injured showed that roughly half of those motorcyclists had been drinking before the accident. So drinking and riding is a huge impact on to this. And we have to realize that riding really requires all of your senses and your attention. And because of that, anything that's going to diminish that maybe you're having an off day, you're feeling a little lousy or you're tired, you have a cold, whatever it is, all of those are going to contribute in a negative way towards your ability to properly ride the motorcycle. So minimizing that is going to go a long way towards reducing your likelihood of an accident and certainly of major injury or fatalities. So key thing, just don't drink and ride. I know it's something that some people feel okay with even in small amounts, but any amount of alcohol increases the odds that you're going to be in an accident by more than five times.
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So just avoid it if you can. And I know I sound like I'm preaching a little bit here, and I probably am. I'm on my soapbox, but if you want to be able to continue to enjoy riding for as long as possible, just do it when you have all of your senses about you.
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Now, another one that we talked about is that the riding without a license and probably no training either, and more than a third of all fatalities They didn't have a license and they probably didn't have any training in either. And the reality is why this happens is that here in the United States, license tests are kind of a pain.
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You know, here in New York State, where I am, you need to provide a motorcycle and a car and another rider who has a license for both. And then they ride the bike to the testing course. And then what happens is the evaluator gets into the car with them. They drive the car and give signals to you with horns to make a left, make a right, etc. on there as you were being evaluated when you ride. So it's a lot of logistics challenge to be able to just even get to ride.
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Now, I know that Europe tends to be even stricter with all of the graduated licensing. and while that can be frustrating, you know, in some ways maybe riding a 200 horsepower sport bike just after getting a license isn't a good idea. And that's what we actually have available to us in the United States. Same thing with a large 18-1900 CC cruiser that's weighing eight, nine hundred pounds. For someone who just got their license may not be a great idea. And that's the thing is that if you haven't had the training, you haven't built up to that capability of this or even bothered to get a license, the odds that you're going to be able to successfully manage that motorcycle is going to be diminished. So one thing that can help you is to even take something like the Motorcycle Safety Foundation basic course.
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And if you're just getting started, riding this course is a really good basic introduction to riding. It covers all the basics like control, layout, operation, routine and emergency maneuvers, good riding habits, strategies. and in many states, they even allow you to use this course in lieu of a proper road test. That's actually what I did when I got my license was I went and took one of these courses.
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This way I brought that certificate in along with my learner's permit, and then was able to convert that into my full motorcycle license. And if your state actually does allow that, I would encourage you to do it. It's just even a good course to take anyway. And even if you've been riding for a while, you've been licensed for many, many years, taking some advanced training is another good option. Motorcycle Safety Foundation also offers an advanced rider course, and this is a great way for you to hone your skills even a little further. You're maybe going into some of the higher situations that you might run into. How do you deal with higher speed accident avoidance or maneuvers?
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All of the type of things that as you've been riding for a while and maybe you've kind of gotten into some perhaps bad habits that, this course can help alleviate track courses are another great option. If you want to do high speed and you really want to see how your bike performs at some of the more extreme situations in terms of speed. But within the safety confines of a racetrack as opposed to on standard public roads. of course, adventure riding is super popular today.
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There are courses that are geared towards adventure riding.
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So if you've never taken your motorcycle off road and you want to learn how that feels because the bikes can feel a little different, it's going to move a little bit underneath you as you're riding off road. Taking one of those adventure riding classes is another great, great option. So training is a wonderful way to improve your skills and minimize the chance of an accident that could result in major, severe injuries. Now, the other bit that is going to help you with avoiding this training, I think, is one of the key criteria. And I think that's probably a little bit less objectionable to most people is to say, oh, go and get licensed, get your training, but I'm going to start to talk a little bit about riding gear. And this is where I think there can be a bit of differing opinions. Certainly here in the United States, we have some states where people vehemently argue against wearing helmets, and in some states they have actually eliminated that as a requirement or never had it as a requirement for when you're riding. The reality is that helmets are probably the most critical piece of safety gear that you can use. They reduce the likelihood of death by as much as 37%. They reduce the risk of head injury by 69%. it's one of these things where it's such a simple thing. That putting on that helmet can really reduce the likelihood of an injury. So the first one that I'll talk about is I used to live in Brooklyn, New York, and I was actually very close to the Shop of Indian Larry. The Indian Larry was a motorcycle customizer. He was really well known. You know, there was all part of that chopper phase that was going on. And his shop there would often be these annual gatherings for motorcyclists would hang out. There was all sorts of people seeing things, selling stuff. Indian Larry would oftentimes do various stunts on his bikes. And, you know, one time when he was doing one of these stunts, he would stand on the saddle of the motorcycle and effectively just sort of allow the bike to ride while he was balancing totally standing on the saddle, not touching the handlebars. And it's cool, you know, the ability to be able to do that stunt shows just he did have amazing skills when it came to riding.
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But downside is that he would do this. And because it was a relatively slow speed, he may have felt, oh, I don't need to wear a helmet. So he would often do these stunts and not wear a helmet. Unfortunately, one time he lost a little bit of control on the bike and fell, hit his head and ended up dying because of his head injuries. And real tragedy of this is had he been wearing a helmet, he probably would have just gotten back up and been fine because it was such a low speed crash. But it demonstrates that even in slow speed crashes, your helmet can be a huge help and even slow speed you can die because you didn't have that protection for your head. So the other one that I want to talk about is just avoid those novelty helmets. And if you're a motorcyclist who lives in a state where we do require you to wear a helmet, you might have gone and bought one of these things and it was like these silly little helmets that have the fake dot sticker on the back. So you quote unquote look legal. But the reality is that they don't do anything to protect you. And maybe you're doing it because of a spirit of this. But I'll share another little story. And this just happened relatively recently, so this was last summer. I was actually at a German restaurant that I go to quite often with some riding buddies that's right near some great motorcycle rides or roads, rather, up in the Catskills.
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it's a very popular area for riding because these great fun, twisty roads getting up into some of the mountains. were there, we were outside because we were using the outside eating, because it was just so busy inside. So a lot of people were outside and we were all sitting there watching All these bikes are passing by, cars are passing by, and it's right at this junction where there's like a T intersection. And we were sitting there, a car turned left, right in front of a motorcyclist.
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And the motorcyclist then hit the side of the car head, went straight into the passenger side window. you know, obviously the crash. So we're all there. We checked everything. You know, called ambulance. Some people were checking on the rider to make sure that they were going okay. And the rider was on a Harley and was wearing one of these fake novelty helmets. And And unfortunately, what ended up happening is even with that crash, you know, the bike wasn't actually not that, damaged. So he had been able to slow down fairly much. But because his head went straight into the passenger side window, he ended up dying from his injuries. And it was really tragic because I was sitting there with my two young kids. So my son was, you know, nine years old. My daughter was six. And they're sitting there watching this motorcyclist who ended up dying right in front of them. many weeks following this, I had to have all these conversations with my two kids who are really impacted by seeing this. And they were like, Oh, we don't want you to ride. We don't want you to ride, because they got so nervous from it. And the tragedy is had that rider had a proper helmet, they probably would have survived because they didn't have a lot of other injuries. It just was the head. So. And I know it sounds very preachy, it sounds really bad, but the thing is that a helmet is a critical piece of safety gear. And if you're just getting started and you're thinking about doing this, it's like the best thing that you can do is just make sure that you get yourself a good quality helmet. The other thing is a good quality helmet isn't just about keeping you safe in the event of an accident. It can actually also make you more comfortable as you're riding.
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especially if you have a good full face or a modular helmet, is that you have protection from bugs, from rocks and other things that can be kicked up. So if you're sitting there without a helmet and the car in front of you kicks up a pebble, it can hit you right in the face and you've got now an injury that hit you or distracted you and then caused a crash. So just avoiding that can be really huge, what you have when you're riding with a good quality helmet is you have better wind protection and temperature management. So and I know this is where people will argue against it and they'll say, Oh, well, if I'm not wearing a helmet, then it's not going to be as hot. The reality is, is that if your skin is exposed out into the elements, all of that sunlight is hitting directly in your skin and actually can become warmer. Yes, you have airflow, but you're exposed. You don't have anything that's shielding you. And if you think about how people who live in desert regions do, they're always wearing clothing that's covering their full body because it actually keeps you cooler. So the same thing happens is exposed Skin is often hotter than covered skin, so that good quality helmet can make a difference. And if you get a really good one, it's going to have plenty of vents. So you're going to be able to have that airflow come through as nicely as possible. The other thing is that beyond just the heat management, the other thing that you'll get is sound management.
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So you will reduce some of that wind noise that was coming up over your ears, which can just be very fatiguing. So having a good helmet can help you just ride longer, be more comfortable as you're riding. So it's a really critical thing. Now where I live in New York State, we have two states on either side of me. There that have no mandatory safety helmet laws. So this would include Connecticut and Pennsylvania. And I'm always surprised when I ride into those states and I see people who are not wearing helmets. And it it always throws me for a loop because I'm just not. So I'm not used to it. It's it's such a weird concept, but people do make that decision themselves to ride like that. And the sad thing is that there's actually a study. So another state, Michigan, actually eliminated the helmet law and they showed that in their first year there was a roughly about a 25% reduction in helmet use by riders in crashes and a 14% increase in head injuries. So just by eliminating the requirement, you had a uptick in head injuries. And that's a really tragic, tragic situation.
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Louisiana also had this but in the opposite direction, they actually reinstated a helmet law back in 2004 and fatalities reduced by more than 30%. And severe and moderate injuries were also decreased as a consequence of requiring helmets.
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these are situations where it can dramatically help you with being safer just in the event of it get off, even if it's a slow speed, get off like what Indian Larry had or you have someone who turns left in front of you, if you're wearing a proper helmet, you probably would have survived and maybe even not had any injuries really to speak of beyond maybe some bruises. I do want to talk about the things other than just the helmet, because I'm watch. sometimes it's called an ATGATT rider. And what this means is all the gear all the time. And, you know, one of the things that could be a bit of a mindset is if you have already a lax mindset where you don't want to use safety gear, it may actually be contributing to the likelihood of a crash because you're not respecting that there is an opportunity or there is a reason that that you could be injured into the bike.
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And so maybe you're a little bit more like not paying attention, not being as aware of your situations as you would be if you were sort of taking more to heart that, hey, this is a more dangerous activity and I'm going to wear the proper gear for it.
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So the reality is that if you're going to do this, you need to have proper jacket, pants, gloves, boots. You need to have all that safety gear. And I've seen many times where people will ride and, you know, flip flops or, you know, tennis sneakers and stuff like that.
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And the shoes do make a difference because you want to make sure that your ankle is protected because it's very easy to twist it in the event of the get off. So having the proper gear makes a difference. thing you can do is you can also adapt the gear to the conditions that you're riding in. So I actually ride year round. And so when it's colder weather, I'll actually add in heated gear. I actually just, you know, with the snow finally melted from the streets this past week, so I actually did take a bit of a ride and it was still 30 degrees, so it wasn't super warm. But I simply put on some heated gear.
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And this allows me to ride all through the winter months and still be able to be comfortable.
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On the flip side, when it's in the summer months and it gets into that really, really hot weather, I'll put on a mesh jacket and mesh riding pants to be able to get some more airflow.
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And this is also a light colored jacket. So the sun is going to reflect the heat energy off of it. I know everyone loves that dark black motorcycle jacket and they're really cool looking, but they're also insanely hot in the warm weather. So adapt your riding gear to the conditions and it makes a difference. The other thing that I do in the really, really hot summer is I have a cooling vest and this is really cool that you add in some water into it and now that will evaporate as you're riding along.
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And there's usually two variants of that. So it's usually ones that you effectively, you know, soak and they absorb the water directly through the material and it can feel a little damp.
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So not everyone loves those. And I had one of those originally and they worked fine. They're still helpful in keeping you cooler in the summer months, but they tend to dry out a little quicker. and a few years back I actually got another one this is made by a company called Macna, which is a Dutch firm. And what it has is you actually put the water inside of it. So there's like a valve that you open up and you can pour the water inside and it then holds the water for a longer period of time. It evaporates a little bit more slowly, but it still keeps you cool, but easily. This will reduce the apparent temperature by at least 15 degrees. So it's 95-100 degree Fahrenheit temperature. It'll feel more like it's like in the eighties.
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So there are riders who will be bothered by, Oh, I don't I just want to go out for a ride. I don't want to have to then switch into all this riding gear and, you know, change my pants, you know, from my jeans or whatever and put on riding pants and all that stuff. And it's too much of a pain. Well, the other thing you can do there is look at the Aerostitch Road crafter suit. This is an awesome suit.
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It's not the most beautiful looking suit, I'll be honest, but from a convenience perspective, it's unmatched. You can put this on and take it off in about 30 seconds super easy, and you just put it on top of your regular street clothes. So is why it's very popular here in the United States with commuters, because you can wear it, wear a dress suit outfit with it. Put this over your suit. You're going to be well protected. It's got armor. It's got all the abrasion resistance with the type of denier that they're using for the materials. But it's 30 seconds to put it on or to take it off. So very, very easy eliminates all the concerns about, oh, I don't want to I don't want to take all that time to switch into my riding gear because it's 30 seconds and you're on the bike and you're going no big deal. that's about some of the riding gear that I think is really critical to help you in terms of that motorcycle safety.
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Now, the truth is, in spite of all of those efforts that we have for protecting ourselves in the event that we do get into an accident and trying to have the training so that we don't get into one in the first place, there are still situations where an accident may occur, if you're riding in a group, there's a few things that you can bring with you that will help in the event that someone in your group has a situation where there is an accident that has occurred. So or number one piece of gear that you can bring with you would be a first aid kit. Now, look, none of us is going to be a trauma surgeon on the side of the road. But if someone gets injured and you're able to, you know, cut down on some of the bleeding, if there's a if there's an exposed injury or even if it's a light injury and you're able to support them right there, maybe it's just like a couple of bruises. You know, whatever. You've got some stuff that can at least help to mitigate some of this. The other thing that's important is that you need to have some communication gear. So at the very minimum, have a cell phone to say you can reach out, call for emergency services The other one that you can use is a satellite device. So if you're in a some of the fun riding roads tend not to have cell coverage. So a satellite device like the Garmin in reach is another great option. I actually had a ride that I did a number of years ago where one of our riding buddies, it was his first time doing a long trip and ended up crashing into the side of a tree. Dislocate it his thumb. So like that was the major extent of his injuries because he was in full gear. So at least that was good. But he was just too tired. He wasn't used to riding for a long period of time. And where we were, there was no cell coverage. But I did have a at the time I had a spot messenger and I was able to call for emergency services as a GPS, so it was able to locate and get the emergency services to come and get an ambulance to go to take him to the closest hospital.
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So having these type of emergency communication devices is really critical. If you're going to be going in a group ride just to have that support.
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The other thing is, even if you're riding solo, that same situation of being able to call for help So try to do some of those. The other one that I would say is really important in this ties into a bit of that rider training that we talked about earlier is also do some emergency training because the reality is after a crash, it's typically going to be five to maybe 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive on scene.
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And this is assuming that you're able to call for that ambulance immediately. But if you're riding in that group, you really want to be able to assist that rider. So I mentioned that first aid kit would be a really critical piece. Having some basic CPR and injury treatment training will help you then be able to leverage and use that first aid kit. So even if you were able to stem off, let's say that there was a bleeding situation, if you were able to cut down on the bleeding, you may give that person enough time to be able to survive for when the ambulance comes. So and I know this can sound a little brutal on and maybe a little morose in terms of that, but the reality is that an injury can be really horrible. And if you're able to care for those other riders, it's going to go a long way. The other thing that would be helpful is even if you maybe don't feel comfortable as an individual person who would be helping with the injuries or CPR, all those type of more medical type of interventions. There are some classes that actually can help you with managing the accident scene. And there's a actual course by road guardians.
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I'll put a link to it in the shownotes that is all about accident scene management. So for example, if you have a crash, well, you don't want other vehicles to be coming towards that crash and then, you know, running over where the bike is or the rider is, etc., you want to be able to manage that accident scene. So how do you do this? How do you direct the traffic appropriately? How do you, you know, slow traffic down with enough barrier from where the incident has occurred so you can keep it safe? How do you help the rider in there? So these type of courses can help you learn of how to what to do in those type of situations, how best to manage it. Most of them also do have some basic CPR training. So it's not just only about the directing traffic. So you'll have at least a little bit of the skills involved to support you in that situation.
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So let's wrap up. I know this is probably been a bit of a difficult episode to hear. It is a little bit of a of a negative mindset of accidents are a true reality that happens in riding and there's some really sobering statistics of what you see of the accident rates that you have to be mindful of. But there are ways that you can mitigate that.
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And we covered a few of those.
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We talked about how you can get training to help with your riding. You can get training to help in the event of a crash. So you can help with first aid. You can help with accident scene management. We also discussed some riding gear that can help reduce the risk of injury when you do have an accident. So if you have helmets, if you have riding gear, you've got proper armor in that riding gear. And of course, you want to bring some gear with you on the ride.
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So like a first aid kit, emergency communications devices, so that you can support those other riders in the event of an accident. my question for you is, what do you do to stay safe on your motorcycle? Share your thoughts through the text, the show link in the show notes or you can leave us a voicemail at throttle and roast dot com slash voicemail. Thanks for listening.
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I'll talk to you next week.
