linky
Noteworthy: "Forty-two of 165 road fatalities last year involved motorcycles. Of those, only two bikers had taken the state motorcycle education course."
Printable View
linky
Noteworthy: "Forty-two of 165 road fatalities last year involved motorcycles. Of those, only two bikers had taken the state motorcycle education course."
It's OK, I'm a limo driver !
:D
As some of you know, I was an instructor for the state. I wasn't an authority. It was just another avenue of being a motorcycle enthusiast. At this site, and others like it, there is lots of good knowledge being dispensed. When you lean towards the track, I think that comes with the territory. If you want to finish first, first you have to finish! Unfortuneately, the farther you get from the track environment, the more ignorance, and misinformation become prevalent. How many of you are instructors? How many, like myself, were instructors? Ok, how many of you have considered being one?? I don't need an answer myself, just throwing it out there. The instructor pool comes from us, the enthusiasts. The last time I checked, the state of NH only required you to teach, two classes a year to keep your certs. The MSF called for one class a year. Not a big time commitment{yes, you get paid!}. You can always do more than that. I found, in working with other instructors, the most important thing you can bring to the table, is your love for the sport. If there are other instructors out there, chime in. Some of these youngsters here at this forum, would be good instructors, judging by the enthusiasm I've seen here!
Although I firmly support motorcycle training, 2 out of 42 sounds about right. The actual precentage of people riding motorcycles with training vs. those without training, probably falls into the "1 in 20" range. Keeping that in mind, the training didn't make as much of an impact as you would think.
In my opinion, the majority of motorcycle fatalities happen with outside elements .... alcohol, improper equipment, speed, and those uncontrolable events (rear ended at set of light, broadsided, etc).
I would be more curious to know how many of those accidents actually occur to improper training / loss of control (without outside elements). You'll probably find that statistic very small.
Brian
PS. Of course, the training MAY increase the ability to react better when outside elements are introduced... if so, that most certainly would help decrease overall fatalities.
After reading the article..... Look, if you fail the motorcycle test twice, you should forget about being an operator. It may be the safest thing for everyone :)
LOL!!
There was a more detailed article about it late last year.
At least 1 of the 2 guys (edit) withOUT training who died was involved in a deerstrike.
I don't live in NH so it is moot, but I have thought about trying to become an instructor. Either I need to get a bike more closely aligned with the training bikes and practice more on that, or I just need even more practice, I'm not ready to do it.
I think you just covered every single way to die on a motorcycle.Quote:
Originally posted by Brian_C6
In my opinion, the majority of motorcycle fatalities happen with outside elements .... alcohol, improper equipment, speed, and those uncontrolable events (rear ended at set of light, broadsided, etc).
If you are saying that very few people die on a motorcycle while riding at the speed limit, stone cold sober, wearing proper gear on a well maintained bike with no other traffic around....well DUH!!
Just bustin your balls.
Ben, trust me. You would get MORE than enough practice on whatever bikes the MSF has available. They are almost militaristic in how well they want the riding demos to be performed. It looks like you are over emphasizing the skill. It is so that each skill being demonstrated, can be clearly seen by the student. It gets to the point as to how well you can nail a demo. It feels good when you do. I know I am cheerleading a bit, but it is really a good thing to get involved with.
I had a lot of trouble with my bike in 04 when I took the ERC, it was running very hot and I was having a ton of trouble with the throttle response... I've gotten better but based on that I passed the class but did not "ace" it with a perfect score or anything, that's why I said I don't think I'm good enough.
I should probably go again.
Hey guys, I hope I'm not boring you with stuff. Ben, Same thing on the ERCs. They make you practice a lot. Also, when I was involved, you couldn't teach the ERC until you had a couple of seasons under your belt. That was in NH. Not sure about other states. I used to do all my demos on my 86 GSXR750. A couple of times on my YSR50, LOL! Used to sneak in a stoppie or two on the braking demos. The students did the OOOOO,,,AHHHH thing. My primary instructor would slap my wrist,,,D-ooh! Of course, this was a bit before the extreme stuff took off {way cool!!}. I hope you folks give this a thought. Most training programs have a hard time getting enough people signed up to be instructors. Come On. Motorcycling is a GOOD CAUSE.
I wouldnt' mind being an instructor in MA... Ironstone ventures isn't too far from me, neither is bunker hill community college.... I may look into it in the future
Yea, basically. LOL!!Quote:
Originally posted by Degsy
I think you just covered every single way to die on a motorcycle.
If you are saying that very few people die on a motorcycle while riding at the speed limit, stone cold sober, wearing proper gear on a well maintained bike with no other traffic around....well DUH!!
Just bustin your balls.
Actually, my point was.... of those 42 motorcycle deaths, how many were due to improper training? I'm betting that of the 42 deaths, a large portion involved alcohol, sudden impacts, people over 50years old, and motorcycles over 1000lbs. If you eliminate those instances, what are your results?
I'm saying 15... I bet closer to 15 deaths directly responsible to improper training.
Do you think proper training will slim down deaths from alcohol? Increase reaction time for older people? Make a heavy bike more managable? Stop sudden impacts?
No the whole point for most people is proper training keeps them from riding drunk, etc.. riding over 50 if they have medical conditions, riding 1000lb motorcycles as learner bikes, etc.. all those causes you mentioned can be considered as part of improper training.
When you go take the BRC/ERC the VAST majority of the students in the class will never care about railing a corner at 90mph. The big risk factor for them is riding to a bar and drinking a few too many, etc.. why do you think the class tells you 100x not to drink and ride, etc, etc... ?
My last class was 2 sportbikes and like 20 cruiser guys. The training is not to get them riding like Rossi it's just to get them to ride responsibly even if they ride slow. For us it's that we shouldn't ride like Rossi even if we were capable of it.
Not that riding over 50 is any problem at all... we have plenty of riders on this site who are over 50 with no problems keeping up, for all our posing I'm pretty sure my dad would keep up just fine on 90% of our group rides on his cruiser...
Training certainly can't cure all of motorcyclings' woes. It is just one way that folks like us can make a good contribution to make things better. The more properly trained people we have on the road, the more respect there {hopefully} will be for what is involved in riding one. Really no different than the approach many of you folks adopt when you go to a track day. Just that it is at the ground level. I wish I had all of the answers. When I was involved, I recommended to people that they take the ERC, then if they wanted more, go to the track. Trackdays weren't as popular then, but a few of the schools were around. Don't laugh, I've seen 1500 Gold Wings go around Loudon, during Reg Pridmore's CLASS school. Major peg grinding!!
I want to take the ERC..Took my basic course last year and I think it would be kinda cool to do it on my own bike...Just haven't signed up yet..:dunno:
I think any training that you take is going to help, no matter what the situation...And they also stress the hazards of riding while impaired in class...
As much as I hate to say it, I'm gonna have to side w/ Ben on this one...
Ignorance = risk.... educate someone (TRAIN them) about how to ride & how to minimize risk and you'll reduce the number of deaths.
I know Tabby pretty well... He's a crusty ol' buzzard!!! :poke: and has alot of good points I agree with.
I've been riding for 14 years now and he's helped me develop over alot of those seasons. Thanks Man!! Now lets down a couple cold ones and go for a ride! :drink:
:poke:
Only been to one trackday so far, but I have another one coming up on May 25th(Tony's).
Looking forward to the ERC I signed up for on July 2nd as well. :D