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Safe Riding - 10 Good Habits
This information was originally provided to the Minnesota
Motorcycle Safety Center (www.motorcyclesafety.org)
by Victor Wanchena, editor of Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly (www.motorbyte.com).
Safe riding is always good riding.
Riding safely is mostly a matter of knowledge and
attitude, and riding safely doesn’t have to be boring. In fact,
practicing safe techniques could add years of fun to your life.
Simply put, here are 10 habits to practice that
will help keep you safe and make riding more enjoyable.
1. Be ready: mind, body, and bike.
2. Be smooth.
3. Know where you are.
4. Use your head (to look where
you’re going.)
5. When your line of sight or path of
travel becomes restricted, reduce your speed and use great care.
6. Before proceeding through any
intersection, check left, check front, check right, then check left
again.
7. Whenever you slow, first check
your rearview mirror.
8. Keep a 2-4 second following
distance.
9. Ride with a great attitude.
10. Practice.
1. Be ready: mind, body, and
bike.
There are three ways riders should ready
themselves for a ride. First, there is mental readiness. Are you
ready to concentrate on riding? If you are angry or preoccupied by
something, taking your bike out may not be the best idea. In an
aggravated or distracted state you are much more likely to be
involved in a crash or do something foolish. A proper attitude
will not only make you safer but your spouse and co-workers are
less likely to plot against you. Put your worries in your
saddlebags and focus on riding the bike. Limbering up mentally, by
taking time to focus on the task ahead, visualizing your route,
and being ready for trouble spots, is great way to prepare.
It goes without saying that drugs and alcohol
should be avoided at all costs, but I’m going to say it anyway.
Alcohol affects your judgment, reaction time, and balance, among
other things. Loss of your control over these things can easily
mean your bike will soon be lying on its side and dripping
important fluids. You may even get a ride in the back of a squad
car. Even simple cold and allergy medications can seriously impair
your riding, making you sleepy or sluggish. It’s about supply and
demand: safe motorcycling is demanding - don’t demand more of
yourself than you’re capable of supplying.
Second, you must be physically prepared. Start
with good protective gear. This means a good-fitting helmet,
gloves, eye protection, jacket, long pants and sturdy boots or
shoes. Wear gear that is designed for use on a motorcycle, not a
beach or a fancy nightclub. The people you see wearing a helmet, a
smile and not much else are not well protected. Likewise, folks in
eight layers of leather, Kevlar, body armor, but no helmet are not
well protected. It is a whole package, and you need to wear it
every time. If it’s too hot to wear protective clothing, it’s too
hot to ride, period.
Pretend your gear is a big helping of mashed
potatoes and you are the pool of gravy inside the little bowl you
made with your potatoes. If you remove a bit of the potatoes on
the outside, the gravy can leak out and mix with your Jell-O.
(No, thanks.) That’s what happens without all
your gear, the unprotected bits could leak out.
Try not to choose all black gear. Sure, it looks
cool, but bright colors will help you stand out in traffic.
On top of that, stay healthy. Well-balanced
meals, plenty of water, and minimal amounts of fatty food and
caffeine lend themselves to safe riding. Physical fitness will
help your riding in countless ways - comfort on longer rides,
better and sharper reflexes, plus, you look better in your leather
clothes! Also, try some stretching exercises before you ride.
Limbering up physically before a ride helps you stay in the saddle
longer.
Third, you must make sure that your bike is up
for the job. This includes not only fixing the parts that break,
but doing all the preventive maintenance that is so easy to skip:
regular oil changes, properly adjusted controls, a properly
adjusted chain and suspension, good tires, working turn signals,
you get the idea. A few dollars spent ahead of time will keep your
bike going for years. Plus, the best way to keep the buzzards from
circling when you break down in the desert is to simply not break
down.
With all that routine maintenance out of the
way, do a quick walk around of your bike as you get ready for your
ride. Look for leaks, loose bolts, tire problems, or any thing
else out of place. And not to sound like your mother, but when was
the last time you checked your tire’s air pressure? If it has been
more than a week, it’s been too long. And one more thing: no
running with scissors!
2. Be smooth.
The sign of a really great rider is
smoothness—and I don’t mean Barry White, smooth-with-the-ladies
kind of smooth. The smooth I am referring to is the kind which can
balance a cup of coffee on the gas tank, take a 40-mile ride and
never spill a drop. It takes plenty of concentration, but smooth
control of your ride has plenty of specific benefits.
Your fuel economy improves dramatically. You are
less likely to lose traction due to an overzealous use of the
throttle. (Holding your throttle wide open takes no skill at all.
If that was all it took to be fast, we would all be world-class
riders.) Look at racing: the fastest racers in the world are
always described as being smooth, able to guide their bikes around
a track without making abrupt control inputs. Good control inputs
are simply rolling on the throttle gently as you accelerate and
gently rolling off before you brake, not winding it out in first
gear then chopping the throttle as you hit a corner.
The same applies to your brakes. If you
instantly grab a big handful of brake you may get a nasty surprise
when your bike begins to travel sideways.
Smooth riding also includes matching the engine
speed to the proper gear and road speed. Having your bike in the
right gear keeps the power for accelerating or engine braking
close at hand, while also keeping the bike running along smoothly.
You maintain your best traction when your inputs
are smooth, including your steering inputs. Harsh or abrupt
pressure on the handlebars can upset the suspension. Smooth, firm
countersteering keeps the bike on
your desired line and creates little instability in the
suspension.
Your tires, brakes, suspension, and bearings
will last longer, too. Smooth riding makes for less wear and tear
on your bike. So remember, smooth is as smooth does, and it is a
beautiful thing to see.
3. Know where you are.
When it does come time to make an emergency
maneuver, you need to know what’s around you. In fact, this is
good information to have at all times. Being aware of what is in
your immediate space cushion will always help you guide your ride
safely. Failure to be aware of your position in relation to those
around you can cause dire consequences when faced with the need to
make a quick lane change. Other vehicles have a nasty habit of
sneaking in to places you can’t see them, like the blind spots
over your shoulders. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine a mini-van
disappearing, but it can happen. Once in that blind spot, you can
find that a vehicle is easy to forget until you try to turn and
find yourself mere inches from an enormous bumper and big tires.
Pay special attention to what’s in front of you, especially
oncoming traffic. It’s easy to disregard traffic traveling in the
opposite direction but that is where the greatest threat lies. Be
ready for the car that turns left in front of you.
4. Use your head (to look where
you’re going.)
This may sound slightly remedial but it is an
under-appreciated habit of a skilled rider. It becomes even more
important in corners where riders tend to be mesmerized by the
area of pavement directly in front of their bike. As you round the
turn, keep your head and eyes up, looking through the corner as
far as you safely can, at least three to four seconds ahead. (If
you can’t see that far ahead, you need to slow down until you CAN
see three to four seconds ahead.) You’ll be surprised by what you
may see. Couple this new-found vigilance with an
escape route
(should something wicked come your way) and your chances of
getting intimately familiar with the pavement are cut
dramatically. Often a good game to play is the “What if … ?” game.
Try to anticipate that car turning left in front of you or a
spaceship crash landing in your path. Hey, if it happens on TV, it
could happen to you, right?
5. When your line of sight or
path of travel becomes restricted, reduce your speed and use great
care.
On the surface this seems to be a no-brainer,
but think back to the last time a car you were following began to
slow down. Did you slow and maintain a safe following distance, or
did you end up tailgating until the car turned or stopped? This is
a very common mistake that many of us are guilty of committing.
Unless "the force" is strong with you (and there are not many Jedi
Knights on this planet), it is tough to avoid what you cannot see.
I bent two rims on a bike once because I was following so closely
to the vehicle in front of me that I was unable to avoid the
gaping pothole that fell out from under the car at me. It was an
expensive lesson that I will not forget. Simply put, if you can’t
see, slow down. Rain and fog are examples of situations where less
speed = more reaction time = safer riding. Curvy forest or
mountain roads are fun, but because their sightlines are shorter,
you need to reduce your speed to be prepared for surprises like
deer, big rocks, and large filthy vehicles straddling the
centerline.
6. Before proceeding through
any intersection, check left, check front, check right, then check
left again.
This is a fine example of managing your
priorities. As you enter an intersection, whether turning or
proceeding through, you need to know what your hazards are and
where they can come from. The highest priority is to check your
left. Why left? The left is the highest priority because that is
the lane of traffic you first cross and therefore would be the
first to impact you. After the left you continue to check the
intersection in a clockwise pattern. So next is the front because
the vehicle coming toward you is a threat if it turns left in
front of you. It is worthwhile to note the bulk (77%) of
two-vehicle motorcycle crashes occur from impacts coming from this
direction. Then you check to the right. If slowing or turning, you
check behind you (we’ll look at this more in Habit #7) then back
around to the left again. You check the left twice because in the
time it takes to check all other directions, the situation has
probably changed to the left.
7. Whenever you slow, first
check your rearview mirror.
Too often, what is out of sight is out of mind.
As you slow down for any turn or a stop, you need to be aware of
what is happening behind you. At the moment you begin braking or
rolling off the throttle, you need to check your mirrors. (Your
attention up to this point has been primarily in front of you, so
once you start braking, you are already minimizing any hazards in
that direction.) This is part of your general awareness of what is
happening in your surroundings on the road. A quick look into your
rearview mirrors will give you an idea of what traffic is doing
behind you. The habit to acquire is to check your mirrors every
five to seven seconds, and also any time you roll off the
throttle. Combine that with gentle application of both brakes and
rarely will a stop be anything more than routine. A good reminder
for this is that it is a proven fact flying insects do not check
their rearview mirrors and you see what happens to them on your
face shield.
There is a big exception to this. When you have
to do a quick or emergency stop your priority is in front of you,
but once that is taken care of it is doubly important to check
your backside in case the driver following you was caught off
guard by your sudden stop. Some riders use a label maker to put a
reminder on their speedometer to “CHECK MIRRORS”.
8. Keep a 2-4 second following
distance.
Following too closely to the vehicle in front of
you is arguably one of the greatest sins committed by most riders
on a regular basis. I find myself inching up on the bumper of the
vehicle in front of me all the time. Usually it’s only because I
want to drive faster than the car in front of me allows, but I
have paid the price both in money and nervous close calls because
I gave myself little to no reaction space and time by following
too closely.
When traveling on a highway, the minimum
distance to keep between you and the vehicle in front of you is 2
seconds, but that is the bare minimum. A 2-second following
distance is like buying the cheapest bullet -proof vest you can
find: sure, it’s protection, but if you really want to be safe,
you’ll upgrade. That upgrade would be to a 4-second following
distance. Keep in mind two seconds is the distance needed on clear
sunny days. At night or during inclement weather you need to
increase your safety margin to four to eight seconds. You should
maintain these cushions as best as possible including the time you
find yourself riding in traffic or with a group of motorcycles.
To figure your distance correctly pick a point
on the road, like a sign or a seam in the pavement, watch the
vehicle ahead of you pass it and count the seconds it takes you to
reach that point. The number of seconds you count is your
following distance.
If you have trouble with this and just want to
estimate the distance in feet, use this formula: at 70mph you
travel approximately 105 feet a second, so 2 seconds times 105
feet would be 210 feet. But remember, that is the bare minimum.
More is always better.
9. Ride with a great attitude.
This is one of the best ways to enjoy riding
more and to effect a change in the general public’s sometime dim
view of motorcycling. A bad attitude will be reflected in your
riding and a preoccupation with whatever made you grumpy will only
distract you from the job at hand: safely riding your motorcycle.
On anything other than wide open country roads,
you have a choice while riding: ride with the flow of traffic, or
fight it. There are often times when traffic is not moving at a
speed you would choose. When this happens, poor riders zig-zag
through the slower traffic, tailgating, cutting people off, and
generally irritating everyone on the road, reinforcing the
perception that all motorcyclists are daredevil speed demons with
no respect for mom, apple pie, or the law.
Option two is you can try to be a courteous
rider, demonstrating what a responsible person you are, "Look ma,
I’m all growed up now." It is my opinion that nothing harms the
image of motorcycling more than a rider aggressively weaving
through traffic on a motorcycle. It may impress 14-year-old boys
being shuttled to little league, but they don’t vote or call their
elected representatives, although their parents sometimes do.
When you ride, you are an ambassador of
motorcycling to the general public and it is your responsibility
to ride accordingly.
10. Practice
The very best time to practice these habits is
every time you go out for a ride. Spend at least a few minutes
every ride concentrating on each of these habits and soon they
will become second nature to you. Don’t focus so hard on
practicing that you lose sight of the job at hand. Instead,
integrate practice into your normal riding routine.
Taking any of the
Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF)
courses is always a good idea. If you are newer to riding, the
Basic RiderCourseSM
(BRC) will give you a good foundation of riding
skills and help you break any bad habits. The
Experienced RiderCourseSM (ERC) is a great idea even if you’ve been riding a long
time. Even people who think there isn’t anything left to learn
about motorcycling come away with new, powerful knowledge and
skills from either of these classes. The cornerstones to safe
motorcycling are knowledge, training, attitude, and practice. They
are what make a good rider.
Countersteering
Countersteering is the quickest and most
effective method of leaning the motorcycle into a turn. Many
riders are unaware of the technique, and instead focus on shifting
their body weight to lean the motorcycle. This can work to a very
limited degree, but countersteering is necessary to lean a
motorcycle, whether the rider realizes it or not.
To effectively countersteer, press forward and
hold pressure on the handgrip in the direction of the turn. If
you’re turning right, press forward on the right handgrip
(actually turning the front wheel to the left!) If you’re turning
left, press forward on the left handgrip (turning the wheel to the
right.) This pressure quickly and effectively leans the motorcycle
properly so you can steer smoothly through the turn. It may seem
backwards at first, but it works and you will get used to it.
Countersteering is a critical skill that is absent among many
accident-involved motorcyclists. Learn it. Practice it. Use it.
Escape route
A good motorcyclist is constantly aware of his or
her escape routes. An escape route is a path of travel that the
rider can safely take to avoid a hazard. If the traffic in front of
you suddenly screeched to a halt, do you have room on either side to
go around it? If the car next to you decided to move into your lane,
do you have room to brake or swerve onto the shoulder? If an
oncoming car suddenly pulled out into your lane to pass, do you have
somewhere else to go?
Escape routes change all the time as the traffic
mix changes. Keep your eyes moving, identify spaces large enough for
your motorcycle, and always “leave yourself an out.”
Hey, if it happens on
TV, it could happen to you, right?
I remember reading about a motorcyclist who was
passing under a railroad trestle bridge out west somewhere. A dog
crossing the bridge fell through and struck the moving motorcycle.
The rider died.
Truth can be stranger than fiction. Use your
imagination and play the “What If” game and
outsmart all the hazards that life throws your way, even the
unusual ones that “would NEVER happen to me.”
Riding in traffic
Sometimes, it may not be possible to maintain a
safe following distance: in rush-hour traffic, for instance. This
puts you at enormous risk.
Your best bet is to find another route, or
travel at another time, to minimize the risks involved with heavy
and hurried traffic. If you absolutely must use that route and you
can’t keep a two-second following distance, you need to become
even more alert, even more attentive, and even better at picking
escape routes and playing
What If. Cover your brakes and clutch to
reduce your reaction time, and always be in the proper gear for
extra power if you need it to escape a bad situation.
“What if … ?”
The “What If” game can save your life. Rather
than being surprised by left-turning cars, skittish deer, or an
old couch in the middle of the road, use your imagination to
predict possible hazards and then take measures to minimize them.
You see a car parked on the shoulder. “What if
it’s not parked, and is actually about to do a U-turn?”
You pass an open gate in front of a farmhouse:
“What if all the cows got out?”
Rounding a corner in the mountains, you see
little scraps of tire carcass on the road. “What if there’s a
broken-down semi in my lane around this corner?”
Riding along a road littered with dead deer:
“What if there are more waiting to cross?”
Play the What If game continuously as you ride,
imagine what could happen and how you would react to it, visualize
yourself avoiding the hazard, and keep the rubber side down.
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