Motorcycling Death Risks

[not-fishing]

I've known two people who've died on the Tennis Courts much to my tennis junky wife's dismay.         TENNIS KILLS!!   

I've known two people who've been killed riding bicycles by drunks driving cars.  Cars kill!

I've known on fella killed from hitting a tree riding a mountain bicycle.  Trees kill!

I knew one fella in HS who died swimming in the American River that I swam a lot.  Water kills!

A recent English study detailed how riding horses were 300 times as dangerous as riding a motorcycle.  although my brother did loose his foot to a car driver in SF when he was 22

I've not known anyone who has been killed on a motorcycle and I know it happens.

I'm satisfied with my chances on a motorcycle although I've given up on horses, swimming rivers and you'll never get me on a tennis court!!   

[JJ]

Awhile ago, I saw a great bumper sticker on a pick-up:

"EAT HEALTHY - STAY FIT - DIE ANYWAY" 

The morale of the story - - "No One Gets Out Alive..."

We should ALL cherish each and every day, no matter what hobbies / activities we engage in... just enjoy the moment...and stop worrying and hand-wringing about "The End!"  :1:

[redrider90]

My Wife's best friend (51 yrs old and with no known health issues) suffered a massive Heart attack just over a week ago, she died a few days later having never regained consciousness, 30 years ago the same thing happened to my Mother at the age of 50. Neither of them rode bikes or engaged in any 'dangerous' activity.


My point being, you never know when your time's up so do what you enjoy and live everyday as if it's your last, because one day it will be...

Now you are talking philosophy which has nothing to do with actuarial statistics that cannot be denied. Motorcycling it more dangerous than driving a car.

[webmost]

[normzone]

normzone - - while I agree about NOT wanting to die in bed...or crushed under a car...being "mouthed and eaten" by a Great White Shark is the stuff of nightmares for me...and have another close look at those photos.....again..."NO THANKS!!"    I'll gladly ride off the cliff somewhere on my bike first 

Yeah, I understand [JJ]. But you should understand that your thirty seconds of panic and pain means nothing to us.

What is important is the story we'll get to tell over and over, of you poking the shark in the eye with your thumb, while screaming " No Guzzi content ! "

[dcardo021]

I just wanna ride! You may die, you may live! Stop being all Two-Faced about it! Or get your favorite coin and?

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

[Ncdan]

Living forever here is scarier than dying doing something I enjoy.

[guzzisteve]

If you think about it all the time, how would you ever ride anywhere.   I don't think of that till there is a wreck. BAD VOODOO 

[Ncdan]

Risk management or consequence management? Hell, everything in life is a trade-off. My mother gave me grief for years about riding. Then she went and broke her femur...at her weekly quilting group. Our very lives depend on the narrowest of margins politically, environmentally; even accidently. Why half-step in this limited appearance of ours? I'd like to think that I was a good steward of my consciousness.

great assessment Sheep, didn't know you were a Philosopher:)

[JJ]

In the end...."I don't want a pickle...I just want to ride my motor-sickle..." 

[azguzzirep]

So, we're all agreed that sometime, somehow, we're  all gonna die.

Who has prepared for that time by investing in life insurance or a funeral bank account, so your spouse or children don't have to foot the bill? (I wonder how that saying originated?)

My wife had a bank account and I have one, too. Funerals are expensive.

I apologize for the thread hijacking.

Tom

[Darren Williams]

I raced sailboats very seriously for a long time. It was something I was involved in 5 out of 7 days a week.  Traveled all around doing it.  Then a couple years ago I blew out my shoulder in a race.  I stayed off the race course the rest of the year, 9 months, rehabbed it and thought all was good and the next Spring did it again   I made the decision that now in my 50's and with this permanently broken down and worn out shoulder, I would never be able to pull the strings again on a competitive race boat  Quit racing cold turkey and have mostly replaced the sailing with more motorcycling. I still commute on a MC everyday and a MC is my primary means of getting around, but now have much more time to take long trips on two wheels. I don't seem to miss racing on the water as much as I thought I would.

Point is, when you make the decision to hang it up, whatever that may be, just replace it with something else you can enjoy and don't look back.  If you think it's time for you to quit riding, don't let anyone pressure you otherwise, but do put the old enthusiasm in a new direction that makes you feel alive and happy.

[Arizona Wayne]

Point is, when you make the decision to hang it up, whatever that may be, just replace it with something else you can enjoy and don't look back.  If you think it's time for you to quit riding, don't let anyone pressure you otherwise, but do put the old enthusiasm in a new direction that makes you feel alive and happy.
[/quote]


That's what Carl Allison did a few years ago.  He went so far as only riding a sidecar rig but when he couldn't physically even to that any more he gave up MC riding and switched to just playing string instruments.  He used to ride a `97 Sporti to work every day among other Guzzis for years.  Rode other brand bikes before them.  He used to write wiring diagrams here for Guzzis as he was an Electronics Tech. in the U.S. Navy prior. Forget what his ailment was.

[Bill Hagan]

Kathi laughed and laughed about that pic ... tho she was troubled by the "Lawyers are Satan"part in your tagline. 

So, we're all agreed that sometime, somehow, we're  all gonna die.

Who has prepared for that time by investing in life insurance or a funeral bank account, so your spouse or children don't have to foot the bill? (I wonder how that saying originated?)

My wife had a bank account and I have one, too. Funerals are expensive.

I apologize for the thread hijacking.

Tom

Funerals are expensive, but cremation isn't, nor is a memorial service held at a time convenient for anyone interested vice a funeral driven by immediacy.

It is a tough cultural thing, and we are all creatures of our upbringing.

I have planned for this a bit and hope everyone gets a bit looped at my wake; folks who drink free booze tend to be more kind.   

Bill

[keener]

if its going to happen , it will.. do not wait for it ....just ride and love what that passion means to you....

[MotoBug]

Took the long indirect route to town today. I'm in Gippsland which is dairy country. Sun was shining, the air was crisp, hardly any traffic, a beautiful day. I thought about this thread briefly and thought yep riding can be dangerous but some days it's simply the best feeling that makes it all worthwhile.

[ITSec]

I heard today that my mother's younger brother had died. We were fairly close when I was young, but as we grew older we headed very different ways and haven't been close for years, just occasional contact. As far as I know he lived what I (and many others) would call a pretty mundane life, never doing anything exceptional. He did maintain a strong marriage and raise a couple of good kids, but he was a product of the Truman and Eisenhower era and mostly stayed behind his white picket fence. He was happy there.

I can't say that I would be. I've traveled overseas by choice, without being sent there by work or the military. I've ridden in 46 of the lower 48, 8 out of 10 provinces in Canada, two territories, Alaska, and a bit of Mexico. I've sipped cafe au lait in Paris as locals walked their dogs, and flavored with chicory at the Cafe du Monde in New Orleans as the city woke and the French Quarter was rinsed clean of the previous night's celebrations, and munched on a BBQ pork bun as I watched the Chinese green grocers stock their stores while the sun rose over Stockton and Pacific in San Francisco. I met Ron Ayres at the Sealaska Inn in Hyder, where he complimented my riding (high praise!), and I've sat down for a beer (more than once!) with one-percenters at a Texas icehouse declared neutral territory.

I've ridden 1500 miles each way for a Saturday night campfire and BBQ. I've gone from Las Vegas to Augusta, Georgia to meet some fellow riders for brunch. I've met new friends in my neighborhood, and I've talked with people the other side of the world about a machine we both love.

I'm now the oldest surviving person in my family, and I'm thinking that I need to remember, whenever I might be flagging, the motto inscribed on the hero's sword in Robert Heinlein's Glory Road:

"Dum vivimus, vivamus" - "While we live, let us live!"

[JJ]

if its going to happen , it will.. do not wait for it ....just ride and love what that passion means to you....

Well said keener....The best advice on this thread so far... :1:  

Schedule a long, overnight weekend ride somewhere today!  It will cleanse your soul...

Again in the end...."Everybody dies...but not everyone lives..."

[Moto]

I just read through this interesting thread. I had a thought that seems relevant.

While sailing my boat alone a couple of nights ago, with hardly another boat on the lake, I clipped my VHF radio to my life jacket, just in case. As I did, I reflected that if I happened to die sailing it might be a good deal more pleasant than having my leg ripped off or in some other way starting a new life in unremitting pain and disability from a motorcycle accident. Death by drowning or hypothermia are likely sailing outcomes; maiming is not so likely. 

Both give me a thrill, but boating is less dangerous and the danger is a nicer kind -- of death, period, not of death or maiming. (Speaking generally.)

The number of registered cars has tripled in my life time, speed limits have increased, cities gotten bigger and denser, and car drivers have become thoroughly distracted while being wrapped in protective technology that lulls them into indifference. Street motorcycling not the same "sport" I started out in. One of my persistent problems is imagining I'm still basically dealing with the possibility of sliding out in the gravel on the next corner, while forgetting that the game has changed.

The game has changed. What this means for me I can't say.

[SmithSwede]

Whenever people raise the topic of my motorcycling hobby being dangerous, I often say that they have it exactly backwards.

Motorcycles have saved my life. 

[Kent in Upstate NY]

When I went to college in Santa Barbara, CA, I would row a rubber raft out to the kelp beds off shore, tie off the raft to the kelp and read a book while getting some sun. The sea lions would often come and investigate. I never thought much about sharks. Then, I read this. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-santa-barbara-shark-attack-20170720-story.html

[normzone]

Oh, that's a great image. Yeah, that's a taster bite - he was disappointed and went elsewhere because he couldn't figure out how to open the package. That will raise your pulse rate.

[Bill Hagan]

Whenever people raise the topic of my motorcycling hobby being dangerous, I often say that they have it exactly backwards.

Motorcycles have saved my life. 

Bingo.   

Bill

[Vince in Milwaukee]

Motorcycles are safer with better handling, lights, tires, brakes etc.  Safety equipment/clothing/helmets are better.   Medical services and practices are better.   Roads are safer with better lighting, signage, engineering and surfacing.  So then why is our choice of past time considered so dangerous.  I think we all know the answer to that question.  INATTENTIVE CAR DRIVERS. 
Up here in Canada our M/C insurance rates continue to rise due to high medicals costs.   The companies cite  that they incur huge losses on M/C insurance as the death and medical payouts are substantial and with the NO FAULT system we have, these payouts are made by the motorcyclist's own policy, even if  the M/C was not at fault.  Until the insurance industry starts holding car drivers more accountable for their driving, drivers will continue to drive blissfully along  totally unaware of what is going on around them.
Cheers, Tim

I'm pretty much in the same boat.  I've actually started getting up very early on my days off (4AM), having some coffee and breakfast, taking a shower and being on the road NLT 6.  I have a favorite spot twenty miles away.  My short ride, stop, and return trip, can take up to two hours.  This seems just enough to keep me happy.  There are too many people in my home town and they all seem to be in a hurry.  :(

[pebra]

I just read through this interesting thread. I had a thought that seems relevant.

The number of registered cars has tripled in my life time, speed limits have increased, cities gotten bigger and denser, and car drivers have become thoroughly distracted while being wrapped in protective technology that lulls them into indifference. Street motorcycling not the same "sport" I started out in. One of my persistent problems is imagining I'm still basically dealing with the possibility of sliding out in the gravel on the next corner, while forgetting that the game has changed.

The game has changed. What this means for me I can't say.

I believe that around here (Scandinavia) riding has become safer over the years, despite the huge increase in traffic.
Not only because of improvements in bikes, safety gear, roads, medicine, emergency services  - as mentioned by others here. I believe driving culture has improved.

[JJ]

 

[rocker59]

around here (Scandinavia) riding has become safer over the years, 

 I believe driving culture has improved.

Must be nice.

[charlie b]

"Everybody dies...but not everyone lives..."

Not true.  Everyone lives.  They may not live like you want to, but, they do.

The sad part is if someone does not live the way they want to.

[Bonaventure]

Had bad motorcycle accident in February that totaled my Ducati.  It was a 2016 Multistrada with all the newest safety features like cornering ABS and TC, etc.  Made no difference.  Encountered gravel kickout in apex 2nd half of an s-curve had about 0.35 seconds to decide weather to ride through it leaned or go wide to ride through a clean strip outer perimeter.  Whichever choice would have been the right one I'll never know because I apparently made the wrong one and went down, ultimately high siding in the weeds and sticks off the roadway.  Was wearing gear except no over pants over my jeans.  One of those stories where the helmet prevented death because even with it on (Nolan N104) I still got a brain bleed, they called it sub arachnoid. 

So anyhow, after a lot of analysis I know my accident was preventable and was rider error.  The error was in being over confident because I ride that road a lot, in not doing a recon run before making a spirited pass through it, and in making a spirited run in the first place plus not having been out on the bike in quite a few weeks.  It was one of those rare nice days in Feb, everyone was out on bikes, so I pulled the battery maintainer off got her out of the garage and decided to have a go at it.

But here I am tuning up to get another bike, albeit not another Duc.  I can't explain it really.   

[JJ]

"Everybody dies...but not everyone lives..." Not true.  Everyone lives.  They may not live like you want to, but, they do. The sad part is if someone does not live the way they want to.

Sorry charile...."No one gets out alive..." and that is a fact...

"I am the Lizard King...I can do anything...." (Yes, except make it to 30...) 




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