I've been reading the Safety in Motorcycling thread which got me to thinking about my own conduct on a bike, the accidents I've had, their causes etc.
I'm 43 and have been riding since 14. Have travelled about 350,000kms on bikes. I have my fair share of times when I've ridden like a FUCKWIT. Never been done DIC, but did lose my licence once for excessive speed.
MY ACCIDENTS.
Two crashes in the first month of riding wearing bugger all gear. A mate gave me his bike and gave me a 30 second brief on the controls, then I was off. A couple of grazes and hurt pride.
Rode into a drain (inattention, object fixation, and lack of skill).
Hit by a car that ran a red light. Full gear, very lucky, just a few bruises. Just needed a change of drawers!
Another car failed to give way and I clipped the back of it then slid down the road. Good gear, but a dislocated shoulder.
Went off the end of a bend (too fast and inattention). Bumps and bruises.
Between myself and six mates, we have had an accident (thus far) every 50,000 - 80,000kms, and two thirds of our accidents are our own stupid fault!
Lastly, I have known five guys who have died on bikes and of those, three were rider error, one was arguable, and one was a car driver.
So to me more than half of the 'blame' for motorcycle accidents should be shouldered by us.
How does this compare to everybody else? Are my mates and I short on skill and long on luck?
Cheers.
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