Biking for years with zero accidents - anyone?

rat_race

Well, as I'm getting closer to getting my first bike, more and more people are trying to talk me out of it (as I often injure myself doing semi-dangerous sports, they all assume I'll kill myself on a bike). I am a safe person though...and always trying to expect the unexpected when on the road.

But today, an ex-biker told me he gave up because he suddenly had a daughter and wanted to see her grow up. He also said "I'm not trying to talk you out of it, I'm just saying you'll die". He happens to be my boss and also asked me to get a succession plan in place; that is kinda his sense of humour at play, but he was making a point...

Then I did some more reading in places, and found some very one-sided reads like this: http://ask.metafilter.com/44065/Exactly-how-dangerous-are-motorcycles
...Now I know that that thread is a bit sensationalistic, but what really got to me is how nobody seems to have NOT had an accident to some degree.

So my question: how many of you long-time bikers have NOT had an accident?

Seems to me like an incident is almost inevitable, even those non-serious. Whereas, in a cage, it's not necessarily inevitable.

Thoughts?

Cuddlesworth

You stand a higher chance of dying or incurring serious injury in a accident. You can through training and application of said training reduce the risk of a accident. But lets be clear, your not guaranteed to be killed on a bike. The odds of dying are still incredibly slim. Its just a higher risk you take above driving a car.

Sids Not

Believe me that "ex-biker" will be sorry he gave up the bike, and by the time he's realised what he's been missing it'll be too late for him and he'll end up gettin a Harley.........:D

Whats meant for ya will never pass ye by...........;)

I've had mates killed , wheelchair bound and scared off bikes by narrow-minded people.....if you fall off a bike you'll get hurt....look on it as an extreme sport...;)

I've been lucky...in 33 years a few bruises but no breaks AND i ride a sports bike .....the only real injury i have is arthritis from the cold and damp ...

seamus

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

The odds of dying are still incredibly slim. Its just a higher risk you take above driving a car.

This.

Pick any mode of transport, and virtually everyone will be able to tell you a story of a friend or a friend of a friend, or someone's wife's cousin who was killed when using it.

But we tend to gloss over the risks of driving a car because it's seen as a necessary, everyday thing, whereas a bike is seen as a boy's toy and not a serious method of transportation. So in peoples' heads it's seen as a voluntary unnecessary risk.

I haven't been on a bike in five years now, but I will admit to having a sense of foreboding in the last few months I had the bike. I f'n loved it, but I felt more vulnerable, exposed and mortal than I did in any other situation.
I knew that if someone around me was to do something monumentally stupid while I was travelling at 100km/h, I was a goner. And although the same is probably true in a car, you still feel at least to some degree that death isn't quite so certain.

But that's just a feeling and it doesn't bear out to the solid facts. That death or serious injury isn't that common and is a whole lot less likely to happen if you prepare yourself adequately and ride with your brain, not with your heart.

PaudyW

get the bike you'll love it, have never been without one for last 15 years, never had a major accident, couple of small incidents but nothing more they happened on bicycle or playing football, broke my thumb driving a tractor years ago

amacca

Riding 7 years......................1 accident...........lowside on a roundabout at some really stupidly slow speed (like 20km/hr ).................hit a patch of unexpected gravel to one side of the feeder road.....front wheel just washed out.......was very embarrassed at the time

+dropped a bike when I was putting the side-stand down in my first year....swung it over to make space to get the stand down...misjudged the weight of it and it tipped over.........also very embarrassing

don't think that's bad in 7 years of riding and don't think I'm destined to die because I ride a motorcycle but tbh my family do.............still wont give it up though...........I think you can minimize your risk of fatal or serious injury very significantly by being sensible and riding defensively at all times + I've never engaged in any silly stuff on the road....I'm sure there are lots of bikers out there who have never had a serious accident....but I'm also sure they are the ones who take their safety seriously and concentrate when they are riding.

AgileMyth

4 years, one very minor incident due to trying to use if on an icy morning.

The risk of death or serious injury is minor, and easily outweighed by the benefits in my opinion.

Biking for eleven years and fortunately only had one minor low speed spill. Poxy gravel :mad:

rat_race

Don't worry, I'm getting one anyway...but just wondering if I should get "my affairs in order" / write a will beforehand

Cheers for the replies, interesting topic...It does sort of seem that small accidents are inevitable ...

BrokenArrows

I'm only riding for 3 months but I went into it fully expecting to fall at some point which is why I always wear full gear.

If I think back over my years of driving a car, nothing serious but a few incidents where if I had been on a bike I would have been hitting the tarmac.

Paparazzo

Rat race, your boss is an idiot! We all die, but if he means you're almost guarenteed to die because of driving a bike, he's an idiot!
I've been driving for about 11 years, never had an accident worth talking about. Had 2, 1 had no damage, the other was the same damage as just dropping a bike.
I know a few people who died, but as long as you don't floor it everywhere and use a bit of common sense you'll be grand. Of course you might get hit by someone breaking a red light, but that can happen to a pedestrian crossing a road.

mikemac

Biking five years and the only accidents I had were my own fault, never hit or was hit by anyone

Just a spill on wet cobblestones realy or my first day on my scooter where I fell off twice, my pride was hurt more then my body
I started on a scooter before I got a Varadero

Defensive riding and some good training will go a long way.
And riding a bike made me a better car driver if that makes sense

Why some do and I did was pass my test before buying a bike, it's quite common
And because you are training first you don't start with bad habits

Did mine with Dave Lyons but there are others

Del2005

rat_race wrote: »

Don't worry, I'm getting one anyway...but just wondering if I should get "my affairs in order" / write a will beforehand

TBH if you've children or have any assets you really should have a will.

As for biking people get injured biking, a lot of people also die while out fishing. No one ever says don't go fishing.

Once you've got training, are wearing the best full PPE you can afford and don't ride out of your comfort zone you're as safe as you can be.

Odysseus

Del2005 wrote: »

TBH if you've children or have any assets you really should have a will.

As for biking people get injured biking, a lot of people also die while out fishing. No one ever says don't go fishing.

Once you've got training, are wearing the best full PPE you can afford and don't ride out of your comfort zone you're as safe as you can be.

OT but more people die fishing than in any other sport, it is actually the most dangerous sport in the world:eek:

Sids Not

Odysseus wrote: »

OT but more people die fishing than in any other sport, it is actually the most dangerous sport in the world:eek:

OH christ.........i made the mistake of comparing deaths in road racing to equestrian events and got slaughtered...remove your post asap imo..........:)

BTW op..What i think yer boss was saying to you was "if you crash your bike and have to take time off work , you'll not have a job to come back to".....jelaous basterd....

si_guru

27 years of riding a bikes (of all kinds). I've never even scratched one of them. The odd thing is that I used my bike as transport and didn't ever treat the public road as my personal playground. Maybe there is a link.

Best bike experience - riding from Whistler to Banf and back on aTriumph Bonneville.

KTRIC

Biking for 12 years now. Had 4 serious crashes, 2 were my fault though. Doesn't put me off though.

tiernanobrien

I'm over 4 years and use it to commute every day. Never had any accidents but a few close calls. I'm on my third bike but started on a moped which was by far the most dangerous thing of the lot.... especially when its cold and wet.
I personally thing I'm more wreckless in the car because I'm in a comfort zone but on the bike I know that if I hit the tarmac im going to get hurt and so I'm far more careful...

daenerysstormborn3

Don't let anyone talk you out of it. It's your choice. If you really want a bike then you'll get one regardless of what other people say. My mum has 7 sisters and 3 of them work in a hospital so they regularly see accidents of all sorts come in, do you think they didn't tell me all the horror stories? It didn't put me off.

You could live your life in a bubble or you could go and do what you really want.

antiskeptic

rat_race wrote: »

Well, as I'm getting closer to getting my first bike, more and more people are trying to talk me out of it (as I often injure myself doing semi-dangerous sports, they all assume I'll kill myself on a bike). I am a safe person though...and always trying to expect the unexpected when on the road.

But today, an ex-biker told me he gave up because he suddenly had a daughter and wanted to see her grow up. He also said "I'm not trying to talk you out of it, I'm just saying you'll die". He happens to be my boss and also asked me to get a succession plan in place; that is kinda his sense of humour at play, but he was making a point...

Then I did some more reading in places, and found some very one-sided reads like this: http://ask.metafilter.com/44065/Exactly-how-dangerous-are-motorcycles
...Now I know that that thread is a bit sensationalistic, but what really got to me is how nobody seems to have NOT had an accident to some degree.

So my question: how many of you long-time bikers have NOT had an accident?

Seems to me like an incident is almost inevitable, even those non-serious. Whereas, in a cage, it's not necessarily inevitable.

Thoughts?

I've 25 odd years motorcycling experience (22 years where the bike was my sole form of transport) and perhaps 300,000 miles of all weather riding.

All my (thankfully not too serious - broken nose and a lost front tooth was the worst) crashes took place either in the starter years (where I didn't have the experience to ride as defensively/alertly as you need to ride if you want to reduce risk right down) or during my mad twenties where I thought nothing of dicing with my mates with pints on or after smoking a few joints) or, on one occasion, the result of a freak (if preventable) front wheel lock up. Although well experienced at the time, 10 years ago I did some advanced training which moved me to another zone in the defensive/observant riding stakes. All in, I'm very comfortable and confident on the bike - although utterly respectful of the ever present danger.

In the last few years, the comfort of a car and the pointlessness of a daily bike commute along the M50 meant the bike was left to pleasure runs only - which suited me fine: I've experienced it all (the best and worst) and figured that slicing the majority of bike miles away would reduce the already small risk to virtually negligible. My wife is pregnant on our first too - so that fit the good sense stake.

-

A few Sundays ago I'm out for a 40 mile trek with a mate - around the Wicklow Gap area and over the mountain route to Gorey. Lovely ride: bend after bend of well surfaced, virtually traffic free roads. We're taking it handy: 60-70 on the straights and 40-50 round the bends.

At one point, I'm leading the way and am leaning into this bend at around 50mph. There's a short straight to the next bend which I'm just getting to accelerate into when I glimspe the tail end of a "Wanderly-Wagon" style horse-drawn carriage disappearing around the next bend. There's a bloke walking directly behind it carrying a flag at his side. And his mate walking on the footpath alongside it carrying a flag at his side too

It was obviously a tour-around-Oirland-like-years-gone-by kind of tourist thing and I figured later that the "flagmen" are a legal requirment and that they were meant to take up safe positions a decent distance away from the wagon so as to alert oncomers. It was natural that they bunched up close together and ended up walking uselessly alongside the carraige.

Point being: had I arrived around the first bend 4 or 5 seconds later the carriage would have disappeared from view. I'd have picked up the bike, given it a bit down the straight and headed into the next bend at 40-45mph. Only to plough straight into the back of a near stationary carriage. Or, if my reactions were quick enough to pick up the bike, I'd have run straight across the road and (assuming there was no car coming) would have taken out the flagman walking on the footpath before ploughing into whatever wall or tree lined the way.


-

- serious injury is always a hairs breath away when you're riding and there is only so much you can do to reduce the risk. For me, that's the end of the bike - I couldn't justify running the risk of leaving a child without a father, whatever about a wife without a husband.

- a serious reduction in risk can be achieved with a lot of experience and with decent training. The trouble with a bike is that you have to ride many, many miles and run effectively blind to the risks before you manage to gain that experience. It's a Catch-22. You need to play Russian Roulette with live ammo for quite a long time until you get to the point where you're experience can begin to make serious dents in the risk.

- the escapes I've had could just as easily have turned out bad - I know of plenty who've not been as fortunate as I've been. Indeed, there was a guy on here a while back who'd really done it all: bike racer / bike cop / dispatch rider / 500,000 miles in 40 years - a real vet. He ended up being paralysed when someone ran into the back of him at a stop light. There is no such thing as a minor bike crash - not until the dust has settled and the traffic has stopped and you've found you've gotten away with it.


Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't step up on a motorcycle back then. And couldn't recommend it to anyone else. But then again, I didn't know what I know now, then

professore

I ride a motorcycle to work every day for the last 2 years, and before that was off bikes for a few years but had a bike for 5 years before that. I had one incident that could have killed me, but all I got was a busted up fairing.

It is dangerous, make no mistake. There is a risk of serious injury. However around town a bicycle is more dangerous IMHO. The nearest I have come to being killed is on a bicycle.

Out of the towns, I find it more dangerous in a group than on my own. In a group you are more inclined to go faster to keep up with the rest and take more risks in the process.

If you're going round a blind bend, slow down to a crawl until you can see whats on the other side. Always expect the car in the other lane to swing across and kill you, the car in front to brake suddenly for no reason, or the car leaving an entrance or side road to drive out right in front of you. I've seen all these things and the sudden lane change nearly had me many years ago.

Starting out I would go for a naked bike, preferably something a bit heavy as light bikes esp bikes like the NSR are death traps here because the wind will blow them all over the road. Wear flourescent gear.

Still at the end of it all, I love biking. People die from all sorts of things, and you can't spend your life worrying about it. I'm convinced that the de-stress that biking gives me will add years to my life if I every get to the age where I can't bike anymore !

antiskeptic

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Don't let anyone talk you out of it. It's your choice. If you really want a bike then you'll get one regardless of what other people say. My mum has 7 sisters and 3 of them work in a hospital so they regularly see accidents of all sorts come in, do you think they didn't tell me all the horror stories? It didn't put me off.

You could live your life in a bubble or you could go and do what you really want.

Wouldn't you say you're talking him into it?



The OP seems to want to make an informed decision. It would seem like a good idea to inform him.

daenerysstormborn3

antiskeptic wrote: »

Wouldn't you say you're talking him into it?



The OP seems to want to make an informed decision. It would seem like a good idea to inform him.

My post is pretty self-explanatory, if the OP wants a bike it's his choice, horror stories shouldn't make a difference, neither should happy stories.

good logs...

get the bike you will love it, if you dont like it sell it. end off, but you will have tryed it.

the drifter

I was just going to start a thread like this...i just applied for the theory test and since then ive gotten nothing but abuse from anyone i say it too...youd swear i was about to walk in and rob a bank or something...

seanybiker

the drifter wrote: »

I was just going to start a thread like this...i just applied for the theory test and since then ive gotten nothing but abuse from anyone i say it too...youd swear i was about to walk in and rob a bank or something...

don't mind them. Once you grow your hair and have a beard then they'll say nothing to ya. :pac:

Paparazzo

the drifter wrote: »

I was just going to start a thread like this...i just applied for the theory test and since then ive gotten nothing but abuse from anyone i say it too...youd swear i was about to walk in and rob a bank or something...

I have a child on the way and loads of people were saying "so are you going to get rid of the bike?".
Ehh, no. I tell them I can carry the child in the top box

rat_race

Thanks again for the responses...

I'm not really trying to make an informed decision...I have no kids, and I'm not married: I am going to learn how to ride no matter what...so the decision is made! I know from my other hobbies that it's something I'll love...

I was mostly curious about how common accidents are and people's opinions on the dangers in general. I know one can read whatever side of the argument they want to hear, if they look.

I'd love to ultimately replace the car (I think), rather than just being a weekend rider...guess I'll make my own decision whether that's a good idea for me or not...

Zascar

4 Years with no accidents whatsoever - and very very few issues / near misses at all. It's really worthwhile getting as much advanced training as you can.

As said above, chances are low, but higher than cars - but its no suicide mission. The thing is if you are a bit of a nutjob, speed demon, or risk taker, there is a good change you're going to have a spill if you have a fast bike and are throttle happy. But if you have a sensible attitude and don't take stupid risks - you can still give it some stick, have plenty of fun and remain relatively save.

faceman

11 years biking, 2 incidents, one of which was serious with the bike written off. Both incidents were deemed to be the fault of the other party.

Fortunately I wasnt hurt in the first incident, the second incident I had a minor injury that had me out of work for a day.

On both occasions I was wearing full motorcycle protective gear, lights on, high vis top on. (Great help the high vis was! :rolleyes:) Might not have been so fortunate without all the gear on.

Dorsanty

6 years: 3 accidents

• first 3 months - inexperience meets having fun with the throttle. A simple enough drop.
• first year - stupidity about speed and conditions and then not having the talent/experience in a bend to sort it out (Damn double apex bends). A good proper spill requiring $$ to sort out.
• 2 years in - van doing an insta-u-turn. Van driver's insurance pays the bill.

4 years in the clear and no intentions of this list being added to ever. I personally feel like you can ride a bike in a city without incident if you want to. Yes you don't filter at every opportunity but fu5k it, you get where you are going to. Also as I say to people in my office when they see me in all the gear, 'this 1,000 euro suit is here to never be used but if it gets used I'll know I've done what I can to protect myself' i.e. spend on your safety gear and tell your friends and family that you take that part seriously as it helps them.