“Motorcycling is dangerous.” That line is on the ticket you purchase to go see a bike race, and it's a lot more likely a rider will be injured than a spectator, but it's still possible. For those of us who ride, the danger is there. Crashes hurt.
Those with the least skills are most likely to be hurt, although where you ride, how hard you ride and how much trust you put in others around you also influences the likelihood of injury. The highly experienced and well-trained riders who are also out there in the saddle often are probably the least likely to get hurt, because we ride within our limits, we know how our bike will react in a given circumstance, and are wary of traffic, weather and halfwits.
Training and practice develop skills, experience develops judgement, and that all comes together in riders who have gone for years without crashes and injury… but it can still happen. The editor of this tome was knocked off a bike this year… fortunately it was at a very low speed and he was wearing good gear so was uninjured, but it still happened; it's the first time he's had a road accident in decades.
Motivated riders can mitigate risk, but it's surprising how often we see supposedly good, experienced motorcyclists making basic mistakes, so to address that, we've put together some refresher tips. We'd encourage readers to see how many they know.
SAFETY STRATEGY
Risk management is an intuitive part of life; it's why people don't have picnics on motorways. However, safe motorcycling needs more thought. Identifying risk, followed by appropriate response, is the key and it takes time, self-analysis, and experience to fully develop this
