Passes & Canyons Blog

“Accidents caused by the infrastructure account for 14% of the total according to MAIDS.”

That quote in a press release caught my eye. I’m signed up to receive press releases from a lot of organizations and this latest one is from the ACEM, the European Motorcycle Industry. MAIDS is the Motorcycle Accidents In-Depth Study which analyzed more than 900 motorcycle and moped accidents during the period 1999-2003 in five sampling areas located in France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Italy.

The release went on to say “Poor conditions of many European roads and city streets and the fact that PTW’s specific needs are still often neglected in road engineering are the main reasons for this situation. Rider behaviour in addressing each situation plays therefore a major role in PTW safety.”

PTW, by the way, stands for “powered two wheelers.”

So how often do you think about accidents being caused by poorly designed or maintained roadways? That really doesn’t cross my mind at all, so to see that 14 percent of motorcycle accidents are blamed on the infrastructure is an eye-opener. And it demonstrates the value that can come out of the new motorcycle safety study here in the U.S. If recurring types of such defects can be identified then municipalities and other governmental entities can be more aware of the need to rectify these situations.

At the same time, I consider this argument a little specious. Each of us is responsible at all times for our own safety. If you crashed on a piece of road and someone else didn’t, you did something wrong, while they did the same thing right. We can’t count on all roads we ride being perfect so you’d better ride in control at all times and respond to reality. The life you save may be your own.

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Biker Quote for Today

When in doubt, slow down. No one has ever hit something too slow.

I went to the sources and can now give you the full scoop on the status of the Motorcycle Crash Causation Study. I had reported earlier that the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) was withholding the $2.8 million its members had committed because the reduced size of the study–due to lack of money–would not meet their requirement as adequate to the objectives.

What I found when I went looking for answers was that a huge part of the story was being totally overlooked. Yes, the MSF had decided to withhold its dollars, but everything I read suggested this was a final decision. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the words of MSF President Tim Buche, “The MSF has not shut the door.” He said that if new information suggests a statistically valid study can be conducted with fewer than 900 crashes studied, that information will be presented to the MSF board.

The reason this matters is because Dr. Samir Ahmed, the Oklahoma State University researcher heading the study, told me that at present, no one really knows how many crashes must be studied to develop statistically valid data. He and his colleagues are at this time doing a statistical analysis to come up with that number.

I asked Tim Buche whether, if the number arrived at is significantly below the 900 crashes threshold the MSF has demanded, would the MSF be open to reconsidering throwing their $2.8 million into the pot. And he said yes, and the decision the board would make would “depend on the quality of the work and the rationale.” He said the board would also weigh the opinions of other involved organizations, such as the National Transportation Safety Board, which has previously stated its conclusion that a minimum of 1,200 crashes should be studied in order to get useful data.

So that’s it in brief. The statistical analysis should be complete in about mid-December and then it will presumably take some time for the involved parties to study the new information and reach their conclusions. However, even if the MSF is still not satisfied that its dollars would be well spent, the situation will still be open-ended. Dr. Ahmed told me he is continuing to seek additional funding from other sources. Presumably if enough additional money can be raised, that amount might tip the scales such that the MSF’s money will be the capper.

In fact, I suspect that is exactly what the MSF intends. They’re using their substantial dollars as a carrot. This allows Dr. Ahmed to approach other funding sources with the idea that their contribution will be multiplied if it leads to release of the MSF funds. And even if that’s not the MSF strategy, it seems to that it’s exactly the way it will work.

Sure, at this moment, the economy sucks and money is tight, but this study will take several years. Presumably the economic picture will brighten in that time and money will become easier to come by. This is a story that is likely to play out over years, not days or weeks. We’ll just have to watch what unfolds.

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Biker Quote for Today

You know what I like about motorcycles? Ridin’ ’em!

This is an update on Jim Campbell’s condition. I reported this on Examiner.com so rather than rewrite just for the sake of making it different I’m just going to copy/paste what I put up there. The photo is by Beth Egan, Jim’s wife.

My phone rang this afternoon and it was Jim Campbell on the line, calling from the Fort Worth hospital where he is still recovering from his horrific crash three weeks ago. Four weeks ago I wrote about how Jim had ridden 30,000 miles in 30 days to raise money for muscular dystrophy.

Jim was very upbeat and said he hopes to be released from the hospital next week. He suffered a broken neck, hip, and pelvis in the crash but feels fortunate.

“Not too many people would have walked away from what I went through,” he said. “I’ll recover fully.”

The accident occurred when traffic in the left-hand lane slowed abruptly. Jim pulled into the median but just after he did the car that had been in front of him did the same, hitting Jim and his Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic. This drove Jim into the road divider and, as he said, “I went from 70 to zero in one second.” A hole in his helmet attests to the force of the impact.

“That guy threw a card in my deck that I wasn’t ready to play,” he said.

While so many have been concerned for Jim’s well-being, Jim was feeling bad about his failure to get back in touch with people trying to reach him. The woman he had been working with at the Muscular Dystrophy Association had not heard about his accident until he called her yesterday. Of course she was shocked. And he was calling me to apologize for not returning my emails. Believe me, I told him not to worry about it.

Jim’s wife Beth had this to say on Jim’s 30K for MDA Facebook page: “Jim finally got moved to the PT floor in the hospital. He had a rough 1st day and was in a lot of pain today. Recovery is coming along, slowly but surely. Time and prayers are what Jim needs. Thank you to all who have sent flowers, cards & well wishes our way. We really do appreciate them and all of you.”

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Some particulars clear, others still unclear in new motorcycle safety study

Biker Quote for Today

The rubber parts are supposed to be on the bottom.

Just 11 days ago I was reporting that the long-awaited new motorcycle safety study was ready to begin, after being seemingly derailed by a financing issue. Now I’m back to report that it’s not smooth sailing after all. And two of the big players on the team appear to be moving in opposite directions.

The safety study is to be funded in part by a government grant and in part by matching contributions. Among other donors, two of the big motorcycle organizations, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) had committed to helping fund the study. Now, AMA is in favor of pushing on even though the dollars committed will not be enough to do the full-scale study originally envisioned. The MSF, on the other hand, has said that “we believe the study will not provide sufficient statistical significance of the OECD identified study variables and the MSF Board of Trustees has determined that MSF must continue to make its commitment of funds contingent upon a sample size of at least 900 cases.”

Where this leaves the study is not at all clear. Fully $2.8 million of the money for the study was to have come from the motorcycle industry through the MSF. While the MSF statement wished the researchers well in achieving “what can only reasonably be expected,” without the MSF’s $2.8 million it would seem that even the limited study will be underfunded. In other words, the MSF figures they hold the trump card and they’re playing it. Full study or none.

The AMA reported the MSF’s statement but as yet has issued no follow-up statement of its own. We’ll just have to keep watching to see how this all plays out.

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Biker Quote for Today

When you find yourself in a ditch the first thing to do is ease off the throttle.

The last I had heard, the new motorcycle safety study that had finally been authorized was in jeopardy. Apparently, in this case no news was good news because I see in a recent issue of American Motorcyclist that things are moving along.

I knew that a pilot study had been set up and was functioning, with the intent of determining which factors the overall study should focus on, as well as helping determine methodology. The hang-up had been over costs. The amount originally projected was looking inadequate and there was reluctance to get started without full funding assured.

I still don’t know if full funding has been assured, but according to American Motorcyclist, “The full study is expected to begin soon and will take several years to complete.”

The article also states that “The federal government earmarked up to $2.8 million for the research, provided that the motorcycling community came up with another $2.8 million. The AMA immediately pledged $100,000 for the effort and AMA members kicked in money. Also, the motorcycle industry committed to provide $2.8 million through the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, making the new study a reality.”

So actually, I guess that’s it right there. The money may not all be in hand but someone, somewhere committed to getting the money one way or another.

Great. Let the project begin. This can only do good for those of us who ride.

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Biker Quote for Today

I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol!

“Advanced Safety Vehicles” is the term Honda uses for its efforts to build vehicles with advanced safety features. I’ve written before about conspicuity enhancement, where designing motorcycles that appear to have angry human faces make them more noticeable to drivers. Now I’ve learned about some more of what Honda is working on.

I thought about paraphrasing what Honda says about “LONG design” but what the heck, I’ll just quote. I can’t say it any better than the did and I doubt they’ll come after me for cribbing their text, when what I’m doing is giving them some good publicity. So here are the pictures and the info. And here’s the link to the Honda site.

LONG Design
Since the light from a conventional motorcycle’s headlights comes only from the center of the vehicle, it is often difficult to judge a motorcycle’s distance and speed—often it seems to be farther away and moving more slowly than reality. To achieve nearly the same level of visibility as automobiles, ASV-3 motorcycles are outfitted with two sets of high-intensity LED lights at two different heights. This improves motorists’ ability to judge a motorcycle’s distance by approximately 10%, and improve the ability to assess its speed by approximately 20%, as compared with conventional motorcycles.

In addition to the placement of lights, Honda is also developing a camera system that shows what’s behind you on a screen on your bike’s dash. They call this their “Rear View Assistance System.” With cameras and screens constantly dropping in price, this is likely to be standard equipment before we know it.

Keep the good ideas flowing guys.

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Biker Quote for Today

Anything that was sort of ahead of its time, in its time, that’s what I like.–Jay Leno

I have some heated motorcycle gear I’ve been given by EXO2 The Heat Inside to test and do a product review on, so I was looking for some cold weather here in August. Not the easiest thing to find, except that in the mountains it gets cold no matter what time of year it is. At least at night, and up real high.

I already had plans to be up in Keystone one evening for the return of the Adventure for the Cures “Dirty Dozen” riders from their seven-day cancer research fundraising ride. Fine, I figured I’d stay as late in the evening as I cared to and then return home over Loveland Pass. At 11,900 feet, especially at 11 p.m. or so, I figured it would be pretty dang chilly–perfect weather for testing the gear.

So it got late and it was time for me to head home and I put on the heated vest and gloves, connected the wires, pulled on my leather jacket and helmet, and set off up the pass.

The gear worked fine. I’ll tell you all about that later, once I have more time to do more testing, but I certainly had no complaints that night. I did have some concerns setting out at night in the mountains that I might encounter deer, because they can be deadly if they run out in front of you and you are unable to avoid them. But none of them showed their faces.

What I did not anticipate was issues of equilibrium. Let me set the scene.

It’s a dark night. Cloudy, so no moon or stars. No electric lights going up over the pass, and no guardrails with their reflectors. On top of that, on the lower stretches of the road up the pass, no horizon. The blackness of the trees and mountains blended totally with the blackness of the sky.

What could I see? White and yellow lines. White and yellow lines that curved and rose and fell, all in relation to . . . nothing. In just a short while this started playing tricks on my equilibrium. Am I leaning or is the road curving? I know I’m leaning because I’m in a curve, but am I leaning too far or is the road rising through the curve? I could not tell. There was no point of reference. It was downright scary.

I got over the pass by going about 15 to 20 miles per hour and being super, super cautious, and I was glad I only encountered one other vehicle along the way. That ride was not fun. I’ll be restricting my gear testing to daylight from now on.

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Biker Quote for Today

I always slow down if my riding buddy in front of me disappears or launches skyward unexpectedly.

After nine days on the road as one of nine guys on bikes I have to say that you do not want to use us as your riding safety model. In the early days, when there were just three of us, we worked out some simple safety procedures and it was easy to follow them.

As new guys have joined the group we simply have not done a good job of inculcating those concepts and the result is a hodge-podge group that doesn’t follow any one set of procedures. We’d be safer riders if we did.

For instance, one of the newer guys seem to target-fixate on the tail-light of the guy in front of him. He’ll move in to about 2-3 bike lengths behind and just sit there. If the guy in front moves left, he moves left. If he moves right, this other guy follows, always staying right behind, and way too close.

Some of us try to set up a staggered riding pattern but all it takes is one guy to make a mess of that. I was two back of one such guy at one point, and the guy between us was trying hard to maintain a staggered position. Move left and he goes right, move back right and he goes left, and then sit in the middle. No attention to lane position. I sat back and observed all this and knew exactly the frustration he was feeling when he finally goosed the throttle and pulled ahead of the wandering rider.

It’s not that we don’t talk about these things. It’s just that we don’t seem to ever have the conversations when the full contingent is present. For instance, one night on this trip we talked about how to pass through a town as a group. I said the leader needs to slow down when approaching a traffic signal, while those behind should speed up. This then allows the leader to make a determination of whether everyone will be able to make it through the green and to take appropriate action. Everyone present agreed, but we all knew the worst offender in this strategy was not present for the discussion.

Ditto the discussion about maintaining proper speed so we don’t build up a long line of impatient cars and trucks behind us, and making sure to leave spaces so they can pass one or a few rather than all nine of us at once.

I admit it, I’m as guilty as the next guy in terms of not insisting that we have a full discussion with everyone present. Instead, I just tend to take up position in the rear where I can ride my own ride without needing to be concerned with what the folks ahead of me are doing. And I make damn sure not to be directly ahead of the tailgater. Every year before this trip I tell myself I’ll try to organize the meeting to hash this all out, and every year it doesn’t happen. Maybe I’ll actually do it next year. Somebody kick me in the butt, OK?

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Biker Quote for Today

You might ride fast, but never ride in a hurry.