Passes & Canyons Blog

A rider heading up Independence Pass.

I believe this will be the last post about this Colorado MOST 2018 report on motorcycle crashes. The only tables left that I haven’t discussed have to do with what parts of the road riders were on when they crashed and what the conditions were.

With 1,247 crashes counted, the number one location was essentially anywhere except at an intersection. The table lists it as “Non-intersection.” Were they going straight, was the road curvy? No way to know. But then number two was “At intersection,” with 688 crashes counted. The lesson here should be obvious: be extra careful when you’re approaching an intersection.

Number three is “Intersection related” but it’s not obvious what that implies. There were 278 of those.

“Driveway access related” is next, with 127. So yeah, be alert at driveways, too. Heck, be alert all the time. It’s your skin we’re talking about here.

The remaining tallies are “Ramp” with 85; “Roudabout” with 24; “Alley related” with 15; and “Unknown” with 6.

And then we come to road condition. Here the preponderance is overwhelming: “Dry” with 2,341 crashes tallied. “Wet” is in second place with just 83. So OK, it seems that road condition not anywhere near the factor I would have expected it to be. That’s why you study data.

Barely one crash in 100 involved “Foreign matter.” To be specific, 24. “Wet w/visible icy road treatment” tallied only 5.

The rest were “Icy” with 3; “Snowy” with 2; “Muddy” with 1; “Slushy” with 1; and “Unknown” with 10.

Not a lot of surprises there. Not too many of us get out on our bikes when the roads are icy, snowy, muddy, or slushy. If we did I’m sure those numbers would be a lot higher.

Just to wrap up, here are some overall stats that the report broke out.

Motorcyclist Fatalities
• 103 motorcyclists were killed in motorcycle crashes in 2018, 94 were male and nine were female. Ninety-nine were motorcycle operators and four were motorcycle passengers.
• Motorcyclist fatalities represented 16.3% of Colorado’s total traffic fatalities (103 of 632).
• The number of motorcyclist fatalities remained the same in 2018 compared to 2017.
• 77 motorcycle operators involved in fatal crashes were determined to be “at fault.”
• 39 of the fatal motorcycle crashes involved only the motorcycle and no other vehicle.
• In 2018, 54 motorcycle operators killed in a fatal crash tested positive for alcohol or drugs. Fourteen of the motorcycle operators tested positive alcohol (BAC >=0.08) only, 28 operators tested positive for drugs only, and 12 motorcycle operators tested positive for both alcohol and drugs.
• 54 motorcycle operators killed were not wearing a helmet.

If you’re reading this you weren’t one of these folks. Please don’t be one of them next year, either.

Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes the road you travel doesn’t lead to the destination you had hoped for. But if you can look back on it and still smile, then it was worth it.

Bikes coming down from Squaw Pass.

The roads are clear and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all really nice days. So I rode my motorcycles on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Friday was a little cool but I wore all my winter gear and was perfectly warm. I did run into one problem, and that was with my heated gloves. These are battery powered and while one came on immediately when I hit the button, the other did not. So I got to see how much it mattered on this particular day. Not much. The gloves themselves are very good and warm even when they’re not turned on.

Later I plugged them both in to charge and once I knew both were fully charged I tried again. The one that didn’t work before didn’t work again. Dang! What’s wrong? But I kept pressing the button, holding it, not holding it, and finally it did come on. Not sure what to make of this. I’ll have to see what happens next time.

I didn’t see any other bikes out on Friday and was not surprised. Definitely saw other bikes on Saturday and Sunday. If you weren’t out you should have been.

Saturday was decidedly warmer so while I wore all the rest of the warm gear I did not wear the heated gloves and did not need them. In fact, there were times when I was almost too warm. What a great day in December to ride.

At one point I was on the Concours and I noticed that my front brake was a bit squishy. The bike was stopping OK but it just didn’t feel right. If I pumped it, it would firm up and that’s generally an indication you have a problem. I checked the sight gauge and sure enough, the fluid level was low. Now the question is, is there a leak in the brakeline somewhere? I would just fill it but all I’ve ever heard, and it states it plainly in the shop manual, says do not mix different brake fluids. If you have to add more and don’t know what kind/brand is in there, drain it all and replace it all with one consistent fluid. So I guess I have something to add to my to-do list.

Sunday was a bit cooler but I wore less warm gear and was still perfectly comfortable. I didn’t go for any long rides, just was out running some errands. And just like clockwork, I encountered my Sunday problem. It was no big deal but I noticed one of the zip ties keeping my bag attached to the rear of my sissy bar backrest on the CB750 had broken and the bag was hanging half loose. I have extra zip ties; I fixed it.

So yeah, maintenance. Entropy is a universal law. Everything breaks down eventually. Every fix is a temporary fix but temporary works.

Biker Quote for Today

The older I get the more I understand how important it is to live a life most people don’t understand.

MOST Program annual report

Now we come to what I consider a particularly interesting portion of the 2018 report on motorcycle crashes put together by the Colorado Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program. I’m talking helmet usage and rider legality, i.e., having motorcycle accreditation on your driver’s license.

Unlike the other tables in this report, where they list the top 10 items, there are only 7 choices here. There are 2,470 crashes counted.

“Helmet properly used” was ticked off for 1,223, or 49.5% of all motorcycle operators, and 66.7% for all riders trained through MOST. “No helmet” comes second at 882, for 35.7% of all riders and 18.0% of MOST-trained riders. So far rider training is looking pretty good, although we again have the unanswerable question of, did they get the training before or after the crash?

Number three on the list (109) is “not applicable.” These 177 are explained as “(Cars/Trucks).” Which seems odd. If these were people in cars and trucks, why were they included in this listing of motorcyclists? Then, with 54, is “Helmet improperly used.” Gosh guys, if you’re going to bother wearing a helmet maybe you should at least strap it on properly.

Then there is “Available, not used” at 20 and then “Bicycle helmet” at 5. Really? You think a bicycle helmet is going to do much good in a motorcycle crash? Heck, I don’t see how bicycle helmets do much good even in bicycle crashes. They sure haven’t helped my sister-in-law in the two crashes she has had on her bicycle.

That’s the list. What we are told elsewhere in the report is that there were 103 fatalities in 2018 and of them, 54, or 52%, were not wearing helmets. Which means 48% were wearing helmets, which, as always, gives the lie to those who seem to think the answer to motorcycle fatalities is to make everyone wear a helmet. Helmets help but it’s going to take more than just helmets.

Then we come to licensing. Out of 2,470 riders, there were 1,393 total listed as “Endorsement required & complied with.” For MOST-trained riders it was 64.0%. Again, that’s looking good for training though it also is particularly muddy regarding training before or after the crash.

A total of 563 riders had no endorsement, and then we have 371 with “Endorsement required & not complied with.” I’m really not at all sure what that is supposed to mean. How does that differ from no endorsement?

Then there are 51 listed as “Endorsement required & compliance unknown” and another 92 with “Unknown.”

I don’t know about you but I tend to suspect that riders who have MC endorsements are more likely to be safe riders. At the very least it presents a certainty that you have at least a minimum of ability to control the machine. No it doesn’t say a thing about the ability to maneuver a tight curve at a high speed but at least it’s a start. That’s where further rider training is a good thing. I’ve taken five rider training courses and done one track day and I can tell you pretty confidently that I’m a better rider than my friends who have done none of these.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you can identify bugs by taste.

Checking out the new Victory motorcycles in Greenville, SC, in 2011.

I got confused and made an assumption but then finally got it all straightened out. Denver’s long-running Motorcycle Show and Swap (now called the Colorado Motorcycle Expo) will be held as usual at the Stock Show grounds, on February 1 and 2. However, for the first time this year we will also have the Progressive International Motorcycle Show going on at the Colorado Convention Center on January 17-19. Golly, golly.

At ABATE meetings we had the usual “are we going to do a booth at the show and swap/expo this year” discussions. In the course of those discussions it was mentioned that the expo had new ownership. This is new, new ownership because there were new owners who took over just about five years ago.

So when I heard that we were going to be hosting the Progressive International Motorcycle Show–at the convention center, no less–I assumed the ownership change meant the expo had been subsumed into this big deal event. But then I started seeing promos for the expo. Huh? I did some searching and found out we’re getting both. Oh my gosh.

I have to tell you, I’m a lot more interested in the Progressive show than I am in the expo. For one thing, the expo is held at the Stock Show grounds and that is highly inconvenient. It’s an out-of-the-way place and about the only way to get there is to drive/ride. And then you have to pay to park. Getting to the convention center, for me at least, will mean getting on the light rail.

But more than that, the Progressive show has a lot more to offer. Back when I was writing for Examiner.com I made a special trip to Greenville, South Carolina, to attend a Progressive show. (It didn’t hurt that my parents lived in South Carolina, near Greenville, so I visited them and stayed at their place.)

The show was impressive. They had new bikes from all the manufacturers, gear from all the gear companies, a lot of demos and special events, and all in all was a very good event. And I’ve wondered for years why they didn’t have one of these here, but figured that they figured it was hard to compete when there is already an established event (the expo). Well, anyone who has been paying attention knows the expo has been having its troubles the last few years so perhaps Progressive decided it had an opening.

I guess I’ll be going to both. I’ll probably spend some time working the ABATE booth at the expo and I’ll definitely go downtown for the Progressive show. So much more convenient than flying to South Carolina!

Biker Quote for Today

It must have been that wild-eyed, silver-tongued schemer
A girl like Jody don’t think for herself.
Him and that Harley and his damn Jalapeno
Smokin’ that stuff’ll make you hurt yourself. — Bonnie Raitt

Riding like this is much more fun that crashing.

The next table in the 2018 report from the Colorado Motorcycle Operator Safety Program (MOST) addresses the movements of the riders who were found to be at fault in their crashes. This is an interesting one.

What were the huge majority of riders doing when they crashed? Going straight. Out of 1,297 riders counted in the top ten categories, fully 845 of them were going straight. Wow. I’d really like to know just what was going on that all these folks crashed going straight. I mean, I can understand if in going straight they were also running a red light, but I doubt that was the case with even very many of these 845.

The number two on this list, at just 96, was slowing. Once again these raw statistics seem to raise more questions than they answer. Were these folks slowing because they saw danger ahead? Were they just not paying attention because they were stopping, so what is there to watch out for? And if they were slowing because they saw danger ahead, were they really at fault, unless they were moving at excessive speed and otherwise would have been able to stop safely? Is it just assumed that in a single-vehicle crash that the driver/rider was at fault?

We have to get to number three on the list to get to what I think most of us would have assumed was a much higher item: turning left. This only totaled 75 crashes. This one at least doesn’t make you wonder what the heck was going on; we all know the screw-ups that can happen in left turns.

The rest of the list runs out as follows: Spun out of control–69; Making right turn–61; Changing lanes–49; Passing–36; Avoiding object in the road–31; Weaving–24; Making U-turn–11.

I would really have expected changing lanes, passing, and avoiding objects in the road to be higher on this list. It goes to show that data beats guessing most every time.

And by the way, the breakdown of all riders vs. MOST-trained riders is also of interest. Among those going straight, the figures were 60% of all riders but 68.8% of MOST-trained riders. In the other nine categories, in five cases the all-riders group had higher percentages and in four the MOST-trained riders had higher percentages. Most out of whack was avoiding objects in the road. The all-riders percentage was 2.2%; MOST-trained hit 5.2%. I mean, sheesh, you’d really think the trained riders would be better at avoiding stuff. Or were these riders who took the training after they crashed?

Biker Quote for Today

Squid: A textbook “squid” in MC instructor lingo was typically male, 16-20 years old, sport bike, insufficient safety gear, who rode/rides like an idiot, pulls power wheelies in heavily pedestrian traveled areas to showoff, angering non-riders and riders alike. The type of idiot that you see being a bonehead as they scream by your favorite summer outdoor patio where you face palm and shake your head.

An aerial shot from Google Maps showing Chambers Reservoir.

There was a Wednesday morning RMMRC ride scheduled last week so I climbed on the V-Strom and rode on over to the breakfast place. Although I learned later that there were several folks inside, none of them had come on their bikes. I intended to ride and with no bikes in the parking lot I saw no reason to go inside. I headed out.

It was a cool, crisp morning but I was wearing warm gear so it wasn’t uncomfortable; rather, it was invigorating. But I was darn glad to have my electric vest.

Where to go? It gets harder and harder to go places I haven’t been before. I headed out Parker Road. As I approached E-470 I thought about the road that crosses Parker just south of the highway, Pine Lane. I had been east on Pine but never west. Where does that go?

I turned right to find out. Passing Jordan Road, Pine Lane becomes Aventerra Parkway and starts winding around through a housing development, eventually hitting a T intersection at Chambers. Turning right would have been to head back toward town; I turned left, south.

Right there along the west side of Chambers there is a huge hole in the ground. It looks like a reservoir, maybe, but maybe it’s just a flood control collection pond. It’s long and narrow and really deep, and was completely dry. It also looked like freshly turned earth, as if it’s still being dug, although in a satellite image I see water in it.

(OK, some research shows me it is the Chambers Reservoir, which is undergoing rehabilitation, involving grading, installation of drainage improvements, and construction. Ain’t the internet great!)

Heading south I soon passed Lincoln Avenue. Now I was on totally familiar ground once again. Reaching Hess Road I turned west.

Hess Road runs past the Rueter-Hess Reservoir up into the highlands around the dam that made the reservoir feasible. Cruising through here you have an uncommon–and probably doomed–opportunity to see a section of the Colorado plains that as it was before the city arrived. It’s amazingly pretty. Too bad this whole area will presumably be covered in subdivisions and shopping plazas in about 10 years.

Hess winds around and then terminates at I-25. Continuing on the other side of the interstate the road becomes Castle Pines Parkway. But just before I-25 I turned north on Havana, which parallels the interstate for maybe four miles up to Ridgegate Parkway. I jogged east on Ridgegate and then continued north on Peoria.

This brought me up to County Line Road and the south side of Arapahoe County Airport, which I jogged east to get around. From there it was Potomac north and on back home. Just a one hour or so ride but really nice on this cool, very nice morning.

Biker Quote for Today

100 Reasons not to date a motorcyclist: The way we look at our bike reminds you of the way we used to look at you.

Not something you ever want to see.

I’ve been writing about Colorado motorcycle crash statistics from 2018 and–in part–how these numbers related to rider training. That prompted a note from a friend with considerable experience in this area. Being a modest guy he asked that I not name him.

What this all related to was what I had pointed out about how the crash figures for rider trained through the Colorado Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program seem to suggest that these riders crash more than those who have not taken the training. The question I asked was, did these riders crash before or after the training? When I queried Colorado State Patrol (CSP) coordinator for the MOST program he told me he couldn’t answer that question now but in future tracking they would include that data. He said he sure hoped the crashes occurred before they took the training.

Not to be too repetitive but, as I pointed out before, many riders take the course in order to get their license after they have been cited for riding without proper licensing. Often that occurs when they are involved in crashes, thus they get counted as MOST-trained riders but the crash occurs before they take the training.

Well, what my friend tells me is that back in 1976 the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) did a study to see how effective driver’s training for teenagers. He told me that “the study made waves when it was reported that driver training actually resulted in no fewer crashes, injuries and fatalities. The theory was that trained drivers were more confident and took more risks, but because they were still inexperienced, they still made bad judgments.”

Now apparently, there were some folks who didn’t like having the government–at whatever level–putting up the money for driver training programs, so they took the findings of this report and soon the in-school driver’s ed program, such as the one I took as a teenager, were gone. In fact, it has been claimed by some people in a position to know, that the books were cooked a bit on this study in order to reach that conclusion, for that purpose.

My friend continues: “Fast-forward to today, and many safety-crats have long held that driver (and rider education) is not worth investing public dollars. It is an argument that is sometimes summoned to push back against SMROs (state motorcyclist rights orgs) that seek to replace helmet mandates with rider education programs.

“If stats are being published that suggest rider education does little to reduce crashes and fatalities, be prepared for pushback from the safety community to reduce or eliminate funding, and possibly attempt to reinstate the helmet mandate.”

So wow, I didn’t realize I was poking such a hornet’s nest when I innocently wondered if those crashes took place before or after the rider received training. That makes it really important now that CSP tracks the timing of crashes vis a vis time of training. We’ll have to wait for the 2019 crash data to find out.

Biker Quote for Today

Experience is what keeps a man who makes the same mistake twice from admitting it the third time around.

Parked across the street from Patty Ann’s.

I went for a ride with the RMMRC Friday and leading the group was Tim. Now, I’m terrible with names, and after being a member of the group for about three years I still probably only know about six or seven peoples’ names. But I think I’ll remember Tim because he is really short, so my mnemonic device to remember his is “Tiny Tim.” You don’t have to mention that to him.

It was supposed to be a beautiful November day but starting out it was overcast and cooler than expected. I dressed warmly and was glad I did. Love that electric vest.

The intent was just a simple ride out to Kiowa to have a late breakfast at Patty Ann’s. I’ve eaten at Patty Ann’s several times and they have great food. If you’re out that way–or if you want to head that way just to eat there–Patty Ann’s gets my hearty recommendation. They have terrific green chile and with everything else smothered in green chile it probably really doesn’t matter what that everything else is.

So the discussion was on the route to get there. The easy and direct–and boringly familiar–route would be to go out Parker Road to Franktown and turn east. That was suggested but Tim didn’t like that idea. He took the lead.

We worked our way southeast, zigging and zagging as you have to do with straight roads on a grid, but we came to a spot where I think everyone expected to go east and Tim headed west. That tipped me off. A couple years ago Roy had staged a mystery ride and we ended up out in these parts. Tim had helped Roy plan that ride. I suspected we were about to take a portion of that ride again.

When we made a left turn at a particular spot I knew I was right. From that point on all the way to Elizabeth we followed the mystery ride route. And it was a lot more interesting than just Parker to Franktown and east.

Kiowa, Patty Ann’s, and the food did its job and we were ready to leave. What route? Again, Tim had no intention of retracing our steps. So he led us along some other roads out here.

What this all told me was Tim must be a kindred soul to me because while I would guess most of the guys had little idea exactly where they were, I pretty much knew every bit of it. You see, I go out there and ride around on these roads exploring quite a bit. And I had just been out here in the past week. These were several of the same roads I was on just days before.

I guess I’m not the only one who loves to explore.

Biker Quote for Today

I got my own reasons why I do what I do. I like to ride motorcycles. She likes it too. — Alan Jackson