An unexpected chain reaction

I’m convinced the odds are never in your favor when you’re on a bike

They are not. As someone who rides a supersport lol. You are approximately 30x more likely to be killed on a motorcycle vs in a car. It’s just something you do out of passion. It’s not safe, but it is thrilling beyond comprehension (for some). Even a casual ride down to the store, at legal speeds, is exhilarating in a way no car is. And then you put it on a track? Indescribable. To me at least. But I won’t lie, it’s a close value proposition. I’ve thought about selling my bikes many times, as fun as they are. The scariest thing isn’t the idea that I’ll do something dumb, since I’m a pretty responsible rider, it’s the fear that someone on their phone will just kill me without even noticing that makes me consider selling.

At my last job we had a biker group. There was about 7 of them, and most commuted to work with their bikes. By the time I left that job 5 of them had been in serious accidents. One of the five almost died in his accident. They all sold their bikes. The other two didn’t ride as much as the others. The problem became such an issue that the company REALLY pressured anyone in a management position to not ride motorcycles.

Love it how managers must be saved but the others are expendables…

Maybe not exactly the same, but companies often cover their asses like this. Many companies have travel policies that only X number of senior leadership can fly on the same flight together, or X percentage of a department, etc. (flights are exponentially safer than motorcycles by the way) The company I work for sponsors a trade show and we used to send about 1/3 of our staff. If all of a sudden 1/3 of your company does, you’re going to fold.

Half of my ex-wife’s work group were injured riding in a van to a ball game. The hospital were they worked instituted a policy that no more than three people from any department could ride in a vehicle together. Not sure how they could enforce that, but whatever.

> Not sure how they could enforce that, but whatever. they can’t. but it’s a rule that very few people would push back on or care much about, so you might as well put it in writing, if for no other reason that many people will take it into account if it comes up.

We also had a carpool policy because we would go to lunch together. No one really followed it, but no more than 3 critical members of a project could go in the same car. I worked with a few PhD senior scientists that were critical to a few projects for very big contracts and they would follow the policy. It really was crazy how an entire project that costs millions could go under if there was a car accident.

There’s also a reason they pressured the managers. The company has wayyyy more influence on the managers, and it tries to set the tone with the managers to maybe get the others to stop. Also, in my organization the managers were technical leads with A LOT of critical information/relationships with customers that if they suddenly died it would hurt the company quite a bit. We actually had a policy that certain project members couldn’t go to lunch in the same car. Some of these projects were military or extremely important projects that if they got into a car accident going to lunch and all got taken out a once the project would collapse.

Had a dude come into my clinic who was the epitome of a badass (formerly). Got hit by a 17 y/o who was texting while driving in the middle of the day on his Harley. He came into our clinic as a quadriplegic. He died after about 3 years from pneumonia and infected bed sores. He was in his mid 40s. The weirdest thing (to me) about being paralyzed is the wrinkles in your hands just go away. His hands and fingers looked like smooth tubes. Like a doll or something. His story and others like his scared the shit out of me.

Did you work at my work?? Haha My coworker almost lost his foot on a regular ride to work, just hitting some random gravel on a turn. Bike smashed his foot and ankle, it was brutal.

I saw a dude at Home Depot get out of a truck with a motorcycle shirt on and absolutely covered in gauze and road rash.

Yeah my feeling with a bike is it’s a case of when and not if the accident happens , and then a case of whether it’s death or wheelchair or broken clavicle ..

My brother calls them donorcycles.

Everyone at work who bought a bike got into an accident I bought one and my colleague found out and we bonded Buddy got hit during a ride on his fireblade. Insurance paid for a new one though Then i got hit t boned by a impatient driver. Also lost my fireblade. Bought a ducati with the insurance A colleague who was into cycling decided he wanted a bike too. Got hit and nearly had to get his leg amputated Finally a new guy was enthralled by my bike. Bought a learner honda. Got hit by a learner. Luckily hes a giant dude and it was a small car. So it was mistly scratches and bruises Then covid hit. I had kids and i went for one last big ride with friends and hung up the helmet. Just not worth it I miss it but also get ptsd sometimes But it has made me a better driver

You can control how you ride, but you can’t control how others in much larger vehicles operate them. And the rider will always come off second best.

Tbh, 30x seems too low. In a car you’re strapped to a seat surrounded by a metal cage of crumple zones and air bags.

My wife’s uncle died in this manner. Safe driver his whole life, killed by someone driving drunk in a van. One time is all it takes.

This is the first time I’ve seen a biker who’s realistic about the dangers.

Deaths on bicycles go down every year in USA, while on motorbikes, they only go up. I think part of it is also how bikers act, ego riding and so on.

I’ve not ridden in a while (owing to a collision that put me in hospital) but the best thing I’ve seen to describe it is that riding a bike puts you in an instant flow state. It’s just you, the bike and the road and everything else fades to nothing. In the years I commuted I never once arrived at my destination with any kind of stress or worry.

> You are approximately 30x more likely to be killed on a motorcycle vs in a car. While true, the stats are seriously skewed by people who are really dumb and ride like assholes. Most of us go our whole lives and have no issues.

you can say the absolutely same for car drivers.

All stats for anything are skewed by people acting out of the ‘norm’, and whilst from a numbers perspective it’s not helpful, the fact that there are dumb assholes out there doesn’t mean riding a bike is less dangerous than the stats suggest

I rode for decades with only a couple of incidents – rear-ended by a car at low speed, slid off the road in gravel, and slid in a diesel spill in the rain. No ambulances or medical treatment beyond band-aids. I rarely went on large group rides because so many of those folks were weekend-only riders or wanted to stop at every bar. One guy told me getting buzzed made riding a lot more fun. (No. No, it doesn’t.) My wife’s son rode drunk fairly often and crashed while racing his friend home from the bar. No helmet, no riding boots, no gloves, no jacket. His BAC was .4-something. He was in a non-induced coma for more than a month, in the hospital almost two months, in physical and mental therapy for years, and still has a traumatic brain injury that severely limits what he can do. Eventually my wife talked me into trading the bike in for a C4 Corvette convertible. Not quite the same thrill but still a lot of fun.

> BAC was .4-something That’s nuts. Getting above 0.4 is potential loss of life/coma/respiratory failure territory (from the alcohol itself). I’m surprised he was able to ride the bike at all and didn’t crash before the racing. I’ve never even been close to that drunk but I can’t imagine getting in a car let alone a bike.

Can verify that when this comment was written I was commuting home on my bike behind a tool with no safety gear (goddamn tshirt and jeans, knob), who was fucking around at below the speed of traffic, revving the engine for no discernable reason and appeared to be collecting footage of his own stunning hubris. I can only assume his lack of indication or head checks will have a result at some point

Error: 500

It can get real ugly, real fast. I’ve known experienced, cautious riders who got killed by people who didn’t see them and just switched lanes on top of them. Also knew one guy who crashed on the interstate, and survived, but with permanent brain damage that reduced his cognitive capacity to that of a five year old, and he’ll never fully regain his basic speech or emotional regulation functions or be capable of living on his own again. Beyond that I’ve got family who work in EMS who’ve seen all manner of things like riders peeling the flesh off their legs on the asphalt, bone exposed and all. Any vehicle in an accident can be catastrophic, but on a bike you’re basically protected only by whatever you’re wearing, and the outcomes are frequently worse.

Yeah people always talk about how deadly it is, but I think the rate of disability would actually be more effective at convincing people to not ride or ride less. It’s one thing to die, it’s another to end up living for years or decades eating from a tube and/or needing daily care from loved ones.