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My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

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Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#351

Post by rkangel »

NegativeLatency wrote: post #199
markbnj wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an almost-daily motorcyclist with 15k miles on my current machine (Suzuki DL650), I absolutely agree that the increased proportion of pickup trucks on the road increases the risks for riders, however I suspect it is mainly because the larger, heavier vehicles aggravate the effects of a general deterioration in driving skills and attitudes. One thing about riding a motorcycle is that you are, unless you have a deat…

It's a really complicated issue, but you might find some of stuff related to Strong Towns, 15 minute cities, and sorta general modern urbanist things interesting. If we had better transit, more connected communities etc, people who are less interested in driving and driving well would have other options than hours long commutes.

[Answer scope limited to the US]

The problem is that these people want to drive, and don't care about it. They want to drive for sociological reasons - driving is seen as a symbol of American independence and financial stability. Look at the people who get weird reactions because they chose to walk to work, or schools that object on spurious grounds when they walk their kid to school.

The car is seen as an assumption, a bare minimum. And any attempt to replace it is taking away a personal right.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#352

Post by badmintonbaseba »

SilkRoadie wrote: post #344
rossng wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easy to say when you don't live next to a road frequented by drivers with ridiculous modified exhausts.

MOTs already have a decibel limit. I don't understand how these vehicles can be road worthy considering how loud they are. This technology feels like an engineers solution to a trivial legal issue.

Isn't the issue that some people work around MOT decibel limits? After all they only need to pass the decibel limit on the MOT test, and not on the road in regular use.

The engineering solution approach doesn't seem to be fundamentally different to speed cameras.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#353

Post by d_k_f »

Arch-TK wrote: post #342

Brake lights should be activated whenever the vehicle is significantly slowing down regardless of whether the brakes are being used or not. And this should be standard across _all_ vehicles, not just motorcycles. I would say brakes should also override any automated method too, just in case of malfunction. This is just (I am not trying to trivialise the incredible amount of effort required to take a hardware project,…

I'm with you, and at least here in Germany this is already the law, though it is only required if your deceleration rate is greater or equal to 1.3m/s² (it is allowed starting at a rate of 0.7 m/s²).

There are already voices against this, as the recuperation functionality of electric vehicles can repeatedly trigger this feature if the driver lets go of the gas pedal for a short time.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#354

Post by 3ple_alpha »

lqet wrote: post #310

I live in a mountainous area that attracts huge amount of motorcyclists on weekends. Most of the fatal accidents I recall in the last years (usually around a dozen per year) were caused by right of way violations by cars, by excessive speeding of the cyclists, or by risky overtakes. I am not sure how a brake light would help there. Also, serious off-topic question to the motorcycle enthusiasts here: how do you cope w…

> Also, serious off-topic question to the motorcycle enthusiasts here: how do you cope with the fact that your weekend leisure ride is often a massive noise disturbance for hundreds of people and animals?

I don't, I ride electric. It's not just leisure rides, too, noise is just as important for daily commute.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#355

Post by ifwinterco »

apt-apt-apt-apt wrote: post #207
AndrewSwift wrote: post #189

I wondered once if it would be possible to ride a motorcycle safely if I drove carefully (everyone I know who rides has been in at least one serious accident). I thought: I could look at the data, but I see so many motorcyclists driving dangerously that the data wouldn't teach me much. So then I thought: I bet if I look at the accident rate for women riders it would be interesting. I found that in the UK, male riders…

There are so many ways to die on a motorcycle that are outside of your control. Someone could not be paying attention, make a mistake, not see you, be drunk, etc. I knew someone at a previous company that was here one day then gone the next due to a non-highway accident caused by someone else IIRC. It's sort of like being friends with someone who plays low-chance russian roulette for fun in their free time.

This might sound overly fatalistic but... everyone is playing low-chance Russian roulette all the time. I know multiple people who've died of random health issues far sooner than they should have, tomorrow isn't promised for anybody. May as well do one of the most fun activities ever invented by humans in the meantime

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#356

Post by zamadatix »

rkangel wrote: post #351
NegativeLatency wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a really complicated issue, but you might find some of stuff related to Strong Towns, 15 minute cities, and sorta general modern urbanist things interesting. If we had better transit, more connected communities etc, people who are less interested in driving and driving well would have other options than hours long commutes.

[Answer scope limited to the US] The problem is that these people want to drive, and don't care about it. They want to drive for sociological reasons - driving is seen as a symbol of American independence and financial stability. Look at the people who get weird reactions because they chose to walk to work, or schools that object on spurious grounds when they walk their kid to school. The car is seen as an assumption…

I think these are really the same thing looked at from opposite side of the circle. When all of your coworkers are driving 45 minutes in on the highway because nothing is local to good housing, public transit isn't available at all, or the public transit available is so bad (in multiple ways) as to beg questions why you'd use it, then it drives the sociological assumptions about other types of transport in the same way the mindset itself drives the conditions which lead to even more assumptions.

One could say it's that people need to want to see better public transit as a good idea for normal people or one could say it's that public transit needs to be made better so people see it that way. In both situations, it's when public transit actually gets improved anything will actually change.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#357

Post by henearkr »

odiroot wrote: post #301
ElijahLynn wrote: post #233

Where's the quest to make motorcycles a huge bit quieter? I am so fed up with all the loud motorcycles in my city. Seems pretty arrogant of people with loud vehicles to think that we all want to hear them.

If anything modern motorcycles are sometimes a bit too quiet. The stock exhausts make them sound like cars when idling. And low-revving engines can barely cut through the traffic noise.

Ok the kind of narrative you are pushing should definitely be banned along with the noisy machines themselves. As some have said in the comments, it has been debunked numerous times in studies.

With the same reasoning as yours, I'll have a 500W HiFi with speakers and subwoofers on me, shouting annoying and loud noise continuously while I walk in the streets? To be noticed when I cross as a pedestrian or on my bicycle?

Or, like, people could just careful? Around me people drive carefully and they don't hurt cyclists or electric bikes.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#358

Post by GJim »

yial wrote: post #103
whalesalad wrote: post #59

I actually think it is lame when engine braking activates the brake light. There are two distinct behaviors: slowing down gently, with engine braking, and slowing down intensely with physical brake application. When I am engine braking like going down a long hill I do not want to flag the drivers behind me that I am braking ... I just want to use the compression of the engine to regulate my speed. Anyone who lives in…

I’m trying to understand this comment - are you saying that there’s an advantage to drivers behind you not thinking you’re braking? As in - you don’t want them to think you’re coming to a complete stop when you’re regulating your speed? Or are you saying that you don’t want them to think you have a skill issue ? I live in a semi mountainous area, where people driving automatics ride their brakes most of the way down…

Ummmm

When one is driving downhill with a car in gear, one is maintaining speed, not slowing down. Hence there is no need to show a brake light.

Driving down a long hill using (friction) brakes to maintain your speed is a quick way to cause excessive wear on your brakes and, in extreme cases, lead to overheating and brake fade or failure.

This is required knowledge for the UK driving test BTW.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#359

Post by LordHeini »

cj wrote: post #25
HPsquared wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd only see it on newer bikes with ABS, they seem likely to have more sensors and "electronics" in the brake system. In that kind of system the deceleration could be inferred from existing speed signals. I wouldn't be surprised if ABS systems already estimate the engine braking torque directly.

What is the general consensus on ABS braking in motorcycles? Really curious to hear from anyone who has rode a bike equipped with it. For some reason the idea of a bike interfering with brake controls seems like it could feel unsafe if the system isn't designed really well. Extremely low margin for error when it comes to braking on a 2 wheel vehicle especially in suboptimal conditions. I could see ABS braking being f…

In Europe new motorcycles must have ABS on both wheels since 2017.

Its a good thing.

While it is possible to stop in less distance without ABS, in real live emergency situations ABS usually is of great help due to the no skill required, additional control.

For example if you take the sudden car running in front of you from a side road. You will instinctively pull the brakes hard on a road with unknown slipperiness.

Maybe the car then stops in the last second or is really fast so there is space, then you need control to ride around the car.

You really don't want your rear wheel locking up and the bike going sideways or doing a stoppie on your front wheel which completely removes any way of obstacle avoidance.

The same is true if over breaking in a curve, if you can handle the bike standing up you can brake astonishingly hard in curves.

I would not recommend it though it feels really weird being slippery in a curve.

On rainy days i do even like traction control. It saved my ass a few times where i accelerated out of a curve a bit to enthusiastically on wet foliage.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#360

Post by nemacol »

markbnj wrote: post #178
beloch wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Motorcycle fatality rates have been trending upwards, not downwards[1]. Brake lights on helmets may illuminate one of the culprits: An ever increasing number of American trucks with poor visibility. Sitting on a bike, you're even shorter than a pedestrian and more likely to be completely out of sight. Perhaps its time to start regulating for better visibility, as Europe has done. [1] https://www.iii.org/fact-statisti…

As an almost-daily motorcyclist with 15k miles on my current machine (Suzuki DL650), I absolutely agree that the increased proportion of pickup trucks on the road increases the risks for riders, however I suspect it is mainly because the larger, heavier vehicles aggravate the effects of a general deterioration in driving skills and attitudes. One thing about riding a motorcycle is that you are, unless you have a deat…

> a general deterioration in driving skills

Is that a measured observation? Not trying to nitpick - genuinely curious if this is your observation from experience or there are some studies that you are referring to.

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