While I don’t believe it’s inevitable that every motorcycle or scooter rider will have a crash, I also don’t believe any rider can say they’ll never go down either. I’m not sure what others believe in this regard. What I do know for sure though is there is a range of belief and action in regard to utilizing protective riding gear.
Do you find yourself pretending you’ll never crash?
I saw this infographic yesterday via FirstGear’s Facebook feed and it reminded me again of the risk involved in riding on two wheels and the things that can be done to mitigate some of that risk.
You can download a high resolution PDF file of the MSF poster if you want to make a big print.
In the spirit of open disclosure I have to admit that I don’t always adhere to the goals outlined in the poster. I’ll ride with jeans sometimes in warm weather and neglect pulling on the abrasion resistant armored pants hanging next to my riding jacket. I lie to myself that they offer protection but the truth is they don’t offer squat — I’m just lazy. A slide down the road will shred them in a hurry to get to my tender flesh.
And that would be a sad event. It makes me think of Brittany Morrow — founder of the Rock the Gear website and all the gear all the time (ATGATT) evangelist.
Have a look at her video and then ask yourself what you’re doing:
How to Avoid Skinning Yourself Alive – Brittany Morrow from Brittany Morrow on Vimeo.
Rock the Gear Inc. is a national, not-for-profit organization that focuses on safety apparel education and provides a community of support for those who want to learn more and/or become involved. Brittany Morrow is the President and Founder of Rock the Gear. This is her story.
Visit www.RocktheGear.org to learn more.
This video is intended for informational purposes only. Visit the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s website to get trained and licensed and learn more about what it means to be a good, responsible rider. www.MSF-USA.org
Music: “Who Says” by Selena Gomez & The Scene. Music copyrights belong solely to the original artists and producers.
Works Cited:
Haynsworth, Leslie. “My Volvo, My Self. The (Largely Unintentional) Existential Implications of Bumper Stickers.” Fourth Genre, 2008.
Hurt Report. Traffic Safety Center, University of Southern California, 1981.
“Dress for the crash, not for the ride”
“Sweating beats bleeding”
Wearing proper gear saved my skin when I had a lowside crash near the Eisenhower Tunnel on fair July day. I wouldn’t have a right ear or skin on right side of head had I not been wearing a helmet…
The armor on the shoulder of my riding jacket lessened the impact of my shoulder on pavement when it hit at over 40 mph. Yes, I had a slightly separated AC joint but was cleared to ride three days later.
I was told, by a driver who saw me go down and later helped me right my motorcycle, that I must have slid 200 feet….tumbling slightly. The protective gear did its job, worth every penny that day.
I had forgotten that missive — “Dress for the crash, not for the ride”. Has a certain gloomy tone but I understand the meaning. With the exception of abrasion resistant pants I’m usually prepared. Need to just get in the habit of always pulling on the riding pants…
I hope I never have to say I was “tumbling slightly”….
I’ve ridden for decades with all of the gear on, head to toe, all of the time. As they say, “ATGATT.”
I have had two wrecks on a motorcycle, the first about 40 years ago. It was a unique situation which led to the bizarre experience of my hitting a wire fence with my chest and neck at about 50 mph, and had I not been wearing an open-faced helmet that day, which is what the wire caught on, I would have surely been decapitated.
The second was in Colorado, when I was suffering from hypothermia, but didn’t realize that, and ended up sliding an airhead BMW down the highway at about 60 mph. I stayed on the bike and the combination of the cylinder head and the rear fiberglass saddlebag saved my left leg. My wife was snapped off of the back, flew across a couple of lanes of traffic, and slid to a stop helmet first when she hit the far side curb. The helmet saved her life, and her protective gear prevented any road rash, and she ended up with just some contact point bruises.
I consider myself a cautious and skilled rider, having completed the MSF course not once but three times in the ensuing decades since. I practice the skill-sets that MSF has taught me at the beginning of each riding season.
Should I ever wreck again, I would surely want to have on all of the gear at that time, as road rash is certainly painful and expensive. But lately, since a lot of my trips are much shorter (and it has been so hot lately), I find myself riding in shorts and polo shirts, without a helmet, but wearing eye protection. As I look down on those occasions and see the asphalt whizzing by under my feet, I hope that I will not go down for any reason whatsoever, and I ride even more cautiously than normal on those occasions.
For those of us so interested (and I am), the “European MAIDS Study” of motorcycle accidents is supposedly the most comprehensive accident study ever completed in the history of motorcycling. They provide and analyze tons of very detailed data. One of their most interesting conclusions is that their data proves that there is no significant statistical difference in motorcycle fatalities between those riders who do, and who do not, wear helmets!
You can download the 179 page MAIDS study as a pdf file from their website for free, but as I recall you must create a free user name and password to do so. You’ll find the MAIDS 2.0 Report at http://www.maids-study.eu/
Let’s talk about the MAIDS study first. I thought the helmet revelation was on crashes and not fatalities — the data showed no significant difference between the likelihood of crashes between helmeted and unhelmeted riders. The fatality statistics followed similar trends to the HURT and Thailand studies. I could be wrong though — it’s been awhile since I waded through those reports.
I am always in ATGATT mode when I go for a “ride” — something longer and more involved than an errand or trip to work. Like you though I see the pavement whizzing by and think about how bad it would be to slide along it.
Tomorrow morning I will don my Joe Rocket summer riding pants!
I don’t want to get into “blame the victim” but part of her message should be responsible riding too. Her wreck was at 120 mph? I don’t mean to be rude, but that mitigates a lot of my sympathy.
I ride a scooter that tops out at 60mph, and the least I will wear is full, abrasion resistant denim. Usually more. If it’s too hot to wear that, I take the car and enjoy the air conditioning. I’m always being passed by people on crotch rockets wearing flip flops and shorts.
I have real world friends who are real world friends of Brittany Morrow (just realized that they are all Total Control instructors).
She made a mistake taking a ride with a guy who thought it would be funny to go really fast with no concern for her – she was not expecting him to more than half as fast as he did. Trust me, she advocates advanced training and responsible riding these days.
I think Brittany Morrow sets a fine example not only for responsible riding and training, but also for taking responsibility for personal choices. She doesn’t focus on blame or recrimination — just moving ahead with her life in a positive way. That seems rare these days.
I think Brittany was an unwitting passenger of a rider who decided to go fast. The story I read by her of the wind blast sweeping her off the back of the motorcycle was unnerving. She seems to have made peace with the experience and now tries to help others avoid her fate.
She makes a powerful point when she shows her scars. I wear all the gear most of the time. This video was a good reminder of why I should be more vigilant about doing it all the time. The one time I wrecked, my gear saved me from some injuries. Didn’t save me from shattering my knee though. If there is a next time, I now know to tuck and roll, let the gear do its job, and don’t try to save the bike.
I’ve played out actions in my head should I be involved in a crash. Tuck and roll has come up though I wonder if it is just the moto-world equivalent of “duck and cover” in the event of a nuclear blast. Having the gear is a positive choice. Everything else seems like dumb luck…
I have been riding a scooter in khaki dress pants recently – Aerostich Protekt with removable knee armor (takes about 5 seconds to remove or replace) and a 500 denier Cordura liner. Should be adequate for a slide at the speed an Elite 110 can get up to.
Thanks for the head’s up on the Aerostich Protekt khaki pants. Will they really pass for business casual work pants? Hard to tell on the Aerostich site. Might be nice to have them for those hot days that I don’t want to wear the over pants.
Other than the tiny zipper pulls, they look like causal dress pants (once the bulky knee armor is removed). The armor is fine when riding, but can be a bit annoying when walking around.
Not as cool as mesh pants over shorts, but better than mesh pants over jeans in the heat.
Thanks for the feedback. I think I’ll order a pair.
I hope she is not with the idiot that went 120mph riding 2up…
On the the freeway? Smh
You want to go that fast…get on a track…not an interstate.
I was Tboned on my GT200…thank God i had armored gear and hi vis full faced helmet…walked/rode away with a bruise on my hip…too bad the idiot did not see a hi vis yellow helmet..
People make bad decisions, or get themselves into positions they later regret. Seems as if Morrow has recognized that situation and has tried to make the best of it.
Gearing up is a good decision though I understand that each of us can choose badly. The downside of free choice…
Was about to comment the other day; then was interupted by the amateur radio tuned to a local repeater; somebody calling me.
I always wore full leather when I started riding. Not chaps; leather pants, jacket, gloves and one of the early Bell full face helmets.
When I started riding textile protection was unheard of, here. And i had a person close by who manufactured custom leathers. So it was a good fit, for both of us. He had never dressed a person as tall and big as me, however those leathers over the years protected me in so many ways. Now granted those leathers at the time did not have padding; it didn’t exist so my tailor placed more thicker leather in places of possible abrasion. Then too I changed, my riding was more frequent and I was often the only person in a group of other riders in a restaurant in full leather. They were wearing nylon jackets if a warm day and jeans and boots, where as I was in full leather jacket pants and boots. The jacket i could remove and I perspired in the summer, the jacket would be damp after a long ride, ditto the pants. They’d get aired and I would have a cool shower in an attempt to chill.
I wore out due to frequent use and a tumble or two the leather gear, the new jacket
made was vented on both sides and the front, the inner linings had changed as well and made getting the jacket on and off easier. The jacket was heavy, 15 pounds of black leather and the pants were equally heavy. I was one of the odd ones as I always wore a reflective vest XXXXXXL giant size purchased from Conspicuity which is somewhere in Illinois. BMW rides wear such vests aswell.
Looked into Aerostich. In my case was in Duluth to photograph railways, and Andy Goldfine shook his head when he saw me. No way could his company ever fit me for textile. Too tall, too big in too many ways. Example my sleeve length is 39 inches.
Then there was the question of footwear. Motorcycle riding footwear is manufactured for normal people, I have a size 16, 9E width foot, custom boots thank you. I was in the
UK in the early 1990’s and a friend there suggested a custom boot maker who made boots all sizes for the police in the UK. Was measured and ordered a pair, they were expensive however they were tall up to the back of my knees, well made and protective. They worked well with my black jodphur riding pants as well. If not wearing jodphurs would wear them under the long leatherp ants, same protection.
Often wonder how tall people who are also big deal with the question of riding gear.
Then too big people simply either don’t use two wheeled transport either because in the case of athletes it is often in their contract to not do so, or there is nothing they can fit easily. Thinking of tall basketball players for example.
I gave up riding for two reasons. One was diagnosed with a form of Lupus in 2005 which in turn made riding somewhat difficult and then a diagnosis of stage IV renal cell carcinoma a year later followed by an eight surgery in November of the same year. Surgery (with removal of a kidney, spleen, all my lymph nodes plus the top of the pancreas)
followed by six months of chemo just about did me in and made m e physically very weak. Thought i’d ride again; couldn’t even sit on the Goldwing without feeling dizzy. Vertigo was now part of my life and still is. The bike sold, the leathers given to friends who were in the same large leather family as me. It had been good time, it would not be so now.
Riding in full gear when everyone else is comfortable and unencumbered by the added weight and restricted movement is difficult — at least for me. Mentally I can begin to feel I’m being overly cautious and the unspoken peer pressure can have weight, even now. For anyone sensitive in that area it’s no wonder so many riders fall into lockstep with style.
The extra effort you have to make to find riding gear, and clothing in general, sounds like an adventure in itself. While the rest of us take for granted we can buy things in person or online you have to make direct connections with manufacturers. I’ve stood behind some of Penn State’s basketball players in the Creamery and while I think I was tall at 6’2″ and 215 pounds I feel like a shrimp behind someone that’s 7 feet tall with every limb and feature proportionally larger. If they have an advantage over you it’s that Nike is probably used to making them big shoes.
Sorry you’ve had to go through the medical events you’ve outlined. Chronic conditions take a huge toll. I see how they affect Kim in almost every way from career to friends to state of mind. I wish you the best in your journey.
It’s interesting our cops ride in short sleeves these days. Maybe not all of them, but a lot of them.
I’ve seen that here in State College. All the gear except for short sleeved shirts and a 3/4 helmet.