This is the fifth Legal Eagle article by our guest writer Tony Carter. Tony is a former police instructor, RoSPA examiner and a trained accident investigator. Still riding every day, he works for the well-known legal firm of McMillan Williams, whose highly qualified team specialises in motorcycling and the law, from insurance claims to motoring offences.
There are many factors that can cause a rider to crash. Here Tony focuses on four of the most common types of motorcycle tumble. He discusses these, explains why they happen and suggests how we might avoid them. There's not room here to cover every eventuality but Tony's experience is a good introduction to the subject.
No. 1 The SMIDSY - A Junction Crash
Probably the best-known type of crash is the SMIDSY (Sorry Mate, I Didn't See You). This is where a vehicle fails to give way and collides with the bike. Typically these involve a car and a T-Junction; the car pulls out into the rider's path and a collision occurs.
So why are these so common? The SMIDSY acronym suggests its about seeing - or not seeing, but it may be more complicated than that. While some crashes are caused by obstructions (including the thick windscreen pillar design of many modern cars) reducing visibility, research suggests that not seeing the approaching bike is not the actual problem. That's because sight (spotting an object) is not the same thing as perception (recognising it for what it is and understanding what it is doing).
It's the failure of perception that causes a pull-out. For example, the brain may have been programmed by experience to look mainly for cars. Thus, the mental green light may be given whenever a car is absent - even if a bike is present.
It's also thought to be about the level of threat perceived by the driver. Our caveman origins mean we are programmed to deal with the biggest threat first and to disregard others.That a bike can register as a low-status threat may be in part connected within its small size. Size (and in particular narrow width) also seem to make motorcycle speeds harder to judge, meaning that, even when seen and recognized, car drivers may misjudge the bike's time of arrival.
Running lights can make the bike appear wider.
What You Can Do
Although these accidents are generally the fault of the driver that pulls out, rider action can still prevent a collision.
- Make yourself more visible (e.g. high viz jackets, brightly coloured or white crash helmets and extra lights, especially those positioned at the edges of a bike to make it appear wider.)
- Expect cars to pull out and:
- reduce speed
- move out to give yourself reaction room
- watch the vehicle's front wheels...are they turning? If so, the vehicle is moving. - Plan an escape route
- Cover the brakes
- Consider using the horn preemptively to attract attention.
Image: Bournemouth Echo
No. 2 The Overtaker
Statistically, overtaking is the most dangerous maneuver on the road. It's not hard to see why. Speeds rise and vehicles come closer to each other. Usually at some point the overtaking vehicle will be on the same side of the road as oncoming traffic.
Reasons why overtakes go wrong include;
Rider error misjudging power or distance - often happens with a new bike
- more common with novices or when tired
Overtaking on the approach to a hazard
- Blind brow, junction or lay-by - vehicles appear unexpectedly
Driver behaviour
Aggression or speed / direction changes by vehicle overtaken
Follow the leader
Pack mentality that can develops on group rides
What You Can Do
- Be cautious until you've got to know your bike. Advanced training helps judgement and confidence.
- Make good observations in front and behind.
- Don't cut in sharply after passing, and ride wide
- Don’t overtake when approaching bends, junctions, lay-bys, pedestrian crossings, or dips in the road.
- Road markings are friendly messages to help you. Double whites means danger.
- If you are filtering past stationary or slow moving traffic, do it with care and leave a safety zone to avoid opening doors or emerging vehicles.
- Ride for yourself. Don't follow someone into an overtake. Snap decisions are dangerous.
No. 3 The Bad Roader
Riders tend to be more observant of road surface conditions than car drivers, and for good reason. A bad surface can be deadly to a two-wheeler. Unlike a car, a bike has only 2 narrow patches of rubber keeping it upright, on course and on the road. Anything that reduces the adhesion of those patches is a significant threat to both your Pride and Joy and your health.
The state of our roads is a topic dealt with in the preceding article in this series and is entitled 'Our Rotten Roads'. Hazards can include gravel, water, diesel, potholes, over-banding, drain covers and road markings. All of these will reduce grip and affect stability.
However more than just grip levels are involved. The rider is also responsible. Crashes on poor road surfaces usually involve behaviour that would not normally cause a crash in better circumstances. In other words the crash results from exceeding the capacity of the road at the time and place to support the actions undertaken.
It follows that part of the challenge of riding a motorcycle is adjusting our riding to deal with different road surfaces. We have to do this far more than car drivers. Our style should therefore vary continually throughout every journey depending on the road and weather environments.
What You Can Do
- Mechanical condition is actually a rare cause of crashes. However it's most common in bad surface crashes. Good condition tyres at correct pressure are a good place to start, but dirty brakes, worn pads and air in the hydraulics can all be problems. Suspension also needs to be correctly adjusted and not worn. This can be a real problem with OEM equipment which typically deteriorates fast after purchase. If in doubt get it checked and upgrade or replace. Just being hot on maintenance significantly improves your chances on every road.
- Be alert to key threats; again, road signs are your friends; but look for the trail of spilt diesel and expect it at garages and on roundabouts; beware of rain, mud and gravel. The key thing though is not just to see these things, but to respond by reducing speed and the amount of throttle you use. Keep all inputs slow and deliberate and avoid sudden changes of direction or application of brakes. In short, ask your tyres to do only one or two things at a time. Asking them to do more (leaning, turning and braking and all at speed for instance) is when they get overwhelmed and let go.
One of the most common bike accidents involves crashing on a bend with no other vehicle involved. Left hand bend crashes tend to be more dangerous as a common fault is to run wide...and into the path of oncoming traffic. On right hand bends the rider is typically further over to the left.
Bends are more common and typically more diverse in country areas as opposed to urban. A lack of obvious hazards may also cause rural speeds to rise, leaving less time to deal with an unexpected twist or turn. Surfaces can also be more suspect, with farm manure, diesel and poor maintenance being bigger hazards.
There are several types of bend accident. They include;
Misreading the bend; taking the wrong line and/ or turning in at the wrong time and running off the road or into traffic.
The rider entering the bend too fast, braking hard (which stands the bike up) and running wide.
Entering too fast at too steep an angle for the road surface and washing out - a typical low-side. This is where the rider gives the tyres too many jobs to do at once - see above.
Hitting a pothole, gravel or other surface issue, grabbing the brake and locking the front (potentially a High-Side where the rider goes over the handlebars).
A collision with a pedestrian, animal or vehicle.
Horses are often the victims, but also sheep and dogs.
Essentially ALL bend accidents are speed related, because at lower speeds they could have been avoided. The key then, is getting the speed right for each (often very different) bend.
What You Can Do
- Riding around bends safely is not instinctive but has to be learnt. Advanced training can show you some amazing tricks. Invest some time in learning them.
- Look ahead to judge the curve of the bend; hedges, lines of trees and telephone poles can all be helpful indicators.
- Use the Vanishing Point technique - this is a magic way of matching speed exactly to every bend you'll ever meet. Try Googling it. Any advanced driving instructor worth their salt will teach this.
- If the worst happens, and a bend tightens up on you, resist the temptation to brake, except gentle trail braking, mainly with the rear and then only if you must. Lean the bike over further if necessary - it can cope with more of this than you think and it gives you the best chance of making it round.
- Keep looking at where you want to go - through the bend and where the road is heading - don't fixate at the bend itself because you will tend to drift there - a phenomenon known as Where You Look Is Where You Go. You want to go around the bend so look there and the bike will tend to follow. Almost Zen-like this one.
It's impossible in a short article like this to provide a guide that will prevent you from having any of the common accidents. However it can point you in the right direction and give you some helpful ideas.
There is a school of thought that says that every accident is avoidable and that, to some extent, the rider is partly to blame. This sounds harsh, but the truth is that rider behaviour is a key factor and one of the most important ways of avoiding crashes is to acknowledge one's own weaknesses and take some responsibility for what happens when you ride.
