.............-Riding Stategy-

- Introduction to Advanced Motorcycle Riding Strategies

Riding a motorcycle safely requires both physical and mental skills. You need physical skills to operate the bike smoothly and to perform evasive maneuvers like swerving and stopping. You need mental skills to safely interact with other traffic and to avoid hazards. But which is more important? How much of riding is physical, and how much is mental?

 
While the amounts vary depending on the bike, the rider, and the situation, experts believe that riding a motorcycle on the street is 90% mental and 10% physical. Beginning riders probably focus as much on the physical side as the mental side, maybe 50/50, while experienced riders probably focus almost entirely on the mental side: maybe 95/5!
Photo courtesy killboy.com

Mental Skills:

Analogy- A good example of how this works is that of tying your shoes: when you first learned to tie your shoes, it wasn’t easy. It was a new skill, and there was a lot to remember. (Which hand does what? Which lace goes over, and which goes under? How do you make that loop again?) You didn’t always get it on the first try. But as you got older, you tied your shoes more, you got better and better at it, and eventually it came naturally - you didn’t even have to think about it anymore. Your hands knew what to do. This is called "muscle memory", and the same principal applies to riding a motorcycle.

Once you’ve mastered the basic physical skills, you can afford to pay more attention to your surroundings. Your hands and feet know what to do, which frees your mind up for its most important job: detecting and avoiding hazards.

This Advanced Riding Strategies section of the MMSC Web page contains 44 pages of information meant to help you develop your own riding strategy, or to enhance and hone your current riding strategy. We hope that, after viewing this material, you will:

• -- Understand the importance of using a riding strategy.
• -- Understand the three parts of a riding strategy.
• -- Successfully use the riding strategy to increase your safety.
• -- Be particularly skilled at dealing with intersections, freeway traffic, and mountain riding.

Our intention is to further discussion and enhance individual safety and skills. Although the UMR.com will continue to publish viewpoints on the subject of motorcycle safety, it disclaims any liability for the views expressed. Every motorcyclist is responsible for his or her own safety and that of their passengers. We do not accept any duty or responsibility toward any individuals. We urge all those using the information and views presented on this site to use their own critical judgment. When you may have any doubt about a safety or skill issue, we urge you to seek clarification and information from sources you trust, and to proceed with caution to ensure your safety.

 Foreword: A Note on Safety
What do we mean by "safe?" Is it possible to ride a motorcycle safely? The dictionary says that "safe" implies an "absence of risk." So let’s restate the question: is it possible to ride a motorcycle with an absence of risk? Of course not. There will always be some risk involved when riding. Some situations are riskier than others. Our goal with this information is not to make you a "safe" rider (that would be impossible, according to the dictionary,) but to teach you to recognize high-risk situations, and show you ways to lower your risks. By lowering your risks you make motorcycling more enjoyable, and help ensure that you’ll enjoy it for many, many years.

..Riding Strategy: What Is It, and Why Use It?

What is a riding strategy?

It’s an organized and efficient mental system that helps you:

• Collect information about the road and other road users,
• Interpret the information,
• Decide what’s important, and then make decisions that maximize your time and space, maximize your traction, and minimize your risks.

By doing this constantly, you’ll be giving yourself space and time to avoid hazards while keeping the motorcycle under control.

Ideally, the better you are at using your riding strategy, the less you’ll have to rely on your physical skills and evasive maneuvers.

What are the benefits of using a riding strategy?

A riding strategy:

• - Increases your ability to recognize and respond to hazardous situations
• - Helps you focus your attention on what’s most important
• - Helps you reduce the number of "surprises" you will face on the road
• - Gives you better control of your own environment by allowing you to act (think and plan ahead) rather than react (which limits your choices)
• - Increases your confidence and alertness
• - Promotes good riding habits and further strategy development
• - Reduces the risks of riding

Ideally, a riding strategy will reduce or eliminate the probability of a crash occurring at all, increase your ability to manage hazardous situations, and reduce the severity of injury should a crash occur.

Why doesn’t every rider use a riding strategy?

Most every rider has some sort of system, whether they know it or not. Here are a few reasons why some riders don’t use an active riding strategy:

• They have a poor understanding of the risks of riding: did you know that more than 90 percent of motorcycle crashes result in an injury, compared to about 30 percent for other vehicles? A motorcycle crash is also five times more likely to involve a fatality than other types of crashes. Statistics show that for any given year, the chance of being involved in a traffic accident (in any vehicle) is 1 in 5. The average driver has a crash rate of 1 accident per 10 years.
• Many motorcyclists overestimate their own abilities, and by doing so, underestimate their risks. Most drivers, when asked, consider themselves to be better than other drivers. Many riders may think that because they can handle the bike in normal situations, they can handle the bike in difficult situations. Younger riders tend to feel invincible. Experienced riders may have developed a false sense of security, especially if they haven’t been involved in a crash recently.
• Most of this is due to lack of education and training. The number of experienced riders who have participated in formal training is very low. Many motorcyclists on the road today learned to ride before training was widely available. For many riders, their riding strategy comes from a few bad experiences, and these experiences are often the results of bad judgment.

Ideally, you want to develop your riding strategy without having to learn it the hard way.

Components of a Riding Strategy

A riding strategy can be broken down into three parts: gathering the information, interpreting the information, and using the information. Riders search their surroundings and identify hazards. When they identify a hazard, they try to predict what might happen next. This involves quite a bit of imagination and creativity on the rider’s part; they need to always expect the worst, but hope for the best. When they’ve decided what the worst-case-scenario would be, they act quickly to avoid putting themselves into that situation.

Search:
This involves actively and aggressively collecting information. You have got to "keep your head in the game" anytime you are operating a motorcycle. You are not only looking around, but really "seeing" and comprehending what's going on with road conditions and other traffic. It's very easy to let your mind wander when you've been in the saddle for awhile, especially if you are relatively alone on the road. Rider fatigue is a factor in many single-vehicle crashes.

B. Predict:

Predict the worst, and hope for the best.

• What could happen?
• What are the possible scenarios?
• Keep the options open. Always try to give yourself an escape route.
• Anticipate the worst that could happen and take immediate steps to avoid that.

Prioritize according to danger potential. This can be as simple as passing that tractor/trailer rig rather than continuing to ride alongside. Tires blow out quite frequently on these, and the results for a motorcyclist can be gruesome. If it is that big, going that fast, you don’t want to be anywhere near it. Pass if it is safe to do so, or increase your following distance until it IS safe to pass.

• Will I be able to respond?
• Available traction. Wet or dry conditions? What is the road surface? Do you want to depend on traction/maneuverability to get you out of a situation, or would it be wiser to reposition your bike?

Summary

Your goal in the predict stage of the process is to identify your priority hazard, imagine the worst possible thing that could happen, and takes steps to minimize the hazard (or avoid it altogether) - before it even becomes a hazard. Once that hazard is dealt with, you then focus on minimizing or avoiding your next priority.

C. Act:

Decide what action is best for the situation and how to do it.

Factors that influence your decision:

• - Previous experience
• - Previous training
• - Attitude
• - Fatigue
• - Chemical impairment
• - Motivation
• - Level of awareness
• - Emotions
• - Accuracy of prediction

Using a riding strategy well will help ensure that surprises on the street will be pleasant surprises. It may seem like a lot of work at first, but with practice, it becomes second nature and makes you a better rider.

Special Thanks to the Motorcycle Safety Center of MN. for providing the above information. For more information, please visit www.motorcyclesafety.org

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