From: tomes@iastate.edu ()
Subject: Re: Motorcyclist Hits Bicyclist on Skyline Blvd.
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 06:06:35 GMT

In article <1dhag7INNnhd@morrow.stanford.edu> karish@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Chuck Karish) writes:

>It was enough to read one of your postings, though, that
>contained the same smarmy smugness that's right there in
>your response.
>
>MSF graduates don't have a lock on common sense, and they
>don't learn skills that protect them from all possible
>accidents.
>
>A bicyclist who doesn't hear a quiet motorcycle overtaking
>him and who turns without looking might well have turned in
>front of an even quieter car.  There are some surprises
>from which we cannot defend ourselves without incurring
>unacceptable tradeoffs (staying home, making continual
>noise with horn or exhaust system).

You are right when you say we must take risks when we ride.  

I see that you have no real problem with the content of my post, just my 
attitude.  I hope that your aversion to rider training is not contagious: there
are probably many lurkers here who could benefit from a MSF course, either a
basic RiderCourse or an Experienced RiderCourse.  Note: almost all of the
students who finished a MSF course considered it worth their time, and
recommended it.  Are you calling the 20 year veterans (about 10% of our
students here!) idiots and cocky?

I hope that MSF graduates do not have a lock on common sense, and I know for 
a fact that there are some skills that are necessary to survival that are not 
taught in the basic courses: the most common complaint that instructors have is
that there is not enough time allotted for the basic material, much less more
advanced traffic skills.  One of the final statements given to MSF students is
that more advanced courses are available, and that the experience gained in
the course is not all-inclusive.  The direct quote from my CI is "Your final
riding examination is OUT THERE: every time you get on your bike.  If you come
home in one piece without any tickets, you pass."

Since helmet laws, horsepower limits, insurance laws, and limits on where we
ride our bikes result from public perception, we should be doing everything we
can to promote a positive public image.  Rider education is the ONLY way that
has been statistically verified to reduce accidents and injuries, which are the
most common publicly acknowledged reasons for enacting stupid laws about my 
riding habits.  I may be forced to wear my helmet (instead of making an 
informed choice to wear it) because the twenty years of riders before me
compiled some truly nauseating statistics on head injuries and the accident
rate of beginning riders is frightening.

Think about the consequences of your actions: I don't recall your position on 
the exhaust debate, but that discussion dovetails perfectly with the public
image aspect of rider training.  The last line of your post suggests 
(erroneously) that exhaust note prevents accidents by making drivers aware of 
your presence.  Satistics have shown that loud exhausts are not 
underrrepresented in accident studies: this means that the same accidents
happened whether the exhaust was loud or quiet, all other factors being equal.

I live in a University town, and deal with bicycles every day.  I also go to
the parking lot of our stadium about once a week and practice swerves and
braking for a few minutes.  If your mind and body are conditioned to the proper
responses, when the situation rises you will automatically do the right thing.
The actual correct response depends on the surrounding details, but if you
can drop your response time for a given action, then you gain more time to make
the decision of what action to take.  If you spend most of your time practicing
fast sweeping turns and accelerating out of corners, then you will do that 
extremely well when you try it.

As a Cat 3 bicycle racer, I have had the opportunity to see the riding styles
of many different bicyclists, and noticed that an unstable, unpredictable
bicyclist does not usually ride a straight line for a while and then make a
sudden course change.  Usually, their line is wobbly and unsure, and they give
some warning of a course change, like a half-hearted look over the shoulder or
a head check of the dirveway they are about to pull into.  The best action for
a motorcyclist to take ( from my point of view as a bicyclist that rides around
10k miles a year ) is to SLOW DOWN and treat the rider as legally required
(at least in this state): a vehicle legally occupying the entire lane of 
traffic.  If those recommendations are followed, then when the bicyclist turns
across the path of the motorcyclist, there is little danger of a collision.

Since you don't seem to have any real arguments about the accident, or the
relative value of rider education, please don't color the attitudes of the
rest of the net towards the MSF with emotional gibberish that might convince
a new rider that the MSF courses are not worth her/his time.

CP Tomes
1982 Seca 400    1981 GL1100     1993 GTS1000A?????
"There are no ex-Marines, only non-active duty Marines"  -  my CI