"They" like to play the numbers game but we all know the truth.

 

Been riding on the street for 35 years. I'm a much better rider than I was back then. Still, between inattentive drivers on their cell phones, a deer population out of control, and a deteriorating and dangerously decrepit highway system, I'd say motorcycling here is more dangerous than I've ever experienced.

 

Bikes are much improved over older bikes. ABS, linked disk brakes that are substantially better than older disks, better suspensions, better fuel delivery (FI), more reliable, etc. Little things get thrown into the mix too like LED lights and tubeless tires and cast wheels. Bikes, even Harleys are far superior to older bikes in many ways. Motorists in automobiles are much more aware of bike riders now than they were in the past probably because there are so many more of them on the road. When I first started riding, you could ride all day and pass very few others on bikes. Today, I can't go a mile without seeing another bike. When I was in high school there were exactly 3 other guys in my school (enrollment of 426) that had a bike. Do a count today and see what you get. I'm pretty sure if you poll 426 high school students there will be more than 4 with a bike of some sort. In my entire town there were very few bikes. You could have probably counted them on your fingers and toes and just like today, a few of them were garage queens that rarely got ridden.

 

Lot of motorcycles out there.

One of my best friends who I rode 10's of thousands of miles with was killed Sunday as he plowed into a van that had come to a stop on Rt1 to make a left turn.

He was the safest smoothest rider I have rode with. Did he take his eyes off the road for a few seconds ... did he have a heart attack?

If he was in his car, the driver of the van would probably be killed too.

I would just say that perhaps a lot of riders are more safety conscious but accidents will and have always happened.

 

So how well do you guys think them deer whistles work?

I have a couple chrome plated plastic ones that came on the bike.
If they work, even sometimes I'll leave'em, if not they need to go.

 

I think motorcyclists have better training options and protective gear choices available these days. Unfortunately I don't think car drivers have become more safety conscious. I've always found it stunning that a person can get a driver's license with an absolute bare minimum of training, and there's no additional training required going forward.

On a bike I have to be 100% responsible for my safety because no one else is going to be.

 

Whenever motorcycle safety comes up "the other guy" always gets thrown into the conversation. There's no denying that car and truck drivers are a big safety issue for us.

However, over the years several things have remained constant:
Close to half of motorcycle crashes are single vehicle crashes meaning that the motorcyclist did it to himself.
A very high percentage of motorcycle crashes involves a rider that is riding drunk.
A very high percentage of motorcycle crashes involves high speeds.
A higher percentage of motorcycle riders are riding with high BAC than the percent of car/truck drivers with a high BAC.

What does all this say? We are our own worst enemy. Just think how the crash/fatality numbers would take a nose dive if the motorcycle community cleaned up its own act.

 

No it is not safer, back in the fifties,
my 650 Triumph T-bird wouldn't
run very long at a time .

So , I was not exposed to very much time on the streets.
Now every bike I have runs good all the time .
Now the "exposer rate" is much much higher.

 

A club Brother of mine was killed by a driver on a cell phone making U-turn right in front of him. Her punishment? One year suspended license and a $100.oo fine! I hope she thinks of him every time she picks up a phone for the rest of her life.

 

The 'Busa was never an "1100."

The current GW is quite quick, too. (Well, it's a lot faster than any stock air cooled Harley, anyway.)