Do Your Bit To Stop Motorcycle Crashes |
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Kathy Jenkins
SubmitYOURArticle.com
September 16, 2011
As soon as the warmer months of the year arrive, motorcyclists take to the highways in droves, with the high fuel-price an added impetus. With the significant increase in the number of riders of motorcycles, it is important that everyone drive defensively, to keep motorcycle accidents to an absolute minimum. It is possible to make a contribution to reducing accidents by undertaking certain things.
The first responsibility lies with riders of bikes, who must wear crash helmets and other safety gear, and drive at safe speeds for the prevailing conditions. Keep away from fast paced streets or freeways, if you don't feel confident with your riding ability. Doing so will reduce the risk of yourself as well as others of having an accident. Before going for a ride, ensure that all parts of the bike are working well, and pay special attention to the controls. For neither a car nor a motorcycle is it acceptable to be drinking and driving. Statistics show that alcohol is often a contributory factor with motorcycle accidents.
Keeping an attentive eye on other road-users is imperative for a motorcyclist. Motorbikes are not always visible to someone driving a car, more often than just in the usual blind spots. Motorcycle riders must be completely ready always, for a car to swerve into the other lane, without knowing that you are even there. Night-time driving, of course, requires that along with everything else, your headlights should be in good working order. If you don't have much experience, your risk of having an accident is greater. Someone new to riding doesn't have the same grasp of the rules of the road and tends to be more nervous while riding. Needless to say, older riders can also find themselves in accidents if they get careless about being attentive at all times.
A bike rider has to be more mindful with hindrances in the road. A car can hit something like a loose board lying in the road and get away with it, but for a biker that could mean death. Everyone who drives a car has to be vigilant about keeping tabs on all other vehicles, and watch out for them - bikes in particular - getting lost in blind spots. Before you make any changes always indicate your intention utilizing your signal lights, and look in the mirrors a few times, not just once. Watch out for older cycles turning without signalling, given that often they weren't built with signals. At nighttime it is advisable to pay attention, because that specific light heading towards you might be a motorcycle, or a car with a headlight out.
When following a motorcycle, it is best to keep back even farther than you normally do for a car. Rear-ending a cycle is going to have far more calamitous consequences than if it were a car. The rider and any passenger will often be impaired a lot more severely than if they were in a car. Crashes are usually unexpected, and can happen to any individual, even very experienced riders. It's not possible to take away every hazard, but you can be careful, by driving defensively.
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