Spring Riding

So, it's warm and sunny outside and I see lots of bikes on the road. I've been out on my own bike several times already this month but I even did a few little rides around the neighbourhood in January, February and March, plus several times this month. There's still a ton of gravel in spots and you always have to expect you might get some snow flurries or rain when you venture afar, especially if you get out near the mountains. And, just like every start to the riding season, there are other factors to consider as you tune yourself up and prepare for the road.
One factor is training. I just read a couple of articles about motorcycle accidents and though I couldn't find any specific stats about Alberta in 2014, it seemed to me there were quite a few last year. However, Ontario just had their highest number of motorcycle fatalities in the past eight years with 32 deaths, with the majority being male victims aged 45 to 74. One of the a theories behind the numbers is that there's a lot of people who get their license at a very young age. When they retire, they can afford to buy themselves a nice brand new motorcycle, but they don’t get the proper training. Couple that with the inordinate amount of time off between riding seasons and improper practice time at the start of each new season and it's not hard to see why we have so many accidents.
OPP Specialized Patrol Coordinator Lise Grenier says all riders, new and experienced, should spend some time on their bike before hitting the road, as do all 165 OPP riders, who take a mandatory one-day refresher training.
Another factor is visibility, or as they said in one study I read...conspicuity. This was a population based case-control study done in New Zealand and involved riders involved in accidents as well as random roadside surveys. In this study, most accidents occurred in urban areas, at lower speeds (50kmph), in daylight ours and in fine weather. Riders wearing high visibility or reflective clothing had a lower accident rate by 37%.  White helmets reduced accidents by 24% compared to black and riding with your headlights on further reduced the risk factor by 27%. The conclusion was that low conspicuity may increase the risk of motorcycle crash related injury. Increasing the use of reflective or fluorescent clothing, white or light coloured helmets, and daytime headlights are simple, cheap interventions that could considerably reduce motorcycle crash related injury and death.
 

 

Please...let's not see any of this out there.