Subject: RE: My Motorcycle Accident
From: tale@dd.org (David C Lawrence)
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 23:44:17 -0400 (EDT)

Just a couple of brief comments on two aspects of this thread, riding
long distances and the definition of safe.

First, while I have a lot of experience riding very long distances
without incident, I have to agree that as the day wears on the risk
increases.  I rode 1845 miles in 26 hours to qualify for the Iron Butt
Association's Bun Burner Gold award (1500 miles in 24 hours) back in
1996, and toward the end I know my risk level was dramatically
increased from when I started the day before.  Yes, nothing happened,
but that hardly means it was "safe."  Similarly, though I have done
700 miles in a day on many, many occasions, I agree with DocGonzo who
said, "I very much doubt that this accident would have happened at the
beginning of the 700 mile day."  I _know_ my concentration was not at
100% after 9 hours of secondary roads --- even 11 miles of forest road.
My thoughts were wandering a little to my next stop in Amsterdam, and
to computing roughly how long it would be before I was home so I could
call my wife to let her know.  I was not completely zoned out by any
means, but just a momentary lapse of concentration was all that was
needed for the drama to start.  Those lapses doubtless become longer
and more frequent as any rider's day wears on into double digit hours.

On the back roads I am more alert than on the Interstates, but on the
back roads there is even more that you must be alert for.
Comparatively speaking, Interstates are relatively low risk roads
according to the statistics.  700 miles on backroads is thus going to
be riskier than 700 miles on the slab.

Finally, I want to reiterate what Chrispy said about safety being a
chimera.  When "safe" is defined as "an absence of risk", there is no
such thing as real safety.  Life is an inherently risky activity; no
one gets out of here alive.  It would be folly to say that
motorcycling does not present some increased risks over using
automobiles, but that doesn't provide the whole picture of the risk
assumed by riding.

I'm searching for an old rec.motorcycles post in my archives about a
statistical analysis of various levels of risk in our lives for
different activities.  I recall that it indicated the increased risk
for riding a motorcycle versus driving a car was measurable but
statistically nearly insignificant, to such a fine degree that it was
below the typical threshhold people use to manage personal risk.  I
intend to some day to use it in the debate I will eventually have with
my wife.  If I find it, I will forward it here.