My reading of the Hurt report also tells me that, in spite of the car being at fault,Back in the Hurt Report days, the large majority of motorcycle accidents were car vs. bike, and the car was almost always at fault.
a majority of these accidents still could have been avoided – if the mc rider was capable of basic riding skills.
I remember Hurt profiling two common scenarios:
1. Auto / motorcycle collision at an intersection.
Oncoming auto turning left as the MC rider approaches the intersection.
Auto turning left into the path of the MC,
and the MC rider turning right into the path of the auto.
Conclusion - No practiced knowledge of counter-steering.
2. Auto / motorcycle collisions where the MC rider never applied the brakes
Conclusions - MC rider has no practiced ability to stop an MC.
Both scenarios speak to the possibility of avoidance and the lack of rider ability.
Hurt also makes an issue of motorcycle "inVisibility",
clearly a reference to the culpability of both involved.
Conversely, I have visited in hospitals and been to the funerals of expert riders
who were taken out as a result of the ignorance cagers.
Some scenarios will leave even the skilled MC rider with NO recourse.
Matt would suggest:
This seems to be a rather "arrogance of youth" approach that presumes invincibilityforget about the cagers, My moto is "Catch me if you can"
and (I will guarantee) sometimes does not play out as planned.
EVERY driver or rider licensed to be on the road MUST BE COMPETENT & QUALIFIED
There's no getting around that fact – Our roads are too congested to believe otherwise.
Motorized vehicles will always have the very real potential of being deadly weapons.
... and I don't want a motorcycle with air-bags to compensate for the stupidity of others.