Key Elements Part VIII: Education

Filed in archive Learning on February 16, 2007

Street smarts are massively important to safety on a motorcycle. Nearly half of all multi-vehicle accidents involving motorcycles involve a car turning left in front of you. Street smarts, along with assertive predictability, with the proper training, can all but eliminate this type of accident.

Street smarts are not something you're born with. It's something you prepare for and learn every time you get on your bike, and for very good reason. When you get in an accident in your car, your chances of walking away without injury are pretty good. You've got much more protection in a car. When you get in an accident on your bike, you've got a much higher chance of getting seriously hurt or even being killed.

Unfortunately, learning street smarts takes time. Experience is the biggest factor in learning street smarts, but you can learn ways to improve your street smarts more rapidly by talking with those of us who know, and by taking some sort of motorcycle safety course. Even experienced riders can benefit from motorcycle safety classes.

Image courtesy Foxsports.om

Introduction
1. Acceleration and Braking
2. Turning
3. Grip
4. Dynamics
5. Assertive Predictability
6. Sudden Inputs
7. Mental Conditioning
8. Education

Hat tip to Andy at motorcycle-usa.com's forum for the inspiration to write this.