Getting away with it

saphena

IBAUK Webmaster
Staff member
Premier Member
IBA Member
#1
Motorcycling is dangerous, long-distance motorcycling must be very dangerous.

We know better don't we? But put yourself in the shoes of "the great unwashed public" or the DVSA policymakers or even your local IAM group.

There is a risk that, although we're "getting away with it" at the moment, some new regulation will materialise out of thin air in the name of health & safety and perhaps we should give some thought now to how we might counter such a threat.

If you were invited to give a presentation to, say, the Executive Committee of the DVSA or the policy & research team of IAM RoadSmart, or even the committee of your local riding club, what would you say? Would you be entirely defensive or would you be able to present a positive case in favour of encouraging long distance riding? What evidence would you want at your fingertips and where would it come from?
 

owl*

Rally Bonus checker
IBA Member
#2
There are statistics relating to accidents that have occurred during the various IronButt Rallies, but are there any relating to our IBA saddlesore and other awards? They are the mainstay of our passion, and stats would be my first stop.
 

jaybee

Latvian rider transport!!!!!!
Premier Member
#3
Blimey Bob - let's hope your thread isn't also a portent.....
I agree with Tom that statistics are a useful prop in such arguments. However, we also know that they can be twisted. For example: the extortionate taxing of cars and motorcycles in the name of emissions, when we all know that all 30 million cars in the country emit less CO in one year than a day's flights out of Heathrow. Still, the great unwashed can be made to swallow such hokum.
So, how do we put our case in a language that the proletariat can understand?
Yes, motorcycling is dangerous but so are a lot of fairly common past-times; look at how many have been killed in avalanches over the last couple of years? How many people have been killed or seriously injured riding horses? Parachute jumping? (Statistics here)
How many people die of coronary heart disease or other illnesses related to morbid obesity and a lifestyle sitting in front of the TV eating take-aways? (Stat here)

Anything can be dangerous - even sitting at home doing nothing. It is how we approach the intrinsic danger that matters.
There is the obvious one: I, personally, think that Mountaineering and Scuba Diving are dangerous (and no, i don't mean at the same time.) I don't have the desire and I don't have the ability, therefore, I don't do it - simple 1st rule of self-preservation.
2nd rule involves training. You might be able to ski a gentle blue run but you don't through yourself down a vertical, off-piste cliff without serious practice and extra training. The same approach should be encouraged for the 'sport' of long-distance motorcycling.
- Extra Training to make you a better rider with a greater awareness of hazards and your own limits (RoSPA or IAM)
- Understand the concept and the philosophy (i.e. it isn't a race and you don't need to ride flat out all the time with your eyes gritty with tiredness)
- Plan
- Baby-steps.......practice.
- Mentors. Do a long-ish ride with someone and listen to their pointers.

I know that the above is simplistic and I'm not pushing an Advanced Qualification, however, just like I feel that my 25 years experience in my career outweighed the lack of degree. Equally, a long career of motorcycling gives you an experience equivalency.
This is a salient point and should be part of the argument. I don't know what the average age of our membership is or the average years on 2 wheels but I bet it is significant. Callowness is in short supply. Experience and practice count for so much.

The above paragraph may appear to have drifted slightly away from Bob's original posit but I would couch it in terms that as an IBA member, it is an approach I both encourage and endorse and just like you can't blame the sport of skiing for the deaths of people who venture off piste without proper equipment, guides or training. L-D Motorcycling can't be blamed for similarly ill-equipped victims.

However, let's assume that my argument doesn't wash with the determined nay-sayer and that he believes because someone rides a motorcycle, they automatically think they can do what we do and don't need any extra training. What do we tell these people?
(Interestingly, as an aside, I am a RoSPA Instructor and I have these IBA conversations quite frequently. Without exception, everyone understands that they need practice and training and almost all have thought about it and recognised that it is beyond their limits - as such, they don't intend to try it.)
Unfortunately this is a tricky one because there are people out there who should neither be on 2 wheels nor 4 even for a trip to the shops but their self-belief makes them consider themselves driving Gods. This type won't be persuaded that it is beyond them, so we can either dis-associate ourselves from them entirely or try to educate. Encourage them to:
- Understand the maths behind an SS1000 (1000 / 24 = 41.66 mph and more relevantly 1000 / 18 = 55.55mph)
- Plan the ride: the route, the fuel stops, the rest stops.
- Ride the Plan.

Above all, the mantra for the IBA should be and is the same as we have in RoSPA: Ride your own ride.
Ride at a pace that suits you, stop when it suits you and remember, there is always another day and another ride so there is no need to push yourself.

So, in summary Bob, there isn't a simple rebuttal, rather an education.
 

Ahamay

The Joker
IBA Member
#4
Whilst I think it's a good idea to have Data collected so we can argue our case if necessary but we don't need to provoke the argument by drawing attention to ourselves.
When you consider the demographic of our group we are sensible mature people who have years of riding experience behind us in my case fifty years, and still alive because I don't take risks and at our time of life none of us have anything to prove.