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26-01-2006, 12:05am
Sometimes even the most experienced riders have come to grief when a dog or cat unexpectedly darts out in front of them.
Two that caught my eye. Firstly, 'hitting a dog', and the other, crash stats.
Copied the advice about hitting a dog below. This interest me because in the mountains there's always the possibility of coming across one of the nocturnal animals in a badly lit area.
Not too worried about that one, as when I've come across them in the dark, the headlight gives you plenty of warning and you just shit yourself, but stay upright. Easy to stay safe by riding 10km slower than you'd want to do.
The one that really worries me is road kill, particularly in badly lit areas, and the advice copied below may be useful when 'smaking Mr. Dead Roo' is unavoidable.
"Sometimes even the most experienced riders have come to grief when a dog or cat unexpectedly darts out in front of them.
The most normal reaction in this situation is to brake. But it is imperative not to be braking or swerving at the moment when you hit the animal, if it’s avoidable.
What you want to do is to straighten the bike up and if anything to accelerate just before impact with the animal. This will lighten the front end of the bike so you will go over the top of it.
If you are braking when you hit it, the wheel will lock and you will slide along the road. If you are leaning the bike to avoid the animal but you hit it, the outcome will be the same.
ON CRASH STATS:
I really hate the single vehicle stats, it's bad enough that bikers are getting killed by the occasional stupidity of car drivers without hearing of a biker who has died doing something stupid.
This site showed that in Victoria (2004) 60% of bike deaths happened through adding up 'single vehicle accidents' and 'intersections'.
Get rid of single vehicle accidents (19%) and that's a huge improvement in itself. <i></i>
Two that caught my eye. Firstly, 'hitting a dog', and the other, crash stats.
Copied the advice about hitting a dog below. This interest me because in the mountains there's always the possibility of coming across one of the nocturnal animals in a badly lit area.
Not too worried about that one, as when I've come across them in the dark, the headlight gives you plenty of warning and you just shit yourself, but stay upright. Easy to stay safe by riding 10km slower than you'd want to do.
The one that really worries me is road kill, particularly in badly lit areas, and the advice copied below may be useful when 'smaking Mr. Dead Roo' is unavoidable.
"Sometimes even the most experienced riders have come to grief when a dog or cat unexpectedly darts out in front of them.
The most normal reaction in this situation is to brake. But it is imperative not to be braking or swerving at the moment when you hit the animal, if it’s avoidable.
What you want to do is to straighten the bike up and if anything to accelerate just before impact with the animal. This will lighten the front end of the bike so you will go over the top of it.
If you are braking when you hit it, the wheel will lock and you will slide along the road. If you are leaning the bike to avoid the animal but you hit it, the outcome will be the same.
ON CRASH STATS:
I really hate the single vehicle stats, it's bad enough that bikers are getting killed by the occasional stupidity of car drivers without hearing of a biker who has died doing something stupid.
This site showed that in Victoria (2004) 60% of bike deaths happened through adding up 'single vehicle accidents' and 'intersections'.
Get rid of single vehicle accidents (19%) and that's a huge improvement in itself. <i></i>