Why is the accident rate so high for new motorcycle riders?

The truth is no one currently knows exactly how experience makes riders safer, although some things seem obvious.

Riders probably mainly learn either by crashing, or having near misses. Trial and error.

I crashed a dozen times in my first year of riding, but apart from racing, only twice since – both at very low speed on slippery surfaces.

Motorcycle training didn’t exist at the time. My parents generation didn’t even have a licence test.

I learned that scraping the floorboards on my Lambretta lifted the wheels off the ground, more so with a pillion (sorry Graham).

I learned that a car moving over when I was trying to overtake was not necessarily to let me pass (He was ‘swan necking’ and turned right). I got prosecuted for ‘lack of care and attention’ via A&E. (Sorry Andy – pillion).

I learned cars and trucks often didn’t see me, and pulled out it front of me.

I found wet roads had far less grip than dry.

I found out what ‘black ice’ was and where it often formed, and how slippery snow was when compacted, but fresh snow was better.

I found out oil and diesel were also slippery and where you might find them (petrol station forecourts and nearby roundabouts).

I also found mud on the road was particularly slippery too, and where farmers and construction companies often left it. This was a surprise as I’d taught myself, with the help of my sister’s boyfriend Tony Dyer, by riding around waste land next to Southend Airport on an old 98cc James. Mud was better when it was deeper!

(The police and wealthy land owners largely prevent the current generation of youngsters learning how to control a motorbike this way, away from road hazards. Mike Hailwood (who) learned the same way, so did Casey Stoner and many other top riders).

The Notts police have a 12 man team on dirt bikes, a helicopter and patrol cars. You’d think they’d be better deployed elsewhere like city centres tackling anti social riding, the out of control gig economy, private E-Scooters etc etc. No one bothered me, and clearly noise wasn’t an issue, but continually smelling of aircraft fuel was.

I found out tractor drivers couldn’t apparently see or hear, and were generally oblivious.

I found gravel in places, that was also very slippery, but figured out why and where – mostly. I also found out it can be difficult to recognise on some surfaces, again recently.

I discovered white lines were like ice when wet, drain covers were always slippery as was overbanding (thin lines of tarmac on joints)

I found leaves were slippery too in the autumn.

I found out my brakes were better than my bicycle, and I also now didn’t go over the handlebars if I braked as hard as I could.

I found the rear brake worked better than the front, and a rear skid didn’t mean a fall although a front skid did. (Old drum brakes).

I also found that stamping on the rear brake or snatching at the front, often caused a skid.

I found out some of my mates were lunatics. The wheelie on a 50cc Honda along the top of a double brick wall outside Leigh-on Sea Community Centre wasn’t big or clever, was it Phil? Spectacular – I’ll give you that. A helmet might have been a good idea (not compulsory then). Just a broken arm was quite lucky.

I then learned, after my licence test, that my Triumph Tiger 110 could corner far quicker, went twice as fast, but that the throttle could jam wide open. But I never dropped it.

I found out I could do a ton-up fly past of the Blinking Owl on the A127. And by following another rider, if you got it wrong coming through Raleigh Cutting just before the cafe, and went over a sequence of drain covers, you could end up running wide, across the Esso station forecourt, and through a nice white fence.

I saw a few riders panic and crash on rural bends when I was following them, or they were following me, but I didn’t. I just leaned the bike further.

Interestingly, when I returned to riding 15 years later, I learned quickly to cope with more than twice the power, a bike capable of 140 mph that would both wheelspin, wheelie and do stoppies, but didn’t seem to like corners (Kawasaki GPZ1100 A3).

There followed a selection of sports bikes of ever increasing speed and power, until commonsence finally prevailed after 3 weeks riding an adventure bike around New Zealand. I bought a KTM 950SM in 2007 which I still have. (I still do trackdays on classic bikes).

I seemed to have learned not to panic somehow, and to instinctively brake or swerve before I’ve realised what is happening. I found out that this is called ‘muscle memory’ but it isn’t, it’s learned instinctive reactions without conscious thought.

And how to brake really hard and steer consciously in what seems to be what I call ‘slow time’ to avoid a collision. I guess it’s the effect of adrenaline?

I’ve dropped it twice at zero miles/hr, on an oil slick on the roundabout over the M1 Junction 29, and last year on gravel in a car park whilst putting it on the side stand.

I’ve had some crashes racing.  Two bad ones. I locked the front going into Sears at Snetterton on an unfamiliar bike with better brakes, and had a corker when my TZ350 seized flat out going into the Esses at Mallory (before the chicane was put in and the tyre wall moved back).

Not all learn by trial and error, some mates and other riders continue to have the same collisions. Some only have one crash. If they survive, many don’t ride again.

Some continue to generally crash regularly.

But most simply seem to ride more carefully.

Research shows that the chances of a crash diminish by 40% every time experience doubles, in the early years.

Research has also found ‘advanced’ post-test training is ineffective, riders just go faster, ride more, and have different types of crashes. They are also more likely to blame others, which is unhelpful. It’s all far too late and far too ‘clever’, (as a RoSPA instructor).

Evaluation of Advanced Motorcycling

The problem is also that crash reporting systems are so poor, despite ‘black boxes’ in many new vehicles. So root causes of crashes are guessed.

The current system is performed by the police, who appear to focus on blame and prosecutions rather than prevention.

BikeSafe is, I believe, mainly a PR exercise as they say it’s ‘not training’. I could explain why but it would take too long and doesn’t make any sense. Any biker likes a ride out – even better if you’re getting paid and on a company bike. But go anyway, you’ve nothing to lose and it’s cheap, and you will learn some good stuff from receiving something that’s ‘not training’. (It is really). And you’ll find police riders are generally a great bunch in this setting.

Back to crashes. We don’t know how experienced riders were, only how old, so we can’t match the type of crashes with experience.

We don’t even know if they had a licence or any training. This is a factor in over a third of fatal crashes in Sweden, and even higher in the US where this factor is reported.

40% of young rider fatalities in the UK are underage. Many others won’t have a licence. So no training is probably 50% of the problem, but could be up to 80%? (Pareto’s Principle).

This is where we all really need to focus, learners, young and newly qualified riders, but everyone needs to be critically aware of the child protection issues from both sides.