Serious Are Scooters Safer Than Motorcycles?

ride512

ride512

Wannabie Member
I witness the aftermath of a motorcycle accident and I talk about the perception that scooters are safer than motorcycles.

 
can_of_worms_ahead.jpg
LOLOLOL
 
Overall, I'd say since the majority of accidents involving bikes and cars are usually the car doing something illegal and hitting the bike, I'd say not much difference between the two.
 
Clint Love said:
Overall, I'd say since the majority of accidents involving bikes and cars are usually the car doing something illegal and hitting the bike, I'd say not much difference between the two.
Click to expand...

That was my assessment as well. I wanted to talk about it because ever since I bought my scooter I've had a lot of people tell me they want to get one and I feel like there's some belief on their part that a scooter is some how safer than a motorcycle. At least that's the impression I get from the conversations.

I'd even say a small scooter in traffic could be more dangerous as it lacks the power to speed up quickly if needed, but I'm sure there are underpowered motorcycle/rider combinations as well.

Anyway be safe out there! :)
 
Lurch said:
You talking about SMIDSY?
Click to expand...
Had to look that up, but something like that. Here in the States, most bike accidents are either caused when an oncoming driver makes an illegal left turn at a stop light and hits the bike going through the intersection; or by merging into the lane already occupied by the bike.
 
I've been looking in to and researching SMIDSYs at the moment (I have a reason!).

So while the car driver didn't see the bike, how about the other side of the coin? Did the biker see the car wanting to turn? Invariably yes, so why didn't the biker anticipate that the car might just go and therefore position or change speed to be able to evade if needed?

Food for thought.
 
In my area I would say bikes are in more collisions but scooters are in more accidents, for showing off, speeding and low-siding etc. in front of their mates.
 
Lurch said:
I've been looking in to and researching SMIDSYs at the moment (I have a reason!).

So while the car driver didn't see the bike, how about the other side of the coin? Did the biker see the car wanting to turn? Invariably yes, so why didn't the biker anticipate that the car might just go and therefore position or change speed to be able to evade if needed?

Food for thought.
Click to expand...

That's true. In fact, we are taught to watch out for this when we take the MSF course. Really, people in cars should watch out for the same. My vid "Rev Bomb the Squirrel" I caught a truck almost getting hit in exactly this manner. He still has a lot less to lose than someone on a bike.
 
People should look in cars, and actually most do.

I bet you're in disbelief of that.

We all look, but we don't always see. The quicker the look, the less you see. There is a thing called a saccade. This is where your eyes only see something when they are still, as you move your eyes you only get snapshots of the panorama. Your brain makes up the bit in between that gives you a sense of a smooth panning motion. The other thing with your eyes is that you actually only see a small part of the vista in clear focus, the rest is a blurred picture and your brain deals with the rest. So yes, they look, but they don't see you. You do it too on your bike, but as a bike rider, you're better trained to look better, but probably not as much as you might think.

So why rely on a car driver to see you? Don't, put yourself in a better position to be seen, and more importantly a better position to be able to deal with someone pulling out.
 
It's still a misconception that car drivers cause most accidents concerning bikers. When in fact most accidents with bikers are their own fault overestimating their own abilities.
 
thunderous71 said:
It's still a misconception that car drivers cause most accidents concerning bikers. When in fact most accidents with bikers are their own fault overestimating their own abilities.
Click to expand...

I think a lot of that boils down to the robust amount of videos that show cars pulling out on bikes, and the lack of videos that shows bikers causing accidents themselves.
 
Statistically, about 75% of motorcycle crashes in the U.S. involve another vehicle, and of those collisions 2/3rds are caused by the driver not seeing the motorcycle and violating the bikes right of way (like making a left turn in front of the oncoming motorcycle). This is why high viz vests/gear have been shown to reduce the likelyhood of accidents by 37% and it's especially important to have high viz gear facing forward.
 
I'd not necessarily say bikers cause many accidents, in the UK, a bike/car collision is 90% likely to be the car's fault, however if you then consider what the non-fault party could have done, then you are getting towards reducing SMIDSYs.
 
Food for thought:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15975564
Then click on the biker icon at the top (Sunday riders)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2009/crash/8414354.stm
Click on vehicles then on motorbike on pie chart.

Now a lot of accidents are not logged or reported, for example I came off last week simple drop but it was on the road and it was my fault. This isn't in any log / stats.

The accidents bikers always refer to are ones where a car has / may have caused it (had two of them myself) now these are commonly reported because of insurance etc.

But i still say most "accidents" with bikes are rider error and it's so very dangerous to play the blame game on the car driver.
 
I don't know about accidents as a whole, but having worked for some time in mortuary and hospital settings, I can tell you that when you see bikers in a bad crash where the biker ends up a vegetable in hospital or dead in the morgue, there were usually 2 of 3 factors.

1. No Helmet
2. Alcohol/Drugs
3. Doing stupid shit (excessive speed, stunts on the highway, weaving in busy traffic)

You can get away most times with one of the three (though I recommend zero) but when you combine two or more, you're in trouble.

This is not based on any available stats. Just my observations
 
Accident involving cars with me have 100% been the cars fault but i probably could have avoided a couple of them if that makes sense ...the ones on my own are because i was being a numpty but put that down to education ;-)
 
Well seems like scooters are basically under powered motorcycles that cant handle or stop as well. They dont push you fast enough to properly use your inertia and weight to balance through turns etc. I'd say they are much more dangerous than a motorcycle. However if a person is an idiot prone to doing foolish things then yes a scooter would be less likely to seriously hurt them than a huge powerful motorcycle.
 
RollngCole said:
Well seems like scooters are basically under powered motorcycles that cant handle or stop as well. They dont push you fast enough to properly use your inertia and weight to balance through turns etc. I'd say they are much more dangerous than a motorcycle. However if a person is an idiot prone to doing foolish things then yes a scooter would be less likely to seriously hurt them than a huge powerful motorcycle.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on the scooter. I lean in to turns all the time on mine. My scooter also stops well. Of course you're less likely to be going as fast as a 1000cc motorcycle, but my point was that people think scooters are some how inherently safer than a motorcycle when in reality they face the same dangers on the road. Yes in some cases they also suffer from having less power to maneuver.
 
Is see people all the time on scooters with no gear on whatsoever. I think scooters are more dangerous since they are usually slower than motorcycles. All of the vulnerability and none of the maneuverability. Same with trikes. That coupled with the lack of gear means more injuries for scooter riders I think.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top Posters Past 30 days

Winners Video

Website Supported by Ipswich SEO

Latest posts

Back
Top