Just wondering, seems like the freeway would be safer, because everyone is going the same direction, same speed. On a city street, there are many more factors and people still speed up to 60mph in zones where they shouldn’t. Thoughts?
It’s not so much about frequency as it is about severity.I graduated to my irst harley in 1967, and shortly thereafter decided that straddling iron at 60mph surrounded by inattentive or even hostile drivers in steel cages was too close to a death wish. The only way to bend the odds in your favor was to greatly exceed the speed limit, approaching and passing all before they kney you were there, and treating all of them like they were mafia hit men with a contract on you. NOT a relaxing ride. Secondarily, if you do simply ride along with traffic on a freeway,,,,behaving yourself and being very carefull, ANY accident is more damaging to you due to the speed, increasing the length of time that you are sliding out of control down the road after contact, and the odds that another vehicle would inadvertently roll over you, even after you stop sliding. I’ve attended many funerals of friends killed on the freeway on bikes,, I visit injured buddies that were struck on surface streets. I have never regretted my decision to eliminate freeways, preferring, actually, county highways to urban streets.
In the last forty years, I have only been injured/down once. Sitting on my scooter at an urban intersection waiting to make a left turn, I was hit by a speeding inattentive driver head-on. A stationary bike is the most vulnerable,sinc you simply cannot take ANY evasive action if you aren’t moving. I did, however , have time to see him coming and react, jumping up at the moment of impact, the scooter getting trashed but myself simply falling straight down to the pavement, rather than being slapped down the road by the car. My experience dictates that to stay alive, stay off of freeways, consider EVERY automible your sworn enemy, even parked cars that sometime pull out into your side as you pass by. Surface(side) streets are safer simply by virtue that, even if the number of accidents are equal, the slower speeds on surface streets mean more time to react, and less injury if you do make a mistake.good luck, stay attentive and stay alive. Ride as though you are invisible and no-one else sees you, because they actually don’t. I have looked drivers right in the eye and had them pull out in front of me anyway. If you find that you MUST use a freeway,, keep a good safe distance behind your leading vehicle and always, ALWAYS follow in one of the tiretracke of that vehicle,,,not centered. cars will straddle objects on the road with their tires. Also, at ANY traffic light, approach in the tiretracks,,,not the center of the lane. Most cars and trucks leak various petroleum products ontl the pavement at traffic lights and make the center of the lanes excessivly slippery.
#1 by Carl P on December 6th, 2009
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The numbers are higher for smaller streets due to the blind intersections problems. However the highways have enough accidents for bikers both from stupid bikers and 4 wheelers who never look and never signal their turns.
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Been riding for 35 years, rode into work last night 45 miles one way on the motorcycle.
#2 by fordman on December 6th, 2009
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yes they do. You can have an accident on either. Chances are better to have one on smaller streets. People may not see you and pull out in front of you.
On the highway or freeway, sometimes I’ve had them just come over into my lane while I was in it. They again, didn’t see me. I’ve also had a tire blow out on me while going down the road, luckily I managed to keep the bike upright and get into the emergency lane. I’ve also been going down the freeway and found a 3" angle iron bar about 12ft long sitting at a 45deg angle across the lane, the car in front of me straddled it and then I was right on before I could do anything, once again, I was luckily enopugh to save it and didn’t wreck, came close on that one.
So never get overconfident on a motorcycle, it will come back to haunt you. Good luck
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#3 by Just me again, Do I know you ?!? on December 6th, 2009
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There are stupid people everywhere (on 2 and 4 wheels)
So I would say the answer is neither is safer, they are both just as likely to have just as many accidents.
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#4 by auditor4u2007 on December 6th, 2009
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I don’t have the actual statistics, but I’ve been riding for over 30 years and have been involved in two accidents, both of which were on city or rural streets, where people driving a car either didn’t look or didn’t see me coming.
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#5 by Fred Y on December 6th, 2009
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More motorcycle accidents occur at intersections, so freeways are therefore safer. It is harder to collide with another vehicle when they are all going the same direction. Also, lots of fatalaties occur when someone is approaching the biker from the opposite direction, then maks a left turn in front of him/her.
And more importantly, alcohol is a big factor in motorcycle accidents! Don’t drink then get on a motorcycle!
See the link for some statistics.
References :
http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-Safety/crash.htm
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art39773.asp
#6 by bikernoj on December 6th, 2009
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You’re generally correct. Side streets where cagers don’t see an oncoming bike past their cell phone (or a squid is doing 80mph in a 35mph zone) are where bikes T-bone cars. The twisties are where solo crashes happen when a rider makes a mistake in a turn. Freeways are full of flying debris and cell phone zombies that never use their mirrors or signals, as well as semis and squids.
No matter where you ride, there’s a hundred things that can take you out every minute. The key is to understand how to avoid them and predict when they’ll happen.
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#7 by freeman on December 6th, 2009
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It’s not so much about frequency as it is about severity.I graduated to my irst harley in 1967, and shortly thereafter decided that straddling iron at 60mph surrounded by inattentive or even hostile drivers in steel cages was too close to a death wish. The only way to bend the odds in your favor was to greatly exceed the speed limit, approaching and passing all before they kney you were there, and treating all of them like they were mafia hit men with a contract on you. NOT a relaxing ride. Secondarily, if you do simply ride along with traffic on a freeway,,,,behaving yourself and being very carefull, ANY accident is more damaging to you due to the speed, increasing the length of time that you are sliding out of control down the road after contact, and the odds that another vehicle would inadvertently roll over you, even after you stop sliding. I’ve attended many funerals of friends killed on the freeway on bikes,, I visit injured buddies that were struck on surface streets. I have never regretted my decision to eliminate freeways, preferring, actually, county highways to urban streets.
In the last forty years, I have only been injured/down once. Sitting on my scooter at an urban intersection waiting to make a left turn, I was hit by a speeding inattentive driver head-on. A stationary bike is the most vulnerable,sinc you simply cannot take ANY evasive action if you aren’t moving. I did, however , have time to see him coming and react, jumping up at the moment of impact, the scooter getting trashed but myself simply falling straight down to the pavement, rather than being slapped down the road by the car. My experience dictates that to stay alive, stay off of freeways, consider EVERY automible your sworn enemy, even parked cars that sometime pull out into your side as you pass by. Surface(side) streets are safer simply by virtue that, even if the number of accidents are equal, the slower speeds on surface streets mean more time to react, and less injury if you do make a mistake.good luck, stay attentive and stay alive. Ride as though you are invisible and no-one else sees you, because they actually don’t. I have looked drivers right in the eye and had them pull out in front of me anyway. If you find that you MUST use a freeway,, keep a good safe distance behind your leading vehicle and always, ALWAYS follow in one of the tiretracke of that vehicle,,,not centered. cars will straddle objects on the road with their tires. Also, at ANY traffic light, approach in the tiretracks,,,not the center of the lane. Most cars and trucks leak various petroleum products ontl the pavement at traffic lights and make the center of the lanes excessivly slippery.
References :
#8 by bluff_michael on December 7th, 2009
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You are correct. Most motorcycle accidents are caused by cars turning left .
Search for "The Hurt Report". Its research done by Harry Hurt in 1982 about motorcycle accidents. Its easy to read and the findings are still valid.
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#9 by Steven F on December 7th, 2009
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Most motorcycle involved accidents do occur with more frequency on city streets, specifically at controlled intersections.
On freeways or hiways, the risk deminishes slightly due to the fact we are all going in the same direction. However, collisions due occur on freeways or hiways generally caused by lane changes or merging. Just with less frequency.
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