This is an disagreeable subject that we motorcyclists are absolute specialists at sweeping deep underneath the carpet. But a latest incident bought me interested by sharing my mantra of security on a bike – it’s all the time your fault, even when it’s not. 

Life on a bike is gorgeous for limitless causes, however the hazard can be very actual, particularly in a rustic the place visitors self-discipline is a seemingly voluntary duty that just a few trouble to train. 

I had a harsh reminder of this actuality just a few weeks in the past after I was on the stunning new Aprilia RS 457. Registering that there have been a treasured few seconds left on the sign forward of me, I knew that the bike I used to be on had sufficient energy to comfortably make it earlier than the inexperienced gentle turned amber. And this was the place I made the dangerous resolution.

In that second, I let my traditional security margin slip and ignored the truth that something lower than 5 seconds left on a pink gentle is nearly as good as a inexperienced gentle for the typical Indian motorist. And thus got here a nastily shut second the place a pointy countersteer enter, numerous ABS intervention and much more luck prevented me from being T-boned on the intersection.

I bought residence offended with myself and have been so since; maybe that’s why I felt compelled to jot down this column. It was a silly transfer and I ought to have identified higher than to easily belief within the guidelines to maintain myself secure. The fact is that you just can’t belief something or anybody on our roads. Only you’ll be able to hold your self secure, and your each motion must be thought of, calculated and executed with a beneficiant security buffer. 

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whose fault a crash is. While another person could have been the trigger, it’s you and your family members who need to undergo the bodily ache, psychological struggling and financial challenges that usually accompany a bike accident. Yes, freak, unavoidable incidents can occur, however in an overwhelmingly overwhelming majority of circumstances, there’s all the time one thing you could possibly have performed in a different way to flee that state of affairs. 

For starters, I all the time experience with the idea that the opposite particular person is a harmful fool making an attempt to take me out. My apologies to everybody on the market who truly isn’t, however getting ready for the worst usually helps you keep away from it within the first place.

Next, it makes an enormous distinction to coach your self to be a greater rider. Riding faculties will change your motorcycling life, particularly should you’ve purchased your self a robust machine. Knowing the best way to use traces and enhance your imaginative and prescient is vastly helpful on the street as effectively. 

However, whereas being confidently in management in any state of affairs is invaluable, it’s additionally a double-edged sword. Overconfidence can throw you into a foul place on the road (prefer it maybe did for me) and with information should come knowledge.

One dangerous resolution can cancel out a long time of excellent ones. Being a secure motorcyclist is a continuing work in progress the place you’ll be able to by no means afford to let your guard down. I do know all this should sound depressingly severe, however taking the additional step will improve the percentages of you getting residence secure. That will improve the percentages of you trying ahead to getting again out in your bike—and that’s the way you construct a protracted and comfortable motorcycling profession.