Motorcycle Insurance Articles
Other Drivers And Why They Are The True Danger For Motorcycle Riders
2011-07-26
The choice to become a motorcycle rider over a motor vehicle driver is a fun and exciting one, but also a dangerous one. Riding your motorcycle on the open road can be an exhilarating experience that feels free and fast. However, motorcycle riders are constantly in danger of getting into accidents and sustaining injuries, and they have to watch out for everyone else on the road. In fact, according to the Hurt Report, 75 percent of accidents in a motorcycle involved a passenger vehicle. This is one of the reasons that motorcycle insurance is often high for some riders, which has little to do with the riders themselves. That's why motorcycle riders need to protect themselves as much as possible to ensure their own safety, including motorcycle insurance, especially in the face of those statistics.
Motorcycle riders essentially don't have much in the way of protection. Although there are plenty of products and gear that can be bought to help keep bikers safe, they aren't 100 percent preventative measures. Motorcycles are essentially open, much like bicycles are, except that motorcycles can travel at speeds of more than 100 mph. The openness of the bikes makes them unsafe for the driver who, if hit by a passenger vehicle, could be seriously injured or even killed. That is why there are so many injuries sustained on motorcycles; there is nothing stopping a passenger vehicle from coming into direct contact with the biker. If the biker is hit or falls, he or she will most likely sustain some serious injuries.
Motorcycles are small, fast and typically hard to spot in the rearview or side view mirrors of most cars. Often, bikers will weave in and out of traffic in order to press ahead. Even if they are being completely safe in their maneuvers - watching all the cars on the road, doing head checks, putting on blinkers and switching lanes carefully - they could still be missed by a passenger vehicle driver. Although it's the law to do a quick head check and check all mirrors several times when driving, especially on the highway, many people neglect to follow through with these safety measures. As a result, if a motorcycle rider comes up quickly and the passenger vehicle driver fails to conduct a head check or check mirrors, an accident happens.
The same rule applies to a driver switching lanes. Without conducting all of the safety measures that ensure an accident won't happen, a driver may miss the oncoming biker and the biker will have to either make a quick decision or absorb the impact. It's the responsibility of everyone on the road to drive safely, not just bikers.