I know it have a lot of safe riders out there that's been riding a lot longer than me. Since I had my 14 which was my first bike, I only had one close call. How do you guys continue to be accident free riders?

Situational awareness and prodigious amounts of luck.

AGATT & be aware....and #1 Age!

* Last updated by: mrwoo on 7/18/2014 @ 10:27 PM *

I think practice and familiarity with the road come into play. Every now and then I have a little surprise but I always react calmly. I know there are those situations out there where all the calm in the world won't amount to a hill of beans and fortunately, I have not encountered them. Those are the sorts of thing that will get ya no matter what skill level you are, you know a deer jumps out from a blind corner (OH, wait--I did come upon a flock of turkeys crossing the road as I crested a hill last year!).

Just a couple days ago, I had a guy on a 600 ninja right behind me and we both dashed around a couple cars and leaned into the big sweeper ahead. The up the hill curve was clear of traffic so we were hanging off doing at least 110. It is so much fun to ride fast with someone else. Among my best loved hooliganistic activities. Fortunately, I used a little common sense and rolled off the throttle as I came to the top of the hill. The expressway ahead was jammed. Brake lights as far as the eye could see. I had not been on that road in about 6 months but I remember there was a lot of construction going on last time I was there. Still under construction, I guess. There was room to slow down so I wouldn't exactly call it a "close call" but throwing out the anchor at 100 is always an eye opener.

I guess work on your skill without exceeding your limitations and above all, KNOW THE ROAD VERY WELL if you are going fast. Remember, pro racers can go as fast as they go mainly because they know the track.

Intensive alertness and always assuming the worst-case behavior from other drivers. But it's almost always the hazard you don't see that gets you, so be prepared. As has been said: ATGATT!

Expect the unexpected. Keep a safe distance. Ride like they can't see you and stay out of the other guys blind spots.

ATGATT?? Ride like everyone out there is trying to kill you. Ride like you are not trying to kill yourself.

I was in New York last Friday when they showed in the local news an accident report involving a motorcycle in New Jersey. A young woman texting on her phone caused a crash, multiple cars involved, that killed a motorcyclist. Drive safe, tell your family how much you love them everyday, because when your time is up there is nothing anyone can do. Tomorrow is not promised.

I hate riding in traffic. I usually speed up to get around the traffic or slow down. If it's close to rush hr I wouldn't ride at all

I'm a safe rider. I've got just over 1k miles on my new ninja (as of today). I've never had a ticket, spill, or accident on a bike (overall excellent driving record). I had my prior bike for 4 seasons and about 13k miles. Of my close group of friends, I was maybe 1 of 2 or 3 (don't remember) out of about 10 riders that never went down. In the larger circle, I had 2 friends/associates die out of probably 20 riders.

Don't get me wrong, I have fun on my bike. Last Sunday I was riding through a commercial zone I'm familiar with. I wasn't expecting traffic or anything else. I was going around a familiar blind S turn, pushing her about 40-50% and low and behold a company had a huge box truck in the outside lane. They were resealing a parking lot. Luckily, I wasn't pushing it much more and expecting to have that lane. It would've probably ended badly. One of my rules is never push the bike so hard I cannot maintain my lane. My advice, on public roadways is never become comfortable with familiar roads.

Ah yes, know the road if you are going to go fast but just when you're sure you have it down, that's when it will git ya.

I really enjoyed reading 'Ride Hard Ride Smart' by Pat Hahn. Besides offering street strategies, it covers motorcycling risk management from some interesting perspectives.

The general attitude I employ is to play my strategy like a game, doing things like maintaining lines of sight, being seen, anticipating problems and providing space and time to deal with inevitable threats. The 14 can work for you or against you in managing space and time, depending on your attitude and riding style. Whether it saves you or kills you is up to you.

Tooncinator glad there are people here who know when to play, and when not to. When I got my M several years ago, I went through MSF to get it. I pretty much adhere to what they recommend, even when playing. Unlike most people that go through MSF, I didn't just let my eyes glaze over during the class time of the course.

In 2001 I earned my Class A CDL. I was surprised many principles taught by MSF are also taught to commercial drivers. I only drove semi-truck for one year, and since have made the right choices to get back into my chosen career field. Even driving cars, I tend to use techniques taught for motorcyclist and commercial drivers. Although I won't tell you I haven't gotten a ticket* or pulled over in the last 20 years, I haven't had an accident during that time.

* I have no tickets on my license by using infraction deferral programs.

Lots of good advice on this thread but I didn't see the most important one of all....PRAYER!. I begin every ride with a prayer for safety and end with a prayer of thanksgiving upon my safe return. This is risky business, anyone that tells you otherwise is lying to you, we are all one slip away from eternity. They say if you ride long enough you'll go down, I've been down already, more times than I like to mention but GOD has always brought me safely through it.

Can't argue with it.

Even if you place no stock in any theology the pause to say something before you take your mount serves to focus the brain; concentrate on the task before you.

I've said prayers directly before firing my weapons at the range; looking for steady body and mind moving as one corpus.

I ride very laid back in traffic, due to i was very close, indeed with retards almost clipping me, just lay back when you see trouble

Having a 24 year old daughter that rides, grounds me! When she texts me and wants to go for ride, I'm thrilled! Then the safety bug kicks in. All the routine maintenance checks are done on both bikes. Then the gear thing, of course. I have no problem paying for all her safety gear. She rides a 2009 Ninja 250. We enjoy each and every ride, safely.

I'm 40 with a safe driver insignia on my license due to a clean history. I am a licensed racer and ride the street like everyone is out to get me.

I continue my education off the road as well.

Read books that can teach you something about riding safely. I dont care which one, pick one and read it. Then, of course, change you behavior based on what you want to adopt out of what you now know (and hopefully understand).

Go back to school: Get that advanced course endorsement from MSF. I've done this twice, and I'll go again if I can. said a different way, if you're teach-able, there are people who will show you stuff.

Focus On The Ride while you're riding. Avoid allowing your mind to wander. Pay attention, you have *nothing better to do* than drive. (This is where most cagers fall down).

Ride a dirt bike. You want to practice holliganism, and get away with it? (assuming you survive). There's no better teacher than the track, on or off road. Off road, dirt bike allows for your survival odds to increase and absolutely will make you a better street rider.

I have other tips, too. Ask for'em, I'll write some more...

[Edit]:

I found myself wondering if anyone (including me) can appreciate, or understand, what is being a "safe rider" unless the rider hurts themselves. "Being safe" usually implies "avoiding pain, yours or others".

The point: Wanna understand *why* exactly it's valuable to be a "safe rider"? Crash a few times, get busted up some, *know* what thats like, what it feels like, how much it costs... Understand that, and you'll understand why you want to avoid it.

Thats why I offered the dirt cycle tip. You're gonna fall off, you're gonna get hurt some. You're *gonna* get some pain, pocketbook and / or physical injury. But, you're much more likely to be "OK" on the other side of a dirt cycle get-off.

Then you'll think more carefully what thats gonna be like on the asphalt. ...and you'll want to avoid that based on (good?) experience.

* Last updated by: mebgardner on 8/13/2014 @ 1:57 PM *

meb, I think the same principal applies to riding (and crashing) bicycles. I practically lived on two wheels in my youth and have scars from going down my share of times. Broken arm once, road rash a few times. Man, crashing sucks and I really don't feel the need to do it on a big bike, ever. That kind of experience does help get your head right I think.

Focus On The Ride while you're riding. Avoid allowing your mind to wander. Pay attention, you have *nothing better to do* than drive. (This is where most cagers fall down).

To me this is one of the most important keys to safe riding. Not only do riders need to be aware of what they are doing, they need to maintain situational awareness (which means basically all around above, below, sides, front/back). It's easy to just start droning along, but a rider needs to be self-aware enough to snap them out of that when it happens.

I found myself wondering if anyone (including me) can appreciate, or understand, what is being a "safe rider" unless the rider hurts themselves. "Being safe" usually implies "avoiding pain, yours or others".

There are those of us out there. I am one of these people. I've never had an accident (of any sort) on a bike. I've come close, very close a few times from minor to what would probably have lead to death.

Here's one example. On my first bike (VF1000F) I was goofing around a little with the thought learning how to wheelie I was never really into stunts, more speed/performance oriented. One day leaving work, I decided to give it a go. Mind you, my "gear" of the time consisted of my short sleeve shirt, pants, gym shoes, and sunglasses. In the parking lot, I gassed her pretty good and popped the clutch. It wheelied alright, I mean right up to a good 45 degree or so wheelie.

I wasn't quite expecting this. My feet slipped off the pegs and I was literally being dragged on the left side of the bike. Somehow, to this day I really don't know how, but I hung on and was able to pull myself back onto the bike. I have no idea how that didn't end up being a complete and total disaster. I can't imagine how many people would've let go, or even would've just lost grip. Needless to say, that was the last time I ever tried to do a wheelie.

Hey Tunes:

Yeah, pain sucks. I'm right now nursing two fractured wrists, *from early March*. That was a dirt cycle get-off, into rocks. Totally my fault (cant blame the rocks, huh?). I walked around for 3 months "Ah, it'll get better soon... Hey why does it still hurt??", before I went to the doc and found out they were both fractured.

I even did a grand canyon backpack, 6 days, 60 miles into the back country with them like that (before I knew they were busted). I guess pain is not always the *best* teacher, but it does get one's attention.

VicThing:

Those are good stories. Buy a dirt bike and learn to wheelie.

Buy a dirt bike and learn to wheelie.

I'll pass on dirt bikes. I'll pass on the wheelies. That story was from over 15 years ago, when I had my VF1000F. I have no desire what's so ever to learn wheelies (still like speed/performance better).

I ride hard, push when I can, speed when I can, hooligan when I can. I pick my spots to blitz. I like to chase down challengers and contenders. I will, however all said not commit to stupid situations that may end my life. I ride with an exit plan and desire to arrive alive at home. Case in point I was on a busy highway littered with cars and a cat on an M 109 lit by. He almost went down (clipping a vehicle with tail light) trying to pass me. I simply let him eat the Honda he clipped. Ride hard, stay alert, ride with you witts and pick your spots. You shall live longer and become a better rider. My 0.02 today.
Mad Love