It's all your own fault!

An article in a british Bike mag a short while ago stated that "every crash you will ever have is all your own fault!." A bold assertion.

I have been pondering this for some time and broadly I agree. It will be either recklessness (see all those You Tube movies) or lack of observation and caution. The only time I could think of a rider being totally innocent is being rear ended at traffic lights or stationary traffic.

Every time I thought of a situation like hitting spilt deisel or getting hit by an animal I thought well maybe shouldn't be going so fast or Should have seen the danger signs (forrest or woods nearby, Route often used by trucks etc)

I speak, rather smugly, as someone who has been riding for over 20 years and has never
fallen off a bike on the road! I'm just wondering if that is just a certain amount of skill and judgement or just plain lucky.

Discuss?

[Limey]

I agree with you Neal, coz where I live no cage has ever ran a red light or pulled out of a side road without looking. All spilled diesel glows bright green so it can be seen from 500 yards. No driver ever changes lanes without looking or indicating. No bike rider has ever been hit in the face by a tire tread that some truck shed at 70mph. Every critter that crosses the road stops and waits for the traffic to pass. We have guys every 100 yards standing a the side of the road to pick up all the discarded car parts and shed cargo. No accident has ever been caused by some smug bastard who thinks they've never been in an accident "but seen plenty".I could go on but I have to walk to work now as I've made myself too nervous to ride. PS. Neal could you fart in a bottle for me and send it over, it must smell wonderful :-D

[cheapbastard]

On 2006-08-01 03:47, nealenet wrote:
or just plain lucky.

BINGO! really hope you didn't just jinx yourself, though! :hammer:

[ This message was edited by: cheapbastard on 2006-08-01 05:20 ]

[oldmanrandall]

Spose you practice safe sex too whilst walking round in your own bubble of purified air - just in case..... :razz: :razz:

[jlzmeehan]

Free will versus determinism.Yes,we must take responsibility for our own safety.That means being prepared for whatever may happen on the road.Whatever may happen-that's the part I don't have complete control over.

[gstar]

This post is in great taste considering the poor guys who are sitting in wheelchairs etc reading this.. nice one

[cheapbastard]

On 2006-08-01 05:55, gstar wrote:
This post is in great taste considering the poor guys who are sitting in wheelchairs etc reading this.. nice one

spot on gstar! I have a feeling this is gonna turn into a rather interesting thread! pcn:

[Kajota]

So when you go flying over the handle bars after hitting some loser who made a left in front of you, you will refuse to have his insurance pay because it was your fault anyway?

I agree you need to be as prepared as possible when you ride. The right gear, be very alert etc and all that. But you do that precisely because you can't control the other dopes on the road who are going to cause the accidents.

I think when this magazine says something like this they're just trying to make a point. I think it's just hyperbole.

[R100Pilot]

I will rephrase the proposition:

ALL crashes are avoidable.

Really - they are. If you hadn't hit that oil, or if you'd been going a little slower through the intersection, or you'd been looking in your rearview mirror while sitting at the stoplight and seen that cage pulling up too quick - IF you had done something different, you wouldn't have gone down.

However, that's a great big whalloping <bold><font size="+1">IF</font></bold>.

It's the same IF that says we coulda avoided WWI if the archduke had decided to sleep in, or that MLK would still be alive if he hadn't stepped out to take a breath of fresh air on the balcony.

That IF assumes you can know absolutely everything about a situation and account for every conceivable variable.

But ya can't - nobody can. And bad things happen. Sure - hindsight is 20/20 and I suppose if we were psychic we _could_ have done something to avoid the bad things, but as far as I know, none of us is omniscient yet. If ya are, let me know - I'm on the bike today and have some stupid scary traffic to get through on my way home. I'd like to know if there's anything I should watch out for, ideally before I don't see it and it clobbers me.

[ This message was edited by: R100Pilot on 2006-08-01 07:17 ]

[Limey]

[quote]
On 2006-08-01 07:15, R100Pilot wrote:

but as far as I know, none of us is omniscient yet. If ya are, let me know -


I knew you were gonna say that! :-D