Cheese Monkey wrote:Well, while I couldnt comment or quote on facts and figures relating to that, from my personal experience I would say-
Avoidance. Car drivers are to blame for the majority of accidents, but if more avoidance techniques were taught and tested we would avoid being knocked off. That does not mean that motorcyclists are negligent in not knowing these techniques at all (I've never been taught, just learned from experience), it just means they should be tested on knowing them, which I believe the new test that is being introduced involves.
I believe avoidance techniques are being taught, or at least they were when I was an instructor in the early 90's.
We spent a lot of classroom time, with slideshows and videos, teaching correct road positioning in relation to junctions and other hazards, taking into account obstructions such as trees, road signs, and even pillar boxes and that was at CBT level.
The real skill in defensive riding, is positioning for optimum visibility and presenting yourself to other road users.
There are cases of course, where none of this works.
Quite recently, I was on a roundabout with right of way, when a driver who was looking straight at me at the time, just pulled across my path.
I actually had a feeling it was going to happen and was ready for it.
This is where experience comes in.
A lot of people find it hard to accept, but I absolutely maintain that a rider develops a sort of 6th sense when it comes to situations like these.
This is something that cannot be taught and comes only with experience.
As regards accidents
Unfortunately the statistics do not give us a conclusive answer.
I said from the beginning that I reckoned it was about 50-50, and from what has been posted, I have no reason to doubt that, but it is interesting that the report does suggest that the sills and attitudes of riders needs to be addressed, which I doubt it would if the report was as conclusive as some would believe.
We do have a problem within our own ranks that is eventually going to bring the whole thing crashing down and the sooner we pull our heads out of the sand and address it, the more secure our future will be.