Motor Cycle Safety and Serious Personal Injury

Yesterday was a glorious day.  A friend called and invited me to the Indianapolis Moto Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  The weather was perfect. The fans were excited.  The food was delicious and the racing was incredible.  I marveled at the bravery and skill of the riders as they sped along at speeds of up to 190 miles per hour.  This got me to thinking.  There was one collision in the two races I saw.  This collision occurred on the last lap at the last turn of the Indianapolis Moto Grand Prix.  Three riders were neck and neck going into the last turn.  Each was desperate to pass the other.  One rider dipped low to pass on the inside.  In order to hold his line he put a huge amount of pressure on the front wheel, but it did not hold and he slid out, off the bike and into last place of the active riders.  He tried, but it did not pay off.  So, how is it that bikers going that fast, in close contact with all the other riders and no one is seriously injured or killed?

In my opinion, the greatest danger to the safety minded biker is the other guy.  So often the car does not take time to see what is clearly there.  It may be because the driver is used to seeing a larger object and reacting to that.  It may be that the driver is not taking enough time to check his blind spot on to look back a second time for oncoming traffic.  Whatever the reason, a major cause of serious injury and wrongful death of Hoosier motorcyclist is having a car turn in front of them, or pull out in front of them.  In either event, there is little time for the biker to react and avoid impact.  As the biker is usually thrown from the bike serious personal injury such as brain injury, spinal cord injury, paralysis, broken bones, and amputation can occur.

Fellow Hoosiers, please take a little bit of extra time to make sure you are not about to pull out in front of a biker.  Look over your shoulder after checking your mirrors, but before merging into the next lane to make sure a biker is not riding along there.  Just a little bit of extra time can save the biker from a lifetime of pain and misery.  It will also allow you to avoid the burden of guilt such a crash will leave behind.