July Saw over 27,400 unique visitors to this California motorcycle blog! This amount of motorcycle visitors is our second highest monthly visitor count so far in 2016. Our highest California motorcycle traffic to this site (so far this year) was June, where we saw over 30,500 unique monthly visitors!
Personally, I like to say thanks to all my loyal motorcycle readers!
Roads are primarily designed for their main users cars, and are seldom engineered with motorcycle specific safety in focus. The choice of roadside barriers and guardrails to prevent vehicles from crossing over a median or running of the road have proved to be dangerous for motorcyclists, as they are designed to dissipate braking energy for much heavier and structurally tougher cars and trucks. Moreover they are designed to be impacted on the sliding rail and not at their support poles, which act as swords to unprotected road users. Statistical explanation for the automobile bias are found in use and fatality figures, motorcyclists are in numerical minority.
Road surface can also contributes to crash. A sudden change in the surface can be sufficient to cause a momentary loss of traction, and destabilize the motorcycle. The risk of skidding increases if the motorcyclist is braking or changing direction. This is due to the fact that most of the braking and steering control are through the front wheel, power being through the rear wheel. During maintenance, the choice of material can be inadequate for motorcycles. For example, asphalt sealer is used to fill and repair cracks in asphalt paving, but this often creates a slick surface that can cause a motorcycle to lose traction. Sometimes, steel plates are used as temporary covers over road trenches. The sliding nature of those, combined with an inappropriate installation can cause incidents.
According to Victorian motorcycle advocate Rodney Brown, the nature and likely consequences of hazards differ significantly for motorcyclists compared to drivers of other vehicles. For example, the current highway standards in the US permit pavement ridges of up to 1.5 inches (about 3.8 centimeters) without tapering, which pose a significant hazard to motorcycles. Potholes and presence of debris pose a greater hazard for motorcyclists than drivers of larger vehicles, because the former can cause a loss of stability and control and the latter can deflect a motorcycle’s wheel at impact.
