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Virginia Tech Study


Twisties

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The study is useful but in such studies I wonder if the volunteers' riding style is affected by the knowledge that their every move is being monitored and recorded. Apparently, insurance companies believe so when they offer lower premiums for insureds who install monitoring gadgets in their cars.

 

There are some entertaining comments on that link. Funny how some riders fiercely mock each other about their choices of bikes, ABS or no ABS, anti-/pro-Harley, etc. Jeez guys, just ride what you like...

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Joe Frickin' Friday
The study is useful but in such studies I wonder if the volunteers' riding style is affected by the knowledge that their every move is being monitored and recorded.

 

If there is such an effect, I would expect that it involves the riders operating more safely than they do when unmonitored - which would mean the real-world stats are actually worse than what this study reported, which is already pretty bad.

 

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised at the high frequency of rear-end collisions. This is already a big problem for car drivers, i.e. tailgating and not paying enough attention to what's going on farther down the road. Put those same crappy drivers in the saddle and provide them with minimal training on how to brake, and it's a good recipe for maximizing rear-end collisions.

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I think it's important for everyone to read the entire study themselves and draw your own conclusions if interested. Here is a few things that I get....

 

1. 17 out of the 30 "crashes" were bike dumps which is very unique to traditional crash studies. It looks like 13 crashes to me.

 

2. I don't have a real good "feel" for what a near-crash is based on, regarding the study. Revzilla points out this....

 

"Of the 99 crashes and near-crashes involving another vehicle, the three categories of other vehicles crossing the rider’s path add up to 19.

Here’s the surprise, however. What’s the most common scenario? Riders hitting (or nearly hitting) another vehicle from behind. There were 35 of those incidents. Are we really almost twice as likely to plow into a stopped car in front of us as to have someone pull into our path? Or should we write this off as the result of a small sample size?in the study that 35 out of the 99 crashes or near crashes involving multi-vehicles."

 

This is a stretch because it involves the near-crashes. Actual number of crashes from "other vehicle turn across path" = 3. Actual number of crashes from "rear-end, striking" = 2. Of the 35 "incidents" of riders "striking" a vehicle from behind, only 2 actually struck the vehicle. I just dont' know how heavy of breaking or deceleration triggers a near-crash?

 

3. We seem to be crossing the left lane line a lot in the turns. 18 times that cause a single vehicle crash or near crash? I don't really know what that means? What triggers the near-crash? How many actual crashes due to crossing the center line? That is not clear.

 

 

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I submitted my bike for that data call. I got the notice back stating that they didn't have the ability to outfit the RT......hmm, I'da been a statistic from sliding it down on the ice a couple years ago ;)

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I did the same thing, and was given the same answer. My Brother-in-law got his Goldwing into the program. They stuck several "black boxes" at various points on his bike, and paid him $300 for the inconvenience.

I don't know how much info they got from him though. He only puts about 2k miles per year on the thing...

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That's my take too.

I don't put much stock in the study (especially since I know one of the subjects :whistle:) .

I expect that insurance companies will...

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  • 2 years later...
On 6/24/2017 at 6:07 PM, Twisties said:

So then it's also biased by bike/rider type selection.

 

The voluntary nature of the study tells me that scofflaw riders will also be under represented.

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