Survival Skills - the Newsletter
‘The Predictable Nature of Motorcycle Crashes’ & a new series of books to help you predict them!
A couple of years back I came across a TRL blog post entitled ‘The Predictable Nature of Motorcycle Crashes’ which highlighted three types of crash that riders were most likely to be involved in: “Right of Way Violations (at junctions), Bends, and Overtaking”.
The report found that “the majority (70%+) of motorcycle accidents were covered by the scenarios outlined”. If you’ve been following me for a while, you may know I’ve been writing articles about this exact-same trio three crashes for a while. In fact, it was the mid-90s when I first put finger to PC keyboard.
The report concluded that training to influence riding behaviour should “be accompanied by practical approaches to cover spotting such risks early and the steps that riders should take to avoid them.”
The implication’s pretty clear. Rider training is mostly about doing the ‘right stuff’ in the hope that ‘riding well’ is the key to staying out of trouble. It helps, but it’s not a solution. It’s not chance my training school, launched back in 1997, is called ‘Survival Skills’. My training has always had a heavy focus on understanding crashing in order to stay out of trouble.
But now I’m in the process of writing THREE NEW BOOKS - one for each of the three ‘standard’ crashes. Each will address one crash type. The aim is to offer readers:
• CONSISTENT research and science-based investigations into these crashes and why they happen.
• PRACTICAL ways of identifying the danger areas and reducing the risk.
• EFFECTIVE steps to ‘avoid and evade’ the crash itself.
I had hoped to get the first book on the SMIDSY junction crash finished by the end of July (and be well on the way with the second project by now) but as usual time slipped away. Nevertheless, the book should be out in the next couple of weeks, and certainly before the end of October.
Why am I letting you know now? Let me know if you have any SMIDSY tales you’d like me to include. Let me know about cornering and overtaking incidents too. And maybe you have some snappy title suggestions for the books or even for the series! Let me know. There will be FREE ebook copies for the most useful contributions! Mail in your ideas today.
SoS Oct 4 Sunstrike!
FoF Oct 3 The Double Edge of “What If…”
SOBS Oct 2 How ‘fast’ is the human brain?
COMMENT Oct 1 Is this an ‘electric motorcycle with a fake ICE engine’
Elevenses 567 Sun 28 Sep - motorcycle news, tips & views
MYTH on MONDAY Sep 29 Bridges ice up because of Bernoulli’s Principle
Elevenses 569 Sun 28 Sep - motorcycle news, tips & views
A QUICK SHOUT OUT to last week's KoFi supporters and subscribers
Brian, Mike, Naffa, KSimmons, Nick, Damo and and anonymous. Thanks mightily for your support!
WHAT DOES THE SURVIVAL SKILLS EIGHT WEEK eCOURSE COVER?
Take it where you want! There are set modules, but each course is unique, each discussion is different, each course ends up somewhere different. There’s no pressure to conform, no pass/fail test to perform. It’s NOT your typical advanced training, but a genuinely refreshed and thought-provoking rider-focused approach. You’ll discover new and out-of-the-box thinking to challenge existing habits whilst building flexibility. The aim is to add adaptability, boost confidence and deliver MORE FUN!
Learn BETTER BIKING in your own home, in your own time. At a tenner a week it costs less than your ride-out fry-up, and lasts a lifetime! SIGN UP HERE today!
GET THE WEEKLY DIGEST delivered to your inbox
Thanks for reading Survival Skills - the Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. No spam. Unsubscribe at any time.
ON-ROAD RIDER COACHING - courses aimed the individual - resume in 2025
ONLINE COACHING - wherever you are, whenever you want, weekdays and weekends
BOOK ME AS A SPEAKER - I deliver talks in person or online to RIDING GROUPS & CLUBS. Drop me a line for more!
“Many thanks for today’s webinar… and all your hard work. It was a both a great sanity check for preparations and a really good heads-up for riding in the EU… food for thought and a really good primer.”
Richard after an online webcast on planning on riding abroad to the Norton Owners Club.
BOOK the SCIENCE OF BEING SEEN presentation & learn about the causes of the SMIDSY COLLISION & the role of HUMAN VISUAL PERCEPTION - and how to avoid having one!
Discover more on the 'Science Of Being Seen' website.
JOIN ME FOR ELEVENSES - the live show with news & views from our passion - the world of two wheels. Everything from politics to bike launches.
QUESTIONS, COMMENTS or SUGGESTIONS - THEN GET IN TOUCH
I love hearing from you. If you have an awkward question, let me know and I’ll try to answer the answer. If there’s something you’d like me to cover in a written article or maybe in an ONLINE TALK SERIES event, let me know.
