Managing risk as a tool to safer riding

June 2, 2:09 PMBaltimore Motorcycle Travel ExaminerTom Bachur

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Mangled cycle parts at Tennessee's "Tree of Shame," left by riders who didn't manage risk well.

Listen to the news on almost any weekend and you’ll know that riding season has arrived.  There are the occasional stories about motorcycle charity events.  Lately though, it seems there hasn’t been a weekend without at least one story about a serious or fatal motorcycle crash.

My Owner’s Group shares news stories of local motorcycle crashes.  We don’t do this out of morbid curiosity; we share the stories so we can all learn from them.  Recent crashes, like the one in Springfield, Missouri where a rider was flown to the hospital after his motorcycle and a pickup sideswiped, or the Elbin, Illinois crash where a husband and wife were killed in a crash involving six motorcycles worry me.  Hopefully, they worry you too.

We all know that riding involves an inherent level of risk.  By identifying and acknowledging those risks, we can be better prepared to manage the dangers we encounter.

Skeptical?  Think about it like this: have you ever bought a new car or motorcycle that you thought was somewhat unique?  More than likely, as soon as you made your purchase, you started seeing others just like it everywhere, right?  Why?  Because you were more aware of them, which caused you to look for them!  As a motorcyclist, being aware of the risks can work in much the same fashion.  Become aware of the risks and you begin to see them more frequently and more clearly.

While seeing the risks is a great start, it is only the beginning.  Simply seeing the car about to turn in front of your motorcycle does little to ensure your safety. You must do something with that information.  You have to process what you’re seeing, think about it and formulate an action plan.  The Motorcycle Safety Foundation calls this strategy the S.E.E. strategy.  S.E.E. stands for Search, Evaluate, and Execute:

• Search means just what it sounds like: search for risks, dangers and situations that do, or could, present a hazard to your safety.
• Evaluate what that hazard means to you and formulate a plan on how to respond to the hazard.  Play the “what if” game:
  • “what if” that car pulls out on me
  • “what if” that child runs across the road
  • “what if” there’s a log blocking the road on the other side of this blind curve
• Execute your plan.  Based on the way events unfold, put your “what if” plan into action:
  • “I’ll slow now, so that if that car pulls out, I’ll be able to stop to avoid a crash”
  • “I’ll slow down, beep the horn, cover the brakes and clutch and be prepared to swerve left because that child could run across the road”
  • “I’ll enter this blind curve a little slower, change my lane positioning to give me a better viewing angle and be prepared to stop, in case there’s an obstacle I can’t see around the curve”

S.E.E. is a powerful tool, but to be effective, a rider must be able to perform the necessary maneuvers to execute their “what if” plan.  Without the skills to properly maneuver out of a bad situation, inexperienced riders often lose control and crash, just trying to avoid a hazard!  Rider training programs such as the “Experienced Rider Course” can help develop the skills and the confidence to handle these situations.

The S.E.E. strategy should be considered a beginning step in the development of a personalized risk-management plan.  Other steps include: learning to properly scan for dangers, making yourself as visible as possible, and wearing proper protective gear at all times.  Future articles in this series will further discuss these topics.

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