Parking Lot vs. Street
Formal motorcycle police training was excellent but consisted mostly of cone courses that were designed to ensure mastery of slow speed maneuvers, executed at near flawless levels.
For me, the most valuable parts of the training were the high speed cone weave (counter-steering drills) and the braking evading drills because I could apply those techniques to my street riding to help me avoid collisions. There is no question these are valuable life saving skills.
The downside, it was all parking lot. I noticed a false sense of security about my riding. I can turn a police HD Road King around between 16 and 18 feet circle, but that did not help me deal with circumstances which would challenge my survivability on the streets with people who are going to violate my right-of-way or otherwise compromise my safety.
Police motorcycle training provided rudimentary handling skills, but it did not teach how to adopt to constantly changing road and traffic conditions.
There is a gap between execution of the physical skills to riding (steering, banking and braking) and strategy to make the best use of position and speed.
My Proposition
Crashes can be reduced in both frequency and severity by equipping riders with a strategy to identify and negotiate potential hazards, with techniques that leave nothing to chance and ensures an essential aspect of safe riding – time to react.
While we do not intend to minimize or discount parking lot training, which is valuable in honing necessary skills, we fear there is quite a difference between cone drills and surviving the ‘mean streets’.
A feature of almost all crashes is human error. While it is necessary to learn how to steer, brake and control the motorcycle, it is even more important to learn how to approach and negotiate hazards.
Roadcraft System of Motorcycle Control
Roadcraft helps fill the gap between the parking lot and the streets. While the best training would be individualized instruction under a riding instructor, this type of training is not readily available. This should not hinder us from learning the system and applying it every time we ride.
Recognizing relevant hazards and prioritizing them will keep you from becoming another statistic.
It is important to note this is not just for newbie riders. Folks who have been riding for years are probably more at risk because of complacency. The longer you ride without incident the more you lull yourself into thinking it won’t happen to you.
The Roadcrafter
What is a roadcrafter?
Specifically, a rider that employs the IPSGA (Information, position, speed, gear, acceleration) system of motorcycle control every ride.
The roadcrafter has several qualities:
- they account for real ability as opposed to perceived ability
- they understand the capabilities of their machines
- they compensate for weather and road conditions
- they are skilled in detecting hazards and makes the necessary adjustments
Decide today to ride with control not chance.
1 response so far ↓
Young Dai // 05/17/2009 at 8:02 am
What you say, is being echoed by many of the Advanced Training Groups in the UK. Once to get to the stage where you can use ‘all the knobs , handles and levers’ on a bike, they are skills that generally become easily accessed while on the roadway.
The real aid to personal road safety becomes the rider’s own risk awareness, and their response to the risks they see and how they prioritise those risks within their own riding plans.