beedawg:
Being careful and being safe aren't always the same thing. Sure, there's some overlap, and you can't really be safe without exercising some degree of care, but just being careful isn't always enough. Sometimes it might even be unsafe.
Let me give an example. I might be squeezing my brake lever as gently as possible, turning my throttle as smoothly as I can, and making very gradual lane changes. I may never break the speed limit, even when the traffic around me is going five or ten mph faster than me. If I do that every time I ride, it becomes habit. I tell myself that I'm being careful, and that it makes me safer.
But what happens when that car pulls out of a driveway, or that deer jumps out of the ditch? Am I going to ready to really use those brakes or really give that handlebar a good push? What happens when I need to speed up to get myself out of trouble? Am I ready for that?
Sure, it's a great idea to practice life-saving skills on a dry, sunny day in a parking lot. But there are opportunities to practice every time you get on the bike.
Do you agree? Or is this a thinly-veiled attempt to justify "spirited" riding?
Aprilian:
"Careful", I agree.
However, "Careful" + on-purpose skill practice/training = "Safe"
Chris:
--- Quote from: beedawg on April 03, 2012, 10:26:47 AM ---Being careful and being safe aren't always the same thing. Sure, there's some overlap, and you can't really be safe without exercising some degree of care, but just being careful isn't always enough. Sometimes it might even be unsafe.
Let me give an example. I might be squeezing my brake lever as gently as possible, turning my throttle as smoothly as I can, and making very gradual lane changes. I may never break the speed limit, even when the traffic around me is going five or ten mph faster than me. If I do that every time I ride, it becomes habit. I tell myself that I'm being careful, and that it makes me safer.
But what happens when that car pulls out of a driveway, or that deer jumps out of the ditch? Am I going to ready to really use those brakes or really give that handlebar a good push? What happens when I need to speed up to get myself out of trouble? Am I ready for that?
Sure, it's a great idea to practice life-saving skills on a dry, sunny day in a parking lot. But there are opportunities to practice every time you get on the bike.
Do you agree? Or is this a thinly-veiled attempt to justify "spirited" riding?
--- End quote ---
I agree, these skill need to be used what your talking about is muscle memory, I read an article where a cop was using his .38 revolver in a shoot out, he lost when they examined his body they found his empty casings in his pockets, instead of reloading as fast as he could he was saving the casings like when he was on the range. The point here being if you do something enough it becomes instinctual and if you don't need to think about it your response time when that car or dear pull in front of you is decreased, thus making you safer. You need to practice being safe to be safe.
aschendel:
I fully agree with Brent's post and would go further, the "thin veil" is the concept of Safe; there is no such thing. -- which means I respectfully disagree with parts of Aprilian's and Chris' posts. :D
Andy
Duc Man:
careful and safe are subjective terms...to argue either with anyone not of like mind could turn in to a BIG conversation. To my mother "safe" is not riding a motorcycle...to my wheelie popping friend safe is only doing wheelies on open roads away from others. Mom has never ridden a motorcycle so her bias is based on the media, wheelie boy has been doing wheelies all his life since riding dirt bike as a kid so considers himself "safe" while doing so..like a trained professional with years of experience. Safe and careful I believe are illusions we create in our own mind as to allow us to ride motorcycle otherwise we would have the fear of death in our minds at all times and would resign from the hobby. We have the riders who crash and get back on and ride another day and the ones who crash and say never again. Careful can be the guy who never wears a helmet deciding maybe today i should wear it. My .02$