Last week we dove a little into Motorcycle Safety Awareness month and what we, as riders, can do to keep ourselves and others safe on the road.
Studies have shown that half of motorcycle fatalities occur during the day, and 71.52% of fatal accidents are NOT alcohol related (thanks to our friends at Illinois Hammer—stop by and give their article a read. It’s a good one). 84% of those fatal accidents occur during clear (not raining) riding conditions.
While we’re glad that alcohol doesn’t play a much longer factor, let’s dissect what that means.
That means that half of motorcycle fatalities occur during the day—and alcohol isn’t involved. So… what we would consider “good conditions” without the impairment of drugs or alcohol.
That means that we need to take every precautionary measure we can to prevent accidents. Because most of the time, these terrible incidents are completely out of our control. They JUST happen.
Visibility Is Absolutely Key
Drivers can’t try to avoid you if they don’t know you’re there. That’s what this really comes down to: making one’s presence known on the road in a way that registers with drivers.
Drivers are used to scanning the road for giant hunks of metal with lights. We can’t make ourselves much bigger—but we can emulate the road footprint of a car’s tail end visually a little bit more with the addition of a light mounted where drivers typically scan for one.
Driver’s Attention to Center High Mounted Brake Lights
While it is possible to engine brake or release the throttle to decrease one’s speed in a car—it is an unusual practice. Especially with manual transmissions becoming less frequently available, the majority of drivers learn—and expect others—to engage their brakes to slow down, which is accompanied by illuminating brake lights.
The vast majority of drivers on the road register that whatever is in front of them is coming to a stop or reducing speed if, and only if, brake lights become illuminated. And that means brake lights that they can see. Brake lights that they have trained themselves to pay attention to. So, which ones are the most effective? Which placement registers with drivers the most?
Center high mounted brake lights significantly reduce vehicle crashes. None of this is speculation or conjecture, either. An NHTSA study stated that
Since its central location makes ‘the CHMSL separate and distinct from all other rear lamps and signals, any possible ambiguity of the signal is reduced,’ especially, the ‘likelihood that the signal will be interpreted as a directional signal [6]’ (turn signal or tail lamp). The CHMSL, in combination with the two lower side mounted lamps, forms a triangle which could be an additional cue to get the driver's attention. The high mounting of the lamp might make it visible through the windows of a following vehicle and enable the driver of the third vehicle in a chain to react to the first car' s braking. Some drivers may interpret the high mounted lamp as a warning to keep their distance; by following at a safer distance, they have more room to stop.
But the study didn’t just conclude with the efficacy of whether or not a driver simply sees or acknowledges a center high mounted stop lamp. The study goes on to state that:
NHTSA was especially encouraged to promulgate the CHMSL [center high-mounted stop lamps] regulation in 1983 by three highly successful tests of the lamps in taxicab and corporate fleets, showing 48 to 54 percent reductions of "relevant" rear-impact crashes in which the lead vehicle was braking prior to the crash, as reported by the study participants. Since nearly two-thirds of all rear impact crashes involve pre-impact braking by the lead vehicle, these results are equivalent to a 35 percent reduction of rear-impact crashes of all types.
Drawing attention to the fact that, well, center high mounted brake lights draw attention, is one thing. A statistical analysis in crash reduction based upon the existence of an appropriately placed brake light that shows a 35% reduction of rear-impact crashes? That’s a massive difference.
So while crashes happen and misfortune can find us, no matter how hard we try: we still have to try.
Celebrate Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month By Staying Seen
That’s why we made Brake Free. To help riders be seen—not to help mitigate the effects of accidents, but to try to reduce their frequency altogether by helping riders stay visible on the road. In particular, with a clear and—as the NHTSA put it—unambiguous indication that riders are reducing their speed to signal to trailing vehicles to slow down and maintain distance
Start off Motorcycle Safety Awareness month by taking your visibility into your hands, and order a Brake Free today.
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