MarkInUnionKy Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 I'm a bit frustrated. Even after reading many of the infomative documents on this site... http://www.ntsb.gov/Events/symp_motorcycle_safety/agenda.htm ...I feel I know more about the dangers of the highway, but not how that compares to city street riding. So what's the deal, where I live I can choose either the highway 4 lanes with a fair amout of 18 wheelers or I can go city streets. I opt for the city streets but know that intersections can be dangerous places. Also, with city street driving you have cars that can pull out right in front of you turning right OR left. So I ask myself, which is really more dangerous???? I can understand that an accident on the highway probably equates to more broken bones and what not, but I would think you'd run into higher probability of accidents around city streets. So I'm wondering which way is safer? What's your opinion? Are there any statistics out there? Mark V-Star 1100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlantasmittie84 Posted September 16, 2007 Share Posted September 16, 2007 I hate highways. But Atlanta highways are some of the worste in the U.S. if not the world. You'll run 90mph with a car on your ass and you being shoved up the ass of the other car with cars surrounding you. So I take city streets because I've always had good reactions to bad situations while driving. Even when I use to drink and drive. Not anymore but when I was younger I would all the time. My favorite roads are the roads that are moderatly hilly but long hills with 4 lanes and the 2 lanes being sperated by a large patch of grass. There is a road near me that I take to get to the beach. It's beautiful and relaxing but you can run highway speeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator YamaHead Posted September 16, 2007 Moderator Share Posted September 16, 2007 Granted.....that the speed on HiWays is an undeniable factor here ...... But, I'd still rather ride on a stretch of road where Most of the Time.....everyone is going in the same direction...... Much like a RaceTrack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkInUnionKy Posted September 16, 2007 Author Share Posted September 16, 2007 Thanks for your thoughts. I ended up using a combination of highway and city streets yesterday to get around utilizing the safer short highway stints in combination with pretty decent city streets. Of course I'm lucky that some of the local highway sections are not battlefields. I travel the highway every day with four wheels and you tend to know where you'll be fighting for position... I'll simply avoid them on two wheels. There is a road nearby with two lanes on each side separated by grass that I've been told is very popular with motorcyclists. I'm going to have to check it out. I'm still interested if there are any statistics on non-highway incidents, just to compare them to the highway ones. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peabody Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 I'm not a traffic expert, but I work at a Biotech company that processes the bones and tendons of organ and tissue donors. Most motorcycle fatalities seem to be sportbikes on city streets (usually speeding or inexperienced with handling cagers). Personally, after riding over 130,000 miles in the past 9 years, I've been hit 3 times (all in-town) and have repeated close calls all day, everyday. On the highways you get the occasional wannabe racer or the idiot with cellphone in one had and a sandwich in the other drifting into everybody, but the lanes are wider and there aren't any shopping center entrance/exits to encounter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtBunni Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 I work as an EMT, and so far I've seen three accidents on quiet backroads and one on the highway. The highway one, the guy was pretty much fine, made a full recovery. The other three were guys on crotch-rockets going way too fast, and those were some of the worst traumas I've ever seen. One was pronounced dead on scene due to decapitation. Not that this is necessarily the norm, just what I've seen personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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