A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

texasT · Senior Member

SAFETY MEETING

pug · Guru

Hears some video I put up a couple of weeks back in a thread it was all taken in 4 days over a total distance of 8 miles in the little town I live in but it will look funny to you as you ride/drive the right hand side ho hang on so do half the drivers in this town you are welcome to use it if you want to pull it down from the tube use this program or just link it

www.clipconverter.cc/

Any of you lot find yourself going through Crediton Devon this is one weeks worth of video from the 2 mile trip to and from work. and I only work 4 days a week it just makes you think how long before one of them gets you
www.youtube.com/watch

PlumasDude · Senior Member

Greg, you mean strictly on pavement? Or OHV riders also? 2 sets of safety issues. I've never had a street license or bike, probably never will, because I'm a live chicken.

In Oregon we had a series of deadly OHV crashes, mainly on the dunes, and the legislature threatened to eliminate all public OHV access to state lands. We (the clubs) got the legislature to ban alcohol in all staging areas, and undertake a youth rider safety program (which dovetails with an adult safety program, you're supposed to take a test and get a card, etc.). We've had very few accidents since those changes: don't drink until the keys are back in the truck for the night; teach your kid to ride properly. Those seem like pretty basic rules but people ...

Some links:
www.omraoffroad.com
www.etra.net

The second is our local club, as you'll see its very much about safety and getting kids up to speed the right way.

Also, I don't ride quads but I've heard from a number of people that they are far more dangerous than bikes, because any one can hop on a quad and get it up to 60 in a minute, learning to ride a bike takes some time and you'll fall down a lot more, which is the safest way to learn to ride (after you hit the dirt a few times even at 10 mph you become much more careful).

Don't forget the badgers.

leigh · Senior Member

For me personally the biggest safety issue I come across is people not seeing me on the road. I commute to work and back everyday in peak hour traffic and constantly had people changing lanes on top of me, pulling out right in front of me and so on. People just don't see you. They look for oncoming cars and if there are none change lanes etc. Bike riders are smaller of course but there is more to it than that as to why people don't see you. IF you look for a CAR and don't see one you pull out, if you look for ANYTHING or are checking to see if SOMETHING is on the road you might have a better chance of seeing riders IMO. The human brain doesn't see everything all at once, a lot of what you see is made up and or blanks filled in by your brain. I should link an article or something, but a lot of what you see everyday is your brain telling you what to see or showing you what you EXPECTED to see.

Offroad my main issues are related to me, didn't see that rock, riding to fast, trying to show off etc. Where I live we are lucky to be able to ride many tracks without a lot of other users. Biggest risk offroad would be crashing into another rider, but rarely come across anyone else. If we know riders are are about or hear people, I try to take it easy and lookout for others, especially around corners. That can easily be forgotten though once you get a bit steam up and try and race your buddies. Not good, but it happens.

About 12 months ago I started wearing a fluro vest over my jacket when I go to work. At least once a week I would have to dodge a car or truck that didn't see me, or someone would just pull out at a t-junction right in front of me etc. It was very regular. Now in 12 months I think it may have happened once or twice once I put the fluro on. People still don't see me, I see them look right at me, then go to pull out or change lanes and they do a double take, their head snaps back again, as the fluro orange burns into their retinas. They then quickly stop pulling out or stop changing lanes etc. You can see them get a bit of a shock most of the time.

Hope this story might help.

texasT · Senior Member

PlumasDude wrote:
Greg, you mean strictly on pavement? Or OHV riders also? 2 sets of safety issues. I've never had a street license or bike, probably never will, because I'm a live chicken.

In Oregon we had a series of deadly OHV crashes, mainly on the dunes, and the legislature threatened to eliminate all public OHV access to state lands. We (the clubs) got the legislature to ban alcohol in all staging areas, and undertake a youth rider safety program (which dovetails with an adult safety program, you're supposed to take a test and get a card, etc.). We've had very few accidents since those changes: don't drink until the keys are back in the truck for the night; teach your kid to ride properly. Those seem like pretty basic rules but people ...

Some links:
www.omraoffroad.com
www.etra.net

The second is our local club, as you'll see its very much about safety and getting kids up to speed the right way.

Also, I don't ride quads but I've heard from a number of people that they are far more dangerous than bikes, because any one can hop on a quad and get it up to 60 in a minute, learning to ride a bike takes some time and you'll fall down a lot more, which is the safest way to learn to ride (after you hit the dirt a few times even at 10 mph you become much more careful).

Don't forget the badgers.

Ian,

To answer your question I would be interested in any kind of safety issue/concern someone might have. For instance, no matter if you ride on/off road I think you need to check the brakes, fluids, tire air pressure, etc. Pilots have a checklist they preform before take-off. If someone has a checklist they go over before they ride, please add. Thanks for the links, I will have to check them out at home, as I seem to be blocked here. (could be an issue in my meeting) I will be looking into this.

Badgers, eh? We don't have too many in Texas, but good point. Roadkill will be added to the list. - I hear the kangaroo's are terrible in Australia!

-BTW- seems I've heard something about chickens crossing the road... -OK, OK, I'll keep my day job

..............

Martyn,

It seems I may be blocked (at work) from seeing the links you provided me. I'll check with someone about that. I'll definitely watch them at home and see if it can be utilized in my meeting. Thanks for your comments.

..............

Leigh,

+1 on your story. I have the same issues. I don't ride with a fluro vest, but we ARE required to wear them at work when we are on the ROW. I should probably abscond with an old one for myself. Good point. Definitely going on my list. Interesting about what you say the human brain sees (or doesn't). I never thought about that. This is the kind of stuff I need! Thanks for sharing

.............

-Keep the comments coming Please-

shad · Veteran Member

well your right about the roos down here even if you dont hit them the smell hits you ugh, Anyways blown semi truck tyres can wipe you out Ive had one blow in front of me never been so scared in my life they fly of the truck and straight at you chest to head height umm what else if you wearing a offroad helmet or even a close faced road helmet watch for swooping birds even a small sparrow can nigh break your neck at speed just from getting caught in the visor they may bounce off but your left with a sorry case of whiplash if u didnt come off the bike itself.

and cars but thats been said already haha.

thats it from my experience of riding ill edit if i think of anything else.

ttboof · Super Guru

I've been riding for 40 years . off road safety is learning to ride a safe maintained bike . stop and listen for any other traffic (can ride for a couple of years here before meeting other riders )

In town . ride as if no one can see you .assume all other traffic and pedestrians don't know your there (bikes arnt very common vs cars )

Drop your speed in areas you may hit wide life eg kangeroos are stupid and like to side swipe bikes . ) most places have thier dumb animals .

Learn to ride slow (stop .start. Balance ext) before upping the speed .

Its riding not racing . we ride to finish the day not to be the first to finish .

PlumasDude · Senior Member

Regarding a list, if you go to this site www.omraoffroad.com and click on Youth Safety you can see basic checklists and even go through the whole "certification" thing (the handbook is pretty good). Substitute "Texas" for Oregon and you've got an OHV safety program.

Also, lots of manuals, including the factory manual for this bike, have pages of recommendations/schedules for inspections and maintenance particular to the bike and use.

PlumasDude · Senior Member

Here's how our local club coordinates with the state org (Oregon Motorcycle Riders Assoc) on youth safety: www.etra.net/youth.html. I think this is an ideal way to get a kid started - good basic instruction, and a group of safety-conscious adults to reinforce it. And remember in Oregon adults are also supposed to take the written test and get a card (I'm probably the .1% who has actually done that).

One last thing: 1 way trails in the OHV areas!