Daily news about motorcycleshttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/en-usTue, 21 May 2013 18:00:00 +0200 Fri, 24 May 2013 08:00:00 +0200

#Belgium #Safety #Politics - The Belgium government, in the form of the Minister of Public Works, is planning to make the Wallonne region of Belgium safer for motorcycle riders. Many bikers are killed on the roads of the French speaking part of Belgium, and to make sure the bikers understand their fragility he is installing 80 signs warning motorcycle riders of upcoming road dangers. But according to him, only 8% of accidents are caused by the road itself, 50% by the other driver and 37% by the biker.

He is printing 15,000 maps with all the danger spots in the area which will be distributed at biker events.

It's a good thing that the government is thinking about our safety but... and there is always a but... 1) instead of printing maps he should use & promote the Moto Smarty app to warn riders, and 2) instead of placing signs, how about doing something about the road itself?

]]>http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/belgium-action-for-the-safety-of-motorcyclists.htmSafetyMike Wernerhttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/belgium-action-for-the-safety-of-motorcyclists.htm?opendocument&commentshttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/belgium-action-for-the-safety-of-motorcyclists.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dxcomments/belgium-action-for-the-safety-of-motorcyclists.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/belgium-action-for-the-safety-of-motorcyclists.htm?opendocument&comments Wed, 22 May 2013 14:00:00 +0200

#Safety #Vololights #Kickstarter - You'd have thought that almost anything that can increase our safety on a motorcycle has already been invented, but you'd be wrong. Two bright motorcycle riders in the USA have come up with a great safety product that will not cost you a fortune, nor hours spent installing it.

Currently a Kickstart project looking for funding (help them out by donating a few bucks), Vololights is a smartly designed product that can, and probably will, save you from being rear-ended. It has always been one of my fears when riding my motorcycle; when you decelerate your bike by just letting go of the throttle, or by downshifting, your motorcycle slows down faster than a car would, but with no warning to car drivers.

If the car driver is not paying attention, like most of them don't, your sudden deceleration will catch them by surprise, and boooom, before you know it at the very least they'll kiss your rear end. It might sound dirty to you, but it's super dangerous. Many motorcycles have found themselves in the ditch,or worse, because the car behind them didn't see them decelerating.

The Vololights is a license plate that replaces your current one...........

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]]>http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/idea-increase-your-safety-with-these-vololights-motorcycle-plates---nifty.htmSafetyMike Wernerhttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/idea-increase-your-safety-with-these-vololights-motorcycle-plates---nifty.htm?opendocument&commentshttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/idea-increase-your-safety-with-these-vololights-motorcycle-plates---nifty.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dxcomments/idea-increase-your-safety-with-these-vololights-motorcycle-plates---nifty.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/idea-increase-your-safety-with-these-vololights-motorcycle-plates---nifty.htm?opendocument&comments Tue, 21 May 2013 18:00:00 +0200

#India #Safety #Ads - Hmmm.. interesting. Here's a public service announcement coming from India, trying to keep riders and drivers focused on the road. They've got several ads, cars and motorcycle, and in the nicely-done graphics, they show what the driver is thinking.

"Obviously" the motorcycle rider is thinking about his Girlfriend, while the car drivers are thinking about the Boss and the Husband.....

It's true, that especially when riding a motorcycle, better keep 100% of your focus on the road and not let you mind wander off.

]]>http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/india-psa---keep-your-thoughts-on-the-road---also-for-motorcycles.htmSafetyMike Wernerhttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/india-psa---keep-your-thoughts-on-the-road---also-for-motorcycles.htm?opendocument&commentshttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/india-psa---keep-your-thoughts-on-the-road---also-for-motorcycles.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dxcomments/india-psa---keep-your-thoughts-on-the-road---also-for-motorcycles.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/india-psa---keep-your-thoughts-on-the-road---also-for-motorcycles.htm?opendocument&comments Mon, 20 May 2013 14:00:00 +0200

#Safety - Here's an interesting site developed by the Prevention Routière et Assureurs Prevention, an organization for the prevention of accidents funded by insurance companies. The site, called MotoPrev (as in Motorcycle Prevention) is like a video game without the controls. It shows you how and when motorcycle accidents happen. It allows you to identify areas where you may be in danger.

There are 7 main areas, and each area loads a video (using high quality animated graphics) which you can view from either the motorcycle's point of view, satellite/above view or the car's view. There's at the end also an explanation, but it's in French (as is the whole site)...........

...........Click on the headline to continue reading this story.......

]]>http://192.168.1.4/Testblogs.nsfdx/france-self-teaching-site-on-the-dangers-of-motorcycle-riding.htmSafetyMike Wernerhttp://192.168.1.4/Testblogs.nsfdx/france-self-teaching-site-on-the-dangers-of-motorcycle-riding.htm?opendocument&commentshttp://192.168.1.4/Testblogs.nsfdx/france-self-teaching-site-on-the-dangers-of-motorcycle-riding.htm http://192.168.1.4/Testblogs.nsfdxcomments/france-self-teaching-site-on-the-dangers-of-motorcycle-riding.htm http://192.168.1.4/Testblogs.nsfdx/france-self-teaching-site-on-the-dangers-of-motorcycle-riding.htm?opendocument&comments Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:00 +0200

#iPhone #App #Dangers - We told you some 2 weeks ago about a French initiative to use crowd-sourcing to highlight road infrastructure problems. The initiative was not bad, but quite limited since it requires to you to remember where the danger spots where during a ride and then fill them in on the web later. However a much better method has been launched in Belgium for its surrounding countries (so not limited to one country) using smartphones. The approach is quite interesting, innovative and biker safe. Maybe you can lobby the developer to release the app for the rest of the world since everyone can benefit from this app.

The app is called Moto Smarty and currently works on iPhones with an Android version in test (they are looking for testers). It's the way they allow you to share your experience in bad or dangerous roads that makes this application so interesting.

Basically Moto Smarty records all hazards; potholes, manholes, fissures, slippery surfaces, bumps, dangerous curves, etc... they even warn you of speed bumps. The danger points are pointed out by other motorcycle riders (even car drivers) traveling those same roads and encountering the problem areas.

But here's where it gets interesting...........

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]]>http://192.168.1.4/Testblogs.nsfdx/app-helps-other-on-motorcycles-be-safe---great-software.htmSafetyMike Wernerhttp://192.168.1.4/Testblogs.nsfdx/app-helps-other-on-motorcycles-be-safe---great-software.htm?opendocument&commentshttp://192.168.1.4/Testblogs.nsfdx/app-helps-other-on-motorcycles-be-safe---great-software.htm http://192.168.1.4/Testblogs.nsfdxcomments/app-helps-other-on-motorcycles-be-safe---great-software.htm http://192.168.1.4/Testblogs.nsfdx/app-helps-other-on-motorcycles-be-safe---great-software.htm?opendocument&comments Tue, 14 May 2013 18:00:00 +0200

#DUI #Advetisement #PSA #Thailand - Here are three nicely done anti-DUI print advertisements coming from Thailand. The images are perfect, they say it all.

I didn't realize that they had such as drinking & driving problem there. Obviously this applies to all vehicles, including motorcycles.

]]>http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/thailand-3-do-not-drink--drive-ads---nicely-done.htmSafetyMike Wernerhttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/thailand-3-do-not-drink--drive-ads---nicely-done.htm?opendocument&commentshttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/thailand-3-do-not-drink--drive-ads---nicely-done.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dxcomments/thailand-3-do-not-drink--drive-ads---nicely-done.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/thailand-3-do-not-drink--drive-ads---nicely-done.htm?opendocument&comments Thu, 9 May 2013 18:00:00 +0200

#Video #Safety #Motorcycle - The Colorado Department of Transportation released an interesting PSA for motorcycle riders. Instead of showing blood & gore, they show blood & gore, but in this case it's not real blood & gore. They are very up-front about it. In fact, you see them apply the blood & gore on the "victim".

It's an interesting and novel way of showing what happens when you don't ride your motorcycle with the appropriate safety gear. There are also a few words from some specialists (using echoes, not to my taste) and some real and ugly crash scenes involving motorcycles...........

...........Click on the headline to continue reading this story.......

]]>http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/video-interesting-motorcycle-psa-from-c-dot.htmSafetyMike Wernerhttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/video-interesting-motorcycle-psa-from-c-dot.htm?opendocument&commentshttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/video-interesting-motorcycle-psa-from-c-dot.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dxcomments/video-interesting-motorcycle-psa-from-c-dot.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/video-interesting-motorcycle-psa-from-c-dot.htm?opendocument&comments Thu, 9 May 2013 14:00:00 +0200

#Spain #Court #Compensation - You know that government rarely have the best interest of its citizens in mind. Usually the contrary, as long as they can get rich and/or more powerful, and when they do get caught doing something they shouldn't, or should, they pretend that it wasn't their fault. It's what has been going wrong in the world lately, and you can see that citizens are revolting against it. Enough is enough.

The latest abuse/mis-actions can be seen in Spain. Back in 2007, a Spanish motorcycle rider lost control of his motorcycle because of the potholes in the motorway. The road is that bad that when hitting one of the holes it means the biker can easily get ejected from his bike, which is what happened. This was not a city road, but a motorway, so speeds are higher, and you have less time to react.

More bad luck for the unfortunate motorcyclist, he hit the guardrail which was one of the old, and very unsafe, rails, killing the biker on the spot:..........

...........Click on the headline to continue reading this story.......

]]>http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/spain-government-kills-biker-then-balks-at-paying-damages.htmSafetyMike Wernerhttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/spain-government-kills-biker-then-balks-at-paying-damages.htm?opendocument&commentshttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/spain-government-kills-biker-then-balks-at-paying-damages.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dxcomments/spain-government-kills-biker-then-balks-at-paying-damages.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/spain-government-kills-biker-then-balks-at-paying-damages.htm?opendocument&comments Thu, 9 May 2013 08:00:00 +0200

#Safety #Facebook - Two organization that have as main goal to reduce road fatalities have launched a crowd-sourcing page within Facebook for French road users. The idea is for the road users, car and motorcycles, to highlight danger points on a map of France. The two organizations are Association Prevention Routiere and Assureurs Prevention (insurers group), and the map is called MotoMap.

Using Google Maps, you locate a danger zone you are familiar with, highlight it, tell the rest of the world what the problem is and save the point.

You can specify the category of problem area; infrastructure, motorcycle specific, dangerous curves, etc...........

...........Click on the headline to continue reading this story.......

]]>http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/france-crowd-sourcing-to-highlight-road-dangers.htmSafetyMike Wernerhttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/france-crowd-sourcing-to-highlight-road-dangers.htm?opendocument&commentshttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/france-crowd-sourcing-to-highlight-road-dangers.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dxcomments/france-crowd-sourcing-to-highlight-road-dangers.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/france-crowd-sourcing-to-highlight-road-dangers.htm?opendocument&comments Thu, 2 May 2013 18:00:00 +0200

#Safety - Riding your motorcycle at night means that with the few lights we've got on our rides, we're pretty much invisible for cars. Already during the day we're often invisible, but at night, with one small rear light, we might as well fix a big bullseye on our backs.

Another crowd-funding Kickstarter project that has already received ample funds is the Tracer360. The Tracer360, from Noxgear.com, is a multi-colored fiber "vest" that you can easily slip over your motorcycle jacket...........

...........Click on the headline to continue reading this story.......

]]>http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/idea-be-seen-at-night-on-your-motorcycle-be-safe.htmSafetyMike Wernerhttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/idea-be-seen-at-night-on-your-motorcycle-be-safe.htm?opendocument&commentshttp://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/idea-be-seen-at-night-on-your-motorcycle-be-safe.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dxcomments/idea-be-seen-at-night-on-your-motorcycle-be-safe.htm http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/idea-be-seen-at-night-on-your-motorcycle-be-safe.htm?opendocument&comments