boomer1964: I am a "new" owner of an 04 Heritage Classic I have affectionately
named "Melissa". My wife and I both put our names on the note, but
since we bought the bike, my sense is that my wife may be "concerned"
for my safety, especially on longer trips to Michigan, Minnesota, and maybe even
South Dakota.
In short, I believe I am a safer rider than a lot of folks I see on the road.
I wear a full face helmet on the 4 lanes, and a half helmet in town on the way
to work. I absolutely will not drink if I am anywhere near my bike. I took the
safety course, in part because it has been some time since I used a motorcycle
regularly. I read accident reports regularly so I can learn from mistakes.
This spring I anticipate going to a parking lot and spending a few days
refamiliarizing myself with "Melissa". I guess I try to be as safe as
I possibly can under the circumstances since it IS a motorcycle.
My question for you is my wife is "concerned" for my safety. She
does not question my abilities as a rider, but rather the dangers others are
around me while I am on the motorcycle. Is there anything I can tell her, or
give her, that might help alleviate some of those fears? Even the safest people
cannot always avoid an accident, but when I leave for a ride, I want to make
sure SHE is empowered with the knowledge I can be safe out there.
Alan~aka Boomer
What below is not a direct answer to your question but might be useful anyway and it's a little project I'm working on lately.
"According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2006, 13.10 cars out of 100,000 ended up in fatal crashes. The rate for motorcycles is 72.34 per 100,000 registered motorcycles." Comparisons based on milage are even worse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_safety .
American motor police defy these dismal statistics by a wide margin. A comparison between motor police and civilians has not been published even though the numbers are readily available. There are about 46,000 registered, government-owned motorcycles in the 50 States (Federal Highway Administration reports). In the NHTSA fatality database narrow the search criteria to "special use" vehicles--police, and "vehicle type"--motorcycle, and you get the number of on-duty motor police who died in motorcycle crashes.
17 Years of U.S. Motor Police Fatalities
1994......2
1995......2
1996......2
1997......4
1998......3
1999......3
2000......3
2001......5
2002......5
2003......7
2004......8
2005......3
2006......3
2007......4
2008......2
2009......2
2010......3
Total....61
Do a bit of tweaking and adjusting and it appears U.S. motor police as a group, including the best and worst of them, have have 1/10th the fatality rate of civilian riders. A milage comparison might be even more favorable for the police. Their fatality risk is comparable to all other motor vehicle operators (allowing that serious non fatal injuries are a lot more frequent with bikes because of less protection for the passengers).
One of the things motor police do that I'm certain is crucial to their safety record is a lot more slow speed practice than the overwhelming majority of riders believe is productive. A lot of practice is valuable because it accelerates balance and muscle memory skills used for managing lean and traction close to traction limits, life saving skills in an emergency. The riding community hates practice because it cuts into precious moving time. The manufacturerers hate practice because it might discourage sale of their products (you mean I have to work at this?) Police riders won't talk about it because if civilians worked as hard as them on skills in a few years the best riders on the road would be civilians, not police.
American motor police are not as good as they think they are. Watch some Japanese civilian or police moto gymkhana videos on youtube and compare with American police rodeo competitors. A lowly civilian moto gymkhana rider with average competitive skills could humble the best American police riders with ease. Even so if the motor police made a serious effort to popularize their practices it would make a difference, may be a big difference.