Study guide
Most motorcycle crashes are not freak events; they follow patterns, and a rider who searches ahead, evaluates what could go wrong, and acts early can break those patterns. This chapter covers the SEE strategy, the intersection threat that dominates crash statistics, emergency maneuvers like quick stops and swerves, and the surface and mechanical hazards the knowledge test loves to ask about.
SEE: Search, Evaluate, Execute
Experienced riders manage risk with a mental strategy the MSF calls SEE, which stands for Search, Evaluate, Execute. Search means aggressively scanning the environment rather than passively watching the vehicle ahead: look about 12 seconds down your intended path, which at highway speed is a considerable distance, and keep your eyes moving between the road surface, the sides of the road, oncoming traffic, intersections, driveways, and your mirrors. Searching 12 seconds ahead gives you time to spot a hazard while you still have easy options. Evaluate means asking how each thing you see could interact with you: a car waiting at a side street could pull out, a pedestrian at a crosswalk could step off, a patch of shade could hide gravel, and two hazards can combine, such as an oncoming car drifting wide just as you approach a pothole that would push you toward it. Evaluating means anticipating the worst reasonable case and deciding in advance what you would do. Execute means acting on that decision by adjusting speed, adjusting position, or communicating with your lights and horn, and often all three: slow down and cover the brakes, move to the lane position that buys the most space, flash the brake light, or tap the horn. Consider a rider named Aiko approaching a suburban intersection: she searches and sees a left-turning SUV waiting across from her, evaluates that its driver may not register a motorcycle, and executes by slowing, moving to the lane position that makes her most visible, and preparing to stop, all before the SUV moves. If it turns, she is ready; if it waits, she has lost two seconds. That trade, tiny costs for large protection, is the entire logic of SEE.
Intersections: The Highest-Risk Real Estate
The single most dangerous place for a motorcyclist is an intersection, and the single most common car-motorcycle collision is a car turning left in front of an oncoming motorcycle. Over half of motorcycle-and-car crashes are caused by drivers entering a rider's right-of-way, and intersections are the most likely place for those conflicts, a category that includes not just cross streets with signals but driveways, alleys, parking-lot entrances, and anywhere traffic paths cross. The drivers involved often say, honestly, that they looked and did not see the motorcycle: a bike's narrow profile is easy to miss, and its speed and distance are easy to misjudge. Your defense is threefold. First, approach every intersection expecting to be unseen: reduce speed, cover the clutch and both brakes to shave reaction time, and select a lane position that puts you in view of the drivers most likely to cross your path, with clear space around you to act. Never count on eye contact, because a driver can look straight at you and still pull out; eye contact is not a guarantee of anything. Second, handle blind intersections, where buildings, hedges, or parked cars hide crossing traffic, by moving to the portion of the lane that lets you see earliest, and if a stop sign or stop line still leaves you unable to see, stop there first, then edge forward slowly until you can see. Third, stay alert around driveways and parked cars, because drivers emerging from them may be watching only for cars, not motorcycles. A rider named Silas treats every intersection like a stage where he is invisible; he is wrong most of the time, and that error costs him nothing, while the opposite error can cost everything.
Being Seen: Headlight, Signals, Brake Light, and Horn
Since most multi-vehicle motorcycle crashes involve a driver who failed to notice the rider, increasing conspicuity is a survival skill with its own set of tested facts. Ride with the headlight on at all times, day and night; on most motorcycles built since the late 1970s the headlight comes on automatically with the engine, and a lit headlight makes a motorcycle noticeably easier to pick out in daytime traffic. At night, use the high beam whenever you are not following or meeting another vehicle. Use your turn signals for every turn and lane change, even when you think no one is around, because the driver you did not see is the one who needed the signal. Motorcycle signals often do not cancel themselves, so make canceling a habit; a forgotten blinker tells a waiting driver you are about to turn when you are not, an invitation to pull out in front of you. Your brake light is smaller than a car's, so help drivers behind you by flashing it before you slow, especially when you are slowing where drivers do not expect it, such as mid-block before a driveway, when you are slowing more quickly than traffic anticipates, or when someone is following too closely. Use the horn early and without embarrassment: a quick beep before passing a driver who might drift into you, or at a pedestrian or animal near the roadway, can prevent trouble, though remember a motorcycle horn is quiet compared with a car's, so never rely on it alone. In an emergency, combine tools: position, speed, lights, and horn together, and be ready with an escape path no matter how loudly you announce yourself.
Emergency Maneuvers: Quick Stops and Swerving
When SEE fails to keep trouble at a distance, two practiced maneuvers remain: stopping quickly and swerving. For a maximum quick stop, apply both brakes firmly at the same time without locking either wheel, squeezing the front lever progressively harder as weight transfers forward. If the rear wheel locks and begins to skid, the standard advice is to keep it locked until you have completely stopped, because releasing a locked rear wheel while the motorcycle is out of line with the road can snap the bike violently sideways. If the front wheel locks, release the front brake immediately and reapply it smoothly, since a locked front wheel takes away your ability to balance and steer. Motorcycles with antilock brakes change this picture: with ABS, brake fully and let the system prevent lockup. Swerving is the alternative when there is no room to stop: two quick, consecutive countersteering presses, press on the handgrip on the side of the direction you want to go to snap the motorcycle over, then press the opposite grip to straighten once past the obstacle. Keep your body upright and let the motorcycle lean beneath you, and keep your knees against the tank. The rule the test cares most about: never brake while swerving, because braking and swerving each demand traction and combining them can overwhelm the tires' grip. Brake before the swerve or after it, but separate the two actions. Deciding between stopping and swerving is a judgment call made in a heartbeat, which is exactly why both maneuvers must be practiced in an empty parking lot until they are reflexes, not ideas.
Dangerous Surfaces, Mechanical Failures, and Getting Off the Road
A motorcycle's two small tire contact patches make surface hazards a bigger deal than they are for cars. On slippery surfaces, wet pavement, especially in the first minutes of rain when oil floats to the surface, gravel, mud, wet leaves, painted lane markings, and steel plates, slow down before reaching the hazard, avoid sudden moves, and use both brakes gently; on very slippery stretches, minimize lean and travel as upright and steady as possible. Rain grooves and metal bridge gratings can make the bike weave slightly; the tested response is to relax, keep a steady speed, and ride straight across, because the weave is uncomfortable but not dangerous, and fighting it makes it worse. For railroad or trolley tracks crossing your path at an angle, it is usually safest to ride straight within your lane rather than swerving to meet them head-on; for tracks or seams running parallel to your path, cross at an angle of at least 45 degrees so they cannot catch your wheels. Mechanical emergencies have scripted answers: if a tire blows out, hold the handgrips firmly, keep a straight course, ease off the throttle, and, if you must brake, gently use the brake of the wheel that is not flat, exiting the road when speed is low. If the throttle sticks, twist it back and forth; if it remains stuck, operate the engine cut-off switch and pull in the clutch at the same time. If the motorcycle begins to wobble, grip the bars firmly, close the throttle gradually, and do not brake or fight the wobble. If the chain or engine seizes, the rear wheel can lock: pull in the clutch and coast to the roadside. For animals, brake early while the animal is ahead, then release the brakes and maneuver around it as you reach it; for a chasing dog, downshift, approach slowly, then accelerate away as the dog nears. When leaving the road for any reason, signal, check mirrors and blind spot, slow before the surface change, and remember roadside gravel or grass offers far less traction than pavement.
Key terms
- SEE
- — The MSF risk-management strategy: Search for hazards, Evaluate how they could affect you, and Execute a response by adjusting speed, position, and communication.
- 12-second path of travel
- — The distance ahead a rider should search, equal to about 12 seconds of travel at current speed, to allow time to respond to hazards.
- Left-turning car
- — The most common car-motorcycle collision scenario: a driver turns left across the path of an oncoming motorcycle after failing to see it or misjudging its speed.
- Covering the brakes
- — Resting fingers on the front brake lever and a foot near the rear brake pedal in high-risk areas to shorten reaction time.
- Quick stop
- — A maximum braking maneuver using both brakes applied firmly and progressively without locking the wheels.
- Locked rear wheel
- — A rear-wheel skid during braking; the standard response is to keep it locked until fully stopped rather than releasing it mid-skid.
- Swerve
- — An emergency maneuver of two quick countersteering presses to dart around an obstacle; never combined with braking at the same moment.
- Wobble
- — A rapid shaking of the handlebars and front wheel; handled by gripping firmly, gradually closing the throttle, and not braking.
- Tire blowout response
- — Hold the grips firmly, keep a straight course, ease off the throttle, and brake gently with the wheel that still has a good tire.
- Stuck throttle response
- — Twist the throttle back and forth; if still stuck, hit the engine cut-off switch and pull in the clutch simultaneously.
- 45-degree rule
- — Cross tracks, seams, or pavement edges that run parallel to your path at an angle of at least 45 degrees so they cannot trap your wheels.
- Blind intersection
- — An intersection where buildings, plants, or parked vehicles hide crossing traffic; approach in the lane position that reveals traffic soonest and edge forward until you can see.
Exam tips
- SEE questions are definitional: Search, Evaluate, Execute, with a 12-second search distance ahead. Do not confuse the 12-second search with the 2-second following distance.
- The most-tested crash fact: intersections are the most likely place for a collision, and the classic scenario is a car turning left in front of you. Eye contact with a driver is never proof you have been seen.
- Skid questions have fixed answers: keep a locked rear wheel locked until stopped; release and reapply a locked front brake immediately.
- Never brake and swerve at the same time; brake before or after the swerve. This exact wording appears frequently.
- For angled railroad tracks, ride straight within your lane rather than swerving to hit them squarely; cross parallel tracks at 45 degrees or more.