MOTORCYCLE OPERATOR MANUAL With Supplementary Information for Three-Wheel Motorcycles 17TH EDITION 2 PREFACE Welcome to the Seventeenth Edition This latest edition has undergone of the MSF Motorcycle Operator Manual significant improvements, and contains (MOM). Operating a motorcycle safely new, more in-depth information, in traffic requires special skills and designed to: knowledge. The Motorcycle Safety • Guide riders in preparing to ride Foundation (MSF) has made this manual safely available to help novice motorcyclists reduce their risk of having a crash. The • Develop effective street strategies manual conveys essential safe riding • Give riders more comprehensive information and has been designed understanding of safe group riding for use in licensing programs. While practices designed for the novice, all motorcyclists • Describe in detail best practices for can benefit from the information this carrying passengers and cargo manual contains. In promoting improved licensing The original Motorcycle Operator programs, the MSF works closely with Manual was developed by the National state licensing agencies. The Foundation Public Services Research Institute (NPSRI) has helped more than half the states under contract to the National Highway in the nation adopt the Motorcycle Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Operator Manual for use in their and within the terms of a cooperative licensing systems. agreement between NHTSA and the MSF. The manual and related tests Improved licensing, along with high were used in a multi-year study of quality motorcycle rider education and improved motorcycle operator licensing increased public awareness, has the procedures, conducted by the California potential to reduce crashes. Staff at Department of Motor Vehicles under the Foundation are available to assist contract to NHTSA. governmental and private agencies in efforts to improve motorcycle safety. The purpose of this manual is to educate riders and to help them avoid crashes while safely operating either a standard two-wheel motorcycle or a three-wheel motorcycle. Tim Buche President, Motorcycle Safety Foundation msf-usa.org CONTENTS 3 THE RIDER AND BEING IN SHAPE TO RIDE THE MOTORCYCLE ���������������������������4 Why This Information Is Important ���������������������������������������42 PREPARING TO RIDE Alcohol and Other Drugs in Wear the Right Gear ����������������������������5 Motorcycle Operation ��������������������42 Know Your Motorcycle ������������������������7 Alcohol in the Body ����������������������������42 Know Your Responsibilities ���������������10 Alcohol and the Law ��������������������������44 Minimize the Risks �����������������������������44 RIDE WITHIN YOUR ABILITIES Step in to Protect Friends ������������������45 Basic Vehicle Control ��������������������������11 Marijuana and Keeping Your Distance �����������������������15 Motorcycle Operation ��������������������45 SEE �������������������������������������������������������20 Fatigue ������������������������������������������������46 Intersections ���������������������������������������21 ��������������47 Increasing Conspicuity �����������������������24 EARNING YOUR LICENSE Crash Avoidance ���������������������������������27 THREE-WHEEL SUPPLEMENT Handling Dangerous Surfaces �����������30 Supplementary Information Mechanical Problems �������������������������33 for Three-Wheel Motorcycles ���������49 Animals �����������������������������������������������34 Know Your Vehicle ������������������������������49 Flying Objects �������������������������������������35 Basic Vehicle Control ���������������������������51 Getting Off the Road �������������������������35 Carrying Passengers and Cargo ����������54 Carrying Passengers 55 and Cargo ���������������������������������������35 HAND SIGNALS �������������������������� Group Riding ���������������������������������������38 T-CLOCS PRE-RIDE CHECKLIST ����57 4 THE RIDER AND THE MOTORCYCLE Motorcycling is a RIDING ENVIRONMENT unique experience. Compared to a car, you don’t sit in a motorcycle, you become part of it. Not as a passive driver, but as an active rider arcing into a string of smooth corners, playing along with the rhythm of the road; shifting, accelerating, and braking with precision. Whether you ride to and from work or prefer you, and supports the concept that, the camaraderie of a group ride on the as the Motorcycle Safety Foundation weekend, motorcycling engages all your says, “Safe riding depends as much senses and creates an invigorating sense on the mental skills of awareness and of freedom. judgment as it does on a physical skill of Along with that freedom comes maneuvering the machine.” responsibility. All states require Successfully piloting a motorcycle is a some form of license endorsement much more involved task than driving a demonstrating you possess a minimum car. Motorcycling requires a fine sense level of skill and knowledge. This of balance and a heightened sense of booklet and other motorcycle awareness and position amidst other publications can help prepare you to roadway users. A motorcycle responds be successful. You might also consider more quickly to rider inputs than a car, taking a formal hands-on training but is also more sensitive to outside course, even if your state doesn’t require forces, like irregular road surfaces or that you complete one. You’ll learn how crosswinds. A motorcycle is also less to improve your riding skills and mental visible than a car due to its narrower strategies, so you can be a safer, more profile, and offers far less protection by alert rider. exposing its rider to other traffic and The diagram above illustrates the the elements. All these risks can be complex environment that awaits managed through study, training, and practice. PREPARING TO RIDE 5 What you do before you start a trip goes a long way toward determining whether or not you’ll get where you want to go safely. Before taking off on any trip, a safe rider makes a point to: 1� Wear the right gear� 2� Become familiar with the motorcycle� 3� Check the motorcycle equipment� 4� Be a responsible rider� WEAR THE RIGHT GEAR a helmet kept a rider from spotting danger. When you ride, your gear is “right” if it protects you. In any crash, you have • Most crashes happen on short trips (less than five miles long), just a far better chance of avoiding serious a few minutes after starting out. injury if you wear: • Most riders are riding slower than • A DOT-compliant helmet� 30 mph when a crash occurs. At • Face or eye protection� these speeds, helmets can cut both the number and the severity of head • Protective clothing� injuries by half. Helmet Use No matter what the speed, helmeted Crashes can occur — particularly riders are three times more likely to among untrained, beginning riders. survive head injuries than those not And one out of every five motorcycle wearing helmets at the time of the crashes results in head or neck injuries. crash. The single most important thing Head injuries are just as severe as neck you can do to improve your chances of injuries — and far more common. Crash surviving a crash is to wear a securely- analyses show that head and neck fastened, quality helmet. injuries account for a majority of serious Helmet Selection and fatal injuries to motorcyclists. Research also shows that, with few There are two primary types of exceptions, head and neck injuries are helmets, providing two different levels reduced by properly wearing a quality of coverage: three-quarter and full face. helmet. Whichever style you choose, you can Some riders don’t wear helmets get the most protection by making sure because they think helmets will limit that the helmet: their view to the sides. Others wear • Is designed to meet U�S� helmets only on long trips or when Department of Transportation riding at high speeds. But, here are (DOT) and state standards. Helmets some facts to consider: with a label from the Snell Memorial Foundation also give you an • A DOT-compliant helmet lets assurance of quality. you see as far to the sides as necessary. A study of more than • Fits snugly, all the way around. 900 motorcycle crashes, where • Has no obvious defects such as 40% of the riders wore helmets, cracks, loose padding or frayed did not find even one case in which straps. 6 PREPARING TO RIDE Whatever helmet you decide on, keep it securely HELMETS fastened on your head when you ride. Otherwise, if you are involved in a crash, it’s likely to fly off your head before it gets a chance to protect you. Eye and Face Protection A plastic impact-resistant faceshield can help protect your whole face in a crash. It also protects you Clothing from wind, dust, dirt, rain, insects and pebbles thrown up from cars ahead. The right clothing protects you in These problems are distracting and a collision. It also provides comfort, can be painful. If you have to deal as well as protection from heat, cold, with them, you can’t devote your full debris and hot and moving parts of the attention to the road. motorcycle. It can also make you more visible to others. Goggles protect your eyes, though they won’t protect the rest of your face • Jacket and pants should cover like a faceshield does. A windshield arms and legs completely. They is not a substitute for a faceshield or should fit snugly enough to keep goggles. Most windshields will not from flapping in the wind, yet protect your eyes from the wind. Neither loosely enough to move freely. will eyeglasses or sunglasses. Glasses Leather offers the most protection. won’t