In June or July of last year [2001], I discovered Mr. James R. Davis' web site where he had about 160 articles about motorcycle riding. I read all articles in one long session. I was deeply impressed with his expertise, but at the same time I was overwhelmed by my own re-realization how deep and difficult riding is. In an attempt to overcome this feeling, I decided not to read his articles anymore. In fact, I just kept riding for the next year or so without reading much about motorcycle riding techniques.

In July of this year [2002], I revisited Mr. Davis' web site for the first time in a year or so and discovered that he had a discussion forum where the emphasis was on ride safety. I was shocked by the impression I got after reading a few posts there. I realized quickly that there were basically three groups of posters.

Group 1: Young people with basically no experience in riding who are seeking encouragement to ride or those who just want to talk about motorcycles and/or riding.

Group 2: Older people with basically no experience in riding or those with prior experience and some non-riding period who are again seeking encouragement to start riding.

Group 3: People with some experience in riding who basically love to encourage people to join the world of motorcycle riding.

The impression I got from reading their posts was that instead of realizing how difficult riding is, they felt that just because they read articles and books on riding, ride safety/strategy, and also because they had taken or would take an MSF class, they would be able to reduce the risk of riding and would be alright. My suspicion that they had been affected by MSF and the forums like Mr. Davis' started brewing.

I didn't think so. I also realized that I didn't know for sure either. So I did some research on motorcycle accidents. I was shocked with what I found in a few days on the Internet. I had had vague understanding of how dangerous motorcycle riding was. However, I didn't really know how dangerous riding was until I found real hard numbers on motorcycle accidents. I decided that I should let them know.

I posted "Are MSF and This Forum Good for You?" at Mr. Davis' discussion forum on July 8, 2002. The response was negative at best and at worst misinterpreted. Realizing the inclusion of part of ABATE's article critical of helmets must have given some people the wrong idea that my main issue was mandatory helmet laws, I decided to write another message to clarify my views. Before I finished writing the message, I had been engaged in a few heated discussions about riding techniques and motorcycle dynamics at Mr. Davis' discussion forum.

I posted "The Truth Is Stranger Than..." at Mr. Davis' forum at about 5:30 pm PST on July 19, 2002. The message was deleted within a few hours along with two other posts of mine which remained undeleted at the forum prior to the posting of "The Truth Is Stranger Than...." With the deletion of the three posts of mine, my suspicion reached the first high point.

July 19, 2002 was Friday. I just wanted the world to know my suspicion may not be totally ill-founded, so I set out to create a web site to post just those three messages deleted from Mr. Davis' forum. I prepared the first version in a day and made it available on the Internet the following Sunday, July 21, 2002. That's how this web site started.

The only motorcycle accident related numbers I included in "Are MSF and This Forum Good for You?" and "The Truth Is Stranger Than..." were odds derived from data I found in Kentucky Traffic Collision Facts 2000 Report. At the time, they were the most recent source of statistics on motorcycle accidents I could find.

It seemed no one was shocked by the odds I presented or some were shocked as I was to see those odds for the first time but didn't want to accept them as a fact or talk about them. Assuming that they were not convincing enough to many, I started looking for more, and I found more. I'm a visual kind of person. I like things visual. I have made charts out of numbers I found and presented them to people at various places on the Internet, hoping that these hard, stark fact-based charts will make them realize what kind of danger we are really dealing with, and with this realization will come more conservative, prudent riding for those who started riding already and won't quit riding and reality check to those who are contemplating to start riding, possibly making them think more carefully before making a decision. I think if we want to or are willing to accept the risk of motorcycling in exchange for the joy it provides to us, we should know what the risk is, however disconcerting it is. Frankly, I don't think people who cannot face the real risk level of motorcycle riding objectively have a mind cut out for riding.

[In all fairness, I'd like to point out that the odds I included in "Are MSF and This Forum Good for You?" and "The Truth Is Stranger Than..." are higher than those derivable from national data I subsequently obtained.]

If you think you do, fine. You won't have any problem reading my interpretation of the risk of motorcycle riding, will you? Click on "Yes, I want to read Julian Solos' interpretation of the risk of motorcycle riding" below. If you don't want to, that's fine with me. I understand....