Modern Vespa

Just another bit of evidence for what most of us already agree on.....

https://advrider.com/university-research-into-loud-pipes-myth/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=03_25_2021

I'll bet they didn't test this

https://youtu.be/s5IKthNYhVY

If no one is around to hear the loud pipe, is it still saving lives?

That Romanian study bears out my experience!

This report seems to make sense.

Sadly, the silhouette (Image) of the two wheeler is not immediately picked
up by motorists.

Another reason to continue driving in a none aggressive manner with
constant defensive driver awareness. Hey, and you might still get wacked.

All the "start seeing motorcycle bumper stickers" in the world will not help.
To limit my exposure, I have quit commuting to work on two wheels. This is not a big sacrifice in Minnesota where 7 months of the year the weather in tough.

So everyone, keep your headlight on and ride safe.

Bob Copeland
Frost Bite Falls Minnesota

This gives my bicycle the acoustic footprint of a supertanker. It is very effective at getting the attention of distracted drivers.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ACAMJC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don't rely on my Harley pipes to let everyone know I'm riding BUT, I have had to realize it's a tool that's more effective at getting drivers attention (at slower speeds) than the stock electric horn. Big bikes can't wiggle like a scoot so I do what I have to do. I can't wiggle the 800lb Harley the same way I can wiggle a 250 lb Rally 200!

Can't remember all the times I've rev bombed someone to let them know I'm right behind them and they're backing up a little too close for comfort. (Parking lots)

Best story was when I was dead stopped at an intersection where person in the left lane wanted in the right lane. I was in the right lane stopped one car space ahead. They slowly crept into my lane. At 10 feet I noticed they were coming over. 5 ft and I revved. The white on these persons eyes were as big as the moon! They clearly had no idea I was there. I could only assume they saw what they wanted to see and were looking at the rear bumper of the car in front? No way I could have moved the bike fast enough to avoid a collision in that scenario.

I have a T-shirt from Abate Colorado. It says "If Loud pipes save lives, imagine what learning how to ride that thing can do."

PERFECT!

The Remus I had on my Vespa was plenty loud. Didn't do much for me....

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Loud pipes crush knees just doesn't have a great sound to it.
I still wince when I think about it..
Wish you some serious fast healing.

Given my locale, and where I usually travel (back-and-forth from NYC/Gotham, among other places), I ascribe to the "ride like you're invisible" school of defensive riding, which for me includes deeply reading automotive body-language: getting a good sense of what boneheaded move I think someone just ahead or behind me is likely to make, and scout for an escape route Just In Case. Based on my experience riding shotgun in all sorts of cars (including a friend's Tesla Model 3 Performance, which theoretically makes next to no noise of its own at all), a loud pipe or four usually doesn't mean squat, and not just because the typical hermetically-sealed motorist might not notice, because if they do notice, they frequently have no frigging idea just from where that noise emanates: yeah, you've got their attention...so what do they do now?

From my own anecdotal experience, some 90% of motorists (yes, even in New Jersey) are actually pretty decent and civil in their on-road manners (though maybe they could try not driving so far above the posted limit...75-80mph is just fine), with another 5% being simply clueless, and the remaining 5%...well, choose your own polysyllabic obscenity to describe them. I know I have.

Plus 100% on this!

I always recommend to all my friend that wish to improve on their riding/driving skills, simply to drive/ride for a week in Roma (sorry you call it Rome)

Best driving training ground in the world after India..

I always failed to understand the correlation between the exhaust of an engine and the actual rider skills...

I always ride as if I am invisible, don't trust anyone, and never believe turn signals or the lack of them.

Nailed it. Scooter and motorcycle riders aren't simply hit but we all get worked up when they do and nothing is said of the rider or other facts of the situation except that some dumb ass car driver hit a scooter or motorcycle rider. I've been reading these stories since forums were invented. For any given wreck involving a scooter or motorcycle I'd love to know the circumstances just prior to the encounter. Lots of factors in play but none seem to hit the story except the car hitting the scoot and the idiot driver. Hmmm... usually more to the story.

I haven't had an accident in over 30 years, but there was a pattern to the accidents I did have - I was going too fast and the other guy did something stupid.

Let's just say, five years in, I'm aiming toward your metric.

Thanks Sully, I'm doing OK, PT is helping and the knee and leg are getting there. The actual break in the fibula still can bug me as well as the knee but I have way better mobility now. Next week we step the PK down to something less strong and I'm hoping to be on that new Vespa is 2 weeks. I have the Ural at the dealer (towed it there) getting the winter tires swapped out and spring maintenance etc That I'm hoping to be on that by the end of this week. Little niggly crap will be around for a while but that will eventually sort itself out.

To be on topic I will be upgrading the exhaust on the new one as well but this time the baffle is going in.

Just a note - they are NOT ACCIDENTS. They are COLLISIONS. One or more people did something to cause that collision, and if either one had done something different it might not have happened.

Seems to me that, if someone veers into me in a way that I had no way of knowing about or reacting to, I had an accident. The other guy collided with me, sure. THEY didn't have an accident, they had a crash. I had an accident.

Put in different terms, if a rock falls from a mountainside, and hits me on the head, I had an accident. No way I could have seen it coming, or reacted to it.

Or, you could have seen the hazard, and taken some action to mitigate it. If you're coming up to a junction, and there's a car in the opposite left lane going slowly or stopped, assume they might be turning left, and that they might not have noticed you. Z-motion manouver, horn, change lanes, there's always something that can be done to lessen the potential impact.
You'd fail your UK video-based hazard test (part of the driving test) if you didn't acknowledge that hazard. That is an accident - but cars don't drop from the sky. They are in plain view, and usually piloted by a sentient being.

Honestly in the real world accident and collision are pretty much interchangeable words. I find google provides better results if you look up accident plus the query over collision as it's what most people use. Collision may be the "correct" term but if I ask someone to give me a Kleenex and all they have is no name facial tissue I would get the same results.

Speaking of approaching an intersection with a car in the turn lane coming toward you...think very quickly of your answer as if you were riding...as you enter the intersection the car begins to turn across your path - - which way do you veer to avoid hitting him? In front of him or behind him?

There are a lot of variables. You have to sort out an escape path and second guess if he'll continue or slam on the brakes if/when you're spotted. You have to decide if hard braking or swerving is the best response. And of course you have a tenth of a second to pick one.

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My browser hates me.

Since you never have time in this situation to think the only way is to swerve to his rear. That way you are opening distance vs closing distance.

Except that may well put you in opposing traffic lanes.
Head-on with another innocent bystander.

Then go ahead plan to try and beat the car turning in front of you through the intersection. I'll take a maybe versus an almost certain collision.