I Survived "Rat Alley" Again ...

 Took the motorcycle from Marshall to Battle Creek for a movie ("Fast and
Furious", naturally).

The sun was still fully visible above the horizon, and a pack of rats
(a.k.a. deer) decided to cross the road right in front of me (not an unusual
move, but unusual in broad daylight).  So, I came from 50 down to 0 to
protect my own hide and they crossed in front of me.  There were still two
left on the left side of the road that couldn't make up their minds.

On the way back from Battle Creek, I had to make all my decisions based on
the rats, essentially.  I pretty much stayed off the freeway until a stretch
of 2-laner coming into Marshall that is "rat alley".  I decided I'd rather
be on the freeway than ride that stretch at night.

I don't know how it is in other parts of the country or the world, but in
Michigan the rats are really numerous.

On most of the 2-laners around here you'll see a dead deer about every 2-5
miles that has been hit by a car.

They are in some sense cute creatures.  When I take a walk late at night I
see them on lawns and pillaging people's gardens.  They are cute.  But theye
are a navigation hazard.

The Lizard

 
SNIP

Weird, I no longer have to stop for hooved rats. They stop before they
get to the road or back away when I'm coming. Don't know why, maybe
the word has got out that I don't stop for them, I don't get on the
brakes all I do is MAYBE roll off the throttle a bit.


To cages and the unwary yes they are. Glad you were paying attention
and played it safe. I wouldn't suggest anybody no matter how good do
it the way I do...I'm likely to drop a gear and pin the throttle. They
want to try to kill me then I'm getting my pound of flesh and yes I'll
be cooking a piece on the headers whilst some poor stupid cager calls
the cops.

I've had too many friends and aquaintances either injured or crippled
by the damn things. Yes I started that attitude years ago when a
kamakazi pigeon tried to kill me one moonless night in the early 80's.
I'm not invulnerable just hard to take down.
--
Keith

 
It really is hard to say how risky your technique is or isn't.  Factors that
come immediately to mind:

a)The noise you create by downshifting and going to a high power setting may
keep them from crossing or may cause those already crossing to jump out of
your way.

b)It is hard to say what percentage of deer/motorcycle injuries occur
because the rider loses control of the motorcycle trying to stop or swerve.
Since using your technique you are trying to do neither, that contributing
factor to accidents would be completely gone.

c)It is hard to say whether hitting a deer at 60 or 30 is worse (hard to
assess the vehicle dynamics).  If you lean over so the deer doesn't strip
you off the bike, and if you score a dead-on hit at, say, 60 MPH, it is hard
to say what would happen.  You and the bike together might weigh 750 lbs. or
so.  The deer might weigh 150.  By conservation of momentum, you shouldn't
lose any more than about 10 MPH or so, assuming that you accelerate the deer
to your speed.  It really is hard for me to say as a layman whether a bike
can stay upright during a square hit on a deer.  It is also hard for me to
say how much a bike structure will deform in that event.

d)A higher-speed collision may have a higher tendency to throw the deer over
the bike rather than plow over it, thus improving the bike's ability to stay
upright.

Maybe statistically the best strategy for handling an impending deer
collision would be to lean forward, brace for impact, and take no braking or
swerving action.  I don't know.

But, my personal strategy is to shed as much energy as I can and avoid the
critters.  I have reason to believe that going down at 30 is a
higher-quality experience than going down at 60.  Just a guess.

The Lizard.

 

<snippage>

10 mph of instantaneous deceleration would put anyone in front of their
bike.

 armpit wrote:

"1 MPH" of truly "instantaneous" deceleration would, too - anything
over zero is a Really Big Number.  Which is why the technical term
in mathematics for that is "You can't DO that...".

In other words, "instantaneous deceleration" is a meaningless phrase.
All deceleration, including that which happens via collision, takes
SOME finite amount of time, and how much time it does take along
with the initial and final velocities are important considerations that
you can't just hand-wave away.

Lizard's take on the situation was incomplete, but at least he was
on the right track.

Bob M.