Prioritizing Safety when riding a motorcycle

Riding a motorbike gives you a different kind of high, but it is imperative to know if it is safe. Like vehicles, motorcycles also benefit from advances in technology, helping to give you a better and safer ride.

Here are some essential safety features to look out for in motorbikes:

Airbags

You don’t have to be in a car to take advantage of airbags! Now it is possible to buy them as a vest that can slide over your motorcycle jacket. It provides excellent protection in case there is an accident. Even if they aren’t cheap, they are worth the money and extremely effective. It offers an extra layer of safety in addition to helmets, leathers and boots.

Anti-lock braking system (ABS)

This safety feature is definitely something that could come in handy in the event that things go sideways when coming to a stop. An anti-lock braking system, or ABS, prevents your wheels from locking up under heavy braking. It goes without saying that ABS provides a much-needed safety net, especially when the road is slippery due to rain or debris, or when coming to a stop in an emergency situation. This safety feature can certainly spell the difference between riding away from a close call and ending up in the hospital with hefty repair and medical bills.

Immobilizer or Alarm

This feature is standard on most premium modern day motorbikes. An immobilizer is a safety feature that keeps your motorcycle secure when it is parked. It prevents thieves from tampering with your motorcycle's ignition. Most immobilizer systems make use of a microchip embedded in your key. Once the key is inserted into the ignition, it sends a signal to a sensor in your ignition barrel indicating that the key is indeed authentic and is paired with the motorcycle’s security system. If a key that doesn’t contain a matching microchip is inserted into the ignition, it will not allow the bike to start. To sum up, an immobilizer system serves as a redundancy when it comes to your bike security and safety features.

Traction and Stability Control

Traction control can help you on slippery areas by sensing a loss of traction and helping the motorbike stay on the road by controlling how much power is delivered to the rear wheel. While it is more common to find it in high-end motorcycles, traction control is becoming increasingly popular in cheaper motorcycles as well. Working in tandem with traction control, stability control monitors the traction and analyses the amount of lean when accelerating or braking during a turn, helping to ensure that the right amount of power or braking is utilised.

Hazard Lights

Hazard lights are most commonly found as standard equipment on premium, expensive big bikes. However, smaller bikes can also benefit from such a feature. Hazard lights, when used correctly, are meant to serve as an early warning device for when you need to come to an emergency stop, or are stopped at the side of the road due to an emergency situation. Please remember that having hazard lights does not automatically grant you a park anywhere pass. Make sure to use your hazard lights responsibly, and switch them off when it is not absolutely necessary to use them.

Kill switch

A kill switch, as the name suggests, is meant to cut all power to the engine. This is especially useful in the event of a sudden crash or drop, as it immediately kills the power and stops the wheel from turning. In turn, it prevents any subsequent injuries or damages caused by an out of control motorcycle that’s continuing to receive power from the engine. Accompanying a kill switch is usually a more sophisticated feature called a tip over sensor. The tip over sensor is capable of determining whether a motorcycle has been in a crash, and automatically switches off the engine if it senses that the bike has fallen. Just like the kill switch, this prevents any further injury or damage caused by the rear wheel still spinning when the bike has fallen.

Whatever your motivations are for riding a motorcycle, it is always the best idea to put safety first. Apart from donning complete riding gear, as well as practicing safe riding, it certainly pays dividends to get a motorcycle that is equipped with at least the bare essentials when it comes to safety features.