Add to favorites Examiner Bio

Specific effects of alcohol on the motorcycle rider

From the Motorcycle Safety Foundation:

 

From Missouri Motorcycle Safety Program:

Predict and Decide: The ability to exercise good judgment in making decisions is one of the first things to be impaired by alcohol. Alcohol affects decisions about such things as how fast to drive, whether to pass the vehicle ahead, whether to give way to another vehicle, as well as many other decisions that are truly life-and-death matters. One of the very first things alcohol does is lessen that sense of self-preservation that helps people use good judgment in dealing with risky situations. At the same time it also affects the judgment of how well or how poorly they're riding. The result of these double-barreled effects is that while the drinking riders get worse and worse, they think they are getting better and better; therefore, they take greater and greater risks.

Unfortunately, the loss of judgment and sound decision-making starts with the first drink and can itself result in more and more drinking. That is what makes it so dangerous.

Execute: Whatever decisions riders reach - good or bad - are executed in the handling of the motorcycle. Those aspects of execution most strongly affected by alcohol are:

Reaction Time: Alcohol produces slower reaction. Actually, simple reactions to things like brake signals or traffic lights are not much affected. What suffers particularly is the ability to react quickly when there is a choice of things to do, e.g., swerve right or left, turn or brake. Alcohol can leave people so confused that they don't do anything at all.

Coordination: The ability to control a motorcycle demands a high degree of eye, hand, and foot coordination. Alcohol can severely interfere with this coordination. The effects of alcohol will show up in errors such as clashing gears during a shift or lurching to a stop; slowness - taking longer to complete a maneuver because of difficulty carrying out the coordination quickly; and corrections - having to jockey the handlebars or throttle back and forth to maintain a fixed course or speed.

Balance: A sense of balance is obviously important in operating a two-wheel vehicle. It is also one of the senses affected by alcohol (which is why it is frequently used as a test of sobriety).

The inexperience rider: While anyone's execution is affected by alcohol, the effect is most severe among inexperienced riders. People who have been riding for many years may not be visibly affected until they are almost intoxicated. However, those with only a few years experience, and those who don't ride a great deal during the course of a year, will show effects with as few as one or two drinks in their systems.

Related Articles:

From Chris Greenleaf: Drinking and Riding: Part 1 of a series- Personal Judgement Counts

Check out other Motorcycle/Scooter Examiners: