Here's a post I did a long time ago for motorcycle newbies... about learning motorcycle safety from my dad....
The first thing my dad taught me was... "Pretend you're INVISIBLE". Cars don't see you. Pedestrians don't see you. Even other MOTORCYCLISTS don't see you." The logical follow up to that is that if another car/truck can hit you.. assume it WILL hit you. And for all those situations, have an 'out'.
For the newbies... this may sound like a lot of work, but this defensive driving behavior becomes such 2nd nature that after awhile you don't even realize you're 'working' at it. That's what athletes do... they train a behavior to become almost an instinct.
It is stated that most accidents occur at 35 mph or less. I would MOSTLY agree with this. And it seems to me that the majority of slower accidents occur for basically 6 reasons. (Obviously, there are many other possibilities, but these are the ones I hear about the most.)
1. Another vehicle pulls out in front of motorcylist from a side street, or runs a red light.
2. Motorcyclist gets rear-ended waiting at a light or while stopped.
3. Motorcyclist gets side-swiped by unaware lane-changing car/truck.
4. Road hazards, i.e. gravel, rain, ice.
5. Motorcyclist lack of concentration, inattentivity, or 'hooliganism'.
6. Motorcyclist gets hit head on from oncoming traffic 'drifting' into their lane.
(1) I read so many stories about the motorcyclist that got wiped out because "A car turned in front of him", or "The car ran the red light". My entire motorcycling life, I have the internal red alert go off when I approach an intersection (even when I have the right-of-way) or a side street with a car/truck waiting to pull out. I take several measures whenever this occurs. First I make a rough estimate of his potential to pull out in front of me. From there I decide the best path to take to get out of his way should it happen. I also try to see the driver's face to see if he is daydreaming, or looking for traffic. I try to make eye contact. I'll even flash my lights or horn if I think he's not seeing me.
At lighted intersections, I never assume 'green means go". There are plenty of dead motorcyclists who had the right-of-way. Right-of-way means nothing if you are on a bike. On a wide-open country road, it's easy to do a quick eye-scan of the intersection to see if there's a threat. At a more congested intersection, I slow down early to be able to apprise the situation.
(2) This one's pretty easy. Don't sit on a road waiting to turn left. In fact, on busy roads, my father would turn RIGHT, and then cross the intersection when it was clear... rather than sit in the left lane. (A little extreme, but he never got rear-ended.) At a stop-light, we all know we should keep one eye in the rear-view mirror, and not sit somewhere we can't escape should we see a car barreling down on us from behind. Flashing your brake light as a habit at a stoplight isn't a bad idea, either.
(3) I never stay in someone's blind spot. I know it's hard to do in heavy traffic, but at least try to get in position where the cager can see you, and again, assume that guy on the cell-phone is going to change lanes right into you... and have an 'out'. Even if that out is just the lesser of two evils.
(4) Road hazards are tough to predict. Obviously extreme care needs to be taken in sharp turns for gravel, rain, or other debris. Good rubber & brakes are probably the 2 most important accident AVOIDANCE safety devices. When on the open road, stay in the tire paths of the cars because most of the crap on the roads accumulates in the middle of the lane. This once saved my skin when a nice chunk of 4x4 wood was lying right in the middle of the lane. I was on the right side of the lane and missed it by an inch or two. I can only imagine what would have happened if I hit it dead-on at 65 mph.
(5) Very simply... Safety first. No matter what else is going on, whatever other thoughts are going through your head, it should be the #1 priority at all times. Concentrate on defensive driving... even if you're tearing it up on a backroad sweeper. Always be aware of what's going on around you. Is it possible that parked car door might swing open as you go past and give your new front M1 Sportec a rude greeting? Are you driving down a road that deer cross frequently?And remember... even the BEST motorcycle road racers crash occasionally. If you want to drive like them, are you willing to see what happens on a public road when (not if) you crash?
(6) If you want to drive in the left lane of an undivided road or highway and risk a head-on collision with a car or truck at a combined 100-120mph, I wish you luck.
As for me... I'll stay to the right on roads with no large median.
I think an awareness of these 6 things can comprise about 90% of accident avoidance. Accidents that are caused by you, or caused someone else. Accidents from the front, rear, sides, and bottom. (Does not cover meteorites or other flying objects.)
As far as excessive speed goes, remember that when you're on your bike doing.. say... 100mph... YOU are the projectile doing 100mph. Not just the bike. Imagine being shot out of a cannon (even with helmet, leathers, boots, etc) at 100mph into the side of a van or car. We all know that at that speed we have no ability to steer more than a few inches one way or another should an unexpected obstacle cross our path. And very little time to react should something go amiss. Of course, swerving a motorcycle like a car just AIN'T an option. Again... your body is just a 100mph 'naked bullet' at that point.