I had not given this much thought, until I saw a fellow biker fueling his bike. I'm sure lots of people do this, and I have probably seen it done a thousand times and just never paid it any mind..
Anyway, the story is that as I was stopped at a gas station, a bike pulls up at another pump, the guy pulls out his wallet, swipes his card, and starts fueling up; all while still sitting on his bike.
I don't mean to start a fight or sound like I'm preaching or anything, but that just seemed stupid to me. I could only imagine what would happen if his arm twitched wrong, or a bug flew up his visor, or the shut off valve not work properly, or something.
As time went on, I found myself thinking about it more and more. I ended up finally doing a quick web search and found this information regarding the fuel company, Shell. Now there is a back story to this. Simply put, a rider was told by a Shell attendant to get off his bike while refueling. I'm sure that the attendant came off as having an attitude, and the biker probably responded likewise when he asked, why. The attendant said it was Shell policy and it was the law. Well, after fueling, the biker and attendant had some words and even got a manager involved. Later, the biker looked it up and found this:
So it seems it is Shell policy for a biker to get off their bike. Although I personally have not checked if it is really Shell policy or not. but it is not a law in any state. So fill up however you want. As for me, I'll do it the safer way and dismount my bike.
Anyway, the story is that as I was stopped at a gas station, a bike pulls up at another pump, the guy pulls out his wallet, swipes his card, and starts fueling up; all while still sitting on his bike.
I don't mean to start a fight or sound like I'm preaching or anything, but that just seemed stupid to me. I could only imagine what would happen if his arm twitched wrong, or a bug flew up his visor, or the shut off valve not work properly, or something.
As time went on, I found myself thinking about it more and more. I ended up finally doing a quick web search and found this information regarding the fuel company, Shell. Now there is a back story to this. Simply put, a rider was told by a Shell attendant to get off his bike while refueling. I'm sure that the attendant came off as having an attitude, and the biker probably responded likewise when he asked, why. The attendant said it was Shell policy and it was the law. Well, after fueling, the biker and attendant had some words and even got a manager involved. Later, the biker looked it up and found this:
Good morning, Riders.
Here's some information related to those who fill up their bikes while straddling them.......
Responses to questions is normally directed through to the customer service group. In this case, I am also an avid rider with more than three decades of riding so I thought I would respond directly to this inquiry.
While the station attendant was correct in requesting that the rider dismount their motorcycle before fueling, his explanation of the reason for this was not entirely complete.
The reasons for asking riders to get off their bikes:
This reduces the riders exposure to breathing gasoline vapors by increasing the distance from the fill point
This reduces the possibility of the riders skin and clothing being exposed to fuel splash and overflows if they occur
Should a refueling fire start, the rider's ability to quickly separate themselves from the fire is improved if they are already off the motorcycle
If a fire forced the rider to jump off the bike, the risk of the motorcycle falling over and spreading the fire is greatly reduced
As you can well imagine, Shell being a global company also operates in many countries where motorcycles are used as the primary mode of motorized transport. This allows us to review incidents all over the world and apply best practices developed in other countries that may have more experience in a particular area. In this case the policy came about as a result of investigations into multiple incidents that were compounded by the individual remaining on the motorcycle while fueling. In most cases the damages were relatively minor and related to fuel spills and tank overfills resulting in the customer who was straddling the motorcycle being splashed with gasoline. In more severe cases the fuel splash has reached hot engine parts resulting in fires and in a tragic case, the resulting fires caused fatalities when the rider jumped of the bike knocking it over with it's still open fuel tank and the resulting fuel splash exposed the rider, as well as other individuals in the vicinity with burning gasoline.
There is currently no provincial, state or national regulation requiring riders to dismount prior to fueling, but Shell believes it is our corporate responsibility to ensure that we create as safe an environment as possible at our stations. We have not widely communicated to the motorcycling community our global policy, partially because we are not aware of any other major oil company adopting a similar policy. We do not wish to create the mistaken impression that Shell is not motorcycle friendly because of this policy. Our motorcycling community is still relatively small, so we have tried to manage this policy by asking station staff to reinforce this policy with customers in a respectful manner. We do have a pamphlet available at all our locations called "Shell Helps with Gasoline Safety" that does mention this subject.
I hope you find this explanation adequate and that you consider how Shell is doing this to improve rider safety when you make your choice of fuel supplier. I do understand the difficulties in topping up a fuel tank while the bike is on the side stand, but from a technical standpoint the tank should not be filled beyond 95% capacity to allow for expansion and the design of a modern Harley fuel tank is such that this limit should be able to be reached even when the motorcycle is on the side stand. The center stand is also an alternative.
Here's some information related to those who fill up their bikes while straddling them.......
Responses to questions is normally directed through to the customer service group. In this case, I am also an avid rider with more than three decades of riding so I thought I would respond directly to this inquiry.
While the station attendant was correct in requesting that the rider dismount their motorcycle before fueling, his explanation of the reason for this was not entirely complete.
The reasons for asking riders to get off their bikes:
This reduces the riders exposure to breathing gasoline vapors by increasing the distance from the fill point
This reduces the possibility of the riders skin and clothing being exposed to fuel splash and overflows if they occur
Should a refueling fire start, the rider's ability to quickly separate themselves from the fire is improved if they are already off the motorcycle
If a fire forced the rider to jump off the bike, the risk of the motorcycle falling over and spreading the fire is greatly reduced
As you can well imagine, Shell being a global company also operates in many countries where motorcycles are used as the primary mode of motorized transport. This allows us to review incidents all over the world and apply best practices developed in other countries that may have more experience in a particular area. In this case the policy came about as a result of investigations into multiple incidents that were compounded by the individual remaining on the motorcycle while fueling. In most cases the damages were relatively minor and related to fuel spills and tank overfills resulting in the customer who was straddling the motorcycle being splashed with gasoline. In more severe cases the fuel splash has reached hot engine parts resulting in fires and in a tragic case, the resulting fires caused fatalities when the rider jumped of the bike knocking it over with it's still open fuel tank and the resulting fuel splash exposed the rider, as well as other individuals in the vicinity with burning gasoline.
There is currently no provincial, state or national regulation requiring riders to dismount prior to fueling, but Shell believes it is our corporate responsibility to ensure that we create as safe an environment as possible at our stations. We have not widely communicated to the motorcycling community our global policy, partially because we are not aware of any other major oil company adopting a similar policy. We do not wish to create the mistaken impression that Shell is not motorcycle friendly because of this policy. Our motorcycling community is still relatively small, so we have tried to manage this policy by asking station staff to reinforce this policy with customers in a respectful manner. We do have a pamphlet available at all our locations called "Shell Helps with Gasoline Safety" that does mention this subject.
I hope you find this explanation adequate and that you consider how Shell is doing this to improve rider safety when you make your choice of fuel supplier. I do understand the difficulties in topping up a fuel tank while the bike is on the side stand, but from a technical standpoint the tank should not be filled beyond 95% capacity to allow for expansion and the design of a modern Harley fuel tank is such that this limit should be able to be reached even when the motorcycle is on the side stand. The center stand is also an alternative.
Comment