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By now, four days after the event, at least 97% of the world's population must know that California's celebrity governor had a minor motorcycle accident on January 8, 2006. Almost that many have probably heard that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't have a motorcycle license at the time of the crash but escaped a citation because of a loopy loophole in California law that lets you ride a sidecar with just a driver's license to operate a car.

Get a group of motorcyclists talking about crashes and safety, and you will almost certainly hear some of them—popular misconceptions, incorrect assumptions, urban legends, and intuitive explanations about motorcycle safety that turn out to be wrong when you actually check out the facts. The problem is that believing these misconceptions can increase your chances of being involved in an accident or getting hurt when you do crash.

Remember that movie? Steven Spielberg's very first attempt at thrilling theatergoers in the early '70s? The one where the mysterious driver of a menacing tractor-trailer stalks Dennis Weaver in his Plymouth Valiant? It was freakishly horrifying, wasn't it?