Motorcycle fatalities nationwide have surged to their highest levels since 1987, even as overall highway deaths continue to decline.
Last year, 4,008 motorcycle riders were killed in highway accidents, up 7.9% from 2003 and 89% higher than in 1997, according to a new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report. Meanwhile, passenger car deaths dropped 3.2% to 19,091 last year.
The increase in motorcycle deaths has spurred Congress to add $3 million to a federal transportation bill for a study on motorcycle crashes.
President Bush is set to sign the measure this week.
"What we need now are answers, not theories," said Tom Lindsay, spokesman for the American Motorcyclist Association.
Possible causes: a sharp rise in motorcycle ownership, rollback of mandatory helmet laws and an increase in inexperienced bikers riding powerful machines.
Americans bought an estimated 734,000 new on-highway motorcycles last year, up from 230,000 in 1995, said Tim Buche, president of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation.
But more motorcycles don't account for the entire increase. The fatality rate is also on the rise.
In 2003, the most recent year for which statistics are available for motorcycles, the fatality rate was 38.38 per 100 million miles traveled. In 2002, that figure was 34.23.
By contrast, the fatality rate for all highway drivers has improved for decades and in 2004 was 1.46 per 100 million miles traveled.
Rae Tyson, spokesman for the highway administration, said blame may lie partly with states that have scaled back helmet laws. A study released by the agency Monday showed an 81% rise in motorcycle deaths in Florida in a three-year period after the state repealed its law in 2000.
Motorcycle groups opposed to helmet laws point to the changing face of bikers. Jeff Rabe, lobbyist for the Modified Motorcycle Association of California, said more "middle-aged executives" are riding powerful machines without training. "There's a huge group of people ages 35 to 50 who have purchased motorcycles," Rabe said. "But they're still beginning riders."
oh "poo poo", bush is gonna outlaw motorcycles....... you know how he is about things he deems immoral. But the answer is people who don't know how to ride are riding. The way I see it, the Saftey coarse should be made free for everyone, and if that doesn't help, it should be made mandatory.
The reason I said free was because it would encourage someone to take the course more. EX: "It cost 30 dollars to get my licese, but if I take the course the license and course are free"
Some thing could easilly be worked out to make it cost efficient.
I see , as usual , they forgot to mention poorly trained cage operators.
Regards, Wizzard
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, throughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming --- ' WOW, WHAT A RIDE!!!! ' " - Author Unknown
Poorly trained cagers on cell phones, that is . I was in my truck and almost got hit 3 times on the interstate yesterday. One time the woman was 2 ft into my lane - and there was a trucker beside me - before she finally relized that hooooooonk hooooooonk hoooonking sound was because she was about 2 inches from hitting me. I look at her and gesture "WTF", and she gestures back, "not my fault" . I have no doubt in my mind she'd have kept on comming if I were a bike. I threw a starburst at her.
Cars are getting safer and safer every year, what with all the safety mandates and new technologies. But a bike is a bike, and there's nothing safe about it. With the exception of things like ABS, radial tires, and disc brakes, bikes are just as dangerous as they've ever been. If you were to look into the statistics, I bet the number of biker fatalities caused by cage drivers is the number that is on the rise, though the anti-bike idiots would have you believe it's the few weekend warriors involved in single bike accidents as a result of horsing around that are to blame.
Cars these days have DVD players, navigation systems, loud stereo systems, and drivers on the telephone working out their differences with their lovers or ordering pizza while doing 75mph. Sure, I agree a lot of folks who have no business on a bike have jumped on the bandwagon as of late due to the recent popularity of motorcycling due in part to all the shows dedicated to bikes, but I don't think they account for as large a chunk as that report would have us believe. It's not the bikers that need more education (MSF or whatever), it's all these idiot drivers who still to this day refuse to use turn signals, drive too slow in the passing lane, have trouble maintaining consistent speed (use your freakin' cruise control if you have to, people!) or otherwise drive like their income taxes alone paid for the entire road they happen to be driving on at the time.
Problem is, it's not going to get any better, folks. So either stop riding now and count yourself lucky, or up the ol' life insurance policy. It's dangerous out there. If it weren't, I may not be as into motorcycling as I am.
Here's my dark thought of the day: killing a biker is the perfect crime. Some SUVer can just run us off the road and claim s/he "just didn't see" us.
Years ago that nearly happened to a buddy who was riding the FDR drive in NY. The driver was laughing and looking right at him and leering the whole time.
So, we have cell-phone idiocy AND modern, murderous road rage to contend with.
(I looked for an emoticon that would express my feelings about this state of affairs and couldn't find one. MODs, could we get a 'resigned to a permanent state of pure evil residing in the hearts of men' emoticon? Thanks.).
"People who consider themselves brutally honest are usually putting the emphasis on brutality"
. I was in my truck and almost got hit 3 times on the interstate yesterday. One time the woman was 2 ft into my lane - and there was a trucker beside me - before she finally relized that hooooooonk hooooooonk hoooonking sound was because she was about 2 inches from hitting me. I look at her and gesture "WTF", and she gestures back, "not my fault" 
