Motorcycle deaths rise sharply

[Grendel_Sprite]

If you are interested, you can find the raw data for US statistics on the FARS database at the NTHSA. I think that's where the original article got the stats.

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/

Lots of interesting stuff there, but a bit morbid. You can read all about each and every reported accident that involves a fatality in the US. You can drill down and find out the details of the accidents. I suppose that the data is all there if you want to roll your own Hurt Report.

[scan]

This only makes sense ( regarding the 40 something phenomenon). All of us know, even the folks with old and more economical bikes, this is not a pass time for someone with no money. You need a bit of cash to throw away if you have a bike. The exception would be those who ride a bike as a primary vehicle and don't have a cage. Someone like this is not on the large end of the careless/untrained rider pack though. The motorcycle world though is full of people not as thoughtful as we are here. The majority do not ride as often as we do, do not think of safety as we do, and they are the accidents waiting to happen (opinion).

The young, dumb and full of crowd is not the biggest problem. Everyone thinks of the young guys on the sports bikes because they "wear" their recklessness on their sleeves. It is a badge of courage. On the other hand the older cruiser rider is more sublime. If you look at the Japanese (or other non-US) cruisers most are not loud bikes (if kept stock) and even a stock Harley is not obnoxious. Even the loud Harley crowd is not weaving in and out of traffic and pulling wheelies (like they could!).



Cruisers make up the largest amount of motorcycles owned. Sports bikes, standards, and dual purpose are really a very small fraction of the bikes on the road. Sure, a good chunk of the sporty guys are more careless - I guess it goes with a bike that can go so fast and so curvy. Next time you go out, look at how many cruisers you can count. Cruisers are king. So if most new riders and old returning riders are buying cruisers, the bike shops are not making any recommendations, and these guys think safety is geeky, what will be the end result? You end up with a guy going too fast on a curvy road with a bike that couldn't handle required traction or turning radius nor could its rider.

I think the sports bike guy scraped of the road is a more memorable and reported on story anyway. We do not get news of every wreck I'm sure, but I guy losing it on the interstate or on a main road is more likely to make the 11pm report. Although the other day I heard of a guy killed by hitting a roadside mailbox - like the kind in front of a house. Straight road. The news said he looked away at something for a minute.

I could be wrong, but seems evidence above and elsewhere agrees. I think we just have one of the safest and smartest group of cruiser riders here on this board who can't image their brethren being so careless. Even if 100% of the sports bike crowd is careless, I still think the under-trained cruisers out number them, as they are a massive majority.

[dr_bar]

I think there is a lot of factors to these accidents. One of the possibly serious ones is as follows;

In the Vancouver area, as a professional driver, I have noticed that probably fewer
than 50% of the drivers use turn signals. What has this to do with bike accidents??? Well
I saw a near miss two nights ago on the freeway.

Two sportbikes traveling at better than 150 kph pass me in the HOV lane (High Occupancy
Vehicle, or carpool lane for those not from around here... lol) A short distance in front of
me, a car changed lanes from the left driven, into the extreme left HOV lane, no signals.
With those two bikes coming past me on a bit of a curve, at the speed they were traveling,
that cage had no idea they were there. He might have checked over his shoulder but it
wouldn't have mattered, there was nothing there when he started his unsignaled lane
change.

Thank goodness there was nothing in the lane behind him, but me, about 10 car lengths
back. Both bikes made an impressive avoidance lane change but didn't even slow down.
They continued down the highway and were out of sight within seconds. Their speed
combined with no turn signals was a recipe for disaster that was, this time, luckily
avoided.

The police around here are going to have to crack down on both the speed of these
bikers, and the lack of turn signal use in this city.

[Kal]

Bikes are great for bonding stories, everyone has a bike story, whether it is theirs, their family or friends. So I get to hear stories all the time.

A typical one would be in a cab a little while ago. After I'd told the cabbie that we were going to pick up some new parts for my bike he told me about the owner of the cab firm.

The guy in question ran around on a 2 stroke as a teenager, gave it up to be a responsible family man and built up the business. Now he's reached his first million and decided that he should treat himself.

So he goes out and buys an R1 - afterall the R1 is the best bike there is right?

He buys it and goes straight out riding it. More than twenty years since he gave up bikes to drive a cage - no worries, afterall as a teenager he pased the bike test right?

I dont know what has happened to him, however I do know that his employees are running a death pool based on how long it will take him to have an accident.

The scarey thing for me is that he is not alone, I've heard a lot of variations on the story.

I've heard the idea muted that driving licences should be subject to a re-test after a number of years. I dont think that it will happen because people like my parents will object to their driving skills being the subject of question. However I think that if the government were ever actually serious about cutting the accident rate in this country mandating a requalification every 5 or even ten years would go a long way.

Both to keeping cage drivers and bike riders skills sharp.

Flames and Hate mail to the usual address.

[oldnslo]

Actually, the annual or at least periodic functional driving test has been suggested over the years by some of the car mags here in the US. Suits me if it comes to pass. Nobody riding with me has ever cringed at my driving ability, but if it's slipping I want to be the first to know.
I think most seasoned motorcyclists have the advantage of a history of practiced survival skills honed by years and miles of riding, which in turn makes them better cage operators.