Safety: Motorcycle Fatalities Are Increasing

[Starpuller]

Safety Education and Defensive Driving Necessary.

 

Welcome to Volume 1 -- Issue 1 of the Safety Sessions.

 

Vol 1 Issue 1 - Motorcycle Fatalities Are Increasing.pdf

 

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Keywords: Safety; helmet use; motorcycle fatalities; helmet laws; fatality statistics 2005; choice; ABATE; Safety Coordinator; Motorcycle Safety Foundation.

[Tartan Terror]

Ive seen this. I would love to see a breakdown of Sport bikes vs cruisers and touring though. Also age and experience of riders as well as those with training vs self taught. It would reason with the increasing amount of bikes there will be more fatalities but how many are avoidable by training and how many are caused by rediculous speeds and stunt riding?

[Guest tlw]

There are also a lot of fatalities that could be avoided through not drinking and riding and also wearing a helmet. Groups overrepresented among fatalities are people who have been drinking, people with no helmet, and people with no M/C license. It is nice to see an article written by an ABATE person that favors helmet use instead of claiming that helmets break your neck.

[Skid]

With the price of gasoline going up in the past year, more people started riding motorcycles.

More riders + less experience = more accidents

[Skid]

Everyone be safe out there! Any extra training and safety is good

[overland]

Interesting facts, but have you seen some of those "crotch rockets" ride, you can only ride like that for a while, your luck will run out. Yes there is only so much you can do about someone going through a stop sign, red light or coming out of a driveway, but you have to expect these things at every one, be prepared, but the faster you ride, the less of a chance you have to avoid these situations.Do not get over confident and always think"what if's". Slow down and enjoy the ride, so you get another one.

 

Jeff

[juggler]

I also doesn't help that we have more illegals and non-english reading people driving our roads causing accidents. We've seend more accidents in general involving these groups of people.

 

I too would love to see a break down of the numbers. The report seems skewed against all bikers by the way they drivel out a few random stats with nothing to back them up. This report leads me to believe that some stupid lawmakers are going to try to make our live harder with stupid laws to protect ourselve from ourselves. I want to see the year to year break downs of each catagory also.

 

sport bikes: training y/n helmet y/n Alcohol y/n

cruisers: training y/n helmet y/n Alchohal y/n

Touring: training y/n helmet y/n Alcohol y/n

Accidents caused by cages Alchohal y/n

Accidents cause by bikes Alchohal y/n

[Starpuller]

Certainly there are more factors than the general information given by the association. Gasoline prices have driven younger, inexperienced riders to the gas savings. They feel just becasue you can drive, you can ride. Cell phones (an upcoming article) is one of the worst threats to motorcycle riders which compounds our risk.

 

Thanks for your imput guys... It doesn't surprise me a bit to see you guys in this new posting area. I recognize you from posts in VR1.

 

Anyway... be safe out there.

[Squidley]

I agree with Skid on the gas prices, also too the baby boomers are retiring and have lots of spendable income and breaking all the old rules of how to be retired.

Many people do not have the skills to think fast and on their feet, it's just not in their nature. This doesn't help anything and everyone busy with a cell phone glued to thier head is another strike.

Bottom line is we all have to be incharge of our action so we can have a fighting chance....OK off rant

[Snarley Bill]

i would'nt have to worry about motorcycle accidents if i did'nt have to worry about people in cages on cell phones,tailgating,speeding ,eating,putting on make-up,passing in my lane.changing lanes with out looking or signaling,running red lights,and on and on.the drivers out there now are the absolute worst ever.oh and i forgot the old farts that some how manage to get there license renewed.every one is trying to pack two days into one anymore.they need to slow down and obey the laws.and pay attention.that includes alot of us.just cuz we ride bikes don't make us perfect.i honestly try to drive safely and be curteous to my fellow drivers.do you? bill :stirthepot:

[WilCruise]

I agree with Skid on the gas prices, also too the baby boomers are retiring and have lots of spendable income and breaking all the old rules of how to be retired.

 

Many people do not have the skills to think fast and on their feet, it's just not in their nature. This doesn't help anything and everyone busy with a cell phone glued to thier head is another strike.

 

Bottom line is we all have to be incharge of our action so we can have a fighting chance....OK off rant

 

 

I agree w/ Squid. I've seen some supporting info to the report Starpuller listed that says it's the fasted growing group of contributors to the increase in accidents. They say it's because many people get "back into riding" as they get older and assume they remember how to ride. They're on bigger bikes and don't re-train.

 

I beleive this is true. I fall into that category, but I practiced my ass off when I got back on and then went to some training. Thought it would just be a refresher. It actually reminded me of a lot I forgot and gave me a few new perspectives as well. Practiced my ass off again.

 

A few weeks back someone took the proverbial left in front of me. There was absolutely no time to react. Despite that - I was aware that it could occur and was able to stop quickly enough to avoid contact (did scrape up the engine guards though because the rear whell locked up before I was able to complete the stop and I tipped just before stopping). I would've hit him for sure if not for the training and practice.