6% Rise in MC Fatalities

[DAKSY]

From today's NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com:80/2008/08/15...html?th&emc=th

I guess you could say the increased price of gasoline is REALLY killing people...

[red5060]

sounds about right to me. i suspect those figures will rise also as more miles are logged in city traffic. wish rider trainning and driver trainning were both utilized by more people.

[Shoe]

Originally Posted by red5060

sounds about right to me. i suspect those figures will rise also as more miles are logged in city traffic. wish rider trainning and driver trainning were both utilized by more people.

Oh yeah....Expect A LOT more people to die. I'm amazed at how many new people are going out and buying a brand new bagger as their first bike......... More money than brains!!!

Dave

[P 0 P E Y E]

Prolly going to be on the rise.....

I live near the DMV MC license testing lot and on test days....theres got to be 30 or more people lining up

Subtract the old school dudes who are, after 25 years decicing to finally get a license....

Take out the five or ten dudes who attended and payed attention to Russel

The rest are on their way to being middle aged road pizza candidates.

[glidemonkey]

Simple math. Number of bikes on roads has increased steadily each year for the last 10 years. Therefore, more fatalities. The percent you mention is not an increase in the percentage of fatalities per 100 or 1000 or 10,000 bikers. It's just an overall increase in frequency, not relative frequency. This is a meaningless statistic without the context of additionally relevant numbers.

[mikebee]

glidemonkey is dead on. Meaningless statistics. However, absolute numbers are going to rise as many people who have never ridden are buying bikes and hitting the road.

[Buddy Seat]

Have to agree, lot more people buying bikes to save gas or mid-life crisis situation..& etc... Scary !!!

Used to live just south of Daytona & man it just got crazy when it became cool to be an 'instant biker' Many, many yrs ago..

Then they add alcohol & look out Evel knievels all over Main St.

There should be some requirement to get a mc license ya gotta go attend mc riding school or sumpthin...

Getting bad out there !!!!

[hardy]

IIRC, in North Carolina in order to get a valid MC endorsement you have to complete the MC course. But a newbie rider can get a learners permit from the get-go then they have 1 year to get the full endorsement.
I have had my endorsement since mid-80s so i did not have to go that route...i was grandfathered in. I cannot speak on other states regulations. But I agree, more bikes on the road will/should equal more NEW riders which equals more less experienced riders which equals more accidents. I also agree with the above two posting...this stat is useless without the number compared too.
53.9% of all statistics are made up 23.8% of the time. See I just made that up.

[Crimson_Thunder]

I totally agree that people who have never ridden before should have to pass an MSF course of some sort. Here in PA, you do have to if you have never had an MC endorsement. However, if you had one from another state such as I did from CT, when you obtain your PA drivers license, they just grandfather the MC endorsement over to it.

I would add though that as much as new riders need to be educated, there should be something in place to educate new cager's about us. It's been years since I took drivers ed, but I do not remember anything about motorcycles ever being mentioned. I don't know if that's changed any, but is should have. I know I am VERY careful around bikes when I encounter them on the road but only because as a rider, I'm aware of the situations that can arise. How many average cell phone yapping, coffee drinking, texting cagers are as aware? Educate new riders, but educate new cager's at the same level.

[trooper113]

In traffic, the only valid fatality comparison is fatalities (or collisions or whatever) per million miles traveled. If there are 6% more MMT than in the previous statistical period, then it's reasonable to expect 6% more fatalities....assuming no other variables change.

[BigHarleyDog]

I cringe everytime I see people on brand new bikes with brand new jackets and helmets riding in traffic here in So. Cal., because it seems there is a motorcycle involved accident every morning on the news during rush hour. It's dangerous enough when you know what to look for, so I agree the number of accidents and fatalities are going to go up. Too bad they can't break it down by type of bike, riding experience, etc.

[mungo]

Hardy - check that please.

Here in NC the MSF class is not required. You can go take a written test to get your permit for 18 months, or take the written and driving test and you get your full endorsement.

People are going to die. But you can strap body condoms on us and it's not going to reduce the number of idiot cagers who get very little penalty if they fail to yield the right of way to a motorcyclist. Christ - you get manslaughter if you touch a bicclist, but just a slap on the wrist if you kill a biker.

And, these new "safe" cars are making everyone drive like crap. They don;t care any more because it's literally no skin off their back.

You can teach people how to drive all you want, but you get little miss teeny bopper out in her Honda talking on her cellphone make a wrong turn at the wrong time, even the most experienced of riders is going to be pushing up daisies.

[JBolt]

I'm wondering if the rise could be attributed to more knuckle heads on crotch rockets riding around like they are Hollywood stunt men?

[ponderopa]

A recent study here in SC found that 70% of bike fatalities were not wearing a helmet (no surprise there). The other big factor was alcohol. It's interesting that the most dangerous time is Saturday evening (a day on the lake, a 12 pack, and that hog just begs to be rode hard).

Recently the wife had a friend die learning to ride a moped on Saturday afternoon. The road is not the place to learn. The pasture is, followed by hours in a big church parking lot.

[brownjams]

Do scooters count into these numbers. With the amount of new riders on a slow moving two wheeled vehicles this could also be a factor into those numbers.