[Chain]

This is a long but important document.

If you do nothing else, review Findings 1.2 on page 11 and scroll across a few of the charts and tables scattered throughout the file later on -OR- better yet, consider devoting some time to reviewing the entire work. I've read most of this and I think you'll find the information thought provoking to say the least.

The implication is, drunken Baby Boomer Harley owners (and perhaps some of the metric wannabes) who are purchasing large displacement motorcycles and riding them without helmets are the chief cause of the upswing in fatalities... at least that's the way I read it.

http://www.accidentreconstruction.co...fatalaties.pdf

It's pretty fuggin' scary no matter how you cut it. Fatalities have gone up each year since 1997. Punitive legislation and higher insurance premiums for everyone will surely be the long term result.

This puts the massive weekend poker runs and bar ride-outs that take place around here into a whole new perspective...

[gt702]

Originally Posted by Chain

It's pretty fuggin' scary no matter how you cut it. Fatalities have gone up each year since 1997. Punitive legislation and higher insurance premiums for everyone will surely be the long term result.

This puts the massive weekend poker runs and bar ride-outs that take place around here into a whole new perspective...

Thanks for the find, I'll read it when I get home.

Poker runs and bar rides have always been a scary thought to me, so I've stayed away. What is worse, is insurance on some of thsose bikes and those people is cheaper than some of us who ride and dress respectful of the danger.

[SpikedLemon]

I'd like to see this crossed over with a Motorcycle Accident chart. Fatalities are one thing and may be related to the repealing of helmet laws but I'd like to know if non-fatal accidents are on the rise as well.

[jayhawk954]

I'm sure they are, every couple days down here in FL, i see a bike wrecked or an accident on the side of the road...minor crashes...wouldn't suprise me if non-fatals went up exponentially.

[rb1]

Originally Posted by Chain

The implication is, drunken Baby Boomer Harley owners (and perhaps some of the metric wannabes) who are purchasing large displacement motorcycles and riding them without helmets are the chief cause of the upswing in fatalities.

Exactly as I've suspected for some time.

[phobiaphobe]

I for one am looking forward to all the wonderfully creative ways people will misinterpret and misrepresent these figures.

[sheepofblue]

Interesting that the % wrecks due to drunkeness (Chart17) seems to have decreased as has the % wrecks due to speed (Chart16)

[steingar]

The largest incease is in guys over 40 driving literbikes. Yipes, that's me! Maybe I should trade in the Blade for a Vespa...

[robinski]

Same thing is happening in Australia, near 50yos going back to biking and buying a litre bike. They think they are just as fit/skilled and have as much reaction time as they used to. They also think that they can give it as much throttle as they use to.

The other stat is an increase in younger rider fatalities. I contribute this to the privatisation of the rider training industry resulting in decreasing standards and the lack of understanding of reality (due to removal of monkey bars at school becuase the shouldnt hurt themselves etc and expectations that the damage (or lack of) when you crash in computer games is the same as on the road).

Maybe they should all go on a course which makes you crash at 20-40kph so you can appreciate the potential damage/hurt from a higher speed incident.

[clutchslip]

Originally Posted by steingar

The largest incease is in guys over 40 driving literbikes. Yipes, that's me! Maybe I should trade in the Blade for a Vespa...

I don't believe that is from "sportbikes".

I see nothing in that report that is out of line with demographics and riders returning to the motorcycle, again, or for the first time.

The numbers really aren't that bad. Population is up, ridership is up, deaths are going to go up too.

Statistically, I'd say it is meaningless.

[Baketech]

Originally Posted by phobiaphobe

I for one am looking forward to all the wonderfully creative ways people will misinterpret and misrepresent these figures.

[CBR14]

Maybe at 40 you switch off the ability to ride litre bikes....LOL Before you rip into me I am ridiculing the sentiment given only as i two am fast approaching the big 40, in a couple of years anyway!!!!! At this point I definately have no intension of dropping cubes when the 40 hits

[Chain]

Originally Posted by steingar

The largest incease is in guys over 40 driving literbikes. Yipes, that's me! Maybe I should trade in the Blade for a Vespa...

Not literbikes like YOU'RE thinking... Baby Boomers are typically buying huge displacement v-twin cruisers, not sportbikes.

My personal experiences as a law enforcement officer along with this lengthy study and other anecdotal evidence suggests to me what I've suspected for a few years now.

Buying a big, shiny new bike is a cool thing to do for alot of folks in their 40s and 50s. They're hitting the highways and byways with costumes, not gear (read: the same little lightweight sleeveless leather vest, black t-shirt, blue jeans and novelty helmet). They have no riding experience. And they're dying.

I feel we too will eventually pay the price along with them.

[RAH-VFR]

Originally Posted by Chain

They're hitting the highways and byways with costumes, not gear (read: the same little lightweight sleeveless leather vest, black t-shirt, blue jeans and novelty helmet).

Last summer my wife and I while traveling had seen a large number cruisers
all wearing the same outfits. My wife suggested that they must get a "Bikers Kit" with their bike purchase.

Peer pressure can be dangerous to ones health.

[Baketech]

Good thread...

While I think it seems to be the conventional wisdom among riders that cruisers are becoming overrepresented in these stats, I'm not sure you can really draw that conclusion from the study...

While seemingly obvious to someone setting up the study, the groupings of 501-1000 and 1001-1500 are poorly made.

I'd like to see them refilter the data using 651-1150 just for kicks...

[Scout]

Originally Posted by Chain

...They're hitting the highways and byways with costumes, not gear...

Never heard that before, but it is now my favorite 'catch phrase'.

[gt702]

I'm not real sure you will see the cruisers over represented ... you see the number of gray haired guys getting sport bikes and sport tourer? Who think they can still ride as fast as their buddies who have been riding for years?

We recently had a 40-something cop from the Detroit area run into the back of the truck at a high rate of speed ... on the freeway ... with the sport bike he got just a few months earlier. With his family on TV saying what a responsible person he was.

And a couple years ago I came on the scene where they were finishing cleaning up after a man around 50, who had been riding a little in the last coule years after a 20 some year hiatus, messed up a corner coming down from the Appalacian Gap in VT and went into the gaurd rail ... dead at the scene . This was after the guys he was with were repeatedly warning him to ride at his pace, don't keep up, and be safe. They were definitely not looking forward to the 4 hour ride home to tell his wife.

Old new and re-entry riders are getting the toys they couldn't have when younger and raising kids ... taking their pick of sport or cruiser.


Good thread. Thank you.

[dattaway]

This report is a good education. Most people don't have a clear understanding of risks. I hope this will save many lives.

[esoteric]

Page 14 "Unknown"s.