Motorcycle Crashes Are On The Rise In Florida

Interesting, especially readers comments.




www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jan/25/na-moto...the-rise-in-florida/

after reading some of those comments its hard to believe they are that stupid

Seems most of the commenters have forgotten...

Lotsa good comments from the riders' side and a few from the cagers' side. Good old NHTSA !!! Let's talk about how many deaths per million miles travelled. That is the ONLY factual statistic that ANYONE should care about....but most media (and anyone else with an axe to grind regarding bikes) NEVER wants to look at that particular statistic because they know that in most cases it puts the lie to their sensation-mongering headlines.
And, if they'd pass a state law requiring helmets, the deaths per million miles stat would get even better in favour of bikes.

He also said motorcycles need to have brighter brake lights, louder engines, and handlebar streamers.

What time warp is THIS guy stuck in ??? Handlebar streamers ?? Really.....:woohoo: :silly: :laugh: :laugh:

H2RICK wrote:

He also said motorcycles need to have brighter brake lights, louder engines, and handlebar streamers.
What time warp is THIS guy stuck in ??? Handlebar streamers ?? Really.....:woohoo: :silly: :laugh: :laugh:

Guess its time for me to take the tassels off of my handgrips. That is what I get for letting my 1.5 year old daughter help design my bike.

The latest AMA magazine has some info on this as well. I do believe that rider education is important, perhaps we need rules like Europe that limit the size of bike you can ride until you have sufficient experience. However, perhaps more important is that we need better driver education. Talking on a cell phone, texting, eating etc. are all unnecessary distractions - we need to tighten up the standards and get back to driving being an art that folks are proud of - not just something to get you from A to B.

Interestingly, we have the highest traffic fatality rate of any industrialized country - we also have the most lax driver training and law enforcement!

There have been a couple of good articles in AutoWeek about this very subject. Unfortunately, in America, the trend is to blame the vehicle, not the operator, but it is finally starting to become apparant that if we really want to reduce traffic deaths, we need to get better drivers!

Sorry about the rant - accident investigation and reconstruction is what I do for a living - including analysis of the accident databases!

Interesting enough this weekend in St. Petersburg this weekend a pack of crotch rockets were hot doggin on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge when one of them did a wheelie with a passenger and she fell off, got hit by one of the bikes and then ran over by two cars that didn't see her. She was 40 and died instantly. Things like this make motorcycles look bad in the publics eye

So the number of motorcylces has doubled and the number of deaths have doubled.

Sorry about the rant - accident investigation and reconstruction is what I do for a living - including analysis of the accident databases!

No rant there....nothing to argue with either.....all relevant facts and absolutely true. Thank you for your input.

Yeah, Timmy, yer right, but some of the comments are, well, either spectacularly funny, or terrifying. fer instance:

Posted by ( commonsensical ) on 01/25/2009 at 03:41 am.

No one with intelligence can say motorcycles are a safe mode of transportation. The driver is unrestrained, no air bag, no roll cage, and quite often, not even a helmet. If you want to ride off-road for recreation, go for it. Just don't use the highways and blame car drivers for not seeing you when you have only one headlight and taillight, recklessly whiz past, and drive in our blind spots--all the while knowing you are totally exposed to major injury, or worse.

Commonsensical apologizes later for being misunderstood, and then says he/she's praying for us. :huh:

Posted by ( catherwood ) on 01/25/2009 at 07:56 am.

Those who ride motocycles should completely understand that drivers of cars can't see you on your motorcycle; a trick of the light, a blind spot, the vagaries of sight angles, color contrasts and the lack there of and, most of all, speed relative to size. So, if you die out there 'feeling the wind in your hair', feeling the freedom of the open road, remember that when you straddled that suicide machine you, in effect, said that you understood the risks involved. Cyclists are quick to point out that those who drive cars don't look for cyclists; we do, but you are not there.

Ooooh. Very metaphysical. "we do [look for cyclists], but you are not there." Does anybody wonder how often this person hums the theme to "Twilight Zone"?

Posted by ( 7297277 ) on 01/25/2009 at 12:07 am.

Could it possibly be a result of these idiots refusal to wear helmets?!

Oh, no. Commonsensical and Catherwood just think it's our just desserts for riding. Ah, the joy of the internet. No entrance examination required. Maybe, if we had to pass a test to use the internet...

Maybe, if we had to pass a test to use the internet...

Now THERE'S an idea I could get behind !!!
In fact, I'd say that's the "Idea Of The Decade", IMO. :woohoo: :laugh:

i think the problem with bikes...and cars for that matter...is that anyone is allowed to drive one.......