It is time to ban motorcycles. Completely. All of them. Off the road for good. These death traps have taken too many lives and have caused too much pain. Let’s get these useless two-wheeled life takers off the road.
Right?
An article this week in the Sun-Sentinel argues that it’s time to ban motorcycles. The author makes a few good points, too, that really can’t be argued with.
- A motorcycle crash is more likely to result in a fatality than a car crash.
- 73 out of every 100,000 motorcycle riders die in a car crash.
- Motorcycle rider fatalities make up for 11% of all traffic fatalities.
Those statistics are taken from a 2007 report from the U.S. Department of Transportation, and as far as I know, are absolutely true. Scary stuff, right?
Of course, that doesn’t exactly tell the whole story. The fact of the matter is that motorcycle fatalities have been declining for the last two years, and organizations like the AMA, MSF, and the NHTSA are pushing motorcycle safety more than ever.
There’s also the fact that the majority of motorcycle accidents are caused by other vehicles.
The Hurt Report, otherwise known as the "Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures” report, names other drivers as one of the leading causes of motorcycle accidents and fatalities.
The report reads:
"The automobile driver fails to detect the inconspicuous motorcycle in traffic. This is due to lack of motorcycle and rider conspicuity and lack of caution and awareness of the automobile driver."
Now, the Hurt Report was conducted in the late 70’s, so I’m not going to use that as hard evidence. But the Department of Transportation has compiled various reports that support the fact that distracted drivers are the main cause for concern when it comes to motorcycle accidents. (They even dedicated an entire website, www.distraction.gov, to the problem.)
MSF President Tim Buche, said:
"Distracted driving is of great concern for motorcyclists as we simply have more at stake. Riders are obviously more vulnerable than car or truck drivers, the ones with far more access to a variety of distractions. Most motorcyclists are focused on one thing: riding. Other motorists should be focused on driving."
So are motorcyclists really the problem?
OK, I’ll be the first to admit that a motorcycle isn’t the safest way to travel. But either is driving. Or flying. Or cycling. I even broke a toe once while I was walking. But should we ban pedestrian travel?
Life is full of accidents. There is only so much you can do to prevent them.
Comments
EDUCATION is the answer.
I firmly believe that all cell phones, smart phones should auto-disable when the car is placed in gear.
It should be mandatory that all phone calls go thru either wireless earphones or a speaker phone installed into the car. Hands need to remain on the wheel, eyes on the road and focus in the head!!
The person who wrote this article is probably the same person you see talking on his cell phone in his car while eating a burger and attempting to negotiate his vehicle thru rush hour traffic.
I admit that I do speak on my cell phone in the car, however I am more aware of the error of my ways since I began riding a motorcycle. I do use my bluetooth device while driving my car.
Banning the motorcycle is not the answer and besides tihs will NEVER happen.
Knees in the breeze with the rubber side down my friends.
Motorcycles = 7.8 million and that’s about 3% of all reg veh.
Automoble deaths in 2009 = 23,437 / 246.3 cars and trucks = .00095% of all driver die in a crash
All Motorcycle deaths = 4281 / 7.8 motorcycles = .000054 of all bikers die in a crash ??? Now you tell me which one should be banned ... Plus you are 10 times more likely to have a serious costly long term head injery in a car then on a motorcycle ... Next time READ the statistics not the biased reports ... Chopper Charlie
but i did LOVE when i had a yoshi pipe to basically end their precious little phone call at the red light at or around 3k-12k rpms (can you hear me now?)
but it really comes down to this: on a bike you have a control in every appendage, and wind in your face, you are 100-110% aware of what your doing/trying to do.
whilst in a cage, you can operate the thing with basically one leg(foot on gas or brake and steering wheel on your knee). This allows everyone to do or attempt to do other activities, IE text,call,eat,p olish nails, apply make-up, shart themselves, etc...
if anything should be banned it should be the automatic transmission in my opinion.
Obviously, you haven't read the studies. Per Distraction.gov "Using a cell phone use while driving, whether it’s hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (Source: University of Utah)"
According to another study by the University of Utah, most people *think* they can multitask while driving. But their finds indicate that in 97.5% of the people they tested, driver's reaction times dropped significantly when multitasking (e.g. talking on the phone).
Hang-up the phone. It's called "driving" not "phoneboothing" for a reason!
RSS feed for comments to this post