77 Motorcyclists Will Die This Week in the U.S.

[mdisher]

Interesting to also note that e[SIZE=10pt]ach year (worldwide) there are ~ 150 deaths caused by falling coconuts.[/SIZE]
You just never know when your number will be up.

LOL, so this week, approx 3 people (potentially some of them could be motorcyclists) will be killed by falling coconuts.

Yep, honestly, I don't think the numbers are as high as they could be. I mean you see some stupid shiznit out there from people on bikes of all types.

 

[DucatiSSsp]

I thinks it's good to be aware, but not paranoid. After reading this post, are you going to be checking your rear view twice or three times as often?

Think twice about changing lanes? Think too much while riding will probably put you in a casket or urn(your pick) just as quick as not thinking.

Most of us realize, we might get run over sometime during our cycling adventures, but take the risk or chance anyways. The +'s outway the -'s. How many of us have given up burgers, fries and shakes because we listened to our doctors?

While I find some statistics informative, these type will make you think and maybe just not in the right way!

Ride safe, but not paranoid!

Bryce

 

[nusman68]

Many good points here...nothing that hasn't been said before...

Learn the skills involved in riding and maintain them; learn the machine, stay alert, take advantage of available safety gear and use common sense to avoid problems.

Well, I guess that's it then...

If it were only that easy, right?

The main thing that's always baffled me are the riders who adamantly refuse to wear any and/or proper safety gear, taunting serious injury or death. As aforementioned, we all see the dudes riding in shorts, flip-flops, t-shirts, no helmet.....(and yes, of course, we all know there is no helmet or leathers that will protect you in a 130 mph get-off in front of a Peterbilt, etc.)

The few of them I've gotten in conversations with have the fatalistic attitude...the old 'Well, if it happens it happens' mindset..I just don't get that. One of these guys had kids, and when the conversation went that way, again the attitude was 'If I get killed, well that's just too bad for my kids'. Wouldn't most people want to at least do the minimum to avoid death (if nothing else to be there for their kids) by just wearing a helmet? Apparently not; these guys are proud of this attitude..some kind of badge of honor. <_<

Another guy I spoke with a couple of years ago told me (in reference as to why he refuses to gear up) "I believe that if I don't do anything stupid, nothing stupid will happen to me" 'Okay', I said, 'so what if a deer runs out in front of you and you go down?' (We were on a hill country ride at the time, and ironically, we came upon a rider, no helmet, who hit a deer...bike didn't look too bad; but his head did! He got to finish his ride in an ambulance). I'd like to see some sociology grad student research this...perhaps these guys are on an 'upper tier' of risk taking behavior, and those that wear safety gear are on a lower tier, albeit still risk-taking, due to the fact we are all riding motorcycles. Or maybe not, since we're on high HP machines and (generally speaking) drive faster...who knows...

I take what I call 'calculated risks', whether riding a motorcycle, skiing, whatever. (Trust me, you'll never catch me riding a bull, LOL) I'm sure to my accountant neighbor I may seem like a crazy bastard, especially since I take my son riding; like so many things, it just depends on your perspective.

 

[BrunDog]

Scary reality, this sport of ours.

Good info, JB. Kind of matches what we have heard elsewhere, though I though more speeding and more unlicensed drivers was the norm of the crashers.

I like when I see some dumbass riding down the street standing up on the seat. Pads the numbers of you know what I mean...

-BD

 

[James]

(Note: I'm not picking on you James)

Of course not, we're both just trying to get our idea's out there, not always as clearly as we might like as we (I) don't type as fast as I'd like & try to take shortcuts to make my point, however un-clearly .

I find statistics like this interesting, and can make some choices based on them, but there are so many things they don't say. Of the accidents that involved other vehicle's, how many were the riders fault?

"Does it really matter? Accidents do happen, both ways, fault or not there are still 'accidents'."

It matters only in the sense of what can we do or change about our behavior to avoid being one of the statistics.

"When a rider hits a deer, and dies as a result, is it the deers fault? Maybe, maybe not. Shit happens."

Having hit a deer on a bike, I can agree shit does happen at that time.

" (I know there are neglegent accidents out there, where someone's clearly at fault and does something stupid, but I like to believe that's the exception to the rule)"

And I suppose thats part of my point- with the information given, we really don't know.

"Yes, that's just how it works. You rolls the dice and you takes your chances.

Obviously there are lots of things we can do to reduce the risks, hell we could just stay home for that matter. This is dangerous business. :/ fun but at times very dangrous."

Exactly. Nobody gets out alive in the end. But I will enjoy myself till then . How long is it to WFO?

James

 

[feejer222]

I just finished Pat Hahn’s How To Ride a Motorcycle. I live by his mindset.
1. You are responsible for everything that happens on the road.

2. All other driver are trying to kill you!

3. The road is designed to make you crash.

4. There are two kinds of riders: Those who’ve crashed and those who will.

I came to a stark realization the other day. A very large portion of other drivers, pretty conservatively estimable at around 75%, aren't doing the "being in the moment and completely focused on the task at hand" thing. I'd go so far as to say that more than half of the other drivers out there are doing it as a necessary evil and secondary activity, unless they are just taxed to their limits by maintaining their speed and staying in their lane. Don't rely on them to do anything extraordinary for your own safety. They will kill you, and then feel bad for a while.New rule - Every Friday, count your blessings if you're not one of the 77 who laid it down that week. Maybe we need a wall....

The above sums it up for me, after 34 years riding track and road. GEAR UP......STAY 101% FOCUSED.......DONT FORGET TO ENJOY

 

[Rockbyter]

Anyone got the statistics for deaths "Fishing?". Last I heard it was the most dangerous sport of all with most fatalities world wide. I think this was from data compiled by insurance companies.

So no fishing from the FJR.

 

[BobG]

When I see statistics I know the people using them are to over simplifying a complex issue.

I have worked with these Government Mental midgets, who were in a meeting to determine rules that the US and world would use.

I leaned over and asked another supervisor if he would trust these idiots to build his shed? He choked on his coffee and while not laughing out loud shook his head no. He later told me God help us all from Government.

Helmets are just a political issue.

Just like in the car crash test, I want to know what bikes are the safest.

We will never see this statistic.

Hell for all we know a Busa may be the safest bike on the road and not a little 250 cc what ever.

Drive a 2 wheeled tank and lose control, tank breaks neck. All we will see is, Oh My God He Wasn't Wearing A Helmet. Not that that the survival rate on a 1000+ lb bike is less than a 500- lb crotch rocket.

Bring up specifics to these idiots, they give you a deer in the headlight look, and like lemmings follow the leader of the cliff.

With all the experience on this site think about the bike that has saved your bacon the most, in some of the worst predicaments.

Does the fishing statistic include noodling for sharks with a hay hook?

 

[Checkswrecks]

First off to JB - interesting stats, but if that's what you're reading on planes, you need to get a life, dude.

Seriously, they are interesting stats but I gotta agree with Toecutter, in that some people just shouldn't ride. I started flying lessons when I was a kid and got a friend to start when we were in high school. One of the biggest mistakes of my life. We're now in our 50s and he's nearly killed me twice (near mid-air lining up for wrong runway, and years later nearly putting us into a river off the end of an icy runway). He finally quit flying. Multiple times, my wife has hit the garage door with both mirrors of her minivan, bashed in the front garage wall, and I'm really getting tired of replacing hub-caps, right-side (curb) tires, and lower plastic moldings. My 16 year-old takes after her and can't understand why I don't want him on a streetbike.

The NTSB and others have documented that cellphone usage is nearly as distracting as DUI. Since people won't put their damned cellphones away, I believe that the towers shouldn't work with cellphones moving faster than about 10-15mph! And if elected...

Bob

 

[feejer222]

Managed to catch this character in Rome in 2004. Celphone stuffed inside his un-fastened helmet.

In the taxi on the way back to the airport at the end of the holiday, the driver was on a 2 lane road doing between 70 & 90, using no less than THREE cellphones at once. He had one in his lap, one held on his shoulder and the other on the seat beside him.

 

[Toecutter]

After my last little "incident," my fiance said "I'm really glad your o.k., but if you die riding, I'll know you died doing something you love, and I accept that."

If that was said in honest sincerity, you'd do well to convert her into a wife ASAP. Usually it's somewhat snarky, with undertones of "I'm really glad your o.k., but if you die riding, I'll know you died doing something you love more than me, and I resent that....If you really loved me, you wouldn't do anything I don't want you to do."

 

[FJRottie]

...and

On average 100 people choke to death on ball point pens each year.

Heinz Ketchup leaves the bottle at a rate of 25 miles per year.

Sex Survey: More people lose their virginity in June than any other month.

Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.

The average American eats 21.4 pounds of junk food each year.

Nearly 50% of all bank robberies happen on a Friday.

October is traditionally the cheapest month to buy a bicycle.

53% of high school grads and 27% of college grads get the most of their information from the TV or Internet.

The average yawn lasts 6 seconds.

Source - Uncle John

 

[TruWrecks]

It's amazing that the rate isn't higher than 7.7%!

Cell phone usage has increased in the US more than 20% in the past 3 years. There are more "new" drivers on the road, these days, then ever. The rate of new motorcycle riders is increasing at a faster rate than the death rate.

According to medical staff at Harborview MC, Seattle, riders that crash suffer more brain injuries (which require longer to recover from) than those who had helmets. They didn't give me any percentages, but they assured me that helmets do help save lives.

You can live life and enjoy the ride, or you can stay in a padded box hoping that nothing happens to it. I'd rather live my life doing things I love, than be so careful that I regret it.

Tru.

 

[daviddowns2000]

There is one metric I have not seen discussed or analyzed on this forum or elsewhere - and that would be the contributory effect of the increased ownership of cell phones over the same time period. More cell phones, more distracted drivers, more deaths.
Has anyone out there done a trend analysis showing:

Motorcycle ownership numbers.

Motorcycle fatality numbers.

Cell Phone ownership numbers.

Trending these three metrics over the same 10 year period might be revealing.

Just curious. Might be an interesting study - or it might mean nothing at all.

Hal

You are right that it might be interesting, but unfortunately, not very conclusive. I'm not specifically addressing this to you, Hal, just reflecting on the issue, and I don't mean to be condescending, but as a retired scientist I am amused by how often we develop conclusions about the causes of things based on superstitious thinking. Correlated increased numbers of cyclists or increased cell phone use would not explain why motorcycle fatalities are increasing...only that they show the same trends. The concentration of carbon in our atmosphere has been increasing. So has the number of cases of dementia. Some other variable might be responsible for any or all of those trends. Correlated trends may give us clues about where to look for causal influences, direct or indirect, but more empirical work is typically needed to establish a causal relationship. We need better experimental models for traffic accidents.

Despite that, I always wear a helmet (a white or yellow one at that), don't ride after drinking alcohol, seldom ride after dark, etc, even though the evidence of benefits from these actions is generally correlational...I want every chance I can get! However, I DO use a handsfree cell phone that is also an MP3 player while on the bike for any length of time (I just don't want to see THE OTHER GUY using a cell phone...like that young female oblivion who almost crashed into me a few weeks ago on the turnpike.

Cheers!

 

[James Burleigh]

When I see statistics I know the people using them are to over simplifying a complex issue.... I have worked with these Government Mental midgets.... God help us all from Government.

Not sure how you get to these positions from this report. All that's going on in the federal report is the compiling and organizing of factual information about nationwide accidents. The report simply states what the facts are. There is no over simplifying going on that I can see, anyway. Saying that x percent of riders who died in a year were of a certain age doesn't really make anyone a mental midget as far as I can tell. Anyway, it sounds like you've got an agenda with the government that's influencing your ability to just see the data for what it is.

Jb