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Bikers gaining in years, crashes
Age, inexperience may be behind jump in fatalities
(By Jeff Long and Liam Ford | Tribune staff reporters ----July 17, 2007)
Like a growing number of people in their mid-40s and early 50s, Edward Aiello was a sucker for motorcycles. As soon as warm weather arrived, he was out on his bike, often with his wife, Brenda, sitting behind him, neighbors said Monday.
But the Wood Dale couple's love affair with the open road ended abruptly Sunday morning when they were fatally injured after a pickup truck slammed into their motorcycle in Barrington Hills. "He was crazy about those motorcycles," said next-door neighbor Julius Romo, who recalled how Aiello, 51, was constantly tinkering with his bikes. "They were his pride and joy."
The fatal collision involving the Aiellos, of the 400 block of Jeanne Court in the northwest suburb, is one of the latest in a string of at least 10 fatal motorcycle crashes in the Chicago area in the last month. The last five days have been especially lethal, with at least five deaths.
One motorcyclist was killed Friday when he slammed into a concrete divider at high speed and hit a tree on North Lake Shore Drive. Also Friday, a Chicago police officer was hit by a sport-utility vehicle driven by a man accused of reckless homicide, who authorities say was drunk and high on drugs. Yet another victim, a former Marine, died Saturday after a car struck his motorcycle in South Elgin.
The deaths are part of an increase in the number and rate of fatal crashes involving motorcycles -- especially those ridden by people over age 45 -- in Illinois and throughout the country.
In Illinois, where recent trends mirror national numbers, deaths among motorcyclists older than 45 have risen from 30 in 2000 to 52 in 2006, a 73 percent increase, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. At the same time, the number of motorcycles registered in the state has risen from 207,689 in 2000 to 287,892 in 2006.
It's unknown at this point exactly what is driving the upward trend in fatal crashes, traffic experts say. But it appears likely the increasing number of older riders taking to the road for the first time has something to do with it.
"Essentially, what you're seeing is the increases of fatalities mostly come among older riders, on larger-body cycles, on rural roads," said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
And plenty of motorcycles are being sold to older buyers, said Dean Thompson, a spokesman for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, a national group based in Irvine, Calif.
"A lot of people who grew up in the motorcycle boom of the '70s are getting older and getting back into riding motorcycles," he said.
Sales of motorcycles in the U.S. have tripled in the last 10 years, with more than 1.1 million sold last year. At the same time, those age 50 and older grew from 8 percent of all motorcycle owners in 1985 to more than 25 percent of the market in 2003, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council, a national trade group also based in Irvine.
Meanwhile, a 2003 study showed that just 38 percent of motorcycle owners had taken a basic safety course, Thompson said.
Members of Chicago ABATE -- A Brotherhood Aimed Towards Education -- a local motorcyclists' rights group, are encouraged to take refresher courses in riding, said Patrick Jones, the group's president.
"It's sort of embarrassing, but you gotta do it," he said.
Longtime road warriors say that at the very time more inexperienced riders are heading onto the highway, larger vehicles such as SUVs make for additional hazards. So despite whatever precautions they take, some motorcyclists run into trouble. That's reflected in their higher death rates, authorities say. Only about 4 percent of registered vehicle owners in Illinois have motorcycles, but they account for 10 percent of all motor vehicle fatalities, according to the Transportation Department.
"In an automobile, you step into your protection," Thompson said. "On a motorcycle, you need to wear it."
Despite the risks, bikers and family members say those killed in recent crashes would never give up their motorcycles.
Frank Ferraro, 40, a former Marine from South Elgin, owned at least two motorcycles over the last several years, said his brother, Tony.
Ferraro was fatally injured on his bike Friday night in South Elgin when he was driving north on Randall Road and collided with a car trying to turn onto Silver Glen Road from Randall, authorities said.
A 1991 graduate of Northern Illinois University, Ferraro "was a very experienced rider and a very safe rider," said his sister, Denise Ferraro.
In contrast, many of those buying motorcycles in recent years have plenty of enthusiasm, but not experience.
An advance in their fortunes often leads older riders to their first motorcycle, said Bill Schuchert, 51, of Elgin.
Schuchert, who has been riding since he was 18, owns a business that restores older motorcycles from England, including Triumphs and BSAs. Most of his customers are in their 40s and 50s, and are living out a dream they've had for a long time by buying motorcycles, he said.
"Guys who wanted them when they were younger couldn't afford them back then -- and now they can."
Tribune staff reporter Amber Ellis contributed to this report
