WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

A column dedicated to your riding survival

I have been looking at statistics on motorcycle fatalities over the last few years and have come to the conclusion that Mark Twain was right when he said, “Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself - There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” Still, let’s take a brief look at some numbers and then maybe some of the causes of these dire stats.

Older riders are disproportionally popping up in these numbers according to Chan Young Lee, a senior researcher at the University of South Florida’s Center for Urban Transportation Research, “We’re starting to see many older riders getting hurt as riding motorcycles has become a major hobby for retired Baby Boomers.”

In Florida motorcycle riders 55 to 64 accounted for 10.3 percent of motorcycle deaths between 2005 and 2007. But between 2009 and 2011, they made up 16.6 percent of motorcycle fatalities.

Speed typically isn’t the problem with older riders. It’s the younger riders who gravitate toward sport bikes and with many sport riders correct gear is part of the look.

“Older riders usually opt for cruisers or touring motorcycles, and cruiser and touring riders are less likely to wear helmets,” Lee said.

Or the correct jackets. Or the correct gloves. Or the correct pants and boots.

While the majority of motorcycle accidents were due to automobile driver unawareness, 30% of motorcycle accident fatalities involved blood alcohol content of over 0.08 BAC according to the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S..

From my experience in Florida, which has to be one of the least enjoyable motorcycle riding states, right behind the plain states, I would like to add another lethal factor - The senior citizen.

Spending some time down in the Sarasota and Tampa regions it was easy to see that Florida is swollen with older car drivers, or OMWAH, each winter season escaping the cold, and with these snowbirds with northeastern license plates or full-size rental cars, the danger for riders is almost tripled.

While some older folk still handle their cars deftly and with some skill, many others are battling several maladies, all of which make their driving a danger to themselves, other drivers and especially motorcycle riders. Old man with a hat makes left turn and kills rider. It seems to happen every day all across the country.

But, not all accidents are due to senior citizens. Occasionally other bad things conspire to cause mayhem.

A turtle in the road was blamed for a crash that killed one person and injured three others in central Florida a few years back According to the Florida Highway Patrol, three motorcycles were traveling eastbound on State Road 44, just west of Tanglewood Drive, in the Eustis area. The crash happened when one of the motorcyclists slowed down for a turtle in the middle of the lane. One of the other motorcyclists behind failed to slow down and collided. A passenger on the first motorcycle was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center, but she died a few days later. Troopers said the deceased woman was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. I will take this one step more and state the obvious – that these riders were riding far too close to each other and without adequate “space cushioning” avoidable accidents are more likely to occur. Throw into the mix that so many riders feel the need to pilot their bikes with shorts, tee shirts and boat shoes and we all know what can happen. Which leads me to the point of what and how and why some riders ride. It’s easy for me to point out the obvious. If you and your passenger ride your bike in cut-offs, a tank top and flip-flops with a baseball cap on your head – you, more than likely, don’t think about your riding. You are just a person who happens to own a bike and not a rider, biker or motorcyclist (whichever moniker you would chose). Most of the more gruesome two-wheel disasters happen because you are on public highways. A basic motorcycle endorsement can be a rare occurrence with these ‘motorcycle owners” and riding skills, space cushioning and any serious thought on their riding might get in the way of their Sunday ride to the “tiki bar” on the Gulf Coast or the honky-tonk on some deserted backroad. Our rising insurance rates, declining public opinion and mounting accident statistics are, for a good part, on you. No matter where you ride, take a serious look at what sort of gear you wear and the outlook you have on riding. The last thing we want is for you to end up a statistic and that is no lie.