Motorcycle trends on MSNBC

[Protein Filled]

Just something that may be of interest:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5582475/

[cornercamping]

and people under 25 wonder why it costs so much to insure a Gixxer 1000  ::)

[dylanfan53]

"Fifty-two percent of fatally injured motorcycle riders were not wearing helmets in 2003."

That's about 1600 deaths.  If 50% (just a WAG) could have survived with a helmet you're looking at 800 that could have lived.

Two fatalities in my little town this summer alone that would have survived, and last year a local guy I know well who will never walk, talk or feed himself again. He lost his business and every dollar he had, which wasn't much.

All so they could feel the "Freedom of the Road"... on their bare skulls.  I wonder how AMA and the marketing guys sleep at night.

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

One thing they didnt list is how many registered motorcycles are in each year.

40% were alcohol related. Wonder what the style of bike breakdown is on that. As much as I like Harleys, its a safe bet a majority of them were on HD's and other cruisers. :-[

[cornercamping]

Not to bring it up on a bad note, but are their race track statistics out there that are real?  Kinda like bike injuries on the track compared to street, and the obviously the worst of it...

Anyone?   Hmm...

[cardzilla]

I would bet that it is much safer to be on a racetrack.  While the speed is higher and we are generally testing the limits, the gear is better, there are no curbs or 4 wheeled sleds, the skill level is MUCH greater (sorry street squids), and most importantly: an ambulance is only seconds away.  While you may have a greater chance of crashing and maybe even injuring yourself on the racetrack, the chance of a fatality has to be much greater on the street... which is why I stay on the track  ;)

[the_weggie_man]

There were a few people putting together some info on race track crashes and injuries last year. I don't know what happened with the idea, if it's still going on or what but it seemed like a good idea to me.

Having some solid figures and facts could help our insurance situation for organizations as well as individuals.

My hands are full with the Wegman Fund. Anyone else care to step up to the plate and gather all that info on a regular basis? It would take someone willing to contact all the race organizatioins across the country and get them to voluntarily send you all there incident reports each race weekend and then put that info into a data base.

That data base would have to be broken down into many catagories. Number of incidents, injuries by type, numbers of bikes in each incident. Type of incident like straight away, corner (entrance or exit), pit lane, etc. Etc., etc., etc., the more information the better the facts.

Lots of work , but helpful for many people in the end.

I'm truly surprised that the AMA, our supposed premier racing organization in this country has never taken it upon themselves to do this. They have all kinds of street information but not racer info. Why? They have the resources to do this job but I bet they would only do it for their own events rather than a comprehensive study on all race organizations if they did it at all..