I live on a good riding road and about 10km from here is a store that sells coffee and beer . Any Sunday there are several dozen 2 wheeled Ferraris , Lambos and GT40s down there, a rolling, changing feast of impeccable, exotic , uber powerful machinery .Major Softie wrote:1. I don't believe that's motorcycle fatalities, I believe that's motorcycle accidents. Edit: I looked it up and, at least in the decade ending 2006 (the years for which I found those numbers), it peaked at 45%, which is still super high compared to the 70's, but not over 1/2.enigmaT120 wrote: It would make bicycling nicer, except for the people who feel like driving their bicycles to some place to ride. But I seem to remember reading that over half of the motorcycle fatalities are a result of single vehicle wrecks.
Sometimes I think our perceptions of safety are almost completely unrelated to our actual safety.
2. It's not exactly "unrelated." The problem is that we were all very comfortable with the actual facts of motorcycle accidents as related by the "Hurt Report" done many years ago. In that report, a huge percentage of all motorcycle accidents and fatalities were caused by automobiles: something near 90%.
Enter today: that report was done in the late 70's. Recent accident reports show that the facts now are far different than they were 35 years ago. Today the numbers are more like what you describe. Also, the average age of a motorcyclist involved in an accident has risen dramatically since the Hurt Report. It used to be that over 40 riders were involved in such a small percentage of the accidents that it was barely worth noticing. Today, over 40 riders make up a very large percentage of the accidents. The general consensus is that this is because in the 70's over 40 riders were virtually all very experienced riders, while today there is a very large population of over 40 riders on 900 lb. cruisers who are learning for the first time, or returning after riding for a couple years in their teens and having taken 20 - 30 years off. Of course, there's also the simple fact that a much larger percentage of the riding public is now made up of over 40 riders than in the 70's, so, even if nothing else had changed, you would expect their accident numbers to go up commensurate with their increased representation, but it's much higher than that.
So, it's not just "perceptions," it's that the real data has changed: a LOT.
MVs, Ducatis , Buells, an alphabet soup of the latest Japanese 300 km p hr perfection . Very rarely do I see anything over 5 years old, just the occasional 70s Ducati. These bikes are all twice as powerful as a bike from 35 years ago, they brake better(much better) and handle better but the overall envelope of performance has exceeded the average rider's ability by quite a large margin IMHO.
Our very nice 60 km twisty ride is dotted with white crosses at each bend that springs a surprise .
