Increased death toll for riders

This media release puts single vehicle motorcycle fatalities (at 50%). I
still can't find the original, where I thought that figure was higher.

Death (or serious injury) rates went from 13% (of riders) in 1992, to
35% in 2006 - nearly triple.


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Death rate puts old bikers in spotlight

By Darrell Giles

March 04, 2007 12:00am
Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)

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MIDDLE-aged motorcyclists will be the focus of an investigation into
Queensland fatalities.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Paul Lucas said several riders in this
category were among 61 motorcycle deaths last year.

"Many of these returning riders got their licence years before, and
after doing well financially have splurged on a high-powered road bike
they aren't equipped to ride," he said yesterday.

"These sort of accidents give a whole new meaning to mid-life crisis. We
are becoming increasingly alarmed at crash rates for men in their 30s
and 40s."

Mr Lucas said he would ask the parliamentary Travelsafe Committee to
investigate the issue of training and management of returning riders.

Since 1992, the number of riders over 40 who had died or were seriously
injured as a result of motorcycle crashes has gone from 74 (13 per cent
of all motorcycle injuries) to 312 (35 per cent).

Doug Williamson, 53, of Forest Lake in Brisbane, recently rejoined the
riders' ranks when he bought a $32,000 2007 Harley Fat Boy.

The aviation insurance expert did a skills refresher course and was
amazed at how much he learned.

"It was certainly worth it," Mr Williamson said.

"You see all these guys who used to ride when they were younger. They
get to that stage in life when they want something different. A Harley
is a nice, big bike . . . some other models are fast and can be
dangerous for an inexperienced rider."

Mr Williamson, who rode to Alice Springs with his wife, said the club he
belonged to provided training courses for new bike owners.

"It's all about the mechanics of riding," he said.

Mr Lucas said he has asked the committee to look at overall motorcycle
safety.

Motorcycle registrations increased from 97,000 in 2004 to 124,000 in
2006, a 28 per cent spike.

A graduated licensing system, including logbooks for novice riders,
restrictions on power to weight ratio and speed for specific licence
holders are among issues the committee will be asked to consider.

Mr Lucas said the Government was also implementing changes in training
and assessment of riding schools, including random checks and audits of
trainers.

Latest statistics revealed that speeding was to blame in 40 per cent of
motorcycle deaths on Queensland roads in 2006.

Almost 50 per cent were single-vehicle accidents.

"I accept that other motorists need to be far better informed with
respect to motorcyclists, but it's time we laid to rest the myth
perpetuated by some bike riders that it is always someone else's fault,"
he said.

From July 1, tough measures aimed at young motorists come in, including
that motorcycle riders must hold a provisional car licence for 12 months
before gaining a learner motorcycle licence.
=========
---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]


'01 Yamaha FJR1300

www.dmcsc.org.au
http://eladesom.com.au/ulysses/
# 37181

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 04 Mar 2007 08:32:08 +1000

THe NSW figures show that while number of crashes in that age group
have increased, the number as a percentage of riders hasn't.

I wonder if that's true of the Qld figures?

And the death/injury rate above - is that percentage of valid
licences? or percentage of crashes?

In other words are we saying "more riders are having crashes and they
are fatal" or "more of the crashes that riders are having are fatal"

Zebee

Zebee

 

The Queensland Government are releasing a lot of legislation and comments in
lots of areas to try and muddy the waters over the charging of 2
ex-ministers.

Boxer

 

A little time should out those fools , the opposition might even get
some points out of it if they can find their own arses.

 

These figures I just grabbed don't support that view at all. There has
been a HUGE shift in the proportion of fatalities away from the
young-and-dumb age groups into the mid-life-crisis age groups.


All rider fatalities for all Australian states.

u18 18-27 28-37 38-47 48-57 57+
1990 8% 55% 27% 7% 1% 1%
1991 7% 53% 24% 10% 4% 2%
1992 10% 50% 25% 10% 3% 2%
1993 5% 55% 24% 11% 4% 1%
1994 5% 48% 31% 10% 3% 3%
1995 6% 47% 27% 14% 3% 3%
1996 3% 53% 24% 13% 4% 3%
1997 6% 42% 27% 17% 6% 3%
1998 4% 47% 25% 17% 5% 2%
1999 4% 36% 30% 21% 5% 2%
2000 3% 36% 34% 17% 8% 2%
2001 3% 34% 33% 17% 10% 3%
2002 4% 29% 35% 17% 10% 5%
2003 3% 31% 31% 21% 10% 4%
2004 5% 31% 30% 18% 11% 5%
2005 2% 33% 29% 18% 9% 9%
2006 2% 33% 29% 20% 10% 5%

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

Sorry, I misread that, percentage of riders.. not crashers.

As things go though, you'd expect younger (inexperienced/no fear) riders
to be over-represented and older (experienced/awareness of mortality)
riders to be under-represented in the stats, as they are in the total
road toll.

If the proportion of older riders being killed is comparable to their
proportion of all riders, this in itself demonstrates an
over-representation in the toll and probably highlights an inadequacy in
experience and/or training for that age group.

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

If I die I my bike, I want it to be my fault.
The best figure for single vehicle fatals is 100%. 50% is still way, way
short of the mark.

 

Don't bet on it.

Boxer

 

I wont , but I try to plan for contingencies , the opposition might
mount on offense in the next 30 or 40 years ?

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 04 Mar 2007 16:51:34 +1100

Are those numbers crashes as a percentage of riders in that age group?

Because if they aren't, then they don't take account of the Baby
Bulge.

Zebee

Zebee

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 04 Mar 2007 17:32:24 +1100

My understanding is they are *under* represented. By quite a margin.
over 10 percentage points from memory.

It's rubbery because no one really knows hours spent riding in any
group, or miles travelled.

You can look at licences, you can look at bikes owned, that's about
all you can do. What you can't do is say "this group rides this much
in these places, this other lot rides less or rides in different
places."

By both those measures, under 25s are over-represented, and over 45s
are under-represented.

Do under 25s have more exposure, riding more and in all weathers?
Are the old farts just polishing the things and not riding them much?
No way to know.

I believe that the under-25s are getting snotted in the city, the over
45s are indeed dying on the open road, but that might be where they
are doing all their riding - using the car to get to work, and not
tending to go out at night.

We also don't know why they are dying. The popular wisdom is too much
bike, but look at what all those Ulysses guys are riding: big tourers,
not sportbikes. Are the inexperienced older riders going for R1s the
way the ones just off P plates do? or are they buying big heavy but
slow old Harleys?

How are they crashing? The stats don't say because there's no requirement
for serious investigation in NSW. (I believe the Vics are starting
to do it.) If someone runs wide was it not enough skill, was it a
horrible old pusbucket that handles worse than a Norton, or maybe was
it a biggish lunch at a country pub and not quite with it and missing
the entry because of sleepiness? (We know, for example, that there is
a high crash rate in Windsor in the afternoon on weekends which seems
to be people coming back from a run on the Putty, and being tired and
not dialling their traffic smarts back in.)

No one knows. But think of the over 45s you know who ride, eyeball a
Ulysses club run or a Hog club, are they hooning and overbiked? Is
the rider you see on the local racer road who is clearly out of their
depth, does the body outline look young or old?

NO doubt there are some old fellas who are overbiked. I don't think
there' a plague of them though.

Zebee

 

OK, well I assume it's a rhetorical question, but if not, then yes I
don't see very many over 35's "overbiked" I can think of a handful
rding R!s and GSXR1000s but the majority are riding heavy weight
tourers. There's a grey area in the middle though, the "returning
bikers" I run into tend to be 40 plus (and usually closer to 50) and
far more likely to be riding heavy weight cruisers than anything else.
The late 20's to early 40's brigade are the ones running the 1litre
4cyl's and yes I'd say they're a high crash risk - but very few of
them are returning bikers.

JL
(am I a returning biker ? I took 5 or so years out from mid 90's to
2000 after riding from 7 to 25 (ish) )

 

I think large cruisers can be exceptionally overbiked for a born-again, a
Fat-Boy for example is not a bike for a inexperienced rider but a lot of
born-again's are riding them and getting themselves into trouble.

Boxer

 

No, they are real numbers, because, as everyone (well.. lots of people
know) noone _really_ knows how many motorcyclists there really are.
They fall into so many different groups and subsets. I would imagine it
would be an incredibly difficult (probably impossible) task to count the
actual number of riders... and then how would you define who is or is
not a rider anyhow?

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 04 Mar 2007 10:45:41 GMT

What's your source for that?

In NSW it's hell trying to get details of bikes involved in crashes.
I believe that some of that information is becoming available, but
haven't seen the results.

Would be interesting to know if there's any decent info from the ACT
which has quite a few Harleys on the learner legal list.

Zebee

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 05 Mar 2007 03:36:18 +1100

Demographically we know there are more people in the 45+ age group.

We know how many licences are held, we know how many bikes people of
that age group have registered in their names.

We don't know how many ride, or how many hours they ride for.

But given the demographic hump, raw numbers are useless to determine
if older riders have a larger crash risk.

Zebee

 

Looks at $600 worth of text books plus downloads of cases making a
stack of dead tree taller than he is (1).... <chortle> yes, well may
you say "it's worth a look" but it ain't gunna happen ! I think I'm
going to have to give up on reading ausmoto (2) something has to
give !

JL
(1) Yes, yes, but 3 and a half feet of dead tree is still a lot of
reading
(2) And we all know that ain't gunna - happen - how else will I be
able to procrastinate when an assignment is due ?

 

The problem with motorcycle licenses is that they don't cost anything to
maintain, so once you have a license, you're counted on that list of
license holder's for life. That number is useless.

or what they ride? How many of those registered bikes are for offroad
use only? How many Johno's of the world only make it past the letterbox
half a dozen times per year? How many are dirt bikes which never see a
sealed road?

Demographic hump? The aging of the population?

crash risk.

We need a census question ! (or two.. or three))

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

people know) noone _really_ knows how many motorcyclists there really
are. They fall into so many different groups and subsets. I would
imagine it would be an incredibly difficult (probably impossible) task
to count the actual number of riders... and then how would you define
who is or is not a rider anyhow?

The problem with motorcycle licenses is that they don't cost anything to
maintain, so once you have a license, you're counted on that list of
license holder's for life. That number is useless.

or what they ride? How many of those registered bikes are for offroad
use only? How many Johnos of the world only make it past the letterbox
half a dozen times per year? How many are dirt bikes which never see a
sealed road?

Demographic hump? The aging of the population?

crash risk.

We need a census question ! (or two.. or three))

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

No - the baby boomer bulge - you old farts who are busily cocking the
world up for us !

JL
(it's not like any other generaration ever did anything wrong