There’s a downside to cycle boom
Capitola, Calif., police say that when they warned Steven Harris not to drive because he appeared intoxicated the night of July 3, the 51-year-old motorcyclist ignored the order and sped off on his 1999 Harley-Davidson.
With the CHP joining the pursuit, Harris’ bike reached 90 mph as he raced along State Route 1 in the Santa Cruz area, says CHP spokeswoman Kim Bonfilio.
The 6-mile chase ended when Harris’ bike hit a sharp curve and crashed, launching him over the overpass and down to the highway below. He died from “massive trauma to his head, chest and extremities,” according to Sgt. Larry Roland of the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Coroner’s Office.
Speed, alcohol and reckless driving have long proved to be a deadly combination, particularly for motorcyclists. Roland, other law enforcement officers and doctors have seen many motorcyclists like Harris die from devastating injuries in high-speed accidents.
“We have an emerging epidemic with deaths among motorcycle operators,” Jeffrey W. Runge, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said earlier this year.
In 2004, 3,927 motorcyclists died and 76,000 were injured, many of them seriously, according to the NHTSA. The number of fatalities was up 7.3% from 2003, when 3,661 motorcyclists were killed and 67,000 were injured.
Runge blames much of the increase in motorcycle fatalities on the fact that several states have repealed helmet laws. The Motorcycle Industry Council attributes the rise in deaths to a surge of new motorcycle riders. According to the council, there were more than 1 million sales last year, continuing a 12-year trend of increasing sales.
Certainly, not all motorcycle enthusiasts drive recklessly or while intoxicated. And the folks at the Motorcycle Safety Foundation in Irvine maintain that many accidents can be blamed on automobile drivers. The foundation urges riders to help reduce the number of accidents by riding safely, avoiding alcohol and getting proper training, says spokesman Mike Mount.
Insurers also are looking at the problem of rising motorcycle-related crashes. Progressive Insurance, the nation’s largest motorcycle insurer, recently analyzed claims to come up with a list of motorcycles that are most likely to be involved in crashes and most likely to be stolen.
At the top of that list was the Suzuki GSX-R series, a high-performance sport bike, says Jim Curtis, product manager at Progressive. Heading the list of bikes least likely to be involved in a crash was the Yamaha Virago Series. The Suzuki Savage was the motorcycle least likely to be stolen.
Based on Progressive’s insurance data, high-performance motorcycles were the bikes most likely to be crashed or swiped. Curtis says consumers can expect higher insurance rates on these bikes.
Suzuki spokesman Glenn Hansen says Suzuki works hard to make sure its bikes are “safe and good for riders.” Hansen questioned how Progressive’s data on crashes and thefts would compare with data from a more far-reaching study. Ultimately, the driver determines how safely a vehicle is driven, whether it is a car, a motorcycle or an SUV, Hansen says.
Progressive declined to elaborate on the number of fatalities, injuries and thefts analyzed for its study.
But NHTSA data for 2003 show that, nationwide, 1,512 fatalities occurred in the category associated with high-performance sport bikes and 1,479 fatalities with the larger cruise and touring bikes, according to NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson.
Safety experts are also concerned about extreme motorcyclists doing stunt driving on public roadways. Actions such as popping wheelies at high speeds near busy intersections and even filming motorcycle videos on surface streets have resulted in accidents.
Last year, a group of motorcyclists in St. Louis, followed by a vehicle that was filming the riders’ stunt driving, cut off a Ford Explorer, causing it to crash into a Chevy Suburban that rolled down an embankment. The accident left five people seriously injured.
That kind of reckless riding is “illegal, inappropriate and reflects a lack of respect,” says Mount. Fortunately, he said, this group represents only a small number of motorcycle riders.
Jeanne Wright can be reached at jeanrite@aol.com.
