Taken from an article in Easyrider Magazine Jan 09'. Citing federal goc. data that indicates the number of fatal motorcycle accidents rose in 2007 by 7% from the previous year Jacob Sullum writes "the chief culprit recently seems to be higher gas prices, which have encouraged people to take advantage of motorcycle"

There you have it folks. gas is killing us! We should all sue Exxon! Push for a ban on gasoline or at least a 5 day "cool down" period for every gallon of gas you buy! Fill out an application to make sure you are not some deranged maniac going to go out and crash into some innocent biker.
You can't argue with government statistics. We all know they are always right.
PS. the study also shows that the number of fatal crashes of people wearing helmets rose from 55% to 57% despite of ralaxation of helmet laws.

 

i think its cellphones/texting

I had an idea that I floated to someone in the industry - put a program on all phones that sense when the phone is moving faster than say 10 or 15 mph (through gps), then it shuts off and only dials 911

solves the problem aboard airplanes too, only downside I see is commuters on trains - but i don't want to hear anyone yapping in the seat next to me so i don't care

there has to be a way to get people to pay attention to their driving again

 

you mean that I wont be able to text while riding my scoot? That's just mean!

 

What happens when you're a passenger in a car or on a bus? This would be a problem.

 

lots of reasons

More bikes on the road
More cars on the road
More driver distractions
Inexperienced riders
Squids on crotch rockets
clueless Illegal aliens driving around
clueless florida tourists driving around
global warming causing severe weather
increase in sun spots

etc.etc.etc.

 

What the percentage of fatalities compared to bikes on the road? I bet its the same. More bikes on the road = more accidents

 

I didn't see the article, but these national statistics can sometimes be a bit missleading. I presume the interpretation was that more people were riding 2 wheelers instead of driving their 4 wheelers. So it begs the questions: How many of these were scooters where no training or special licensing required? How many of the larger bikes were new riders with no training/experience? How many involved alchohol? And I'm sure there is more.

From the OPs description, the government should be raising the price of gas and banning helmets.

 

It would be interesting to see the numbers broken down into crotch rocket vs non-crotch rocket fatalities. Also wonder how many accidents could have been avoided by safe riding techniques even when the cager was at fault...I've seen a lot of bikers putting themselves in bad positions and not paying much attention to what was going on around them...

 

I like the idea except I like handing the phone to my passenger when needed to call for something

 

Our local paper had an article like this last year talking about injuries/accidents/fatalities. I wrote into the letters section telling them that unless we know the percentage increase of bikes on the road, telling us there was x amount increase in accident/injuries/fatalities was useless and sensationalistic information. If the injury percentage went up 10% but the number of bikes on the road went up 15%, the injury rate actually went down.

I know here in Edmonton, it sure seemed there has been a big increase of bikes on the road.