Motorcycle Fatality statistics.

For TVP area (Berks/Bucks/Oxon)

These are obviously not finalised but give an indication of how this year is shaping up..

when you consider the weather we have experienced this summer (and i use the word 'summer' loosely) i think this year is not looking good by a long shot.


Motorcycle fatalities 1st Jan to 31st July




Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire BerksW BerksE TOTAL Year TOTAL
2005 0 6 4 3 3 16 27
2006 1 0 6 2 2 11 24
2007 5 3 3 3 4 18




*Apologies but the table has reformatted here incorrectly...spread the figures across the headed counties etc and you should get the picture*


3 of 2007 MK ones involved cars turning & did not see and in the other 2 it appears to be rider fault.

Generally across the Force there seems to be no common thread with the collisions that we can easily address.

One crash was a double fatal

One was off-road, mini-moto

There were 2 crashes every week day & 4 on Saturdays & 3 on Sundays

Jan = 1; Feb = 1; Mar = 4; Apr = 4; May = 0; Jun = 3; Jul = 4

Rider age; 1 under 20; 20s = 4; 30s = 4; 40s = 7; 50s = 1

The vast majority lived within 20 miles of the crash

Of the 16 'Stats 19' crashes - 11 appear to be rider at fault. Of the other 5, 4 were junction turns by cars and appear to be 'did not sees' & one was negotiating a roundabout.

Of the 11 - 6 were bend crashes and all but 1 were single vehicle; 3 were overtaking manoeuvres; one pulling a wheelie; and one ran into a slow moving car in front.

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XBox Live Gamertag: PorkscratchinUK

'You ain't seen me, right?'

Same as Essex Pork

The Essex website is not up to date but fatal accidents stand at 23 so far, according to a friend who is a Traffic Officer with them.

Milton Keynes Bucks Oxfordshire BerksW BerksE TOTAL Year TOTAL
2005 0 6 4 3 3 16 27
2006 1 0 6 2 2 11 24
2007 5 3 3 3 4 18


Close enough...

If you wrap it in [code] tags and mess about with the spacing, you can get a table to look approximately right...

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"Force has no place where there is need of skill" Herodotus 450BC :burnout:

Interesting analysis of fault... bends, overtaking as usual...

Any idea where the 4 fatal junction accidents happened? Were they faster, country roads?

Quote

The vast majority lived within 20 miles of the crash

That's also interesting... so almost certainly on roads they knew well...

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"Force has no place where there is need of skill" Herodotus 450BC :burnout:

Porks, what's really depressing is that the majority of these fatalities could have been avoided, Better training, better attitude would result in an 80% or even 90% reduction in fatalities.

At my IAM group, the people we get joining are the ones that are less likely to become a statistic - they're the the more sensible ones.

How can we reach out to the riders for whom biking is a fashion accessory?

Mikey wrote

Porks, what's really depressing is that the majority of these fatalities could have been avoided, Better training, better attitude would result in an 80% or even 90% reduction in fatalities.

...

How can we reach out to the riders for whom biking is a fashion accessory?

They're adults. If they want to kill or maim themselves in matching leathers, who are we to stop them?

In fact we should probably be promoting bikes to speeding nutters as it keeps them out of chavmobiles that cause multiple deaths of innocent bystanders.

For the last few months on my way home early evening, or on my way out early morning, I get to see lots of wee bunnies jumping about and playing in the verges.

Come back to the same road a couple of hours later and you'll find a small percentage of them squashed on the road, being eaten by crows or just hammered into the tarmac by more traffic til they reach total oblivion.

Bikers are just like bunnies. They hop about learning the ropes and unfortunately some just don't make it back to their burrows. Wise old bunnies have a few scars perhaps and learn to stay away from the roads at peak times.

Some will make it. Some won't. You could call it natural selection. You could call it a lack of predator awareness - some bikers don't realise they are their own enemy. It aint the bike, we know that, as the old saying goes 'the throttle works both ways'

It could be said that if the majority of those who didn't make it didn't get on a bike they might still be here, but what we are dealing with are folk who obviously have no sense of self preservation or folk who go against everything they have been taught and act foolishly or ride beyond their limits. Who's responsibility is it to usher adults through life?

If we look at it from a miltary point of view - Soldiers are trained to survive - they recieve the highest levels of survival and combat training available and get to use the latest technology to help them stay alive and defeat the enemy. However throughout history there have always been in times of stress gungho warriors running into battle for the glory and these are often the first to get torn down by enemy fire, better to stay in the rear with the gear if you wanna see it through.

Insight into how we react to stress individually is nigh on impossible to teach. It takes self awareness and deep analysis into our own physce.

Those fatalities when the rider has been victim to another motorist really is pretty shit - but that's life.

Worldwide 11 million kids died last year from poverty through no fault of their own. So I'm sorry but I just can't get emotional or political about a handful of riders who choose to ride and end up dead.

Biking has always been alluring in this country with the good old british sport of competition and measuring cocks, bikes are not simply a mode of transport, they are a whole image and lifestyle now. And with a nice shiny bike your'e pretty much guaranteed a shag. This appeals to men. Men who think they have more prowess if they can ride quickly. Some try to get there too quickly and end up spunking their bikes prematurely.

Bikesafe, IAM, RoADAR, Trackdays etc etc need to be marketed more, I'd love to see a bike mag being published monthly which is aimed directly at new riders with sensible articles and good advice. If safety campaigning had the back up of bike dealers and the test and training was even more in depth than the changes proposed - deaths will be cut.

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blah blah blah etc etc......

Quote

They're adults. If they want to kill or maim themselves in matching leathers, who are we to stop them?

.
.
.

Quote

Some will make it. Some won't. You could call it natural selection. You could call it a lack of predator awareness - some bikers don't realise they are their own enemy. It aint the bike, we know that, as the old saying goes 'the throttle works both ways'

It could be said that if the majority of those who didn't make it didn't get on a bike they might still be here, but what we are dealing with are folk who obviously have no sense of self preservation or folk who go against everything they have been taught and act foolishly or ride beyond their limits. Who's responsibility is it to usher adults through life?

Responsibility for fellow human beings vs person liberty?

It's not all through "no sense of self preservation" or "going against what they were taught", though there are undoubtedly a good few riders like that...

Being an adult doesn't stop riders being ignorant of fairly basic machine control techniques (how many riders still don't know about countersteering?) or risk (how many riders still think that it's the "killer Volvo" that is responsible for fatalities?).

Unfortunately, we don't exist in isolation from each other and so it's in ALL our interests to take some responsibility to improve riding standards - as you Wasabi yourself constantly complain, Big Brother is out there ready to legislate at the drop of a hat. You can't have your cake and eat it.

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"Force has no place where there is need of skill" Herodotus 450BC :burnout:

Hanuman wrote

I'd love to see a bike mag being published monthly which is aimed directly at new riders with sensible articles and good advice.

Unfortunately nobody (well hardly anybody) would buy it. Or at least the publishers wouldn't take the risk. Even those mags that used to be sensible (eg MCS) just follow the herd now.

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Ian.

2004 Triumph Tiger 955i
1955 Velocette Viper

The Spin Doctor wrote

.
.
.

You can't have your cake and eat it.

I don't believe I am - for example the parallel thread about making car drivers take bike tests. I beleive it WOULD benefit them. BUT - I don't want to make them do anything extra though - that is forcing my views/interests on them.


I do feel that
a: the rise in scoots among teenagers who can't afford car insurance, and b: global warming making biking less of a silly-season affair
might make 2 wheelers less of a niche summer speed-nutter activity. If a culture of bikes as transport rather than racing machines can become mainstream, then I'd think real progress could be made.

Hanuman, the bunnies argument doesn't work for me I'm afraid.

Each road fatality costs the taxpayer in the region of £1m. That's £1m that could otherwise be spent on kidney transplants, better schools, preventing all those child deaths due to poverty etc.

Then there's the human costs. Each biker that's died has left behind wife, kids, parents etc. who will forever mourn their passing.

Lastly, there's the other people involved in the collision. Many years ago I had the misfortune of witnessing a fatal accident, where a biker had a head on collision with a car coming the other way. At the inquest, six months later, the lady driver involved was still heavily traumatised, and broke down when giving her statement. I doubt that she'll ever truly get over it.

coming back from the bike racing at valencia last week.

and i paired up with 3 mates goin the same way...sarf.

all was well.. the boys were crackin on..
i hung back, as i hadnt ridden with any of em before..

38 degrees in the shade... twistie roads.. not bad grip.. reasonable
view..

when...

the blackburd just gave up on one bend.. and aimed for the ditch..

weaved along that for a hundred yards.. and then hit the concrete end
of it..

odd.

the tarmac wasnt bad.. i would have stayed on that tbh. worked well for me.

the dust cloud covered the whole road. impressive.

***************

(anyway.. also saw some awesome kids racing mini-motos in the interval
between races too. future champions, all of em. superb.

and the moto-extreme boys are a bit quick too.)

***************

so.. the point of all my rambling?

the guy on the burd got away lightly.
damaged lid, jacket, bruising just about everywhere.. xxxx pounds worth of damage.. but it was on a left hander (which is like a right in gb).. as in, u run off into the dirt.. not oncoming traffic.

but.. what if there was road furniture in his run-off?
what if there was a sheer drop? (which there was a few km further back)
... on a more general note...
what if there was some tourist on his side of the road? (this happened last month to me)
what if there was an old cement bag right on his line? (happened to me in march)
what if there it was a right hander that tightens up? (countless)

the what if's weren'y being allowed for, in my opinion (which counts for fuck all, btw)

anyway.. the bike had loads left.. the rider didnt.

the other riders he was with had vastly more experience..
and were less likely to give up.. all having huge amounts of 'track' miles to fall back on in this case, and knowing they would only have to give in when the bikes guts were dragging and lifting the back wheel off the ground.

righto.. rambling over.. back to the pool cleaning.
laters all.

:smoke:

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canariomoto

gstrackbash.com

Hanuman wrote

If we look at it from a miltary point of view - Soldiers are trained to survive - they recieve the highest levels of survival and combat training available and get to use the latest technology to help them stay alive and defeat the enemy. However throughout history there have always been in times of stress gungho warriors running into battle for the glory and these are often the first to get torn down by enemy fire, better to stay in the rear with the gear if you wanna see it through..

I think they used to be called heroes. And the military give them gongs for doing it. Maybe some road users are going above and beyond the call of duty - most are looking out for their own selfish interests (and not survival, I mean time pressures and road rage).
Broadly speaking, most newbie bikers want to be away on the road asap at least cost - they are not interested in the highest levels of survival and (combat) training available so you are not comparing like with like. I would imagine that troops in combat have a reasonable idea that their lives are at risk - bet that doesn't occur to many road users.

Hanuman wrote

Worldwide 11 million kids died last year from poverty through no fault of their own. So I'm sorry but I just can't get emotional or political about a handful of riders who choose to ride and end up dead.

So why spend time in SS?

I guess you are happy doing nothing about any of it? Life's a bitch and then you die?

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slowsider....

"There's no such thing as a stupid question, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots."

iansoady wrote

Unfortunately nobody (well hardly anybody) would buy it. Or at least the publishers wouldn't take the risk. Even those mags that used to be sensible (eg MCS) just follow the herd now.

I remember an article in Bike Magazine many years ago that dealt with this very issue. It was saying that the manufacturers have a vested interest in skirting around the safety issue and appeared around the time that compulsory leg shields werebeing proposed.

It had a mocked up advert featuring a biker superimposed on a skittle and a caption suggesting that the manufacturers might consider it counterproductive.

That image has lived with me ever since.

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Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Half of what I say is meaningless.

The Spin Doctor wrote

Interesting analysis of fault... bends, overtaking as usual...

Any idea where the 4 fatal junction accidents happened? Were they faster, country roads?



That's also interesting... so almost certainly on roads they knew well...

not sure what the finer breakdown is but i'll enquire.....as i said this is a 'blanket' overview and not the bigger picture, but still makes sad reading.

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XBox Live Gamertag: PorkscratchinUK

'You ain't seen me, right?'

Velocette wrote

I remember an article in Bike Magazine many years ago that dealt with this very issue. It was saying that the manufacturers have a vested interest in skirting around the safety issue and appeared around the time that compulsory leg shields werebeing proposed.
.

It isn't just bike mags though. Have a look at the car mages on the shelves and 9 out of 10 are the written equivalent of 'Top Gear'. People who are interested enough in something to buy a 5 quid mag about it tend not to be the 'average user'.

Trouble with bikes though is the 'average user' is a GSXR rider on a weekend hoon. Was in a local bike dealership on Saturday and saw new biker who hadn't passed DAS yet insisting he needed an R1 - sales bloke naturally didn't argue. Instead gave him mock-serious advice about practicing accelerating in a carpark so the wheelie wouldn't take him by surprise.


Edit: just to prove I'm a total hypcrote, I'm upgrading from a CB500 to a VFR750 midweek:burnout::burnout::burnout:

Mikey wrote

Porks, what's really depressing is that the majority of these fatalities could have been avoided, Better training, better attitude would result in an 80% or even 90% reduction in fatalities.

At my IAM group, the people we get joining are the ones that are less likely to become a statistic - they're the the more sensible ones.

How can we reach out to the riders for whom biking is a fashion accessory?

this is what we're struggling with in Lincolnshire - can't seem to get through to the people making the decisions that IAM & Bikesafe don't appeal to a large percentage of current sportsbike riders - a lot either aren't interested because of the image representation or they believe they wouldn't benefit as their already shit hot riders, the only way is to put forward something appealing & this is why I keep banging on about getting riders onto the racetrack - not just to whang round - but specific handling/control techniques - not only will it benefit them on the road - but hopefully they will find trackdays a more appealing option to fast road riding & also see the difference in the two environments & realise how dangerous roads are in comparison & then ride accordingly - the annoying thing is that I know it works (from seeing countless first time trackdayers converted) - but I can't get through to the road safety chiefs who make the decisions & they are not willing to spend any money - they just seem happy with putting up those shite yellow boards with the aprilia rider on & lobbing up more speed cameras - which as we all know aren't doing shaft all

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wasabi wrote

Edit: just to prove I'm a total hypcrote, I'm upgrading from a CB500 to a VFR750 midweek:burnout::burnout::burnout:

Well done good choice, do you want some hard luggage for it
Give me a shout when you have it I need to scrub in some new tyres before Friday

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done it dont want to do it again
COG#4 TIT120 SG82

Training in and around Oxfordshire

wasabi wrote

Trouble with bikes though is the 'average user' is a GSXR rider on a weekend hoon. Was in a local bike dealership on Saturday and saw new biker who hadn't passed DAS yet insisting he needed an R1 - sales bloke naturally didn't argue. Instead gave him mock-serious advice about practicing accelerating in a carpark so the wheelie wouldn't take him by surprise.k:burnout::burnout::burnout:

Do you have any statistics to back this up? Anecdotally I see far more bikers on tourers than on sports bikes, and the accident statistics seem to over represent the 40+ age group, who possibly aren't as attracted to shiny plastic supersports.

azathoth wrote

Do you have any statistics to back this up? Anecdotally I see far more bikers on tourers than on sports bikes, and the accident statistics seem to over represent the 40+ age group, who possibly aren't as attracted to shiny plastic supersports.

I don't have the link to hand, but there is a DfT report which shows how crashes vary with bike 'type'.

Google
motorcycle crash day week type rowv overtake bend
and have a trawl.

Sod it, quicker if I do
www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme5/indepthstudyofmotorcycleacci4784

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