UK Safety stats
Tue, 2006-08-15 07:46 — deanw
I thought this was an interesting snapshot...
Who is most likely to be involved in a motorcycle accident?
Statists show that, overwhelmingly, it is young, inexperienced males who are most likely to be involved in a motorcycle accident:
- 93% of riders involved in injury accidents are male
- the peak age for being killed on a motorbike is 17
- comparing riders aged 20 and riders aged 30 with the same riding experience, the 20 year olds have three times the accident risk of the 30 year olds
- comparing riders of the same age, those in their first year of riding have a three times greater risk of accident than those in tehir sixth year of riding
- the average rider starting at 17 will have had more than eight accidents by the age of 35
-Motorcycle ROADCRAFT, the police rider's hadnbook to better motorcycling
Compare to th USA, where the 20-somethings are running neck-and-neck with the 40-somethings for leading the crash stats- the latter group believed to be led by returning riders, or first-time riders on bikes that are increasingly too big and powerful (larger than 1000 cc) for a beginner to be on.
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Comments
Interesting 'data'. If you
Interesting 'data'. If you substitute driver for rider and automobile for motorbike, would the bullets be any different? I don't think so.
Phil in Seattle
It is interesting (to me)
It is interesting (to me) because it is appears different than similar data from the US.
In both the US & UK, motorcycle registration, and ridership is increasing; US motorcycle crash/fatality numbers continue to increase*- the same data from the UK shows fatalities decreasing.
*Disclaimer, NHTSA data is IMO at best, suspect; who knows about the UK data? http://www.mrf.org/articles/2005/05NR2105nr21nomotorcyclestravelinsouthdakota.htm
Cultural
Cultural differences?
Several of my friends who have been to Europe always comment on how much nicer it is to drive over there. People stay out of the fast lanes, don't pass on the wrong side, pass quickly and so on.
I wonder if there isn't some fundamental difference in the underlying culture that might account for this difference. New riders in the UK less apt to take a chance because it 'just isn't done'. Or is there some advanced training for Rules of the Road that we don't know about?
One suspects there are more sport bikes in the UK relative to the greater bike population than here, where it seems likely to be skewed toward cruisers. Are their sportbike riders better than ours, or are our cruiser riders so much less skilled it skews our numbers?
Plenty of opportunity for a researcher or two to get some papers published. :)
Phil in Seattle
Part of the "cultural"
Part of the "cultural" aspect is the very expensive and onerous licensing procedure. Lots of mandatory training, a year (or more?) of driving with an "L" license plate indicationg "Learner" or something like that, serious testing.
Wouldn't fly in the US. I have very mixed emotions about that.
- Carl