what state has the worst motorcycle riders in it?? not MA, or all new england...

[martyk]

found this on another forum, pretty interesting, all of new england is at the end of the list


http://www.cyrilhuzeblog.com/2012/07...ippi-is-worst/

[drinkingmymilk]

Of course the colder states have less deaths. Most riders in New england only use thier motorcycles 4 months. About the only shocker on this list is CA.

[GNTurbo6]

[Garandman]

Of course the colder states have less deaths. Most riders in New england only use thier motorcycles 4 months. About the only shocker on this list is CA.

North Dakota was #13, South Dakota was #22. I'm told they have Winter there.

Virginia was #47.

[drinkingmymilk]

North Dakota was #13, South Dakota was #22. I'm told they have Winter there.

Virginia was #47.

They are ranking this on XXX per number of registered motorcyles. There is going to be a curve at some point. Your a numbers man, you should get that!

[Garandman]

irst, let me mention that reading this study my first reaction was that a ranking of the worst motorcycle drivers by State (number of motorcyclist fatalities) is equivalent to rank States by the worst car drivers since most motorcycle accidents are the consequence of car driver mistakes. So, the headline is quite misleading…

This being said, this ranking is important because depending of your home state it directly affects your motorcycle insurance premiums. In this study published by Insurance Providers statistics data is drawn from the US Census Bureau’s motorcycle registration data and from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration’s crash statistics by state and vehicle type.

Each state is ranked based on the number of motorcycle fatalities in that state in 2009 compared to the total number of registered bikes in the state. The states which have the most motorcycle fatalities are mostly the southern states

Vermonters, you guys are a bunch of hellions!

And you guys from the "Try and Find" state - finally, RI is ranked #1 in something good!

MA and NH and "good drivers" - reality not found.

[PhilB]

CA, I think, benefits some from (a) not have much dangerous weather, and (b) due to good weather people can ride year round, so you don't get that rash of accidents from out-of-practice riders at the start of riding season.

The main thing, though, with regard to that listing is that the final ranking is a composite of 5 factors, and the fatality rate is only one of them. The other four are all various enforcement/ticket categories. So the ranking there is mostly based on how many motorcyclists get in trouble with the law, not on how well or safely they ride. A state could easily be on the "good" end of the scale simply by lax enforcement of the laws.

PhilB

[Garandman]

this ranking is important because depending of your home state it directly affects your motorcycle insurance premiums.

Go Mass, Go New England!

I'm surprised ND was worse than SD, given the Sturgis rally.

[Father Ribs]

I was shocked NJ fared well here. That is a state where everyone turns into Rambo when behind the wheel...northern NJ anyway.

[caddydaddy]

Well, that explains why my motorcycle insurance is so expensive here! haha

It was quite the shock moving from Maine, with the lowest insurance rates (at the time), to the highest!

[Degsy]

Wirelessly posted

I find it hilarious that it is stated several times that most motorcycle fatalities and accidents are caused by car drivers.

[OreoGaborio]

Wirelessly posted

I find it hilarious that it is stated several times that most motorcycle fatalities and accidents are caused by car drivers.

I read the first sentence ("..my first reaction was that a ranking of the worst motorcycle drivers by State (number of motorcyclist fatalities) is equivalent to rank States by the worst car drivers since most motorcycle accidents are the consequence of car driver mistakes.) and loled.

We are far and away our own worst enemies.

[Lxpony]

Most riders in New england only use thier motorcycles 4 months. .

I get 7 months no problem around central MA.....

[gtutunjian]

I live in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Motorcycle Association tracks accidents and fatalities here (as best they can I expect) and correlates that data with motorcyclist training and what the car was doing (when a car was involved.) They report that training (e.g. MSF) makes a significant (positive) difference and that cars making unannounced left turns in front of us is a major cause of accidents and fatalities.

Having taken MSF training before every getting a bike, I can say it made a huge difference for me. I also see far too many cage drivers running lights and stop signs in this area in addition to making those risky left turns. (Maybe that isn't happening in other states with wider roads and fewer people on the roads.) Very few towns here catch these drivers. (Watertown, Mass. is an exception...I live close to it so I see it happening.)

I occassionally see a motorcyclist splitting lanes here (illegal) or fitting between moving traffic and parked vehicles to their right at speed. I see much riskier cage driving than I see motorcyclist driving. They outnumber us by a wide margin, too. There's a lot more body shop work for autos than there is for motos.

[Garandman]

I live in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Motorcycle Association tracks accidents and fatalities here (as best they can I expect) and correlates that data with motorcyclist training and what the car was doing (when a car was involved.) They report that training (e.g. MSF) makes a significant (positive) difference and that cars making unannounced left turns in front of us is a major cause of accidents and fatalities. /

Decreasing the risk from LH turners can be mitigated - it's just that MSF doesn't have the nuts to say "Wear a light colored helmet, hi-viz clothing, and practice the 'Anti-SMIDSY Manuever*' to decrease your risk for these kind of accidents.

MMA is even worse. I looked at their website and every single motorcycle shown in pictures was a Harley. I told them a couple years running that I'd join when they started including others, and they next year they proudly pointed to a single picture of a Gold Wing.

They told me there was nothing we could do about motorcycle parking in Boston. I had meetings with the BRA, BTD and the Mayor hisownself within a month.

*See Oreo's comments below. I took the BRC 27 years ago - it's changed. Apparently so has the ARC, which I took 5-7 years ago.

[KnuckleBallz]

"Anti-SMIDSY Manuever"?

Care to elaborate?

[aldend123]

"Anti-SMIDSY Manuever"?

Care to elaborate?

Google says : http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/SMIDSY
"Sorry mate, I didn't see you."
[This acronym is used by British and Australian motorcyclists and cyclists to describe traffic collisions in which a car driver fails to perceive a two-wheel biker. "SMIDSY" was also used as a title of a BBC series on road safety broadcast in the 1980s.]

[gtutunjian]

... it's just that MSF doesn't have the nuts to say "Wear a light colored helmet, hi-viz clothing, and practice the 'Anti-SMIDSY Manuever*' to decrease your risk for these kind of accidents.

The guy who led my class was all over us to do these things...His last statement of the second day was "Ride like everyone else is trying to kill you." No one laughed... Same for SMISDY: Drilled awareness into us. One of his sons was in the class, too. He had someone supporting him the second day who wore so much yellow it hurt to look at her (as she rode her Gold Wing away when we wrapped.)

Thanks for pushing the parking issue with Boston officials. I don't doubt that they are blockheads when it comes to common sense. (Could they have made those "scooter and motorcycle" spaces on Boylston and Newbury any smaller? I think you/we would have to look for officials who ride and who are conscious of our needs (versus people who are only conscious of votes and re-appointments.) Excuse the rant.

[KnuckleBallz]

Well now we know what SMIDSY means...I'm guessing the maneuver involves Hi-Ziz, loud pipes, and possibly a potato cannon?

[Degsy]

Wirelessly posted

I live in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Motorcycle Association tracks accidents and fatalities here (as best they can I expect) and correlates that data with motorcyclist training and what the car was doing (when a car was involved.) They report that training (e.g. MSF) makes a significant (positive) difference and that cars making unannounced left turns in front of us is a major cause of accidents and fatalities. /

Decreasing the risk from LH turners can be mitigated - it's just that MSF doesn't have the nuts to say "Wear a light colored helmet, hi-viz clothing, and practice the 'Anti-SMIDSY Manuever*' to decrease your risk for these kind of accidents.

MMA is even worse. I looked at their website and every single motorcycle shown in pictures was a Harley. I told them a couple years running that I'd join when they started including others, and they next year they proudly pointed to a single picture of a Gold Wing.

They told me there was nothing we could do about motorcycle parking in Boston. I had meetings with the BRA, BTD and the Mayor hisownself within a month.

That MSF statement blows my mind.

[Wanderer]

Decreasing the risk from LH turners can be mitigated - it's just that MSF doesn't have the nuts to say "Wear a light colored helmet, hi-viz clothing, and practice the 'Anti-SMIDSY Manuever*' to decrease your risk for these kind of accidents.

MMA is even worse. I looked at their website and every single motorcycle shown in pictures was a Harley. I told them a couple years running that I'd join when they started including others, and they next year they proudly pointed to a single picture of a Gold Wing.

They told me there was nothing we could do about motorcycle parking in Boston. I had meetings with the BRA, BTD and the Mayor hisownself within a month.

The MMA is quite possibly the most pointless consumer advocacy group I've come across.
Lobby for actually proactive or productive things? Fight hard for parking/lane sharing/etc?

Nah, lets get our panties in a twist about Helmet laws and loud pipes.

[gtutunjian]

The MMA is quite possibly the most pointless consumer advocacy group I've come across.
Lobby for actually proactive or productive things? Fight hard for parking/lane sharing/etc?

Nah, lets get our panties in a twist about Helmet laws and loud pipes.

A lot of advocacy organizations are very thinly staffed and usually find that one or two people lead them for years because no one else steps up (myself included.) I've lead non-motorcycling advocacy groups before and it can be exhausting on top of a full-time job and other interests. This is especially true for causes or groups that are focused on what many will find to be non-mainstream. (I've seen multi-million dollar advocacy as well as NGOs working as non-profits from the inside.) I take them each for what they can offer (MSF, MMA, and more.) I learned a lot at the MSF Rider Course and from another one of their publications. MMA tries to make a difference, too. As long as the rest of us are on the sidelines, they aren't likely to change.

[OreoGaborio]

Decreasing the risk from LH turners can be mitigated - it's just that MSF doesn't have the nuts to say "Wear a light colored helmet, hi-viz clothing, and practice the 'Anti-SMIDSY Manuever*' to decrease your risk for these kind of accidents.

How bout you sit through the BRC again before making assumptions...

[Garandman]

"Anti-SMIDSY Manuever"?

Care to elaborate?

One reason for what the Brits call "SMIDSYs" is the physiological phenomena known as "Looming." The operative theory is that if you are approaching a vehicle and the background is not moving behind them, the background is not moving behind you and you are less likely to be seen. This video describes it, and proactive avoidance.

I found it intresting as I started doing the same thing in 1985 (after returning from Germany and reading The Hurt Report for the first time) and knew that it worked - but not why it worked. I lived in Marblehead at the time and passed a ton of side streets on the way to and from work - and got cut off all the time, a fact confirmed in the Hurt Report. I tried different color helmets, headlight modulators, waving, and inadvertently found that swerving in the lane worked about the best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqQBu...lheCWrAypVyTLQ

How bout you sit through the BRC again before making assumptions...

The BRC course offerings seem to have expanded a great deal from when I took it, but I don't see anything about the above listed in the curriculum?

I don't think I'll be taking the BRC again anytime soon, here's what I have taken in the last five years or so.

MSF ARC - twice (from Ironstone, BTW). Last was 2007.
Lee Parks Total Control I & II.
Penguin Friday School.
Boston Moto Intro to Track Riding.
California Superbike School I, II and III.

The book list is easier: I doubt there's a book on street riding that I haven't already read or is on my bookshelf to be read.

I live in Boston and have a wife, three young children, and a business. If there's a course that isn't listed above that will make me a safer street rider, tell me what it is and I'll take that also.

If you believe the MSF BRC is the be-all and end-all of motorcycle training, it's my turn to have my mind blown. Fair enough?

[RandyO]

The MMA is quite possibly the most pointless consumer advocacy group I've come across.
Lobby for actually proactive or productive things? Fight hard for parking/lane sharing/etc?

Nah, lets get our panties in a twist about Helmet laws and loud pipes.

some people say that about NRA as well, just sayin,

they are exactly what they say they are an advocacy group for what they perceive their rights to be