Statistics

Disappointed to read some motorcycle accident statistics stating that
there has been a 24% increase in fatalities from 1994 to 2001. I have this
funny feeling that there has been a 24% or so increase in the number of
motorcycles since then too, but can't find anything to back that up in
half an hour of googling. Anyone help me out?

Paul

 

Try www.morbidandpointlesssearching.com

 

Slightly more helpfully I did find this


A total of 170,072 motorcycles and mopeds were sold last year - the highest
figure since 1983 when sales reached 174,801. Mark Foster, chief executive
of the Motorcycle Industry Association, said: "Motorcycling used to be the
UK's best kept secret, but now the secret is out and more and more people
are turning to two wheels."

The 2000 sales figure was 10 per cent up on the 1999 total and was 217 per
cent up on the 1995 total when only 53,721 machines were sold. The
association said the sales boom owed much to city commuters switching from
cars to bikes to beat congestion. Last year's total included 70,603
scooters.


from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2001/01/20/cmage220.x
ml

and

Quite apart from shop sales in the UK, figures for motorcycle sales in 2000
reveal a 14-year high of 170,072 new machines purchased. The highest
increase comes in sales of scooters which soared a massive 40% over the
previous year's figures. Whilst a part of this rise seems to be a direct
result of rising fuel costs and problems with the railways, it is not only
disgruntled commuters who are turning to this mode of transport. Sales of
the larger motorcycles have also increased, indicating that more and more
people are discovering the joys of biking"

from http://www.simply-info.co.uk/newscomment/13-01-01.htm

 

Dunno about statistics, but it seems every couple of days a motorcycling
fatality is reported on teletext for East Anglia.

Had a chap in A&E the other night, crashed an off road bike into a bollard
and caved his skull in. He was riding without a helmet. Looked an awful
mess. He was also very dead.

Bill

 

Bill waffled on in a quite bewildering manner to produce...

Ok, maybe I don't understand this well, with being a cagist, but I spend a
lot of time around bikes & bikers. [1]

Isn't the big thing about riding bikes that it's the feeling of freedom,
that you're more open to the elements?

If you're more open to the elements, then of course you're gonna be more
susceptible to damage.

It's a trade off, isn't it? Freedom Vs Cage resistance.

I can see the attraction to biking [2], but I'm too fond of my cd player to
bother. [3]

[1] PR Tyres Liverpool (I'm the fat ginger bloke who works on cars there
sometimes)
[2] Occasionally go for a spin on a GSXR 750
[3] and the leathers and all that malarky are a pain.

 

The question wasn't about whether you're more likely to have your head
caved in being on a bike vs being in a car, but it was whether you're
more likely to have your head caved in on a bike this year vs last
year. Governments as well as other bodies have this knack of publishing
statistics that suit them, so if they were to say that there were 500%
more fatalities on the 268 bus to peckham in 2001 compared to 2002 then
you just might hope that they might mention the little fact that the
buses only started running at xmas 2001.

Paul

 

Cheers, but I think the number of bikes registered on the road might be
more pertinent. Couldn't find a UK figure but saw a Scottish figure
indicating that the number of licensed bikes in 2001 is 56% higher than
1994 and 26% higher than 1998. If that's similar to the UK as a whole,
or England, that that would really piss me off.

Paul

 

waffled on in a quite bewildering manner to
produce...

Oh aye, good point.. D'oh.