Motorcycles overview and characteristics

Motorcycles

Supporters of sustainability are unanimous that the current manner of personal transport, that is dependent on cars, is required to change into a different one, based on cycling, walking and public transport. However, in between cars and bicycles a complete gamut of other transport media placed perhaps in a rather grey zone as regards their position: do they look more like cars, or bicycles, judged from a sustainability perspective? What is their position in future sustainable setting? From all these machineries, motorcycles have been widely used in some regions of the world and especially in the U.S., such that there is real experience to get conclusions. The remaining means of transport constitutes a small and insignificant portion of the whole transport assignment. To some people motorcycles are a contentious matter, and certainly an overlooked matter in a lot of other situations. (Motorcycles and Bicycles: Debunking Myths, par: 1-3)

Cons of owning a motorcycle in the U.S. Nation

In the U.S., there is an annual average death rate of 8.7 per 1000 population. Among the death tolls, the maximum number relates to motor-related accidental deaths. The onset of this century saw the first manufacture of motorcycles for commercial purposes in the U.S. In the course of four decades, their utility has gained manifold and presently U.S. accounts for 30,000,000 motor cars, or this accrues to 68% of the total of the world. (De Silva 1) but for motorcycle riders, all is not well. When compared to motorcars they have several disadvantages. Although, for motorcycles, it is easy to park, it has its store of demerits of difficulty in becoming visible to others particularly when the rider wears dark, non-luminous garments; are able to carry fewer loads; and can hold only a sole rider. Although it is easier to control a motorcycle when traveling at lower pace, the control goes down when one moves at greater speeds. Riding a motorcycle involves a greater intensity of bodily dexterity. The utility of motorcycles might be lowered by seasonal variation of hot and cold temperatures; passenger and carrying capacity. Besides, expenses rates of regular maintenance might be far higher compared to an automobile. The motorcycle rider bears more physical risk, has increased chances of injuring himself in an accident and must be properly attired for the fall; and in situations when not dressed properly, can be inattentive while riding and have increased chances of facing accident resulting in hurting himself and loss of life. (the Decision to Ride -- Accepting the Risk, par: 7-10)

Notwithstanding falling rates of total deaths in highways, succumbing to injuries is going up across the nation. (Motorcycle Death Toll Rises, par: 1) Fatalities arising from motor vehicles is more than that of total deaths caused due to natural calamities. As a matter of fact, in the U.S. one's odd of getting hurt in a vehicular accident is better compared to one in a thousand, in any particular year. (the Disaster Center's Motor Vehicle Accident Death and Injury data Index, par: 1) the journeying citizens face dangers of meeting with accidents in U.S. roadways and are major reasons for loss of lives for people below thirty four years. (Automobile & Motorcycle Accidents Information, par: 1) Riders of motorcycles meeting death is twenty-two times more as against passengers traveling in four-wheelers. (Facts about Motor Vehicle Accidents and Personal Injuries, par: 1) Presently on an average more than 40,000 people die every year in about 5 million motor vehicle accidents in the U.S. Even during 2002, close to 43,000 people lost their lives in accidents on highway across the country, inclusive of motorcycle accidents. This equals more than 115 deaths daily. The financial cost of these accidents is phenomenal, more than $150 billion every year. (Automobile & Motorcycle Accidents Information, par: 1) the U.S. records the highest and most expensive car accident issue in the universe, a concern that even though its list of victims are always openly available, majority of the Americans tend to ignore. (De Silva 1) popular method of calculation to arrive at the frequencies of injuries and deaths in the roads of America is the number of accidents for every 100 million Vehicle Miles Traveled - VMT. There was a rise in the deaths due to motorcycle accidents from 25.06 deaths per million VMT in 1992 to 34.28 deaths per million VMT in 2002, a surge of more than 36% in a decadal period. As against this, deaths due to accidents in cars and light trucks per million VMT came down by 14% and 4 per cent, respectively during that identical period. Calculated on per vehicle mile, motorcycle riders have 27% more chances of getting involved in fatal traffic accidents compared to people traveling in automobiles. (Motorcycle accidents in the News, par: 3)

The year 2003 saw 3,661 motorcycle meeting death due to motorcycle crashes a rise of 4% compared to the year 2002. This apart, 67,000 people faced injuries in motorcycle accidents (Motorcycle Accidents: Grossman Law Offices, par:1) the annual report released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - NHTSA says that in 2004, deaths due to motorcycle accidents went up to cross 4000 for the first time since 1987. As per the statement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 4008 motorcycle riders faced deaths in highway accidents in 2004 which is a 7.9% rise from 2003 levels. Besides, in excess of 70,000 injuries due to motorcycle accidents were reported in 2004 which is also a record annual high. Likely reasons for the death rate going up can be attributed to a jump in new motorcycles sale, a lot of states revoking the compulsory helmet rules, and the mushrooming of more number of riders without any experience. U.S. citizens acquired an anticipated 7, 34,000 motorcycles during 2004, a remarkable rise as compared to last year's figures as per the report released by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. However a highway administration spokesman put the responsibility with the states that have lifted compulsory helmet rules. According to a report published by the agency, Florida saw an 81% growth of motorcycle deaths during a three-year time frame following the revoking of the state's helmet laws in 2000. Detractors of helmet groups reply that more bike owners represent the middle-aged group who are inexperienced riders, who do not posses any training. (Motorcycle Death Toll Rises, par: 1-2)

Annually 3, 00,000 people are injured in car accidents in California - the state recording the maximum accident rates. Accidents in motorcycles are responsible for uneven number of disastrous injuries on the highways which is unfortunate. Generally, motorcycle riders face more serious injuries compared to car occupants. (Motor Vehicle Accidents: California and Nevada Auto accident and motorcycle attorneys, par: 4) California has throughout maintained as the state having highest motorcycle accident deaths. This could be witnessed from the figures of accident deaths in California being 5, 496 in 1980, which reduced to 5192 in 1990 and further to 3753 in 2000 which again increased to 4120 in the year 2004. Even though accident rates in California in the year 2000 and 2004 has decreased when compared to the years, 1980 and 1990, California has throughout these years maintained its position as the state with the highest motorcycle accident rates in the U.S. (Motor Vehicle Deaths by state: 1980 to 2004, par: 1) Texas state occupies the third position in the deaths due to motorcycle accidents, coming second after California and Florida. (Texas Motorcycle Accident Statistics, par: 2) District of Columbia is the state with the lowest motorcycle accident with only 43 deaths reported in the year 2004 and it has been continuing its lowest trend among all the states from 1980 onwards till 2004. (Motor Vehicle Deaths by state: 1980 to 2004, par: 1)

In case one is a male, then one's odds of dying in an automobile accident are double than if one is a female. Nevertheless, if you are female, you chances of getting injured are more. The most vulnerable age group is between 16 and 24 for both the genders. Within the ages of 16 and 64, drunken driving accounts for more than 20% of all accidental death and between the ages of 21 and 44, nearly half of all the deaths. The rates of fatal deaths between the ages of 16 and 44 have come down since 1975. The most remarkable fall in accident rates has been witnessed in the 16-20 age brackets. Nearly 50% of all destruction in properties leads to injuries and deaths. From 1966, the proportion of death due to accidents has gone down by nearly 40% by the number of drivers more than half and by the amount of miles driven by nearly 70%. Presently we are undertaking a lot of driving and the doing it safely than ever before. With rising age, our chances of death as a pedestrian goes up, however our odds of sustaining injuries are higher at young age. Roughly, 15% of people who lose their lives due to automobile accidents are pedestrians, people riding bicycles or else not in automobiles. (the Disaster Center's Motor Vehicle Accident Death and Injury data Index, par. 1)

Accidents due to motor vehicles were the second major reasons of police deaths by the end of the century, accounting for more than 2,000 deaths or 15% of all deaths. About, 1,000 more officers comprising of 7% of all loss of lives were hit and met death by passing motor vehicles while they were not in their vehicle, rendering this group the fourth main reason for law enforcement deaths during the last century. Drunken driving was responsible for 315 cases of these vehicle-linked deaths. During the initial part of the last century, the second most important cause of police deaths were accidents due to police deaths. Practically from 1910-1939, 485 officers lost their lives in motor cycle accidents, as opposed to 323 officers who met death in other automobile accidents. With legal enforcement starting to more and more depend on the automobile, motorcycle deaths came down during the second half of the century, but still were responsible for 1,000 deaths of officers during the century comprising 7% of all deaths. At the end of the century, motorcycle accidents were the third important reason for police deaths. (Indiana Police Officer Memorial: Law Enforcement Statistics and Facts, par: 15-16)

Accidents in motor cycles entail exclusive questions of liability, comparative defects, cause of injuries, and accident reconstruction. (Motor Vehicle Accidents: California and Nevada Auto accident and motorcycle attorneys, par: 3) a lot of reasons abound for motorcycle accidents. Some of these accidents are due to slipshod attitude of drivers of automobiles, and simply by catastrophic accident, due to the reality that motorcycles are not easily visible on the roads. Deaths due to accidents in motorcycles are not attached to any age group, as passenger cars are. Indeed, motorcycle riders below the age of 20 of nearly 139 in 1999 and less age had a very less number of accidental deaths compared to next age group of 20 to 29 of nearly 758 in 1999. Definitely, the reason behind this might be because of the lesser numbers of motorcycle owners in the earlier age group because of financial reasons. The share of motorcycles was 2% of all vehicles recorded in the U.S. In this same year. It was seen that riders owning bikes with an engine displacement if 749 cc met with the maximum proportion of fatal accidents. It is also to be noted that average age of owning a motorcycle was more than 40 years in 1998, and basing on data, it is going up sharply on a year to year basis to the extent that this age group presently is responsible for just more than half of owners. Within 50 and 55% of accidents were due to multiple car accidents, while 45% were due to single car accidents while an extremely minor percentage due to colliding with fixed objects. (Motorcycle Accidents: Grossman Law Offices, par: 2-6)

It has been seen that more than two-thirds of the victims have not been wearing adequate safety gear. (Motorcycle Accidents: Grossman Law Offices, par. 6) 285 cases of deaths in motorcycle accidents were reported in Texas during 2004, more than half among whom were not wearing a safety helmet. It is approximated that helmets are responsible for saving the lives of more than1300 cycle riders. While evaluating these figures, it is found that had all motorcyclists worn the helmet that year, the difference could have been 671 saved lives. It is estimated that helmets are 37% efficient in arresting deadly injuries to motorcyclists which implies that for every 100 motorcyclists losing their lives in accidents, 37 would have been saved in case they all had worn their helmets. (Texas Motorcycle Accident Statistics, par: 2)

In a research undertaken by Murdoch and Waxman it was revealed that people implicated in a motorcycle accident, half of them were not wearing a helmet, 23% wore a helmet, and in case of 27% helmet use was unfamiliar. The people whose head was covered by a helmet had lesser and less serious head and injuries in the face region, needed to put on a ventilator for fewer days and did not suffer any grave neck injuries; lesser number of patients who wore helmets were released from the hospital with disability and expenses on hospitalization was lower. (Murdock; Waxman 371) During 1976, the U.S. government lifted the danger of pulling out of some of highway monies from states which did not make it compulsory to impose helmet laws. From that time, half of the states have either rescinded or made the laws to weaken. The majority of the researchers in the field consent that this has resulted in a substantial rise in the rate of injuries and deaths among the motorcyclists meeting with accidents. (Weiss 27) 50 states do not have motorcycle helmet laws in place. Four states viz Iowa, Illinois, Colorado as well as New Hampshire are states not having helmet wearing stringent laws. In case of the 20 remaining states inclusive of the District of Columbia and Virginia and Maryland have helmet laws in place for every motorcycle riders. (Motorcycle accidents in the News, par: 4) Although data is available indicating the added safety of wearing a helmet, maybe helmets have not found to be useful at all times. (Motorcycle Accidents: Grossman Law Offices, par: 6)

Accidents involving drunken driving were responsible for $51.1 billion or 22% of all financial expenses, and 75% of these expenses happened in accidents in cases wherein a driver or person not traveling had a BAC of 0.10 or higher. In approximately 80% of these situations, alcohol was the reason behind the accident (Blincoe; Seay; Zaloshnja; Miller; Romano; Luchter; Spicer 1) the findings of the NHTSA conducted study reports that motorcycle riders meeting with fatal accidents during night were thrice more likely compared to those killed during day to have BAC levels of 0.08 g/dL or higher of 42% as well as 13% respectively. Plus a bigger percentage of motorcycle accidents entailed people with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 grams per deciliter -- g/dL or more. Motorcycle riders entangled in deadly accidents were 27%. Besides, the study revealed that 28% of all motorcyclists who lost their lives had blood alcohol levels at 0.08 g/dL or more. In the year 2004, 4.3% of motorcycle riders who lost their lives in deadly accidents had at the minimum one earlier charges for driving while inebriated on their driver reporting. (Alcohol and Motorcycle Accidents, par: 1-3)

Sustaining injuries as a result of motor accident had its share of emotional issues. A research undertaken by Blanchard and his associates evaluated 158 MVA sufferers of their motor vehicle collision- MVA within 1 to 4 months who looked for medical care because of the MVA. Through the use of Clinician-Administered PSTD Scale, the findings of the researchers revealed that 39% of the sufferers faced DSM -III standard for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (Blanchard; Hickling; Taylor; Loos; Forneris; Jaccard 4) the research moreover found that the victims of Motor Vehicle Accident who fulfilled the standard for PTSD were more under pressure from a subjective point-of-view and experienced damage in the responsibility, like performance at work, homemaking, associations with family and acquaintances than the MVA victims who failed to fulfill the PSTD standards or the controls. (Blanchard; Hickling; Taylor; Loos 498)

Another longitudinal research evaluated 967 patients on a consecutive basis who came to an emergency clinic following a motor cycle accident, again at 3 months and 16.5% at the first year. Unceasing PTSD was associated with some objective measures of seriousness of pain, seeming danger, and dissociation at the time of accident, to female gender, to prior problems related to emotions, and to litigation. Keeping up psychological reasons, which are a negative meaning of interruption, cogitation, suppression of thought, and cognition of wrath, improved the correctness of the forecast. Opposite meanings of interruptions, continual medical difficulties, and reflection at 3 months were the most crucial predictors of PTSD indication at 1 year. Cogitation, anger recognition, acuteness of injury, previous emotional concerns found out instances of late arrival. (Ehlers; Mayou; Bryant 510)

Another study revealed that women were same as that of men in fulfilling the general re-experiencing standard for an analysis of PTSD; however women were at higher threat for the particular re-experiencing signals of deep feelings of suffering in circumstances akin to the motor vehicle accident and physical response to memories of the motor cycle collision. (Fullerton; Ursano; Epstein; et. al 1487) Yet another study reported the rates of severe and continual posttraumatic stress disorder - PTSD in a suburban study group consisting of 122 victims of severe motorcycle accidents and an assessment group of 42 who had been involved in minor, non-motor cycle accidents continued more than 12 months. The research revealed that one month following the accident, 34.4% of the motor cycle accident sufferers fulfilled the standard for PTSD. Like that, at 3 and 6 months, the proportion of PTSD were more in the motor cycle accident victims compared to in the comparison group. (Ursano; Fullerton; Epstein; et. al 591)

As is regularly the situation, state and federal laws have been tardy to cope with the rising requirement to safeguard the privileges of motorcycle riders on the road, particularly, in case of those who have sustained injuries or lost their lives due to carelessness of other drivers. Several rules continue to mean that motorcycle riders do so at the own risk. These rules render it simpler in case of insurance companies to refuse compensation and assistance to motorcycle riders who have been injured, damages which car drivers, SUVs and other vehicles are able to receive without any problems through the legal system. A greatly hyped instance of legal ruling that differentiates against motorcycle riders entails the Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The HIPPA provisions that has been fundamental in finding out the damages that self-insured bosses pay to injured workers excludes a lot of employers from liability when their staff sustains injuries, particularly while on motorcycles. An endeavor to topple this explanation of HIPPA was tried during 2001 but was foiled. (Motorcycle accidents in the News, par. 6-7)

It is the insurance companies, who support such loopholes in legal safeguard for motorcycle riders, and also through power play and such other political and legislative arm twisting, they are achieving to lower the costs for motorcycle injury death claims. Since there are increased chances of motorcycle collisions ending up in ghastly injuries, inclusive mutilation, injuries to spinal cord and harrowing brain injuries, insurance companies are able to save their companies millions of dollars in healthcare, lost wages and other financial expenses for every motorcycle injury case they are capable of averting or lowering successfully. Through rising attempts to raise motorcycle consciousness, state and federal governments are beginning to appreciate the price rash driving takes on guiltless and law adhering motorcycle riders. However, no extent of public consciousness will render motorcycle accidents entailing severe injury or loss of live to be totally absent. (Motorcycle accidents in the News, par: 8-9)

Pros of owning a motorcycle in the U.S. Nation

Whereas the data appears to be skewed, or erroneously deficient in an endeavor to put the blame of accidents primarily on the error of the motorcycle rider, the data never does and cannot support this. It will be akin to declaring that drunken driving is the sole cause of vehicle damages. The real cause that has also to be considered is that the error does not lie with the motorcyclist during every occasion. The data is silent on what other proportion of other drivers, among cars were drunk, or driving at high speed, or driving without a valid license. What is the number of other drivers were handed a citation for DUI, or involved in rash driving, or for negligence? The sole thing we can hear for sure is that all collisions have variables, if the driver has committed any error is crucial. Plus if that information is silent, then it is skewed. (Motorcycle Accidents: Grossman Law Offices, par: 7-9).

Motorcycle registration has gone up by 26 per cent across the nation since 1992. Presently, a never before 5,000,000 motorcycles are registered in the U.S. which is the proof of the rising attractiveness of its use. (Motorcycle accidents in the News, par: 5) Having a motorcycle has its share of benefits. Touring on motorcycle, maybe singly or accompanied by a group, can be leisure as also a social activity. (the Decision to Ride -- Accepting the Risk, par: 7) With the rising traffic jams, and fuel prices spiraling due to inflation, motorcycles are soon emerging as a more useful, cheap and environment conducive means to travel, particularly in the urban regions. (Environmental Benefits of Motorcycling, par.1) Further several individuals who live in rural areas and have to reach far away cities for their work require motorcycles when they do not have access to public transport system and do not have enough money to purchase cars which are expensive. (Chaloupka; Saffer; Grossman 162)

The top two issues encountered by the 107th Congress in surface transportation are expenditure of fuel and traffic jam. With severe deficit in federal and state transport budgets, these two issues will probably get shoddier instead of turning around. Motorcycling is at the minimum a limited solution to these issues. Motorcycles save fuel; achieving a mileage of 50 miles per gallon is very common feature. Motorcycle function as a remedy to parking and traffic jams; in urban centers, and in motorcycles one can travel in half the time consumed by cars. On the contrary, cars guzzle fuel, jam traffic and need elaborate infrastructure. In a passenger car in U.S. For instance not more than 1.1 persons can commute to work. In case motorcycling will be supported as a constituent of the solution to consumption and street jams is an issue which may be replied neither by consumers nor by the transportation teams, but by the environmental safeguard process. (Environmental Benefits of Motorcycling, par: 1-3).