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Motorcycle deaths rise as gas prices go up

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Motorcycle deaths rise as gas prices go up

Last Updated: 2009-10-21 15:17:08 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Anne Harding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - As gas prices rise, more people switch to motorcycles -- and more people die in motorcycle accidents, results of a new study indicate.

"If gas prices increase by a dollar, that leads to about 1,500 more people dying a year on motorcycles," Dr. Fernando A. Wilson of the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth told Reuters Health.

While deaths in car crashes have been falling steadily since the 1990s, motorcycle accident fatalities have risen, Wilson and his team note in the latest issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

To investigate whether price increases at the pump might be a factor, they looked at data from the Fatality Accident Reporting System, which covers every single vehicle-related death on US roads.

Gas prices, in 2007 dollars, fell from $2.06 a gallon in 1990 to $1.36 a gallon in 1998, the researchers found, while the percentage of registered vehicles represented by motorcycles dropped from 2.3 percent to 1.8 percent during that time. But from 1998 to 2006, gas prices nearly doubled, to $2.70 a gallon. And the percentage of motorcycles representing registered vehicles rose too, to 2.7 percent.

Annual motorcycle fatalities followed a similar pattern, Wilson and his team found, rising from 2,116 in 1997 to 5,154 in 2007. While some have suggested that the repeal of helmet laws in six states may explain the rise in motorcycle deaths, they note, when they removed these states from their analysis, the pattern they had observed "did not change much."

Motorcycles and scooters can get from 50 to 100 miles per gallon of gas, Wilson noted in an interview. "That's one way to really lower your fuel costs, but in doing so you are going to be exposed to a lot more risk," he added, pointing out that fatality rates per mile are much higher for motorcycles than for automobiles. And when a less-experienced rider is at the controls, according to Wilson, the risk is even greater.

Just four states -- Maine, Rhode Island, Florida and Texas -- require motorcycle drivers to complete special training before getting a license, Wilson noted. But riding a motorcycle is a lot different, and a lot more dangerous, than driving a car, he added. "Motorcycles have very sensitive throttling, braking, there's very little room for error," Wilson said. "It's much easier to get in trouble if you're not experienced."

Also, he added, there's nothing stopping a novice motorcyclist from going out and buying a high performance sport bike. In New Zealand and the United Kingdom, Wilson noted, beginning motorcyclists are limited to bikes with smaller engines for several months.

"Many of the people riding motorcycles, they don't take classes in how to ride a motorcycle, often they've learned from their friends and family," he said. "Certainly a good first step would be to require formal training."

SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, October 2009.