August 15, 2008
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Motorcycles: Are they worth the risk?
The New York Times reported today that motorcycle deaths are on the rise.
They don't know the half of it; not only are motorcycle deaths on the rise in absolute terms (not very meaningful since with today's gas prices more people are driving bikes), they are also on the rise in relative terms---per passenger mile.
Furthermore, motorcycles are between 10 and 20 times more likely to kill you than cars, per passenger mile; this is a statement corroborated by the US Office of Hazardous Materials Safety and the scientific community.
Much safer than cars, by the way, are trains. The number of fatalities due to train accidents is so low it was difficult to put a statistically precise number on it---what we do know is that it is vastly lower per passenger mile than any other form of transportation except the Space Shuttle (which mostly wins because it goes really, really far; but also because it has teams of hundreds of the world's best scientists and engineers inspecting it before each launch, and because money is almost no object on its design).The gas mileage of a motorcycle is far superior to that of an ordinary automobile; anywhere between 60 and 80 MPG is common, unlike the usual 20 to 30 MPG obtained on a regular car.
But a two- to three-fold increase in gas mileage for a ten- to twenty-fold increase in fatality risk? Doesn't seem worth it to me.
Toyota Prius for the win; five-star safety rating and 45 MPG (city or highway!). Unfortunately, they're expensive.
Comments (3)
All the healthlink article is saying is that the death rate is rising without mentioning the accident rate. From reading it they make it sound like the accident rate has remained the same and the death rate is going up because of relaxed helmet laws, age, motorcycle engine sizes and whatnot.
Also, I believe the fatality risk doesn't stay so great when you take a motorcycle safety foundation class. If I remember correctly from class, over 90% of casualties from motorcycle accidents involved those who haven't taken a MSF class. I think there should be stricter laws concerning taking safety courses.
I also think that a factor that most motorcycle riders also consider is that of pleasure. I don't really see it as balancing gas mileage vs. fatality risk. It's pleasure vs. fatality risk for me, and if I can score some with girls by giving them motorcycle rides, I'd say it's worth it.
And, no fair using the JSTOR article that's talking about British traffic in the 1950s...
@ComtedelaFere -
I didn't see any studies relating MSF classes to fatality risk; I'll have to look at that. It could be that the drastically increased fatality rates are indeed do to poorer safety instruction.
Your articles make complete sense out of each topic.
trex car
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