Two recent motorcycle fatalities illustrate the main dangers riders face: Their own error, whether through inexperience or high-risk behavior (drunken, helmet-less, speeding … when just one of those factors would do); and driver error, which generally involves someone never seeing the motorcyclist in the first place.
(These are the same dangers facing all drivers of all vehicles, of course, but it’s motorcyclists and bicyclists who are guaranteed to always lose in any given collision.)
It was reported over the weekend that a 58-year-old Arlington man died Friday after losing control of his motorcycle and striking a guardrail on Highway 155 in Okanogan County. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Sixty percent of fatal motorcycle crashes involved excessive speed or a driver who was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. Most deaths occur in summer months, in daylight hours and among men over 40.
While traffic fatalities in the state were down in 2008, motorcycle deaths were up.
In May, Scott Weber of Silvana, a legend in the off-road motorcycling world, died after a truck pulled into his lane on I-5 near Smokey Point. According to the Washington State Patrol, Weber was traveling north when his 1983 Yamaha crashed into the back of a 2007 Dodge pickup. Weber had been in the left lane and the truck reportedly pulled into his lane from the shoulder. The crash remains under investigation.
Suffice it to say, however, that even the most skilled and experienced rider cannot evade a split-second blindside by a vehicle; whether one or both are going freeway speeds. One the other hand, nothing is more crucial to the motorcyclist’s life than developing defensive driving skills and road awareness.
A letter to the editor published Saturday urged more training for riders. Cathi Dykstra wrote that she lost her son in 2007 due to an inattentive driver. Her son had “extensive” motorcycle training through the state certified safety training programs, she wrote. He believed he was well-trained and he was a careful rider.
But that training falls short, Dykstra wrote, because the state’s endorsement test and safety classes are conducted in parking lots, and not in real-life road situations. Drivers can develop physical skills without the necessary mental skills needed to negotiate busy roadways.
The state requires that people pass a road test to earn a driver’s license. Since operating a motorcycle is physically more difficult than driving a car, it’s difficult to understand why a road test, at the very least, is not mandated.
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