Bikers - Take Care Out There
The Guardian reports that new Department of transport figures are showing horrific statistics for the two wheelers amongst us. Bikes constitute just 4% of the vehicles on our roads but their riders account for nearly a third of all road deaths. Car drivers are getting safer as designs improve and cars are fitted with air bags to reduce risks in an accident. Bikers are still fitted with a fibreglass bonnet to protect them, it’s an unequal struggle.
Statistics show that a motorcycle or scooter rider is 50 times more likely to be killed or seriously hurt than a car driver for each mile travelled, and twice as likely as a pedal cyclist.
Insurer yesinsurance.co.uk says the recent trend for inexperienced middle-aged men to ride motorbikes is contributing to accident numbers. Deaths and serious injuries to riders in their forties have doubled in the past ten years compared with a fall in the younger age brackets.
Paul Purdy of YesInsurance believes that the steadily increasing price of fuel and the fact that two wheeled vehicles are exempt from paying the London congestion charge have been two of the factors encouraging car drivers to switch to motorcycles.
I know that many bike accidents are the result of car drivers doing stupid or inconsiderate things BUT you’ve got to ride defensibly, expecting the worst of all motorists and truck drivers. It’s no good laying in a hospital bed with broken bones or worse and explaining that a motorist pulled out and didn’t see you. He’s got a dented vehicle, you’ve got a broken body…or worse.
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Tags: air bags, bike accidents, bikers, broken bones, car driver, insurer, london congestion charge, motorcycles, road deaths, scooter