Motorcycle fatalities spike: Report
PHILIP G. PAVEL/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was lucky; he survived his 2006 motorcycle crash. In Ontario, motorcycle fatalities are on the rise.
The number of motorcyclists killed in Ontario has spiked, yet the Ministry of Transportation last year delayed its annual report to the public detailing the statistics.
In the introduction to the 2005 Ontario Road Safety Annual Report (ORSAR) released last month, Transportation Minister Jim Bradley states "the number of fatalities on Ontario's roads declined for the third year in a row." It is not until page 27 of the 105-page report where it states that there was a 57 per cent increase in motorcycle riders killed. The largest fatality increase was in the 45-to-65 group. These older riders accounted for half of the fatalities.
Motorcyclists requiring hospital treatment after an accident increased by 14 per cent.
Emna Dhahak, a spokesperson for the ministry, said no one, including technical staff involved in the preparation of the ORSAR, was available to discuss factors that may have contributed to the increases. However, she said that some numbers used in the report to compare motorcycle registrations of previous years to the 2005 figures were incorrect. These figures were later updated in the online version.
Independent analysis of the transportation ministry's motorcycle accident data for the past 15 years suggests that one factor in the increased number of motorcyclist fatalities in 2005 could have been the exceptionally long riding season due to good weather that year.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been recording substantial increases in the annual number of fatal motorcycling accidents for at least 10 years.
Significant factors involved in the 2006 U.S. motorcyclist fatality toll are excessive speed, lack of a motorcycling licence, older age, alcohol consumption and lack of use of a safety helmet (helmet use in the U.S. is estimated to be 52 per cent; the majority of states do not require safety helmets for adults). Riders over 40 years of age accounted for 47 per cent of the U.S. motorcycling deaths.
Although motorcycle helmets have been compulsory in Ontario for 40 years, 14 per cent of riders who died in the province were not wearing one. The 2005 report indicated that alcohol was a factor in 25 per cent of deaths.
While there was a 7.5 per cent increase in motorcycle registrations, this alone could not account for the large increase in fatal accidents.
Robert Ramsay, president of the Motorcycle and Moped Industry Council, said that a "stakeholders" meeting with motorcycle industry and motorcycle training representatives was held by the ministry in June 2007, and the fatality statistics were tabled and discussed.
In view of the increase in motorcyclist fatalities, particularly in regard to older motorcycle riders, and the fact that these increases had been known to the ministry for at least a year, the government spokesperson was asked what action was being taken to reduce the accident and fatality toll.
"The ministry will continue to monitor deaths and injuries on motorcycles and to work with stakeholders," said Dhahak, "including police, manufacturers, training course providers, insurers, safety advocates and community safety organizations, to review existing policies and public education activities with a goal of improving motorcycle safety in Ontario."
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