Get em while they are Young-Our response to the writers of the previous motorcycle safety article

From Australian journalist John Pilger: "Secretive power loathes journalists who do their job, who push back screens, peer behind façades, lift rocks. Opprobrium from on high is their badge of honour."

To: nvicino@shell.cas.usf.edu

This is to the address provided by TBO in connection with the motorcycle safety presentation posted on their site on 1-25-09.

I'm not sure I know what the difference between reporting and investigative journalism is anymore. However I am identify to distinguish regurgitation when I see it.

Students By BRENTIN MOSHER, JASON KUSHNER and CYNTHIA ROLDAN obviously did not do any actual research other than to regurgitate cherry picked and flawed statistics from organizations that have a history of misrepresenting the facts. It would be my hope that who ever is instructing these individuals would have asked them, have you checked your sources against other sources?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been admonished by the Department of Transportation and others regarding the way they gather statistics using a flawed Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) methodology. The State of Florida in their required reporting to NHTSA has warned that their numbers can not be relied on using VMT for any statistical conclusions.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) has come under fire for their lack of any credible research demonstrating efficacy. It is often considered nothing more than a front group for the Motorcycle Industry Council.

Had they done any real research they would have been able to connect this statement,

"It's like I'm invisible," Barbas said. "I know they're looking right at me, but they don't see me because they aren't looking for me. They're looking for cars."

to "inattentional Blindness". They would have recognized this statement,

"He also said motorcycles need to have brighter brake lights, louder engines, and handlebar streamers."

as absurd. Did they ask the judge which research he was quoting to arrive at that conclusion?

As the Judges accident was a rear end collision one might have given more attention to "driver distraction" that is increasingly becoming
being identified as the major of crashes.

Stories such as this are nothing more than fluff or filler. They do nothing to identify the actual cause of crashes, the solution and therefor nothing to reduce the fatalities. OUr question would be will these students become actual journalist or just join the ranks of the rest of te regurgitators.

This note will be posted at http://www.bigbendbikersforfreedom.com/
Along with the article published on TBO with our comments


rc
B.O.L.T. (Bikers of Lessor Tolerance)
Publisher:
Big Bend Bikers For Freedom
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NOw a Judge gets it-Motorcycle Crashes continue to rise in FLorida-

Motorcycle Crashes Are On The Rise In Florida-sent in by gliding blondfire

By BRENTIN MOSHER, JASON KUSHNER and CYNTHIA ROLDAN

Special to the Tribune

Published: January 25, 2009

TAMPA - Despite the chunk of money Floridians were spending on gas the past few years, many said they could not change how much they drove.

So some changed the vehicles they drove instead, buying fuel-efficient hybrids and motorcycles. Nationwide, motorcycle registrations increased from 3.9 million in 1998 to 7.1 million in 2007, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Florida reported 582,000 in 2007.

And with the increase in registrations has come more accidents. Motorcycle fatalities accounted for about 13 percent of all vehicle crash fatalities in 2007, up from 5.5 percent in 1998, according to the highway safety administration. In Florida, 530 motorcyclists died in 2007.

(NOTE: One crash is to many. However what one needs to consider in order to have a more complete picture of the issue is the rise in percentage rise in registrations since 1998. See post here with chart tracking motorcycle registrations.)

Both the highway safety administration and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation report that after a crash, the drivers of other vehicles involved often say they never saw the motorcyclist or were unable to respond in time.

That's what happened to Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Rex Barbas.

Barbas, who has been riding for decades, was hit from behind a few months ago by a motorist who didn't see him braking. He suffered a broken pelvis and two herniated disks in his back.

Barbas said drivers don't look out for motorcycles on the road. Exacerbating this is drivers' tendencies to multitask- eat, text, talk and listen to the radio while driving, he said.

"It's like I'm invisible," Barbas said. "I know they're looking right at me, but they don't see me because they aren't looking for me. They're looking for cars."

NOTE: Which is a phenomena refered to as "inattentional blindness that has been posted on many time over the years on this site and on Bruce and rc's (see inattentional blindeness here). Yet the state consistently puts the focus on MC conspicuity and helmets. IT ;s not until we address the actual causation of "crashes" that we will be ablle to prevent fatalities).

The rise in motorcycle crashes has prompted lawmakers to revisit road safety concerns as the rate of crashes involving motorcycles has increased steadily over the past 10 years. Florida enacted a law July 1 that requires all new motorcycle riders to take a 15-hour safety course that prepares them for the road. Previously, the law applied only to riders younger than 21.

The course is offered at several schools and dealerships in the Tampa Bay area.

Harley-Davidson of Brandon has offered a Rider's Edge course for years. Barbas took the course in 1990, including the advanced course, and insisted his children take it, whether or not they chose to ride.

NOTE: As admitted to by the head of Rider Training course at the Florida Department of Highway Safety their is "NO" independently peer reviewed national research that demonstrates the efficacy of Rider Programs using The Motorcycle Safety Foundations curriculum. IN fact their is evidence to demonstrate the MRF course is dangerous and that the M$F is nothing more than a front group for the Motorcycle Industry Council. See:  

Will the Motorcycle Safety Foundations Basic Rider Course save you or kill you?

A grandfather clause in the law meant people who had a motorcycle endorsement on their license before July didn't have to take the class.

The highway safety administration designated May as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, part of a yearlong "Share the Road" campaign.

Some of the highway safety administration recommendations include allowing more following distance when behind a motorcycle, giving them the full lane and checking "blind spots" often.

Barbas said one way that driver awareness of motorcycles can be improved is by including it in driver's education courses. He also said motorcycles need to have brighter brake lights, louder engines, and handlebar streamers.

"Anything that would catch a driver's eye and make them pay attention," he said.

NOTE: the key to reducing motorcycle fatalities is not dressing motorcycles and their riders up in clown suits with streamers, bells and whistles and blinky lights. The key to reducing motorcycle fatalities as per two vehicle collisions is dor individuals who operate motor vehicles to focus on that task. Operating the motor vehicle !  Put down the cell phones, GPS's , Burrito's and watch where the hell  you are going. Damn it takes the states millions of dollars to figure that out?

MOTORCYCLE FATALITIES

Motorcycle rider deaths accounted for 5.5 percent of all vehicle accidents in 1998. By 2007, that percentage had risen to 12.6 percent:
1998: 5.5 percent
1999: 6 percent
2000: 6.9 percent
2001: 7.6 percent
2002: 7.6 percent
2003: 8.7 percent
2004: 9.4 percent
2005: 10.5 percent
2006: 11.3 percent
2007: 12.6 percent
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Brentin Mosher, Jason Kushner and Cynthia Roldan were University of South Florida journalism students.Add to Technorati Favorites