The most dangerous State

[Rickster]

I was reading about all the accidents, and deaths this year at Bike week, and it reminded me of a roumer I herd, and I just wanted to check and see if anyone has any real numbers on this.

I herd that because of all the retired people living, and driving in Fla, it is the most dangerous State in the Union to ride a motorcycle in. The number I herd was that in something like 75% of all car/bike accidents, involve the driver of the car being retired. Does anyone know if this is just an urban legend, or is there some truth to it?

In the back of my mind, I've always thought it would be nice to live in a part of the country where I could ride year round, but that's also the climate that attracts people with slow reflexes, and bad eye sight, so maybe living in the frozen north isn't that bad afterall.

[HAMMERPETE]

Originally Posted by Rickster

I was reading about all the accidents, and deaths this year at Bike week, and it reminded me of a roumer I herd, and I just wanted to check and see if anyone has any real numbers on this.

I herd that because of all the retired people living, and driving in Fla, it is the most dangerous State in the Union to ride a motorcycle in. The number I herd was that in something like 75% of all car/bike accidents, involve the driver of the car being retired. Does anyone know if this is just an urban legend, or is there some truth to it?

In the back of my mind, I've always thought it would be nice to live in a part of the country where I could ride year round, but that's also the climate that attracts people with slow reflexes, and bad eye sight, so maybe living in the frozen north isn't that bad afterall.

Maybe urban legand? I know with all the tourism..it really makes you open your eyes and be more defensive. It maybe more prevalent down in Phiny and Tim's area...seems to be more blue hairs down in that area.

[Samurai]

Here's the data for Age of Drivers in Crashes:
http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/hsmvdocs/cf2004.pdf

[drgibson]

252,902 car crashes 7,637 Motorcycle crashes.
The accident rate goes down with age just like most states.

But if I was retired, board, and had a land yaht. I might make sport of those two wheeled heathens!!

[wafflehouse]

i live in florida, orlando specifically

and usually once a week(sometimes more) i have to break swerve or in other ways avoid someone merging into me

drivers down here suck a lot

-wafflehouse

[Shea]

Well, if the population was mostly seniors, wouldn't it make sense that most crashes would involve seniors? It's simple math. That's like saying that 75% of a population is kids, and 75% of the accidents involve kids, that means the state is dangerous. It really doesn't tell us if it's any more dangerous with just those numbers and statistics. We need a % of liklihood of getting into an accident with population.

For instance, population density, population and total number of accidents to figure out the % rate you are likely to be in an accident.

[Clint]

Good call, Shea. My personal favorite useless statistic is "Most crashes occur within 3 miles of home", or written another way, "Most accidents occur where you're driving at the time".

*sigh*

[intimid8er]

I don't have numbers to back it up, but it certainly seems to be what we hear about a lot in the news.

Most of them though, involve the whole spectrum of drivers.

Last week, on Wednesday, I had a total of six close "incidents" to and from work. Two in the morning, and four on the way home. I reviewed both rides long and hard with honest evaluations of my riding, and talked to some old timers over the weekend. I said to one guy, that I couldn't be completely innocent in damn near six incidents. Him and his buddies' replies were yes you could. People were just freakin' aggressive and impatient that day. Looking at the faces of the people they ran the gamut, anywhere from early twenties to middle-aged. Three of the almost incidents on the way home were almost rear enders. The fourth was an impatient young girl trying to make a U-turn illegally, in a spot that it is not allowed. When she realized she couldn't make that turn after pulling almost all the way out, she slammed on her brakes. When she did that, her rear-end was sticking out in the lane she just tried to turn from and she wasn't in a turn lane. She just stopped on a 50 mph road and tried to make a U-turn in a break in the median. Well an S.U.V. almost ripped the rear of her car right off. Prior to this my right was clear. If I needed the next lane, I couldn't have taken it, because some punk was tear-assin' up that lane about twenty miles an hour faster than traffic flow. That could've been disastrous. I don't wonder if she didn't see him instead of me, and caused her to panic?

Sorry for the rant. I guess my point being that danger on a bike comes in all different size of cars, ages, interest groups, etc.

I kinda feel for wafflehouse. All them tourists over there, driving like idiots and not knowing where they are going. Orlando is the only place I've ever known to have traffic jams after midnight!!!

[Shea]

Originally Posted by RowdyRed94

Good call, Shea. My personal favorite useless statistic is "Most crashes occur within 3 miles of home", or written another way, "Most accidents occur where you're driving at the time".

*sigh*

Yeah. That's a funny statistic too. Of course most accidents will occur within 1-3 miles of your home. Otherwise, where else would you be driving to and from 90% of the time? I think a majority of people work within 3-5 miles of their home too. This means you only need to drive 1-2 miles before you are within range of that "accident zone". My solution is to live at work.

[MagnumForce]

The most dangerous states I can think of:

1. Angry
2. Confrontational
3. Confused
4. Drunken
5. Sleepy

and lastly...

6. (State) Prison

Get the picture?

[Scott58]

Chances are there are more accidents in the southern states due to the fact that they can ride year round. When our bikes are parked due to snow on the ground that gives them a bit of an edge.

[HEELSFAN]

AAAAHHHHhhhhhhh...........Florida aka God's waiting room

[jsvickers]

Actually, if you look at the report that Rice Burner linked from the Florida Department of Highway Saftey and Motor Vehicles, it has some interesting statistics on pages 17 and 18.

It reports the number of accidents per ten thousand licensed drivers of every age from 15 to 29 and from 70 to 85+. The 15-29 age groups have nearly twice the number of accidents per 10,000 licensed drivers than the 70 and over crowd.

For the younger drivers, the highest rate is the 18-year-olds (at 6.79 per 10,000). The lowest rate is the 28-year-olds (at 2.52).

For the geezers, the highest rate is the 83-year-olds (3.13) and the lowest is the 75-year-olds (1.25).

Also, the numbers of crashes involving drinking drivers looks to be around 10 to 20 times higher for the young crowd than the old guys.

None of the statistics on those two pages are motorcycle specific, so it could be that the old folks are still pulling out in front of bikers at a higher rate than the young people, but those statistics are still interesting.

[Bluecruzer]

Did anyone look at those Florida figures - if I read that right, there was a higher percentage of injury in helmet worn accidents and no difference in injury percentages from serious to fatal on those who did or did not wear helmets...

...that can't be right?

[inspiron]

Blue, don't believe any statistic that you haven't invented yourself. These reports are always sponsored by someone, and the sponsor specifies how the statistics should look.

Florida just repealed it's helmet law. If there were statistics that showed that helmets saved lives, they wouldn't have repealed the law. So obviously someone wanted statistics that showed that helmets don't have any affect on safety ...

[hutz]

Originally Posted by Rickster

I was reading about all the accidents, and deaths this year at Bike week, and it reminded me of a roumer I herd, and I just wanted to check and see if anyone has any real numbers on this.

I herd that because of all the retired people living, and driving in Fla, it is the most dangerous State in the Union to ride a motorcycle in. The number I herd was that in something like 75% of all car/bike accidents, involve the driver of the car being retired. Does anyone know if this is just an urban legend, or is there some truth to it?

In the back of my mind, I've always thought it would be nice to live in a part of the country where I could ride year round, but that's also the climate that attracts people with slow reflexes, and bad eye sight, so maybe living in the frozen north isn't that bad afterall.

200,000+ motorcycles, 1 city, 7 days, alcohol, racing, stunting, 167 accidents, and 12 fatalities?!?!
Kinda like running of the bulls. I've been, had fun, but doubt if I go back.
Just a thought.

[dragbar]

Of course Insurance companies don't add this thought in pricing...but

Younger drivers will ALWAYS have more accidents than the senior crowds. Their in seat time is 4 or 5x more than an average senior who usually drives to the grocery store, and the doctor and that's pretty much it.

[Clint]

Yeah, but any useful statistics should be based on mileage.

[Bluecruzer]

and sobriety

[Kehau D.]

Originally Posted by drgibson

But if I was retired, board, and had a land yaht. I might make sport of those two wheeled heathens!!

This guy did, but in a good way.
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?s=4612222

I tried to link to the video but no can do, I think there's a link to the video at the bottom of the article though.

Aloha,
Kehau