Virginia Freedom Riders :: Freedom Forums

The Big Boo · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 4

Catch a load of this cr...p "

http://www.dmv.state.va.us/webdoc/general/news/news.asp?id=5261

Motorcylists apparently caused their own 126 deaths in 2007!!!!

Tell that to Thomas Harley, killed in a head-on by a van passing other cars on two-lane 28 near Nokesville.

From the AMA in 2000

"In 1998, nearly 1,200, or over half of all motorcycle fatalities, occurred in multi-vehicle crashes. The left hand turn in front of an approaching motorcycle scenario was most predominant accounting for 36
percent of these fatalities.

In addition to multi-vehicle motorcycle crash fatalities, research has indicated that at least a third ofsingle-vehicle motorcycle crash fatalities can be attributed to other vehicles. Whether you call it a near
miss, near hit, near collision or phantom vehicle, the bottom line is that a vehicle encroaches on the motorcycle, causing the motorcycle operator to crash."

Someone is cooking the books here (VA State Police?)...This is a clear attempt to put the blame on motocyclists...oh yeah it is MC safety month ---

Can the "true" causation stats, be gleaned....This release is the worst I have ever seen for MC safety month....

Oh I forgot, it's with the AAA...gotta keep celling those AAA cell phones to its members

The fact that such a misleading release will now be reprinted in every paper in VA...and just the top few lines of course, outa make every Biker mad as hell...

The guy that murdered Tom Harley...year he really got nailed because he had lots of prior traffic offenses...12 months, well 10 suspended because well, no real f...ken reason except he is a cager and Harley WAS a biker...

The Big Boo

The Big Boo · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 4

I've sent an email to Tom Mcgrath to look at this from the "high" official level...but here is some more detail:

Yesterday VA DMV and AAA issued a joint press release on M/C safety month. The lead paragraph (the one that gets reprinted in papers around the state) says:

“RICHMOND - Motorcycle rider behavior contributed to 126 motorcycle deaths on Virginia's roadways in 2007. The top three reasons for the crashes were failure to maintain control, following too closely and exceeding the speed limit.”

The whole press release is bothersome as it seems to focus the onus of M/C safety month solely on bikers. It is strange because only AAA, not DMV, is asking for cars to “share the road”, and that comes in the 2nd half of the release. I’ve never seen such a release for M/C safety month so focused to almost blaming bikers.

The full release is at: http://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/safety/news/news.asp?id=5261

But it is the leading paragraph that is outright fraudulent. As I understand it 126 bikers died in 2007, yes a huge increase, but to attribute ALL such deaths to motorcycle rider behavior cannot be believed.

What about Tom Harley, killed on 2 lane 28 near Nokesville from a head on by a van passing vehicles and then remaining in Mr. Harley’s lane? JUST what was Mr. Harley’s behavior that “contributed” to his death? Getting on the bike and riding properly?

I am sure there are countless details on the number of “at fault” fatalities attributable to cagers killing bikers in 2007.

The traditional 1/3 vehicle violating bikers row, 1/3 rider failing to negotiate, and 1/3 rider DUI may not hold exactly of course in any one year. But to not mention the causation of bikers killed by motorists at Fault is an unbelievable omission!!!!

The only source of the “data” I can find on the web is a chart prepared by DMV Highway Safety Office which can be found at:

http://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/safety/crash_data/motorcycle/pdf/fatality_info_chart.pdf

Note the fourth column listing Major and Other Contributing Factors with the major factors listed as: speeding, failure to maintain control and ran off road. But these are factors not identified as to the vehicle – the motorcycle or the car/truck. They are just factors. Did DMV Press Office interpret this to mean MOTORCYCLIST BEHAVIOR.

So the jest of this is that for M/C Safety Month Virginia is going to blame bikers for killing themselves, each and every one of the 126 2007 fatalities no matter whether “at fault” cagers wiped them out or not…

Nice going Virginia…..

The Big Boo · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 4

The Spokeswoman from AAA called Friday and apologized....they admit they misread the numbers. She said she would call DMV to see what can be done to correct the matter.

Also got Bruce Biondo, VA rider training coordinator, working on it from the inside. He was very helpful.

Will have to wait to see if a correction is made ...

The Big Boo

faceman · Road Warrior Joined: 01 Jun 2004 Posts: 395

Thanks Big Boo for keeping on top of this.

Faceman
_________________
Bernie Adams, President
Virginia Freedom Riders

The Big Boo · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 4

I have heard back both from DMV and AAA. They both admit that the opening statistic was wrong and shouldn't have been used. They also both don't see the need to issue any kind of correction.

In short, they feel they have a free pass for misusing stats and thats the way it is....so the bogus stat will live forever in the news release archive and be Googled up when one researches motocycle safety in virginia.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics"
Benjamin Disraeli

The Big Boo