The Motorcycle Discussion
What started out as a serious conversation a few days ago with my friend Jarrod about how to convince Carol that I needed a motorcycle quickly turned into silliness. Enjoy!
Me: I talked about getting a motorcycle yesterday on my way home from work and for the rest of the evening Carol was pretty quiet. Later on she finally told me that the motorcycle talk kind of bothered her.
Jarrod: What’s she afraid of? Does she think they aren’t safe?
Me: Not sure, either that or the expenses involved.
Jarrod: Hmm. I think that is unwarranted.
Me: I need to show her statistics that say motorcycles ARE safe. Here we go: Research shows that motorcycles comprise approximately 2% of the vehicles on our roads and 92% of motorcyclists involved in crashes were either self-taught or were taught by a friend or family member; which is why I want to take a safety class instead.
Jarrod: Hmmm, but that stat still doesn’t support your safety case. You should find one that states that out of all accidents on the road only 3% are motorcycle accidents and out of that only 15% die.
Me: I am looking for that. Uh oh. In England motorcyclists make up about 1% of the vehicles on the road, but account for 14% of all fatality accidents. Hopefully it is better here in the states.
Jarrod: Yeah, cuz we’re on the right side of the road.
Me: It’s not looking good for my case. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2004/809908.pdf
Jarrod: Hmmm. Ok. So if you take that 2004 total registered vehicles would be more than 5,370,035, so let’s say 5.6 million. There were 4000 fatalities in US
Me: In 2003 there were 3714 fatalities in 5,370,037 registered vehicles. That is 0.07%
Jarrod: ok this is what I get for 2004… it is 6.9e-4. That is .00069
Me: Times 100 to make it a percentage
Jarrod: So basically it is .07%
Me: Right. So less than 1 percent of registered motorcycles are involved in fatal accidents
Jarrod: Yeah, then you could even do the fatalities in just FL too. That is .007% fatality.
Me: And in FL 34% of the fatalities involved someone who had been drinking.
Jarrod: So that stat mixed with your proneness to accidents…brings you to about 96% probability of dying
Me: Ha! Take a look at this: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2004/809912.pdf It shows that more pedestrians were killed in 2004 than motorcyclists. So it is more dangerous to walk. Hehe
Jarrod: Darn pedestrians, ruin everyone’s fun.
Me: I wonder how many of those killed pedestrians were hit my motorcyclists.
Jarrod: I say get a bike and get her one too. You only live once.
Me: I wonder how many motorcyclists were killed trying to avoid pedestrians. And how many drunken motorcyclists killed drunken pedestrians?
Jarrod: And how many motorcyclists were killed by pedestrians?
Me: This data is incomplete.
Jarrod: Incomplete or inconclusive?
Me: Incomplete…it needs all of that info that you and I just mentioned
Jarrod: Oh, I was kidding about my addition.
Me: What about the number of drunken pedestrians that killed drunken motorcyclists?
Jarrod: With guns?
Me: Exactly! Concealed guns. Where is that information? And how many of the motorcyclists killed by pedestrians weren’t wearing a helmet? And how many pedestrians WERE wearing helmets?
Jarrod: I have always wondered…if you get a fishing license you can kill fish…what about driver’s license?
Me: Hmm, Good question. Another good question – How many pedestrians killed motorcyclists using a fish?
Jarrod: Hey, I gotta go soon to a movie with some friends.
Me: Okie dokie. Talk to you later. Hmm, I wonder how many motorcyclists on their way to a movie killed pedestrians who were carrying fish and a concealed gun.
ND
also if we have ever learned anything from cartoons, if u jump off the motercycle just before impact…u won’t be hurt. and if u ride off a clif don’t look down and u wont fall.
u see the problem is 99.9% of motercycle automobile accidents occor on the road, so the solution is to not drive on the road, use the ditch or a sidewalk. also it is a fact that 100% of those accidents occur when driving forward, so u could always just ride in reverse. also the longer ur on the road the more likely u are to be hurt so never drive under 90 miles an hour. and another plus is that homosexuals are terrified of motorcycles.
Very interesting. LOL My suggestion is to talk to Dan about what to do. Jon has been riding a motorcycle to and from work now for about a year, give or take. I hate it and worry about him, but I know that it saves us a lot of money in gas and repairs. It costs a lot more to repair the truck than it does to repair the motorcycle. Jon, being the crazy person that we all know and love, even drives in the pouring rain down the highway and interstate. When I married Jon, Kathy told me that we have to let our boys be boys and so that is what I try to do. It scares me, but I know that it is something that he enjoys and so I have to let him. Hope this helps and by the way, I love reading your blogs. You entertain me!