Navy program stresses safety for motorcyclists

I'll start by saying that I've been riding motorcycles for 15 years, and I've owned several sport bikes. I've never had an accident, never put a bike down, and have had some speeding tickets. You can spout all the statistics you want, but the biggest reason sport bikes account for the most accidents is the type of rider attracted to them - young males. Testosterone and horsepower combined with inexperience can end badly. If it weren't motorcycles it would be something else.

For those of you who want to legislate motorcycles out of existence, wake up. That kind of big brother crap will catch up to something you're passionate about eventually. And insurance rates are already sky high on these bikes for full coverage. I'm 33 with a clean driving record (no moving violations in four years), I own a home and am married with children. Still, for full coverage on a new 1,000cc sport bike I would pay ove

Sports Bike Rider Course won't do one bid of good. These machines that can go 200 MPH will be tested on our highway every chance they get.

I worked in insurance for several years(glad thats over). Red cars pay no more for insurance than a white one. It is a myth. Secondly, your liability rates are based on the weight of the vehicle. Unless motorcycles begin to do more damage than cars and trucks, I wouldn't hold my breath for higher rates. I have seen these guys rates get pretty high after a few infractions though. Remember folks, your auto insurance protects others from you, not your personal medical bills. There are a few exceptions but very few.

There are so many closed minded, selfish, egotistical people in this area it's pathetic. All this talk about banning motorcycles, forcing high ins rates, banning loud pipes...wow...get a grip people!!! The US is WAY behind the rest of the 'western world' when it comes to MC ownership. In Europe MC's are daily transportation!! Why?? Ridiculously high gas prices!! What's more dangerous, a Ford Expedition or a MC?? The Expedition by far!! That one vehicle has probably killed more people than all the MC's on the road in the US. If you're in one of the 'typical' cages and hit by one of those things, goodbye...Kudos to the USN for trying to improve the MC situation! This training should be required for ALL MC RIDERS, both military and civilian!!

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter what laws are in place, if they are not enforced. I believe the state troopers need to be on I-64 every night. Enough of them, so that one can spot these ignorant persons( in cars and bikes), and one a few miles up to stop them to give them tickets. The reason this article is dealing with the Navy so much, is because recently, there has been quite a few accidents, involving bikes, with Navy personnel on the bikes. I believe in strong monetary punishment, and if the person is in the military, and go through this training, and then the person ignores the training, the commanding officer should take over, after the state finishes with them. The bad apples make it hard on the ones who follow the law. Insurance rates are higher if you have a red car also. When riding, you also need to realize that reaction time is slower on a bike.

BR, I don't believe Marks57720 is serious. No one could be that foolish. Like you pointed out, should we banned everything?!?!?

Why are those motorcycle so loud? So people on cell phone and not paying attention can hear them.

For those of you who don't like loud pipes. There is a reason for them.

The loud pipes are to get the attention of soccer moms yacking on the cell phone. Kinda think of it as jet-music. You wouldn't know that a Super Hornet was near if you couldn't hear it. You may not like the sound it makes but it got your attention.

my last paragraph of my previous posting was stated with my tongue firmly in my cheek.

Get over it, motorcycles and inattentive drivers of ALL VEHICLES will not be banned. Everyone needs to keep his/her eyes open and on the road and maybe, just maybe, the roads will be a wee bit safer.

I do like that award-winning definition of PC.

Ya gotta love them Aggies!!!

The following is the winning entry in an annual contest at Texas A&M University calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term.

This year's term was Political Correctness.

The winner wrote:

"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

Let's ban stupid people who don't pay attention when they drive (cell phone users, makeup appliers, eaters, drinkers, newspaper readers, GPS users, etc). Take away their license, take away their vehicles (cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, mopeds, scooters), and make them walk or take the woefully inadequate public transportation

Marks57720, You are right on. Ban Motorcylces. They Scare me too. I am right there with you. Ban everything that is noisy. Ban anything that can crash. Ban airplanes and cars and SUVs. Ban the Pilot, it gave me a paper cut the other day. It should have a warning label or a even better a law aganist it.

I think the goverment should tell us what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. "Not Enough Poltical Correctness in the world." Thats my moto. How about you?

Insurance actuaries already put motorcycles at a disadvantage over a car. I pay 30% more than my own car, and I don’t even ride a crotch rocket. As far as the fuel efficiency thing goes, you show me just one mini-van loaded to capacity during morning and evening commute congestion and I will concede to your argument. Bottom line, it’s not the motorcycles that are dangerous, it’s the people who drive in those gas guzzling cages that refuse to pay attention to anything beyond their own noses and egos. As far as loud pipes, when you teach these drivers around here to pay attention and always look before they turn or change lanes, I will put baffles on my pipes. Until then…they keep ME alive from people like YOU.

Phrog, sorry but nothing is more fuel efficient than a minivan carrying 8-9 people from point A to point B (try putting 8 people on a motorcycle -- I would love to see that, maybe in some circus act). It's just like trailer homes...we know that they can't survive any kind of wind, but we continue to allow people to live in them.
Motorcycles are inherently unstable...if you lose your balance it's very hard to recover and you know that.
Bottom line: I would rather hit a wall in a car @ 60MPH, then hit the wall in a motorcycle at the same speed...we all know the consequences.
And we're not even talking about the unnecessary noise created by some of those Harley's...noise that would wake the dead...a law should be passed to put mufflers on every one of them (bring them down to acceptable decibels)...but just simply banning them from public roads would solve the problem of deaths, etc. In the meantime, make them pay HIGH insurance rates!

You cannot simply ban everything just because there are people who do not use things the way they are supposed to and it leads to a dangerous situation. If that were the case, alcohol would be banned because of drunk driving, cigarettes would be illegal for health reasons, and ALL vehicles would be banned because people speed and drive recklessly. And how about cell phones? Not just talking on them while driving, but those who are texting while driving? The Navy is doing the right thing by being proactive and getting people to realize that when they are on a bike, their safety has to be priority. I am from New York, and my husband (who is a sailor) purchased his bike there and in order for him to be able to ride his bike to work and get onto the base, he had to complete a mandatory safety class. There also was an insurance incentive to take it as well. I think that if incentives like that are made available, people will utilize it. Face it; no one wants to get onto their motorcycle, regardless of what type it is, and be unsafe.

Marks57720, I cannot believe that you went there. First of all, motorcycles, operated properly, are the most fuel efficient vehicle on the road. What you said is the same as me saying that insurance rates should be jacked up 300% for any car that gets less than 35 mpg. It’s absurd. What causes most of these motorcycle accidents (that is well over 50%) are inattentive car drivers. You know the drill…cell phone use, putting make-up on, distracted by radio/DVD player, etc. Why don’t we ban all those things from cars? Because, again, that is a ridiculous notion. Please exercise some common sense before making statements like that. This about safety, not banning.

Simply ban motorcycles on the road...restrict them solely to track and off-road events, there are nothing but death traps on public roads! Just like cigarettes...everyone knows your chances of surviving a motorcycle crash on the road is extremely low and yet we allow it...Another option: raise the insurance on motorcycles to sky high levels...that will keep their numbers low.

If the number 1 killer for sportbikes (and all motorcyclist) is cars turning in front of them...Than the number 2 killer is the Cagers (Car/SUV Drivers) with a Cell Phone Surgically attached to thier ear as they are oblvious to their surroundings.

Ban the cell phone while driving and the number of accidents of all vehicle types will drop.

Motorcyling in Hampton Roads requires you to ride like your are invisible. No one sees you, with or without the military orange vest. Cagers here simply dont care, run red lights, exit highways from the far left lane, stop in the middle of the highway to catch an exit they missed, etc.

You can't. It's the same with go-karts. Govs are easy to remove.

As for those in defense of the Navy, your right in it is not just the Navy. But face it guys, these bikes are what Camaros were in the 80's. Young sailors are just drawn to them. When the return from their deployments the sales registers start ringing. I am not out to bash the Navy, but you can see by the clothing of many of the riders that they are Navy. Personally, I am glad the Navy is proactively trying to help the boys. At that age I...well, I shouldn't be alive today is what I am saying. You can't ban everything. Hopefully the innocent will not be taken out as a result of guys doing wheelies in the tunnel.

I think the Navy should just set up a way to report transgressors via their palte number. Obviously the police are not going to help.

...the article is about the Navy, so lighten up a bit. It seems perfectly natural to mention sailors when discussing an aritcle about the Navy. Agreed, though, that boneheaded motorcyclists come from all parts of society.

BTW, I respectfully disagree that the percentages of sport bike riders in and out of the military are roughly the same. Young single guys often find themselves with 'creditworthiness' that they didn't have before they joined the military. I don't have a lot of experience with Navy bases, but LOTS of young Soldiers run out and buy sport bikes at their first duty station (THEN they learn to ride them, which is why the Army has been doing this type of training and mentoring for years).

jmo

All sports bikes do have a factory installed speed limiter. It is set at 186mph and the only bikes that can do that are the biggest (hayabusa, ZX14). 600cc's and 1000cc's might do 160mph and 170-180mph respectively. And as far as the CG goes, having a high center of gravity is correct. That is why you put links to raise the rear of the bike for track day duty. Having a low center of gravity for a bike is irrelevant unless you do straight line drag racing. The most important aspect for handling on a bike is how far to the inside of the turn can you put the CG to get the contact patch of your tire to deform correctly and get power to the ground. But the natural gyroscopic effect of the bike wants it to stand up, so saying it falls into turns is not exactly correct.

You cannot ban everything! It's not the government's job to protect you from everything. That's what they want you to think and you have fallen for it. "BIG GOV'T SAVE ME. I NEED YOU. TAKE AWAY MY FREEDOM, PLEASE"! The answer is responsibility and accountability of the INDIVIDUAL. I see plenty of balding men in sports cars driving 90+ and weaving in and out of traffic. Soccer moms in mini-vans talking on cell phones are just as bad and more plentiful. I don't own a motorcycle. Not because I'm affraid of other cyclists. I'm affraid of balding men in Corvettes and soccer moms on cell phones in their mini-vans screaming to lil' Timmy's soccer game.

The moron teaching this course states that sport bikes have a high center of gravity and literally fall into turns?? With beliefs like that I pity the fools in this course. He needs one himself. One of the key goals in the design of sport bikes is to get the cg as low as possible. These bikes can obviously handle turns at a much lower turn angle than a "normal" motorcycle. The turning ability is much higher than normal and much safer. If you have ever raced one of these you would know that. These bikes reach 200mph?? Beg to differ. There is not a single sport bike sold in the US that has the ability to breach the 200mph mark out of the box. Does not exist. I especially like this quote in the comments: ....over 100 mph and doing headstands.....Man...I raced a long time, have been to umpteen stunt shows, seen hundreds of videos and I can honestly say I have never seen anyone doing a "headstand" on a motorcycle anywhere. If there is a person out there who can do a headstand at 100 mph we need to get him signed up and make some video. At the track of course. The incorrect stereotypes are comical. Ya know, there are cars out there that will go over the speed limit too. Should we ban th

Lets take a look at the average age of those involved and or killed riding sport bikes as a whole and not make it seem it is just those in the Navy. The average age group of those in the navy would probably place the rate on equal lavels with the rest of society based on said age group.
This article is like saying the rate of chickenpox is higher amongst those in kindergarden and elementary school verses the rest of society!

Unfortunately, these people who do wheelies, and ride these bikes at an excessive rate of speed, are not going to pay attention to any training. It scares me that they show a lack of judgement to do the right thing, because riders who are in the military, also are defending us. Their lack of judgement is a constant. The only way to change this is to make such a stiff penalty, such as a dishonorable discharge. I would rather see someone dishonorably discharged, then see someone die, because of their lack of judgement.

Well put Phrog. If I'm ever hit by one of the folks complaining that the Navy (And why all Navy? Don't these people assume that other branches of the service ride bikes too?)anyway, if one of these Navy bashers ever hits me, I'm going to demand to know who they work for and sue both them and their employer for their being allowed to operate a motor vehicle. Also, some of those commenting complain that college students should be allowed to carry guns to protect themselves. If they applied their Navy motorcycle logic to that scenario then they should be arguing that no college students should be allowed to carry guns because its been shown that college students with guns behave recklessly and they kill people. Gotta love the hypocricy of the blowhards.

First of all, not all of these immature sport bike riders are sailors, so get off the sailor bashing bandwagon. At least the Navy is taking notice and action. But they can only do so much. I wonder how many “sailor blamers” out there that are employed in the private sector have fellow employees that ride these machines. Does your company provide education for their crotch rocket riders? I can answer that…NO they don’t. I am a biker. I can’t stand these “kids” that do stupid things on their bikes. Speed governors should be added to these bikes to make them street legal. It’s just like putting trigger locks on a gun. But most of all, they need to respect the machine and the road. Don’t ban the bikes, just make them safer.

As an American, I believe in personal liberty. But as a taxpayer, I resent having to pay for their free medical care, life insurance, and disability payments for life. Let's strike a deal...you want to ride like an idiot, fine. But sign on the dotted line that the taxpayer ain't giving you a dime when you crash and burn.

STUPID. These riders know the risks and ignore it by acting like a fool. No training is going to fix that!

The number of times I've seen such dangerous behavior on these sport bikes . . . there should be a separate number to report such behavior - and have it turned over to their commands for disciplinary action. The only way it is going to stop is if their commanders put weight behind it. Until that time, we can bank on the fact we're going to see more fatalities and more accidents on our highways because of such reckless behavior.

If they want to ride they will ride regardless of any restriction put on them by any military regulations. Recently, in the course of my employment, I had the occasion to attempt to apprehend one of these clowns for just such behavior- riding a wheelie at a high rate of speed down Norview Avenue. Once he got to I-64 westbound and really nailed the throttle he was just an ever dimming tail light. In a discussion with a group of bikers on crotch rockets a few days later a co-worker mentioned the incident. "S#*t," was the reply of one of the bikers, "we all run cuz we know you ain't gonna catch us." It's that attitude that is getting people killed. While I am all for the freedom to ride (I also ride) I'm wondering if perhaps a government regulation on the top speed of these bikes is in order?

I agree. If the MORONS who weave in and out of traffic and ride by you like your standing still on the interstate, had common sense, there would not be as high or accident and mortality rate. I drive toward the Norfolk Naval Base every night on I-64 and most every night, there is someone on a bike flying by me on a bike. It's the same with cars too. It is not the equipment, it is the MORONS who are behind the wheel.