by Senta Scarborough
The Arizona Republic 12-26-05

The number of motorcyclists dying on Arizona roads has dramatically increased in the past five years in part because new riders and veterans who haven't ridden for years are hitting the streets without proper training, experts say.

A flock of new urban professionals and older returning riders are ill-prepared to handle the rigors of more powerful bikes and crowded streets, they say. Add to that unlicensed riders, alcohol impairment and inattentive motorists, and it means more deaths and injuries.

The number of Arizona motorcycle fatalities jumped 46 percent, with 111 deaths in 2003 compared with 76 deaths in 1999, according to an Arizona Republic analysis of Arizona Department of Transportation data. Nationally, the number of deaths is up 73 percent from 1997 to 2003, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The peak year for Arizona motorcycle fatalities was 1979 with 134 fatalities, three years after the state's short-lived helmet law was repealed. From 1979 to 1986, there were more than 100 motorcycle fatalities each year, according to Jim Williams, ADOT traffic records manager.

Experts still say helmets are vital, but today they're just as likely to point to the type of people taking up riding to explain the increase in accidents.

"There's an influx of retired folks that rode when they were in high school and gave it up, raised a family and now are returning, but the motorcycles and the dynamics are completely different," said Dick Studdard, chairman of the Arizona Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council.

Arizona has seen a 37 percent increase in motorcycle licenses and registrations in the past five years, according to the state Motor Vehicle Division, but fatalities are rising at a faster clip. "It is part of what is going on nationwide," Studdard said. "It is not just more motorcycles, it is more untrained motorcyclists."

Going Back To Riding

Bob Nickerson of Tempe is one of the people who has gone back to riding.

An avid rider in the 1970s, Nickerson, 60, said that while on vacation last summer he got the itch to jump back on.

"I was in a motorhome seeing 20 to 50 bikes going (in packs) to South Dakota, and that is what got me interested," Nickerson said. "I missed it." Nickerson returned home, bought a Harley Davidson and took a safety class at T.E.A.M. Arizona in Gilbert, one of the state's authorized riding schools.

Since buying his motorcycle four months ago, he rarely drives his car except to get groceries and when it rains.

T.E.A.M. Arizona President Ron Arieli will tell you that Nickerson is the exception to the rule.

Arieli said the vast majority of riders are untrained. Last year, his company trained about 5,000 riders, a mixture of new riders and returning riders. He said the dynamics have changed for returning riders including more traffic on the roadways and more powerful motorcycles.

"It is more aggressive on the streets and more condensed," Arieli said.

He said today's high-performance motorcycles, both sport and cruiser bikes but not including hot rods or modified bikes, have more horsepower and less weight than bikes 20 years ago. "It is easy to go fast but turning is a whole different deal," he said. "The faster the machine goes and brakes, the more skills you need for control."

T.E.A.M. Arizona offers rider courses ranging from beginning to advanced levels. The basic riders course is about five hours of classroom training and 10 hours of riding that focuses on accident avoidance and learning to ride more relaxed.

In Arizona, a motorcycle rider needs a Class M endorsement or license earned by passing a written test and a street skills test. A rider can also take a basic riding class at one of six authorized training facilities and forgo the tests.

Arizona Motor Vehicle Division spokeswoman Cydney DeModica agrees that training is lacking. "What we are seeing is young professionals who have kind of adopted motorcycles as their hobby, and they are able to afford the really upscale bikes," she said. But a lot of them are skipping the training.

"They are new to motorcycles and don't realize they can be virtually invisible to a large SUV and not as easy to see as a car, SUV or pickup truck, simply because they are smaller," DeModica said.

"Hold up a deck of cards, flat side toward you. This is a private passenger car. ... Turn the card sideways, and this is a motorcycle."

Safety And Awareness

The state's Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council and the Governor's Office of Highway Safety are working together to keep drunken riders off the road, and increase rider education and training and motorist awareness.

The council provides input on how the state's motorcycle safety fund, financed by a $1 fee on motorcycle registration, is spent and has used $80,000 for awareness projects and educational materials this year.

Among its efforts, the council placed 35 Valley billboards featuring two young boys pleading with motorists to "Look out for Motorcycles. Mommy and daddy ride motorcycles." In 2005, the council wants to expand the billboards statewide and create public safety announcements with the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

The council also wants to increase the number of licensed riders and the number of training facilities certified in the state. In 2003, 27 percent of riders in fatal accidents had no motorcycle endorsement or license, ADOT data shows.

Private groups also are educating riders.

For two years, Bobbi Hartmann, the ABATE (American Brotherhood Aimed Towards Education) state safety officer and educator, has crisscrossed the state on her motorcycle teaching youths to share the roadways with motorcycles.

ABATE of Arizona is a motorcycle rights organization with about 1,000 members.

More than 5,700 students in driver's education classes around the Valley, and as far away as Yuma and Flagstaff, have learned motorcyclists have the same rights as cars, and are smaller and more difficult to see because of their narrow profile.

"We go to way too many funerals each year," Hartmann said. "If it saves one of my brothers or sisters who live in that area, it will have been worth every bit of what it took to do it."

Increased Helmet Use

Dr. Scott Petersen, St. Joseph's Hospital medical director of trauma services, said the mortality rate of motorcycle crash patients has remained about 5 percent over the past several years, with most dying in the first 24 hours from head injuries.

But he said the hospital has seen an increase in helmet use, from 30 percent of patients in 2002 to 48 percent in the first half of 2004. And he said the presence of alcohol in the blood of patients has decreased from 26 percent in 2002 to 22 percent in 2004.

"The trend is in the right direction. Maybe motorcycle drivers are getting to be a little more responsible," Petersen said. "The good news is helmet use is going up, and we are getting the message across despite the fact we have repealed our helmet law."

He said he treated two patients this year who were injured the first time they were on their motorcycle, one in a parking lot and the other into a wall just outside where the person had purchased the bike.

But few topics are as hot in the motorcycle world as a helmet law. Advocates say they save lives while detractors say wearing a helmet is a matter of personal freedom.

Arizona doesn't have a helmet law for adults but does require one for riders under 18. Twenty states, including Washington, California, Oregon and Nevada, require helmets for all riders.

"I feel unsafe when I wear a helmet because a helmet is going to weigh too much and impair my hearing and vision," said Ray Huston, 57, of Glendale, the state vice-chairman of the 1,200-member Modified Motorcycle Association of Arizona, a motorcycle rights organization.

"We feel we are adults, and we can choose how we ride."

Richard Fimbres, director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, said the absence of a helmet law draws some riders to the state.

According to ADOT data, 67 of 111* motorcycle rider and passengers who died in crashes in 2003 were not wearing helmets. *(61%)

Nationally in 2003, 52% of fatally injured motorcycle riders were not wearing helmets, according to NHTSA.

In 2002, helmet use is credited for saving the lives of 1,005 motorcyclists, and an additional 579 more could have been survived if all motorcyclists had wore them, according to NHTSA estimates.

In the end, it comes down to both drivers and motorcyclists paying attention.

Brad Dilbeck had just turned 27 and had his first child, Elyse, when he was killed by a hit-and-run driver in September 2003.

"He said you have to have eyes on all four sides of your head," Diane Dilbeck, 50, of Mesa, said, adding that her son was a safe motorcycle rider who wore protective gear including boots, helmet and a padded jacket.

"I think drivers need to pay more attention."

Brad Dilbeck, a Mesa High School graduate, was two blocks from home when a car pulled out in front of him.

Dilbeck was wearing a helmet and a reinforced jacket when he hit the emergency brakes and tried to lay down the bike to avoid the car.

He was thrown off the motorcycle and against the car.

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* Written by Senta Scarborough, reporter Ryan Konig also contributed.

** This article reprinted from the 12-26-04 issue of The Arizona Republic.

***Link to the original article at: