We’ve all seen them: those young men on high-powered, lightweight Japanese motorcycles who weave in and out of traffic lanes and roar away when the light changes like a bat out of hell.
Then there are recent reports from Ontario Provincial Police that say the number of people killed on our highways could hit a seven-year high this year.
Police say this summer has been particularly bad. By mid-August, there had already been 26 fatal bike collisions compared to a total of 29 in 2013.
Last year was the worst year for motorbike deaths in recent memory, according to OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt.
But the statistics tell a different tale about just who is most at risk of dying in motorcycle crashes in Ontario.
A new report from Torstar News shows that despite what our biases might tell us, OPP statistics and hospital emergency room data show older men may be most in danger.
Police data released last month showed half of Ontario motorcyclists who died in crashes in the last seven years were between 45 and 64, and that riders under age 25 only made up nine per cent of those deaths.
Schmidt said part of the changing statistics could have something to do with more aging boomers heading out to dealerships to snap up motorcycles, but statistics from Hamilton Health Sciences’ trauma program reinforce the notion that older men are at high risk: men between age 40 and 59 made up 58 per cent of motorcycle crash patients over a year.
Men aged 20 to 39 arrived at the trauma unit less than half as often in the same period.
Dr. Julian Owen, the trauma leader at Hamilton General Hospital’s regional trauma centre, where the most severe cases go, said the older patients are when they get hurt, the more likely they are to die.
Owen said the thrill of the wind in your hair makes motorcycle driving so attractive, but the sight of so much carnage led the doctor to sell his own motorcycle because having his own family made him scared he’d end up a statistic.
The latest statistics should give middle-aged men yearning to recapture their youth pause when it comes to trading in the boring minivan for a honking, rumbling motorcycle.
Read more: http://www.niagarathisweek.com/opinion-story/4822967-stats-shatter-motorcycle-myths/
