Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125820
... Mopeds, Hippos and Rapid Transit .... 1 M .... ell Mopeds are the answer to the problems of the world. !D ~ « ~ w The answer to problems of motorcycle safety is increased rider training. Z W ..J tJ > tJ Increased rider training will only encourage more people to ride motorcycles, and motorcycles should be banned as unsafe. • REPLACEMENT SEAT COVER M.aft 01 lup pade ...cally. 101' .u __ ...... lIIt)' .ad 1it1tc:1M!lI toiellMlr ~ MPet' Mro_, .,.1011 t.(I;I•. Ca.lI, l..taIled In abo"l 15 IIttnule. b)' .,illl a 1 , .. lira.. IMreby ell_lllalla. Ole u.. 0' _al StUll to 01 _II ltOlIell ., . . . .c:ycl" ... MI• •"IIUlI! til Wack c.,. proIl'" HI,. It is essential to eliminate risk in motorcycle riding. It is essen tial that all risk not be removed from motorcycle sports. Power to the moped! KIDNEY BELT Oullaeel to aUow OIl ridtil' to be cOCIllorlabie wlIlle bl ., I Mia, .... ported. ".~ '1 110.11 by ullll per(oraUtel ....... ; "}'de wtlJl • 10. . I'1lbltft backl.. ud IlIIed WIUI atn .. 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'i.d " li"l". kif co",.. with .1l0cl.",... 1 h••d . "THE T1EDOWN EXPERTS" SI':ND :5c: NOW FOR OUR l"ATEST CATAl.OG ~a. L A_eRA e.".,. _ , '.. ~ That, friend, is a sample of the divergen t ideas thrown at your head if you attended the Second International Congress on Automotive Safety, with a theme of Motorcycle and Recreational Vehicle Safety. Viewpoints ranged from looking at motorcycles as "accident producers" to saying Hit ain't that bad at all, folks." Authors made available papers that seriously sked that people stop riding motorcycles and use rapid transit instead, asked that you ride motorcycles that look like a playground hippo made out _of pipe, or suggested mopeds to halt poUution and ride safe and sound at IS MPH. Other experts looked at the subject of motorcycle safety differently. They heralded developments that would increase motorcycle safety while keeping the fun potential of thundering velocipedes intact. It wasn't too hard to see which authors actually rode motorcycles, and which ones only talked abou t what motorcycles ought to be like . Risk and Enjoyment Rodney Gott, AMF Chairman and Electra-Glide rider (as seen in Forbes magazine), gave the keynote address. ''Safety design to eliminate all obstacles to safety would take away all enjoyment," said Gott. "The presence of risk provides much of the excitement of motorcycling. You could press for the safest possible motorcycle - by giving it four wheels." Gott went on to emphasize that attention should be given to improper use, as well as product problems. Jon McKibben spoke about his Honda Hawk adventures later on during the conference. After flying 440 feet 20-30 feet above the ground at 275 MPH, McKibben crashed the streamliner nose first. Incredible films of the crash made his walk away from the crash even more amazing. Said McKibben, "Y ou do not have to compromise performance for safety." F. X. Bulto pointed out in the third motorcycle address of the conference that risk is a part of all sports. Rider Training For Dealer Information Call (213) 278·9470 Dr. Charles Hartman of the MlC Safety and Education Foundation offered thoughts on subjects other than the blood-and-gu ts prophecy of doom offered to bikers by many of the authors. Hartman told of the beginning work of the foundation to "compliment the effort put forth by public organizations." After an independent research program showed the need for and established a plan of operation for such an effort, the Foundation has set to work developing "A performance based curriculum package for safe motorcycle operation." While still too young to have established a record of results, the program funded by the MlC is a welcome relief from the negative approach favored too long by some safety Uexperts". One of those lCexperts", in a paper pres.ented in the Motorcycle Accident It .wasn't too difficult to tell who was interested in facts and who was interested in sensationalism. Statistics session, actually opposed rider education, because it would lead "to still further increases in cycle population with the almost certain result of more deaths and injuries." He spoke of "inherent hazards" and the idea that present motorcycles "should be eliminated from the public highway." Lacking a concept of J'fun", he advocated "cheap, attractive mass transit as an alternate to tbe motorcycle. " Fred Potenza of the National Safety Council presen ted a paper soon after that directly refuted the conclusions of the doom monger quoted above. Citing well documen ted military and priva te studies of the effectiveness of rider training p'..rograms, Potenza's presentation prompted positive comments of support from H. G. v. der Marwitz, Chief Motorcycle Engineer, BMW; and Dan Schultz, Wisconsin Division of Motor Vehicles Director. When I last saw him, Potenza was being mobbed by eager educators and officials wanting details on the successful National Safety Council approach to motorcycle safety. The positive approach to motorcycle safety received a second boost from Yoshinao Sugie, of the Hamamatsu Johoku Technical Senior High School. "We have data indicating that the number of motorcycle accidents and violations of traffic regulations have been reduced 50 percent by giving 'correct knowledge and technology' to high school students", he said. The presentation dealt heavily with the proper way to get acrOss traffic safety th rough applied psychology. "An educator should not be in the same frame of mind as men at a police headquarters or court of law. His duty begins with teaching and ends with teaching. He must not off"er a program merely to carve traffic acciden ts," Sugie said of his positive oriented program. Instead of saying "Don't do this or that", Sugie believes in presenting facts and data to students, and letting them see for themselves why an undesirable riding practice is dangerous. He is the kind of teacher we all wanted, but never had, in school. Terry Tieman and a Yamaha "Learn to Ride" Safety Program film proved to be the most arty presentation at the conference. Yamaha has really put it together with this_ program, and is giving biking a better name at the same time. Endorsements from safety organizations abound, and on-the-spot endorsements from little boys and old ladies who have gone through the program testify to its effectiveness. It must have given the doom monger a stomach ache, but it was a fine example of a positive approach to motorcycle safety. Discussing the safety program ideas offered at the conference with William Whitlock, from the Illinois State Office of Transportation Safety, I learned that Illinois offers funding to any school that requests a motorcycle safety program. The high school level program consists of 18 class hours and six hours of actual motorcycle riding time. The state funds all expenses helmets, bikes, instructors, operating costs, etc. - and is setting a fme example for the other 49 states to follow. Lew Buchanan advanced the offical DOT "reduction of risk" line in a presentation analyzing helmet effectiveness in injury reduction. It ran counter in principle to the Hrisk is fun" viewpoint, but moderately so, relative to hippo-on-wheels extreme safety orlen ted non-motorcycles. Elimination of risk to the poin t of wearing helmets and protective clothing is not incompatible with the enjoyment of motorcycling. It appears that the road is constitutionally clear for states to mandate use of such equipmen t. Buchanan pointed out, with 20 State upreme Court and five U.S. Supreme Court rulings upholding the constitutionality of mandatory belmet laws in 46 states. Roughly speaking, data presented by Buchanan indicates that the chances of head injury in a motorcycle accident are reduced about 50% with the wearing of a helmet. Choppers, Seat Belts Blasted Chopper lovers heard the extended front end energy absorption theory blasted when Peter BO.thwell of Caliber Design presen ted one of two research efforts. he worked on. "Using long highly raked forks migh t improve energy absorption, but would destroy primary safety features of convention~ steering geometry. No crash safety design change is worthwhile if it degrades primary safety." Bothwell's DOT funded research also laid to rest the idea of seat belts for bikers. It seems the use 0 f a seat belt in anthropomorphic dummy test crashes encouraged the bike to flip over forward and smash the dummy underneath. Bothwell, after finding out in his research that in a crash into a car a rider slides forward along the tank and incurs severe groin, pelvis, and leg injuries while being soaked with gasoline from a ruptured tank or opened filler cap, decided not to just condemn motorcycles as unsafe. Instead, he offered design suggestions to create a safer motorcycle without impairing the fun involved in bike riding. Bothwell's safer motorcycle proposal includes redesigned foam fIlled and rubber bag lined tanks with recessed filler caps, a foam filled crash bar incoporating fairing (that resembles those popular on