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/126246
The Hurt Report - Part I A Federally-funded task team uses riders to find out why other riders have accidents By Lane Campbell When an airplane goes down , especially when there is loss of life, a high-powered investigation team springs into action almost the minute the crash is reported. Such a team is called " m u lti-discipli nary ," beca use it b ri ngs together m emb ers from many branches of scie nc e to sift th rough the wreckage, the vict ims ' remains, th e crew's background , th e circumstances, bit by slow bit , looking at every scrap of information from several different ) angles as they piece together th e causes, What an engi neer m ight miss , a psyc hologist might spot immediately. so they leave almost nothing untouched in th eir reconstruction of wh y th e accident h a p p e n e d . se e ki n g the ultimat e answer ,.... how to prevent it from happening again, When a biker goes down , as often as not , a single cop arrives on the scene some time after the accident, The rider mayor may not be getting the same medical care that , say , an auto driver or pedestrian would get - he (or' she) may be beyond needing it. The cop fills out a standard ized accident report form (which is usually d esigned to report auto accidents with no thought , of what m ight be "di fferent " about a "m otorcycle crash ). int erviewing th e rider if he can talk , other veh icle drivers if involved, sometimes a n assortment of witnesses ranging fro m semi -hysterical to in d iffe rent. At las t, when it comes to the line on the form that says " p ro ba b le cause," the cop (who most like ly d oesn't ride) will scra tch his head , write down " Lost control of motorcycle " and ch a lk up , one more experience to reinforce h is belief that all motorcyclists are cr azy, if not sub-human . . Had it not been for th e controversy over mandatory helmet laws. nothing might h ave changed . For so long. nobody had ca red to learn why bik ers crash. at least not with the thrust of money and manpow er ex pe n de d studying disasters in aircraft a nd other forms of public transport. But th e helmet law d eba te raised se rious questions about the fe d e r a l governm ent 's compete nce to prescribe safety " cu r es" when t hey didn 't understand the problem . It took the better part of ten yea rs to convince the Feds that ne ither th ey, nor a ny body : else , knew enoug h about motorcycle accidents . how th ey happen , why they happen , and how some people m anage to su rvive them . About the time th a t biker a ctivists and th e AMA were achieving their landmark victory over bureaucracy in Congress , the U.S : Dept. of Transportarion (DOT) bureaucra ts had decided to contract a university study group to get them the facts they needed , facts that helm et law opponents had correctly pointed out the DOT lacked. It was a competitive bidding. like mo st government contracts, and the proposal put together by Dr. Harry H urt of Univers ity of Southern California 's Ins t itu te ' of Sa fety & Systems Management (ISSM) won it. From th e biker's standpoint , thi s was a stroke of great fortune , Dr . Hurt is a 40 ·ish Maico rider who rides th e d esert whenever he ca n ge t the time . and who confesses to a certa in paranoi a about • ••':....• •' •• . st reet ridi ng aft er literall y ha ving to stuff h is hands into the pitiable human remains th at his work brings him into conta ct with . Make no mistak e , th e cost of highwa y mot orcycle accid ents, in loss of life , loss of flesh . and hum an suffering. is heart-breaking to a fellow rider. It is not a " fu n" job . The approach that won the bidding for 'Hurt was based in part on th e "m u lti-d isciplina ry" task te am concept used by th e Federal Aviation Agency to study air disasters - with a twist. Every member of Hurt's investigative team would be an ex per ie n c ed motorcycle rider in h is/her own right as a pre-condition of employment. Hurt went on to spell ou t th e type s of questions th at would be studied. th e way the facts would be recorded. th e wa y they'd be massaged by computer analysis. Just as im po rt ant, he quot ed a price that the Feds were prepared to pay , The contract calls for t he Hun/155M team to investigate , over a year and a half , 900 m otorcycle ac cid ents. using the same sort of thorough , multi -disciplinary approach as any other d isaster t eam . An additional pol ice report file of 3,600 a c ci d e n ts will b e co llec ted to supplement th e in -depth data , Wi th some follow -on funding for sta tistica l analysis and ad di tiona l follo w up . th ey will attempt to answer several qu estions. What are the hum an factors in motorcycl e crashes1injuries/deaths? What are th e machine factors. th e environme n ta l (i.e. . place . situation. surroun d ing traffic) factors? And with ' spec ia l em ph asis, how effective a re helm ets? California being a helm et-op tiona l state, th is be came an ideal study a rea . Certain other fa ctors about Cali forn ia , whil e less pl easant in th e ir im plic ations, helped confirm th e Feds' choice. There are proba b ly more b ikes, a nd bikers. in th is urban a rea , combined with a greater amount of good ·wea t her rid ing d ays, th an any other candidat e study are a . Lo ts of bikers, lots of good ridi ng days means lots of ac cide n ts, th erefor e lots of d at a ca n be gotten in a short tim e - if one is re ady to go a ft er it. To be ready, Hurt's USC crew is plugged into th e Los Angeles are a Fire-Rescu e communications net via a sensitive scanner/receiver co nne cted to an automatic tape recorder, Plus. they've established relations with th e Los Angeles Pol ice Dept, (LA PD) , th e California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Depa rtm ent to get instant accident reports by phone. They're ready to "scram ble" from their ready room at once - in a whi te Dodge sed a n, for they. too. have become somewhat spooky about street riding , The job get s to you that wa y. Once on the scene, they int erview every involved person that th ey can find - including the cops. T hey inspe ct the b ike(s) and th e ca r(s) involved; they photograph everyt hi ng that could possibl y have a bearing . in clud ing a rid er's-eye view of th e approa ch to the crash site (when • . . • • ,.,i .• Th is was one of the " easy" ones, Th e ri der can talk-and walk away. they're able to esta blish th e rider's pre· crash path). " So m e of the ac cid ents we in ves t iga te never g et on po l ic e records ," Dr . Hurt expla in ed . "A lot of th em will involve alky, drugs, illegal aliens . We'll come on the scene, find the skid m arks . th e scra pes in th e pavem ent , the spilled gas a nd oil . th e blood and snot on the pa vement or on a wall - we can reconstruct exac tly wh at happened and pity th e poo r dude it happened to . .. but he and th e bik e are go ne . spirited away by his buddies." They pi ck up eve r y acc ident involv ed helmet th ey can, r e o imbu rsing the owner for a new replac ement , Then they dissect th e helmets thoroughly to find how th e sh ell llin er /r etention sys te m s performed , In fatalit y ca ses. th ey are often involved in a complete specia l hea d -and -neck autopsy pro cedure to d et ermine th e ex ac t extent of head or nec k damage. Dr . Hurt credits th e Los Ang e les co r o ne r , D r , T ho mas Noguc hi . wi t h o ne of the most competent staffs in the co untry (there a re a cou pie of motorcycle riders among th em ) and ack nowled ges the invaluable help from LAPD and Los Angeles Fir e Deprt . (LAFD) d u ring th e stu dy. " If you' re going to cr ash and want th e fastest . bes t ca re ," Hurt says, "d o it in Los An geles Cit y," Hurt says t he crew , in th eir yellow study team vests , has ha d surprisingly good cooperation from th e public especially th e motorcycling public, once the rider (s) reali ze th ey're talk ing to fellow riders. . Still , it doesn't come easily. Crash victim s aren't alw ays able to talk . and som e may never talk again. Poli ce offi cers may have to respond to another emergency before th e te a m ca n ge t to them . Vehicles may be rem oved from the scene and have to be tracked down: It all means follow- up a nd follow -up aga in . Ea ch injury or fa t a li ty mu st be foll owed th rough hospital care and/ or a uto psy. All of it must be don e to get the in forma tion th e Feds a re afte r , and to get it in a fo r m t hat 's rel evant to re a l-life mot orcycling . (Contin u ed on pag e 33) M ulti·d iscip linary approach incl udes t ech insp ectio n of the bike. .5