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Posted on 09/13/2007 12:29:27 PM PDT by BraveMan
ARLINGTON, VA — Supersports have the highest death rates and worst overall insurance losses among all types of motorcycles, new analyses by the Institute and Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) reveal. Motorcyclists who ride supersports have driver death rates per 10,000 registered motorcycles nearly 4 times higher than rates for motorcyclists who ride all other types of bikes.
Supersports are built on racing platforms but modified for the highway and sold to consumers. They’re especially popular with riders younger than 30. With their light weight and powerful engines, supersports are all about speed. They typically have more horsepower per pound than other bikes. A 2006 model Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R, for example, produces 111 horsepower and weighs 404 pounds. In contrast, the 2006 model Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide, a touring motorcycle, produces 65 horsepower and weighs 788 pounds.
“Supersport motorcycles are indeed nimble and quick, but they also can be deadly,” says Anne McCartt, Institute senior vice president for research. “These bikes made up less than 10 percent of registered motorcycles in 2005 but accounted for over 25 percent of rider deaths. Their insurance losses were elevated, too.”
Motorcyclist fatalities have more than doubled in 10 years and reached 4,810 in 2006, accounting for 11 percent of total highway fatalities, preliminary counts from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicate.
In an Institute analysis of deaths per 10,000 registered motorcycles, supersport drivers had a death rate of 22.6 in 2000 and 22.5 in 2005. Sport and unclad sport bikes, which are similar to supersports, had the next highest death rates at 10.8 for 2000 and 10.7 for 2005. Death rates for other types of motorcycles were much lower. Cruisers and standard motorcycles had a combined death rate of 5.6 in 2000 and 5.7 in 2005. The death rate for touring motorcycles was 5.3 in 2000, rising to 6.5 in 2005. Overall motorcycle driver deaths rose 59 percent between 2000 and 2005, and the overall death rate climbed to 7.5 driver deaths per 10,000 registered motorcycles from 7.1.
Meanwhile, helmet use fell. Only 51 percent of riders wear helmets certified by the US Department of Transportation. This compares with 71 percent in 2000, according to the federal government’s National Occupant Protection Use Survey.
Registrations jump: Motorcycle ridership is on the increase, with total registrations climbing 51 percent between 2000 and 2005 and contributing to the rise in motorcyclist deaths. Interest in high-performance bikes is growing, as well. Supersports are zooming in popularity, with registrations up 83 percent in 2005 compared with 2000, though cruisers and standard motorcycles made up the bulk of registrations. Combined registrations of cruisers and standards climbed 59 percent from 2000 to 2005. In 2005 supersports accounted for 9 percent of registrations, cruisers made up 47 percent, and standards 4 percent.
In fatal crashes, the average engine size in all classes of motorcycles has risen sharply. Among motorcycle drivers killed in 2005, 33 percent drove motorcycles with engine sizes larger than 1,200 cubic centimeters (cc), compared with 26 percent in 2000 and 17 percent in 1997.
Crash characteristics: Speeding and driver error were bigger factors in fatal crashes of supersport and sport and unclad sport bikes compared with other classes of motorcycles. Speed was cited in 57 percent of supersport riders’ fatal crashes in 2005 and 46 percent of the fatal crashes of sport and unclad sport riders. Speed was a factor in 27 percent of fatal crashes among riders on cruisers and standards and 22 percent on touring motorcycles.
Alcohol also is a problem in fatal crashes of motorcyclists, although less so than among passenger vehicle drivers. In 2005 it was a factor in the fatal crashes of 19 percent of supersport riders and 23 percent of sport and unclad sport riders. Alcohol impairment was an even bigger factor in the fatal crashes of cruisers and standard bikes and touring motorcycles, particularly among riders 30-49 years old. Thirty-three percent of cruiser and standard riders and 26 percent of touring motorcycle riders had blood alcohol concentrations above the legal threshold for impairment. By comparison, 33 percent of fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers had blood alcohol concentrations at or above 0.08 percent in 2005.
“Supersport motorcycles have such elevated crash death rates and insurance losses because many people ride them as if they were on a racetrack,” McCartt says. “Data show that speed is a big factor in their crashes. A combination of factors, including the motorcycle itself, may push up death rates. Motorcyclists presumably buy supersports and sport bikes because they want to go fast, and manufacturers are happy to oblige. Short of banning supersport and sport motorcycles from public roadways, capping the speed of these street-legal racing machines at the factory might be one way to reduce their risk.”
Insurance collision and theft losses: Not only does motorcycle class influence driver death rates but it also has a major bearing on insurance losses. Supersport motorcycles had the highest overall collision coverage losses among 2002-06 model bikes, almost 4 times higher than losses for touring motorcycles and more than 6 times higher than cruisers, a HLDI analysis reveals. Nine of the 10 motorcycles with the highest losses were supersports. The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R, a 1,000 cc supersport, topped the worst list, with collision losses more than 9 times the average. Five of the 10 motorcycles with the highest overall losses had engine displacements of 1,000 cc or larger.
Claim frequency is driving the high overall losses among supersport motorcycles, meaning that supersports are involved in more collisions in relation to their numbers on the road than other motorcycles. Supersports had a claim frequency of 9 claims per 100 insured vehicle years, compared with a frequency of 2.3 for all 2002-06 models.
Supersport motorcycles are popular targets for thieves, too. Their average theft loss payments per insured vehicle year (a vehicle year is 1 vehicle insured for 1 year, 2 insured for 6 months, etc.) were more than 7 times higher than the average for all 2002-06 motorcycles.
“These bikes own the field when it comes to elevated death rates and collision losses. They also hold the distinction of being the most frequently stolen motorcycle,” says Kim Hazelbaker, HLDI senior vice president. “We found a strong correlation between motorcycle class and insurance losses, with supersports showing up time and again as having far higher losses than other types of motorcycles.”
Newbies. Hands down. Experienced riders on sportbikes aren’t as dangerous as squids on any bike. On top of that, a sportbike’s handling vs. a cruiser makes it more forgiving.
‘Tis true. Hubby rides his R1 LE on the track and says it just takes the fun outta riding it on the road. LOL We’re headed to Barber in October. :-)
Insurance Institute says geeser newbies on their “hawgs”.
At least they did five years or so ago.
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Probably because they can’t get going fast enough to do any damage?
Dang! That is something! Where did you find it?
“Supersports are built on racing platforms but modified for the highway and sold to consumers. They’re especially popular with riders younger than 30. With their light weight and powerful engines, supersports are all about speed. They typically have more horsepower per pound than other bikes. A 2006 model Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R, for example, produces 111 horsepower and weighs 404 pounds. In contrast, the 2006 model Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide, a touring motorcycle, produces 65 horsepower and weighs 788 pounds.”
Supersports are not “built on race platforms” - they are specifically built as street bikes and are often known as “race replicas”. The are sometimes raced in almost showroom stock classes but for higher race classes typically need significant modifications to improve various aspects. Also they are not “all about speed” - the popular 600 sportbike class, while certainly fast, is also very much about handling. The fastest bikes are ones like the Hayabusa and Kawasaki ZX-14, which do not handle as well and are typically not used in racing, other than drag racing or speed record attempts. Oh, and I have another name for a 788 lb bike with 65 HP - “boat anchor”.
Some of the classes of bikes that seem overrepresented in crash statistics, like touring bikes, have much higher exposure to risk due to the large number of miles they accumulate in the year, compared to the average cruiser which only racks up a few thousand miles in a year. Yes, I know there are guys who ride their cruisers much further every year, but many are used for nothing more than Sunday afternoon rides to the local pub and back. Bikes sitting in the garage at home tend to get into very few accidents - one of the reasons that I choose not to commute on mine, in very heavy traffic.
Eugene i didn’t know thye would post pictures
“...riders of the Ultra Classic are well below the national average.”
They cost too darn much to go out and wreck ‘em. I love my Road King and I treat him nice. Half the traffic on the road passes me, mostly doing 10-over while talking on the phone.
Back when I lived in Los Angeles I spent 20 years on motorcycles splitting traffic on the freeways. I always told people who were concerned about me that “they couldn’t hit me if they tried!” Trouble was, one day some idiot wasn’t trying to hit me, and managed to do it anyway. I had “the big one” and through the grace of God I walked away from it. I was riding a GSXR1100 that day, though it wouldn’t likely have mattered what I was riding.
Helmet, heavy gloves, leather jacket, and high top shoes did their jobs and saved lots of skin, though my blue jeans failed miserably and my knees looked like I lost a fight with an angry cheese grater.
Long story short, I moved to the country and occasionally ride a little red 50cc scooter around my quiet neighborhood. The joy of riding was gone after “the big one.” ... BUT (and that’s a heavy BUT), if I had to live in Los Angeles and get around to my clients in West LA all over again, I’d still be on a bike and it would be a high performance sport bike.
Blind ditzes yakking on cell phones. (”But officer, I didn’t see him!”)
Oooooh! I had one of the very first CBR900RR machines to arrive and it was certainly a doozy!
I felt that, compared to other bikes I had owned, it posessed true Warp Drive. Nimble, quick and eminently flickable, it actually tended to turn inside the line.
Eventually, I sold her and hung up my helmet. There are simply too many idiots behind the wheels of Minivans, twits yakking on cellphones and deranged morons clotting the roads to dodge anymore. One of them was going to get me.
I have a buddy who raced competitively for Kawasaki for a while. He was nearly killed by a 21 year-old mother who turned around in her seat to scream at her kids, crossed the lane and ran him over at a stop sign. He wasn’t even moving.
I drive an F-350 Duallie now. Go ahead. Hit me.
Basically, they are bullets on wheels. But, if that’s what people want, it’s OK with me. Just don’t hit my 1 ton, four door dually. You may not live.
already debunked here:
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=30210
try 16,500. That’s the redline for the Yamaha R6 :)
Between the twenty somethings on crotch rockets, wearing tennys, shorts, a full face helmet, and sporting the little lady on back dressed similarly but with a tattoo on her rump...while doing wheelies on the freeway;
the guy, even older than me, with the terrified expression on his face as he rides his brandy-new glide up and down my street;
and the real estate agents in nazi style skid lids and leather hauling housewives in leather to the local "ride in" sunday afternoon beer fest...
I'm currently just looking at my resto projects and wondering if I want to get back into the mix. (Although I did find a donor bike in better shape than the intended recipient)
One thing for sure, when I was commuting, splitting lanes and wearing the mandatory helmet/sound suppressor, I was just scared enough to be VERY alert, the kids I see today doing 85 down the divider line and slamming across lanes are cold meat in the making.
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