Bofinn
07-25-2007, 02:36 PM
BestWire
Motorcyclists' Age, Affluence Trending Upward -- And So Are Accidents
(July 24) The campaign to link motorcycles with carefree, wholesome fun -- as opposed to drugged-out lawlessness -- began in late 1962, long before the late Hunter S. Thompson published his "strange and terrible saga" about the Hell's Angels biker gang, and even before the film “Easy Rider” forever linked motorcycles with leather jackets and Steppenwolf.
That was the year ***** first ran its memorable "You Meet the Nicest People on a *****" ad campaign, featuring teenagers, old ladies in pink pillbox hats, and Santa Claus riding the company's motorcycles. So it's no surprise to learn, then, that America's motorcyclists are trending away from the old stereotype.
Today, with motorcycles in the mainstream -- more than 1 million per year have been sold for the past three years, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council trade group -- the average age of a policyholder is trending upward, and motorcycles are increasingly being owned -- and insured -- by the well-educated and well-off.
But there's another aspect, too: Those older, more affluent riders are also a higher risk. According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, riders older than 40 made up nearly half of all motorcycle fatalities in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available. Deaths among riders 40 and older have also increased more than among younger riders, with fatalities jumping dramatically to 2,143 in 2005, up from 547 in 1995. Motorcyclists 30 and younger had 1,438 fatalities in 2005, up from 1,104 over the same period.
According to Foremost, the company's liability property damage claims for riders 40 and older increased 13.8% from 2002 to 2006, while bodily injury claims increased 66.6% and medical payments claims increased 7.5% over the same period.
According to A.M. Best Co. state/line data, Progressive was the third-largest writer of private passenger automobile coverage in the United States last year, with $8.9 billion in direct premium written and a 7.6% market share, putting it behind only State Farm ($17.4 billion, 14.7%) and Allstate ($10.8 billion, 9.1%). Progressive says its own data show that it's the largest writer of motorcycle liability coverage in the United States. "We know how many motorcycle policies we write, and we know how many motorcycles are out there, and we can triangulate" to come to that conclusion, Stern said. State Farm spokesman Dick Luedke said his company could not divulge the number of motorcyclists it covers, nor give their average age.
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Traffic fatalities see huge drop
Largest in more than a decade
By Larry Copeland
© 2007 USA TODAY,
The nation last year saw the largest drop in traffic deaths in more than a decade, which led to the lowest highway fatality rate ever recorded, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Monday.
Last year, 42,642 people died in traffic crashes, a drop of 868 deaths from 2005. That 2 percent decline contributed to the historic low fatality rate of 1.42 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, Peters said.
"Tough safety requirements and new technologies are helping make our vehicles safer and our roads less deadly," she said. "But we all must do more when so many are killed or seriously hurt on our roads every day."
Fatalities of occupants of passenger vehicles — cars, SUVs, vans and pickups — fell to 30,521, the lowest annual total since 1993. Injuries were also down, with passenger car injuries falling 6.2 percent and large truck injuries 15 percent, Peters said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration collects crash statistics annually from the states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
USA TODAY reported in January, based on its independent state-by-state analysis, that traffic deaths dropped substantially last year in 16 states.
In many cases, those decreases reflected stepped-up enforcement, education campaigns and new laws. For example, three states — Alaska, Kentucky and Mississippi — enacted seat belt laws, bringing the number of states requiring seat belts to 25. Alaska had one more death in 2006 than in 2005, while traffic deaths declined in Kentucky and Mississippi, where officials credited the drops to the new law.
A troubling finding in the new NHTSA report: Motorcycle deaths rose for the ninth straight year, by 5.1 percent to 4,810.
"This year for the first time ever, more people died in motorcycle crashes than the number of pedestrians killed," said Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the Governors Highway Safety Association, which advises states on traffic safety. "We want to see states adopt a comprehensive strategy to reduce these deaths."
Only 20 states and the District of Columbia have laws requiring helmets for all motorcycle riders. Louisiana is the only state to adopt such a law in the past 10 years. The trend has been in the opposite direction, with some states repealing their helmet laws, Adkins said.
Alcohol-related fatalities increased slightly last year. There were 15,121 fatalities involving a driver or motorcycle operator, pedestrian or cyclist with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or above, compared with 15,102 in 2005. Enforcement of impaired-driving laws will remain a priority for Transportation Department, said NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason.
"There is a personal story behind these statistics, and for every alcohol-related fatality, the family left behind is shattered forever," Nason said.
Motorcyclists' Age, Affluence Trending Upward -- And So Are Accidents
(July 24) The campaign to link motorcycles with carefree, wholesome fun -- as opposed to drugged-out lawlessness -- began in late 1962, long before the late Hunter S. Thompson published his "strange and terrible saga" about the Hell's Angels biker gang, and even before the film “Easy Rider” forever linked motorcycles with leather jackets and Steppenwolf.
That was the year ***** first ran its memorable "You Meet the Nicest People on a *****" ad campaign, featuring teenagers, old ladies in pink pillbox hats, and Santa Claus riding the company's motorcycles. So it's no surprise to learn, then, that America's motorcyclists are trending away from the old stereotype.
Today, with motorcycles in the mainstream -- more than 1 million per year have been sold for the past three years, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council trade group -- the average age of a policyholder is trending upward, and motorcycles are increasingly being owned -- and insured -- by the well-educated and well-off.
But there's another aspect, too: Those older, more affluent riders are also a higher risk. According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, riders older than 40 made up nearly half of all motorcycle fatalities in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available. Deaths among riders 40 and older have also increased more than among younger riders, with fatalities jumping dramatically to 2,143 in 2005, up from 547 in 1995. Motorcyclists 30 and younger had 1,438 fatalities in 2005, up from 1,104 over the same period.
According to Foremost, the company's liability property damage claims for riders 40 and older increased 13.8% from 2002 to 2006, while bodily injury claims increased 66.6% and medical payments claims increased 7.5% over the same period.
According to A.M. Best Co. state/line data, Progressive was the third-largest writer of private passenger automobile coverage in the United States last year, with $8.9 billion in direct premium written and a 7.6% market share, putting it behind only State Farm ($17.4 billion, 14.7%) and Allstate ($10.8 billion, 9.1%). Progressive says its own data show that it's the largest writer of motorcycle liability coverage in the United States. "We know how many motorcycle policies we write, and we know how many motorcycles are out there, and we can triangulate" to come to that conclusion, Stern said. State Farm spokesman Dick Luedke said his company could not divulge the number of motorcyclists it covers, nor give their average age.
-------------------------------------------
Traffic fatalities see huge drop
Largest in more than a decade
By Larry Copeland
© 2007 USA TODAY,
The nation last year saw the largest drop in traffic deaths in more than a decade, which led to the lowest highway fatality rate ever recorded, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Monday.
Last year, 42,642 people died in traffic crashes, a drop of 868 deaths from 2005. That 2 percent decline contributed to the historic low fatality rate of 1.42 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, Peters said.
"Tough safety requirements and new technologies are helping make our vehicles safer and our roads less deadly," she said. "But we all must do more when so many are killed or seriously hurt on our roads every day."
Fatalities of occupants of passenger vehicles — cars, SUVs, vans and pickups — fell to 30,521, the lowest annual total since 1993. Injuries were also down, with passenger car injuries falling 6.2 percent and large truck injuries 15 percent, Peters said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration collects crash statistics annually from the states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
USA TODAY reported in January, based on its independent state-by-state analysis, that traffic deaths dropped substantially last year in 16 states.
In many cases, those decreases reflected stepped-up enforcement, education campaigns and new laws. For example, three states — Alaska, Kentucky and Mississippi — enacted seat belt laws, bringing the number of states requiring seat belts to 25. Alaska had one more death in 2006 than in 2005, while traffic deaths declined in Kentucky and Mississippi, where officials credited the drops to the new law.
A troubling finding in the new NHTSA report: Motorcycle deaths rose for the ninth straight year, by 5.1 percent to 4,810.
"This year for the first time ever, more people died in motorcycle crashes than the number of pedestrians killed," said Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the Governors Highway Safety Association, which advises states on traffic safety. "We want to see states adopt a comprehensive strategy to reduce these deaths."
Only 20 states and the District of Columbia have laws requiring helmets for all motorcycle riders. Louisiana is the only state to adopt such a law in the past 10 years. The trend has been in the opposite direction, with some states repealing their helmet laws, Adkins said.
Alcohol-related fatalities increased slightly last year. There were 15,121 fatalities involving a driver or motorcycle operator, pedestrian or cyclist with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or above, compared with 15,102 in 2005. Enforcement of impaired-driving laws will remain a priority for Transportation Department, said NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason.
"There is a personal story behind these statistics, and for every alcohol-related fatality, the family left behind is shattered forever," Nason said.