Motorcycles More Deadly Than Combat for Marines
Motorcycles have been responsible for more Marine deaths in the past 12 months than combat, and that startling statistic has prompted the military to take action, according to CNN. While 20 Marines have fallen victim to enemy fire in Iraq, 25 have been killed on motorcycles, and all but one of those motorcycle deaths involved sportbikes.
While the Marines have a longstanding policy requiring soldiers to take a motorcycle safety course, they're now focusing on sportbike-specific instruction-- a sound decision, given the dramatic difference in sportbike riding dynamics. Any soldier caught riding without training can be punished, even if he or she is on leave, and considering that nearly 18,000 of the 200,000 Marines own motorcycles, the potential for education and training is vast.
CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr says the Marines once considered banning sportbikes altogether, but the success in sportbike-specific training programs suggests that education is key to avoiding accidents. It's a simple lesson that civilians can take away from the military's experiences: if you're going to ride a sportbike (or any bike, for that matter), take a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course to gain a better understanding of how to control your motorcycle and keep the shiny side up.
Related:
- Supersport Riders Over Three Times More Likely to Die
- Diesel-Powered Military Motorcycle Makes Me Wonder...
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Comments
Sad news.
Never felt comfortable on sports bikes - The ridng position is too aggressive and the power/price ratio is really insane.
Interesting…I never felt safe on comfortable on a cruiser. They handle like a half full water bed….lousy brakes, tires that’ll last forever don’t stick, the pegs, rr brake and shift lever in weird positions.
Each to his own eh?
Wrong to blame the bike for these deaths though. Strikes me as an attitude thing. No problem with a .50 cal or an M16, but 160HP is dangerous!
I’m with Pete, here: I’m a fairly large rider, 6′/230lb, and even I find many cruisers ungainly, hard to move, even harder to stop, and too many times we end up not being able to control them…they control us. They’re just not for everyone, I guess. I’d trade chrome for a great power/weight ratio any day.
As for these grim statistics in question: let’s just say that 90% of statistics are made up on the spot to appeal to 50% of the audience. And 70% of the time, that audience listens everytime. So if 20% of statistics are true, and the rest are only 50% true, does that mean at least 30% of the world lies 100% of the time? Look folks, my point is this, that statistics can be made to appeal to anyone, at anytime. Looking for a scapegoat or excuse why something doesn’t work? Fudge the numbers! Need to get elected, even though no one likes you? Fudge the numbers! Want to lie without looking like you’re lying in order to sway people’s opinions so they believe that war isn’t as dangerous as previously thought? Fudge the…ah, well, you get it…
I agree the problem isn’t with “sport-bikes” but attitudes. All you have to do is go on youtube and see what some of these guys are doing to understand why so many end up in the hospital or the morgue. It’s the old monkey see monkey do thing. Sure glad they weren’t doing those things when I was in my early twenties and invincible.