MSF urges need for motorcycle crash causation study
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) reported there is a significant amount of concerned parties who are speculating why there’s been an increase in motorcycle accidents during the past 10 years. There is no concrete data, however, as to the causes.
The MSF is urging that a study be done as soon as possible after the release of the 2007 Traffic Safety Annual Assessment.
There already is a substantial amount of money set aside for a study of this nature. Through the MSF, the industry committed $2.8 million. The Motorcycle Industry Council donated $200,000, and there is about $2 million from federal funding.
MSF President Tim Buche stated the need for the study. “We hope that this new field research, the first definitive crash causation study to be done in the United States in almost 30 years, will shed new light on the causes of crashes on our nation’s highways,” he said. “Knowledge gained from this study may help all of us concerned with rider safety to develop even more effective countermeasures to enhance the safety of motorcyclists everywhere. But we won’t know until the study, which will be a long and thorough process, has been conducted. For the safety of motorcyclists, we need this federal study to be of high priority, and move forward as soon as possible.”
