Motorcycles Supporters of Sustainability Are Term Paper

(the Disaster Center's Motor Vehicle Accident Death and Injury data Index, par. 1)

Accidents due to motor vehicles were the second major reasons of police deaths by the end of the century, accounting for more than 2,000 deaths or 15% of all deaths. About, 1,000 more officers comprising of 7% of all loss of lives were hit and met death by passing motor vehicles while they were not in their vehicle, rendering this group the fourth main reason for law enforcement deaths during the last century. Drunken driving was responsible for 315 cases of these vehicle-linked deaths. During the initial part of the last century, the second most important cause of police deaths were accidents due to police deaths. Practically from 1910-1939, 485 officers lost their lives in motor cycle accidents, as opposed to 323 officers who met death in other automobile accidents. With legal enforcement starting to more and more depend on the automobile, motorcycle deaths came down during the second half of the century, but still were responsible for 1,000 deaths of officers during the century comprising 7% of all deaths. At the end of the century, motorcycle accidents were the third important reason for police deaths. (Indiana Police Officer Memorial: Law Enforcement Statistics and Facts, par: 15-16)

Accidents in motor cycles entail exclusive questions of liability, comparative defects, cause of injuries, and accident reconstruction. (Motor Vehicle Accidents: California and Nevada Auto accident and motorcycle attorneys, par: 3) a lot of reasons abound for motorcycle accidents. Some of these accidents are due to slipshod attitude of drivers of automobiles, and simply by catastrophic accident, due to the reality that motorcycles are not easily visible on the roads. Deaths due to accidents in motorcycles are not attached to any age group, as passenger cars are. Indeed, motorcycle riders below the age of 20 of nearly 139 in 1999 and less age had a very less number of accidental deaths compared to next age group of 20 to 29 of nearly 758 in 1999. Definitely, the reason behind this might be because of the lesser numbers of motorcycle owners in the earlier age group because of financial reasons. The share of motorcycles was 2% of all vehicles recorded in the U.S. In this same year. It was seen that riders owning bikes with an engine displacement if 749 cc met with the maximum proportion of fatal accidents. It is also to be noted that average age of owning a motorcycle was more than 40 years in 1998, and basing on data, it is going up sharply on a year to year basis to the extent that this age group presently is responsible for just more than half of owners. Within 50 and 55% of accidents were due to multiple car accidents, while 45% were due to single car accidents while an extremely minor percentage due to colliding with fixed objects. (Motorcycle Accidents: Grossman Law Offices, par: 2-6)

It has been seen that more than two-thirds of the victims have not been wearing adequate safety gear. (Motorcycle Accidents: Grossman Law Offices, par. 6) 285 cases of deaths in motorcycle accidents were reported in Texas during 2004, more than half among whom were not wearing a safety helmet. It is approximated that helmets are responsible for saving the lives of more than1300 cycle riders. While evaluating these figures, it is found that had all motorcyclists worn the helmet that year, the difference could have been 671 saved lives. It is estimated that helmets are 37% efficient in arresting deadly injuries to motorcyclists which implies that for every 100 motorcyclists losing their lives in accidents, 37 would have been saved in case they all had worn their helmets. (Texas Motorcycle Accident Statistics, par: 2)

In a research undertaken by Murdoch and Waxman it was revealed that people implicated in a motorcycle accident, half of them were not wearing a helmet, 23% wore a helmet, and in case of 27% helmet use was unfamiliar. The people whose head was covered by a helmet had lesser and less serious head and injuries in the face region, needed to put on a ventilator for fewer days and did not suffer any grave neck injuries; lesser number of patients who wore helmets were released from the hospital with disability and expenses on hospitalization was lower.(Murdock; Waxman 371) During 1976, the U.S. government lifted the danger of pulling out of some of highway monies from states which did not make it compulsory to impose helmet laws. From that time, half of the states have either rescinded or made the laws to weaken. The majority of the researchers in the field consent that this has resulted in a substantial rise in the rate of injuries and deaths among the motorcyclists meeting with accidents. (Weiss 27) 50 states do not have motorcycle helmet laws in place. Four states viz Iowa, Illinois, Colorado as well as New Hampshire are states not having helmet wearing stringent laws. In case of the 20 remaining states inclusive of the District of Columbia and Virginia and Maryland have helmet laws in place for every motorcycle riders. (Motorcycle accidents in the News, par: 4) Although data is available indicating the added safety of wearing a helmet, maybe helmets have not found to be useful at all times. (Motorcycle Accidents: Grossman Law Offices, par: 6)

Accidents involving drunken driving were responsible for $51.1 billion or 22% of all financial expenses, and 75% of these expenses happened in accidents in cases wherein a driver or person not traveling had a BAC of 0.10 or higher. In approximately 80% of these situations, alcohol was the reason behind the accident (Blincoe; Seay; Zaloshnja; Miller; Romano; Luchter; Spicer 1) the findings of the NHTSA conducted study reports that motorcycle riders meeting with fatal accidents during night were thrice more likely compared to those killed during day to have BAC levels of 0.08 g/dL or higher of 42% as well as 13% respectively. Plus a bigger percentage of motorcycle accidents entailed people with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 grams per deciliter -- g/dL or more. Motorcycle riders entangled in deadly accidents were 27%. Besides, the study revealed that 28% of all motorcyclists who lost their lives had blood alcohol levels at 0.08 g/dL or more. In the year 2004, 4.3% of motorcycle riders who lost their lives in deadly accidents had at the minimum one earlier charges for driving while inebriated on their driver reporting. (Alcohol and Motorcycle Accidents, par: 1-3)

Sustaining injuries as a result of motor accident had its share of emotional issues. A research undertaken by Blanchard and his associates evaluated 158 MVA sufferers of their motor vehicle collision- MVA within 1 to 4 months who looked for medical care because of the MVA. Through the use of Clinician-Administered PSTD Scale, the findings of the researchers revealed that 39% of the sufferers faced DSM -III standard for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (Blanchard; Hickling; Taylor; Loos; Forneris; Jaccard 4) the research moreover found that the victims of Motor Vehicle Accident who fulfilled the standard for PTSD were more under pressure from a subjective point-of-view and experienced damage in the responsibility, like performance at work, homemaking, associations with family and acquaintances than the MVA victims who failed to fulfill the PSTD standards or the controls. (Blanchard; Hickling; Taylor; Loos 498)

Another longitudinal research evaluated 967 patients on a consecutive basis who came to an emergency clinic following a motor cycle accident, again at 3 months and 16.5% at the first year. Unceasing PTSD was associated with some objective measures of seriousness of pain, seeming danger, and dissociation at the time of accident, to female gender, to prior problems related to emotions, and to litigation. Keeping up psychological reasons, which are a negative meaning of interruption, cogitation, suppression of thought, and cognition of wrath, improved the correctness of the forecast. Opposite meanings of interruptions, continual medical difficulties, and reflection at 3 months were the most crucial predictors of PTSD indication at 1 year. Cogitation, anger recognition, acuteness of injury, previous emotional concerns found out instances of late arrival. (Ehlers; Mayou; Bryant 510)

Another study revealed that women were same as that of men in fulfilling the general re-experiencing standard for an analysis of PTSD; however women were at higher threat for the particular re-experiencing signals of deep feelings of suffering in circumstances akin to the motor vehicle accident and physical response to memories of the motor cycle collision. (Fullerton; Ursano; Epstein; et. al 1487) Yet another study reported the rates of severe and continual posttraumatic stress disorder.....