Insurance Group Confirms It: Antilock Brakes Save Bikers’ Lives
It’s hard to find a car in the United States without antilock brakes -- but even many bikers don’t realize that most motorcycles don’t have them. According to a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit crash safety research organization, they should. According to new research the IIHS published Oct. 22, antilock brakes reduce both a rider’s chance of fatal crashes and the chances of filing an insurance claim for a crash. (An eight-page PDF of the report is here.)
Antilock brakes keep brakes from locking up when you apply them suddenly, preventing the motorcycle from “fishtailing” and throwing its unlucky rider into the road. They’re on just a handful of bikes, generally the larger “touring” models, in part because they add about $1,000 to the price of the bike. (My own Harley Road King Classic doesn’t have antilock brakes, although it’s an option on newer models.) As the Chicago Tribune reported, the IIHS researchers found that bikes with antilock brakes had 4.1 fatal accidents per 10,000 registered bikes in one year -- 38% lower than the 6.6 per 10,000 rate for bikes without antilock brakes. Insurance losses were also 21% lower for bikes with antilock brakes.
This is important right now because the rate of motorcycle crashes is going up -- way up. Nationally, fatal motorcycle accidents have more than doubled between 1998 and 2007, partly because the number of bikers on the road and the miles they travel have also spiked. Here in Florida, the rate of fatal motorcycle accidents has also risen, though I hope that a new law requiring new motorcyclists to get training will help. As gas prices rise and commuters become more interested in alternative transportation, all issues of motorcycle safety.
As a motorcycle rider and a Florida motorcycle accident lawyer, I’m a fan of anything that could prevent serious motorcycle crashes, which all too often result in death, brain damage and other life-changing injuries. If you’ve been involved in this type of crash and you’d like to learn more about your rights, you should contact my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free evaluation of your case.
