JEDDAH, 9 July — There are a couple of myths surrounding motorcycles that need dispelling. They are not inherently dangerous, for instance, and not all people who ride them are irresponsible youths with a death wish.
However, put an irresponsible rider on a motorcycle and you have a recipe for disaster. Even more dangerous is this combination in the context of an automobile culture like that in Saudi Arabia that is unused to motorcycles and has one of the highest per capita vehicle death-rate in the world.
Motorcycles are making a comeback on the roads of Saudi Arabia.
Mohamed Felemban, national sales executive for Honda Motorcycles in Jeddah, is unsurprisingly a keen motorcyclist himself. He pointed out that motorcycles are back in fashion, possibly the result of the music and video culture among youths. The 125 to 250cc machines are most in demand.
"They are affordable and offer easy transport to the young and the unmarried," he said. "They are economical to buy, run and maintain."
He is also deeply concerned about safety. "We simply will not sell a machine to anyone who cannot produce a valid motorcycle license and a crash helmet," he said.
That is a responsible first step. However, once the rider leaves the showroom, the game rules change.
The Corniche is an ideal place for riding and weekend evenings usual the time for motorcycle exhibitionism.
Large-capacity machines with one or two riders frequently weave through the traffic and at the first available space turn on the power and accelerate violently, raising the front wheel in a desperate attempt to impress.
Fortunately, the exhibitionists on the Corniche are only a minute percentage of the motorcycling public. However, their activities are very high profile and, when — not if — one wipes himself along the road tearing pieces off his limbs or loses control and kills himself and his passenger, or even worse a bystander, then there will be the knee-jerk reaction ‘Ban Motorcycles!’ It’s happened before; it could easily happen again.
As 41 percent of crashes involve a motorcycle leaving the road and 18 percent running traffic control, the behavior of these individuals seems entirely complementary with the causes of nearly two thirds of all motorcycle accidents.
Before that happens, it would be wise to develop a "driving culture" based on driver awareness and protective measures. The former will take time; the latter can be introduced immediately.
Motorcycles are small, nimble and nearly invisible to the average motorist. The motoring public, especially in the Kingdom, is not used to them and they simply don’t see them. Day-running headlights can raise the road profile of a motorcycle.
The situation will really improve with an increase of the numbers of motorcycles on the road and the consequent increase in driver awareness.
Effective protective measures can be introduced immediately. Crash helmets save lives. Studies around the world provide overwhelming evidence that this simple piece of legislation, when enforced, reduced motorcycle deaths by up to 61 per cent.
Brutal but true, deaths are cheaper than long-term injury.
Equally significantly, the same legislation reduced head injuries by a similar amount. This represents a reduction in hospitalization cost for governments and in many cases, results in the injured party going back to productive work.
The significant word is "enforced". Studies in several states in the United States conclude that when helmet laws are enacted and enforced, helmet use increases. When the law is repealed, fatalities and head injuries increase, "the associated cost increase far exceeding the number of new motorcycles registered."
