Middle-Aged Men & Female Passengers

According to British Columbia statistics, most motorcycle accidents occur in June and July among middle-aged male drivers between 3 pm and 7 pm during daylight in dry weather. The male to female fatality ratio is about 3 or 4 to 1. Say what?  You might think those young new drivers who have not acquired the necessary skills to drive on dark wet roads would be involved in most motorcycle collisions. You might also assume females are better drivers because they are involved in far fewer collisions and die less often in them. But when you do a little data drilling and think about it more, these stats are really not unusual at all. Most of the licensed, insured drivers are middle-aged men who do most of their riding in June and July between the hours of 3 pm and 7 pm on “nice” days.  Many of the females that do die in a motorcycle collision, sadly, are actually passengers! Motorcycle safety campaigns may be most effective focusing on middle-aged male drivers in spring and summer, and women should be advised of the risk of riding two-up. They may want to think twice about it, and consider if they might be better off getting licensed and driving their own bike.