The Deadliest Year on Record for Motorcycles

A Ferrari is comfortably out of budget for most of us. But adrenalin-inducing speed can be had with a "superbike" or "sportsbike."

Though these crotch rockets accounted for less than 10 percent of motorcycle registrations in 2005, they accounted for more than 25 percent of rider fatalities. A study released last week by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that rider deaths have more than doubled since 1997. Superbikes are partly to blame.

They are one of the fastest growing segments of the motorcycle market-with sales climbing 83 percent between 2000 and 2005. The horsepower wars between automakers are just as fierce in the motorcycle industry.

And like their car counterparts, bikes have simultaneously gotten more sophisticated suspension and braking systems along with electronics that make them safer and easier to handle.

Unfortunately, these advancements can impart a false sense of security. Critics of the Insurance Institute study claim that the increase in fatalities can be attributed to an influx of inexperienced older riders-often as not, babyboomers in midlife crisis. Also, states have grown lax about helmet laws.

Source Wired

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