San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Motorcyclist deaths a growing trend
Experts point to common factors behind fatalities, including lack of safety training
Perhaps it is the cagers, or maybe it is the squid out on a time trial. It could be a loner or weekender that has too much lump. Whatever anyone wants to call it — and riding is riddled with lingo — more motorcyclists are dying on Texas roads.
The reasons probably outnumber the unique vocabulary.
“It is a big problem,” said Mike Manser, a senior research scientist at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. “It is a continual problem and it is complex because there is not one area to focus on.”
What is clear, Manser and others said, is it needs more attention. Roadway deaths in 2022 remained at levels that some say make traffic fatalities a public health crisis — but motorcycling joined pedalcycling as the only categories of road users in which deaths exceeded the previous year.
With totals maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation still unofficial — crash reports can take weeks to be filed by police and entered into the database — at least 560 motorcycle operators and passengers were killed last year. That is 31 more than in 2021 and 142 more than in 2019.
Motorcycling instructors said numerous factors contribute to crashes and combine to make the roads deadlier for riders.
“It is like having a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle, and you look at it and all the pieces just fit together,” said Joel Morris, manager of the Harley-Davidson Riding Academy operated by Stubbs Harley-Davidson.
Ongoing issues, riders said, include:
• a lack of riders receiving adequate safety training and refresher classes because changes in state-approved courses and a
loss of qualified instructors have limited their availability;
• a lack of awareness, or outright refusal, by motorcycle owners to go through the necessary licensing process to have a motorcycle endorsement on their driver’s license;
• poor decision-making and high speeds on local streets by sometimes ill-equipped riders, known as “squids” by experienced cyclists who deride their skills and reckless habits;
• inattention by car and truck drivers, often called “cagers” by riders, which puts motorcyclists at risk; and
• a mob mentality by some riders who engage in unsafe group rides aimed at flouting rules of the road.
The causes, however, typically come down to some common factors.
“The same main factors that have been around for many, many years are still present,” Manser said. “Many involve alcohol, and we know that speed kills.”
Based on an estimate prepared by Manser using the crash database maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation, more than half of the motorcyclist deaths in 2021 involved a rider who lacked a motorcycle endorsement. Speed was a factor in 45 percent of crashes, and 31 percent involved alcohol in some way, though not necessarily to the legal limit of 0.08 BAC.
“If anything can be done to address those two topics, in
some way, we are going to have an impact on rider safety,” Manser said.
State law requires a motorcycle endorsement on a driver’s license to ride on Texas roads. To receive the endorsement, a license holder must pass an accredited safety course.
By some estimates, Morris said, two-thirds of the motorcycles registered in Texas in 2019 were not connected to someone with a motorcycle endorsement on their license.
Changing that could be as simple as spreading the word.
“I rode for 16 years before I got licensed,” said Mike Castellanos, 39, who now teaches safe riding at Stubbs.
Often, educating riders on proper skills means teaching commonsense techniques, such as keeping one’s distance from cars and trucks and making proper turn movements. That can be hard in a place with heavy congestion, Castellanos said, but it comes down to patience.
“If someone cuts in front me, I am going to get my distance back,” Castellanos said. “Simple as that.”
Riders often cite a lack of attention among drivers, especially as smartphone usage and other distractions have proliferated. Unlike someone sitting in a vehicle with the protection of airbags and steel, motorcyclists are at the mercy of drivers.
“You hear a lot of people say, ‘It is the fault of the cagers. If they would just check more or clear their blind spot,’ ” Manser said.
The data, however, does not bear out that most crashes come
down to bad automobile drivers, he said. Over the years, typically about half the fatal motorcycle crashes in Texas involved another motor vehicle, which means the remainder only involved the cyclist.
Police often note excessive speed as the primary cause of crashes.
Other crashes come from other ill-advised habits. Houston police said a rider Jan. 6 on Loop 610 near Ella was “weaving between vehicles” when he struck a car and fell beneath a trailer. He was killed when the rear wheels ran him over.
Veteran motorcyclists said one of the common problems is that riders are not experienced enough to handle the bikes they have.
“Everybody likes to ride fast, but you have to learn how to drive slow first,” said Andy Snelson, 66, who teaches classes at the Stubbs academy.
Even if riders wanted better training, they could find lessons hard to come by in many parts of the state.
Large dealerships, such as Stubbs, offer sessions in the major metro areas but sometimes struggle to find accredited instructors. Morris said the situation only worsened after oversight of training moved two years ago from the Texas Department of Public Safety to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. State lawmakers moved regulation to the licensing board, which makes the rules for everything from barber shops and driving schools to masseuses and electricians.
“A lot of instructors did not want to make the switch,” Morris
said. “Overnight we went from 800 coaches to 400.”
The number of active trainers, after some retirements and others who left during the pandemic, likely hovers around 200 monthly, Manser said, mostly in metro areas.
“Access is a big issue,” Manser said. “If you want to get your endorsement and you are in West Texas, you might have to go 200 miles to find a class and wait to get into it. Is a motorcyclist going to wait on that?”
Lawmakers in the coming months could step in to ease some of the logjam by expanding who can accredit instructors. Right now, only Texas A&M Extension Service in College Station can teach the teachers in Texas. Senate Bill 478, by state Sen. Judith Zaffirni, D-Laredo, would expand teaching and set criteria for training instructors.
Some of the issues, however, are more ingrained in the mixing of motorcycles and fun, Manser said.
“We see rider events where they sell alcohol,” he said, noting some of the larger motorcycle dealers often offer beer at sales locations that draw enthusiasts. “You are already on a bike that requires significantly more coordination and alcohol is a pervasive issue.”
What is improving, recent data shows, is helmet use, following what riders say is small improvement in proper riding gear. Although the total number of motorcyclists involved in crashes rose last year by at least 183, to 9,422, the number of people not wearing helmets dropped by 147 to 3,353, compared with 2021.
That follows years of work by safety advocates statewide and nationally to encourage helmet use and proper jackets, pants and riding boots. It always will be a topic of discussion, Manser said, but balanced with the reality that no amount of helmets and arm protection can solve high-speed wrecks.
“The use of a helmet may not guard against that severity,” Manser said, “but we will always encourage people to wear gear because it is the smartest thing to do.”
It did not lead to a decrease in deaths last year, however. Unlike the five previous years, more riders died wearing a helmet than those who did not.
As they chip away at cultural norms around motorcycling, Manser said safety advocates have plenty of other issues to work on to improve safety, such as redesigning the W-shaped metal railings that line Texas roads.
“That guardrail does an awesome job of keeping that car on the road,” Manser said. “When a motorcyclist hits that, it could be game over because they hit the solid wooden posts that hold them up.”
All kinds of solutions, Manser said, are going to be needed to solve all kinds of problems. It just all starts with making sure more riders do the things that make them safe.
“If I could change the culture, it would have a massive impact on rider safety,” Manser said. “All those traffic safety conversations are hard nuts to crack.”