Police warn of motorcycle dangers
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Riding a motorcycle is one way to cope with $4-per-gallon gasoline. It's also a way to get killed or maimed.
That was the message on Monday as state and local police and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation held an event in Monroeville to promote motorcycle safety.
With high gas prices and improving weather, "we're going to see more and more individuals riding motorcycles," said Steve Cowan, PennDOT safety press officer.
The past decade has seen a surge in motorcycle registrations and in fatalities. Already this year, five have died in crashes in District 11, made up of Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties, he said.
As they met, state Rep. Dan Frankel was introducing legislation in Harrisburg to restore the state's mandatory helmet requirement or, in the alternative, require those who don't wear them to buy additional insurance.
"Our state has seen some grave and serious consequences since repealing its universal helmet laws in 2003, both in terms of loss of life and additional costs to taxpayers," said Mr. Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill.
"This has too long been framed as an issue that only affects the rider, but we believe it's clear that helmet laws have a tremendous impact on a rider's family and the community." he said.
Also in the motorcycle safety chorus was Pittsburgh attorney Edgar Snyder, who said he has been representing injured bikers for 40 years. He issued tips for avoiding crashes and what to do after one happens.
"Many bikers say that it's not a matter of 'if' you'll be in a crash, it's just a matter of 'when,' " he said.
"There's two kinds of riders: those who have gone down and those who are going to go down," said Allegheny County police Officer Mike Spagnoletti, a motorcycle patrol officer for 18 years.
There were nearly 838,000 licensed motorcyclists in Pennsylvania as of last year, an increase of nearly 100,000 since 2001, according to PennDOT.
Motorcycle crashes and fatalities also have risen during that time. There were 4,016 crashes in 2010, up from 2,973 in 2001; fatalities rose from 127 in 2001 to 223 last year.
Fifteen motorcyclists were killed in Allegheny County last year.
First Published May 24, 2011 12:00 am
