FL Hwy agency wants safety course for all motorcyclists

[PeteSC]

Posted on Thu, Sep. 22, 2005
 
 

Highway agency wants safety course for all motorcyclists

DAVID ROYSE

Associated Press


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The state highway safety agency wants all motorcyclists to take a safety course in an effort to reduce deaths, saying people who have taken the classes are the only ones bucking a spike in motorcycle deaths in Florida.

Noting the sharp increase in motorcycle deaths and injuries in recent years, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles also is considering how much insurance coverage bikers ought to have, although a preliminary proposal to increase that requirement met resistance Thursday from Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet.

There was agreement, however, that the agency - which is overseen by the governor and Cabinet - should push next year to change state law to require riders to take the safety course. Currently, people under 21 have to take it to get a motorcycle license, but no one else is required.

Highway Safety Executive Director Fred Dickinson told the Cabinet that in the last two years, none of the 150,000 people who have taken the course has died in a crash.

That bucks a grim trend.

"The last couple years we have had a tremendous increase in motorcycle fatalities," said Dickinson.

A study released last month by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that in the three years following Florida's 2000 repeal of its mandatory helmet law for riders over 21, the number of motorcyclists killed in Florida went up 81 percent over the number killed from 1997 to 1999.

There were 933 bikers killed in the last three years, versus 515 in the three years before the repeal.

The authors of some studies have suggested the repeal of the helmet law is to blame for the increase, but Dickinson and Bush both said they believe it has more to do with a huge surge in motorcycle ridership over roughly the same period.

The highway safety agency also has been considering asking lawmakers to increase the minimum requirement for medical insurance carried by motorcycle riders. Right now, they must carry $10,000 in medical benefits. The agency was considering increasing that to $50,000.

But Bush and the Cabinet balked at the idea and Dickinson said the agency would continue to work on the issue.

The increase has been pushed by hospitals and state health officials, who say that $10,000 doesn't cover the medical care for most serious motorcycle crashes and hospitals get stuck with the bill.

But riders say such an increase wouldn't be fair.

"Absolutely I have a problem with that. It discriminates against a group of people," said James "Doc" Reichenbach, the president of ABATE Florida, and lobbyist for 7,000 motorcycle riders.

It wouldn't be fair to increase the requirement for two-wheel drivers if it isn't increased for people who drive cars, he said.

"Seventy percent of accidents (involving motorcycles) are caused when the cars hit us," Reichenbach said. "Why are they blaming us?"

There was also concern on the Cabinet that it would be hard to find anyone who would write a $50,000 motorcycle insurance policy.

Reichenbach agreed that the increased education proposal is a good idea, but said there were problems that had to be worked out, mainly a wide variance in the cost of such classes and a lack of enough places offering them.

Any change will ultimately have to be decided next year by the Legislature.