Sadly, I’m writing this piece after yet ano-ther fatal motorcycle crash. A 25-year-old man from Naxxar was killed after coming off his machine and sliding into a crash barrier.
Everyone seems to be talking about how many bikers have had accidents leading to injuries and deaths. Media reports of the reckless racing up and down the St Paul’s Bay bypass abound, and opinion writers add their bit, saying powerful machines are in the hands of inexperienced riders. Motorbikes are dangerous, they all say.
But the problem is a lot more complicated than this, and such media knee-jerk reactions do not address the underlying causes. It’s not the motorcycle itself that is dangerous, but what happens when rider and machine part company when travelling at anything over 30km an hour. Here I need to use the analogy of the aviation industry.
Aeroplanes are light and inherently flimsy structures with no crumple zones, roll-over bars, airbags or passenger helmets, and no plane in the world can protect its occupants by withstanding collisions. Instead the whole aviation industry is based upon collision avoidance. Billions are spent designing systems to keep planes apart from each other and from unwanted contact with terra firma. This is why aviation is the safest mode of transport in existence.
Our political masters ofeither shadeare indirectly guilty of biker deaths through their sheer irresponsibility
In a sense, the same applies to motorcycles. Ridden within the limits of their design, rider capability and road conditions, bikes are almost completely safe, as long as one doesn’t come off the machine or collide. Which brings me to what happens when one does.
Existing crash barriers are designed to stop cars but are lethal to bikers, due to their upright posts. When bikers slide into these posts, even at low speed, they are always badly hurt, often lose limbs and are sometimes tragically killed. A few biker-friendly crash barriers with a safer lower panel have been fitted in some parts of the new Coast Road, but there is no firm commitment to continue a countrywide upgrade of crash barriers. This only emphasises the fact that to the authorities, biker safety is a mere afterthought.
The above is a prime example of bikers ending up with the short straw in a completely unethical project cost-benefit analysis, which values, for example, landscaping and energy-saving lighting above motorcyclists’ lives.
The same can be said about road-marking paint, which is slippery both when wet and on hot summer days. Proper road paint should contain either powdered glass or some other grit that ensures grip for two-wheelers.
Complaints have been numerous, and proper paint has been promised for ages, but nothing gets done.
When planning, road designers seldom, if ever, think about motorbikes, so, for example, road signs are placed in such a way that they block car drivers’ view of oncoming bikes. Road surfaces, cambers and temporary trench reinstatements leave much to be desired, too.
And what about the watering of roundabouts? Riders have often had accidents due to careless, automatic, timed watering that spills over onto the road surface. This practice should be banned immediately.
Which brings me to the subject of car drivers who ignore stop signs, use their mobiles, change lanes without indicating, perform U-turns, drive on high beams, etc. They are the dangerous ones who cause accidents, but it’s us motorcyclists who must bear the consequences.
The above three gripes could easily be solved within a few weeks (disciplined driving would take a bit longer but is achievable).
Yet our political masters of either shade are indirectly guilty of biker deaths through their sheer irresponsibility, by not having heeded our calls, over many years, for better safety.
This is why I am calling for a stop to blaming motorcyclists for all accidents when we really should be focusing on some of the underlying causes.
There are a number of highly experienced motorcyclists willing to advise the government for free, no strings attached, to reduce biker injuries and deaths. The ball is now firmly in the government’s court.
Stephen Zerafa is a campaigner on motorcycling and road safety.