Motorcycles are back and so are the dangers

By Lethbridge Herald on April 25, 2025.

Al Beeber
Lethbridge Herald

With spring here, more motorcyclists are hitting the pavement – a bad choice of words but you get the drift. There I go again….

With the weather finally making riding possible, if a bit uncomfortable at times, and summer on the horizon, motorcycle riders  of all ages and abilities are getting back into their saddles for commuting, touring or just socializing.

While all motorists have a responsibility to be aware of their surroundings at all time, motorcyclists can fall off the radar of other road users.

One reason is the rate of speed motorcyclists can approach other  traffic, another the smaller dimensions of two-wheeled machines. The Motorcyclists Confederation of Canada reiterates that latter point, noting that motorcycles aren’t easily visible to oncoming traffic  because of their size.

Every year in Canada, people die in motorcycle-related events, tragedies which are often preventable.

Statistics Canada figures from 2016-2020 show that on average 180 motorcycle fatalities occur every year in this country.

Colliding with a stationary object or running off the shoulder of a road contribute to 27 per cent of those deaths, a left-turn or right  angle collision (also known as a T-bone) were responsible for 25 per cent of deaths while 10 per cent of fatalities were due to head-on  collisions.

One risk factor played into more than half of those reported deaths while there were at least two factors involved in almost one-third of the fatalities.

Use of alcohol, cannabis or other drug was reported in 31 per cent of motorcycle fatalities while loss of control was reported in 27 per cent of cases. High speed was the cause of 24 per cent of deaths.

These are sobering statistics. And one can perhaps assume that drug use, speed and loss of control aren’t necessarily isolated from each other.

As you may have guessed, the rate of fatalities was seven times higher among men than women because data has shown that as many 84 per cent of motorcycle riders are men

The highest rate of fatalities, which may also not be a surprise, was in the age groups of 25 to 39 and 40 to 59, the latter having the highest rate of 7.1 deaths per one million population.

One in nine fatalities involved the victim riding with another person  on a bike but the person at the handlebars was the one killed in 84 per cent of cases. Six per cent were passengers and in 10 per cent of cases, the position of the person killed wasn’t specified.

More than half of fatalities between 2016 and 20202 -55 per cent – were caused in collisions involving two or more vehicles. The most common type of crash according to coroners and medical examiners were intersection collisions involving a turn across oncoming traffic or a T-bone.

Statistics Canada notes that in those four years multi-vehicle  fatalities occurred far more than single-vehicle incidents among female riders, 73 per cent versus 27 per cent. The figures for male riders were 54-41 per cent. What the rest were, Stats Can doesn’t say.

Intersections and highways at 31 per cent and 30 per cent were the leading locations for fatalities. As anyone who drives Whoop-Up regularly knows, with the way some cyclists ride, it’s surprising there have been no deaths on that city thoroughfare.

What I find particularly cringe-worthy is motorcyclists not only riding at high speed but also while wearing shorts or T-shirts – hardly the gear a person should be donning before going for a rip. As all of us who have ridden bikes know, exhaust pipes and engines get hot quickly and it just takes a split second distraction for mayhem to  occur, mayhem that can leave a rider bloodied on a road after asphalt and loose gravel shred skin.

One alarming statistic is that while the number impaired drivers of passenger vehicles has decreased, drug and alcohol use is still a problem among motorcyclists with 31 per cent involved in fatal collisions between 2016-20 having consumed drugs or alcohol, were  passengers with a rider who had used drugs, or were involved in a multi-vehicle collision with another vehicle whose operator had been using.

And fatalities involving drugs and alcohol were most often reported at night.

Road safety is everyone’s responsibility and as the southern Alberta riding season shifts into gear, let’s hope everyone stays sober, safe and alert.