Between January and October of last year, 379 motorcyclists were killed on Spain’s roads, a 35% increase on the same period for 2006 and, at a time when car deaths have fallen by 10 percent.

Contrary to what you may think, the profile of the average bike rider who dies on Spain’s roads is a man aged around 35, with a motorbike that is less than three years old and 500cc or more. Fatal accidents tend to take place on weekends on minor roads while exceeding the speed limit.

Over the last four years the number of motorbikes in Spain has increased by 35%, compared to a 10% rise in cars. At the end of 2006, there were two million motorbikes on the roads, half a million up on 2002.

The increase (Spain is now Europe’s second bike market) can be explained by a range of factors, including the country’s booming economy and low interest rates in 2006, coupled with the success of homegrown world racing champions Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. Married men buy motorbikes for weekends (perhaps in pursuit of lost youth and independence), while the divorced or single see them as a viable alternative to a car for moving around our increasingly congested cities.

It has also been easier to make the move to biking since the government changed the law in 2004, allowing full driving license holders permission to ride motorcycles up to 125cc without taking a test. In response to the rising death toll among motorcyclists, the government recently implemented a 36-point plan, to be rolled out over the next four years. The age that young people can ride a moped has been raised from 14 to 15, and they now have to take a two-part exam. The new A2 intermediate motorbike license is for those aged 18 or over with bikes up to 400cc. Riders wanting to move up to bigger bikes will need to have held an A2 before they can apply for the A license.

Juan Manuel Reyes, president of the Asociación Mutua Motera, the country’s leading motorcycle federation, welcomes the new measures, but says that more needs to be done to improve the conditions of Spanish roads,  particularly the removal of deadly steel barriers on motorways. He also says that motorbike driving tests need to be brought up to date in line with today’s high-speed machines.

The motorcycle industry estimates that sales of bikes will fall by 40% in this, the first year of the government’s plan. Anesdor, which represents businesses across the motorcycle sector, says that the new system of driving licenses is the best way to reduce accidents. But like the AMM, it sees little value in raising the age at which young people can ride mopeds, and says that the main problem among this sector is allowing passengers to be carried on them, which is how most accidents take place.

Asendor say that car drivers also need to be more motorbike-conscious, a practice that can only be instilled when learning, and as part of the driving test. They say that insurance company data shows that more than 90% of accidents involving bikes above 500cc involve cars. In 73% of cases, it is the car that is to blame.

The likelihood of dying in a motorcycle accident is 17 times higher than in a car, according to the European Council’s Transport and Safety Commission. Motorcycles now include key safety features like ABS or traction control systems, but there is still a long way to go.

It is now possible to buy jackets with built in airbags to prevent back injuries and even helmets with small airbags which protect the neck and back of the head, but the biggest part of a bike’s chassis and by far its most fragile, is still the rider.

Courtesy of the Leader at www.yourlocalnewspaper.info