More American troops have died on US roads in off-duty motorcycle accidents after they returned from Afghanistan than have been killed fighting there since September 11, 2001, safety records show.
Military commanders in north Carolina say the deaths are largely the result of boredom, bonus pay, and adrenalin to burn off after troops return from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nearly 350 troops have died on motorcycles since the 2001 terrorist attacks. That`s compared to 259 killed while serving in Afghanistan.
Nearly 1,000 more troops have been injured on motorcycles.
I’m not certain if the figures still hold true, but at one time more Snowbird pilots had been killed in road accidents than in airplane crashes. (Though, I suspect, like most risk takers, they tend to drive like they fly.)
In the course of my business I’ve had the pleasure of riding with a few customers and friends who race motorcycles. Oddly enough – or perhaps, not so – they’re among the most careful of street riders. Of course, a few high speed “get offs” can have that effect on someone.
“When the doctor told me that he was dead, I told him that wasn`t acceptable, it just wasn`t acceptable,” said Andrea Strickland, 22, the widow of Mark Strickland.
“I said, `He just got back from a war zone, and you`re going to tell me that he died doing something he loved?`”
Lt Gen James F Amos, commander of the Camp Lejeune-based II marine expeditionary force described the crashes in October as “a cold shot to the heart” and ordered a crackdown.
The following month normal base operations were halted to focus on safety, particularly for motorcyclists.
Sounds like they could use a few track days.
Motorcycles are incredibly fast and I can see returning sodiers feeling quite invincible. I am surprised at the numbers though. I also know first hand how a close call can turn a rider into a very safe person on a bike.
And how many of those motorcyclists were struck by CARS?
This is a safety issue to be sure but your headline is one of those tricks to minimize the risk of one controversial action by comparing it to something mundane. (Smoking and alcohol industry play this game, too) The basic fallacy is that the MVA death risk is an ADDITIONAL risk, not a substitute. Therefor the combat risk should not be minimized. (The headline implies its better off to be in combat.) By the way, these stats won’t fly if you try to make the same case for why it’s safer to serve in Iraq than ride a motorcycle in North Carolina.
Jeff
“Give them a bottle of wine and a motoercycle and I will not have to shoot them” : Adolph Hitler ( upon learming Canada had joined Britain’s war effort)
“Give them a bottle of wine and a motorcycle and I will not have to shoot them” : Adolph Hitler ( upon learming Canada had joined Britain’s war effort)
WL: When I brought my first motorcycle home, (in 1962), my Dad told me that when he was in Holland and Belgium during WW2, there were more CDN Soldiers in hospital from motorcycle accidents than from gunshot wounds! As he explained it- the bikers knew where the convoys were headed, (running without lights). At crossroads and so on, they would dismount to direct the convoy through, then they had to remount, work their way back to the head of the convoy, and do it all over again! Gawd!
I’m not surprised. Motocycle accidents are incredibly unforgiving. Young volunteer soldiers are a self selected sample of the brave ( and some stupid) , and suddenly you take them from dangerous as heck, to nominally safe environment and their guard drops.
Mother nature promptly exercises her lovely nature and nails you.
Another little datapoint: during the Kuwait War (Iraq Part Un, whatever) I was certain that the US and Co would win and win big, when in the first 24hrs I heard the that the airforce was taking fewer casualties/problems per 100 sorties in wartime than they get during peacetime training.
Oh, well, that makes war ok, doesn’t it.
MEANINGLESS INFO FOOL…..
you fucking cretin….the point of stat studies
is in comparing apples with apples
sorry…forgot I was dealing with cretins…let us grade school it SEE IF YOU CAN KEEP UP…NUMBNUTS….
in REAL STATISTICS [NOT BUSHIAN aw shucksism]
this SCIENCE [not faith-based]would be accomplished by comparing # of population against the death stat.
ex:# of TOTAL US males/deaths as against.. # of US troops deployed in iraq vs. dead…..GOT IT EINSTEIN..
AMERICA IS DOOMED…..and not by “left/right” divide…rather by intelligent clear thinking minority trumped by those who would refer to …o’reilly/limbaugh as :journalists
After selling my RZ-500 back in the 1980’s I’ve been riding off-road only. The reason for that was reinforced again this morning when some #$(%^$*$()#@!! imbecile in a Dodge Colt hung a left in front of my pickup at a light. Typical idiot manuever, got tired of waiting and pulled out without looking. His eyes got pretty big when he saw my grille looming over him though.
Had the road been just a little more slick he’d have had a quick lesson in driving ettiquete from my front differential. As it was, I missed him. Damnit.
But that’s why I drive the 4×4 and save the dirt bike for the weekends. Truck crushes moron in car is a far better outcome than moron kills biker and walks away.
Phantom: Yeah- and when you kill a biker with your car, your name and photo are rarely included in the newspaper report. (Frequently, the name of the dead biker is not noted either).
That’s ironic. But if you want to draw any real conculsions. How does the rate of motorcycle accidents for Afgan War veterans compare to the general population? What are the comperable rates for Iraq? And then, of course, since suicides are way up in those veteran populations, how many “accidents” were intentional?
Yet another right wing site insulting the sacrifices of the military with a ‘see, it’s tiny’ argument.
Any credible links to the info? Is it really compared to troops who fought in Afghanistan, or is it a number from the entire US military? Big difference there. Kind of odd if someone had broken it down by serving in Afghanistan.
And you won’t see this same story for Iraq, I expect.
I remember reading in National Geographic (an old issue from the 60’s in the basement..) of returning servicemen from Vietnam being shown motorcycle safety by army and civilian bike enthusiasts.The bike? a Triumph TR6R…looks like some things don’t change
I think the same statistic holds true for the U.S. civilian population in 2001 when you compare motorcycle deaths and terrorism.
I know that 3,181 Americans died in motorcycle accidents in 2001 while “only” 2,976 died from Terrorism.
Of course this says nothing as to how much more dangerous riding a motorcycle was as opposed to terrorism in the years prior and since.
So can I assume that since Americans were more likely to die at the handlebars of their motorcycles than at the hands of Terrorist in 2001, that it was an overstated problem?
Fascinating information indeed.
Does this mean combat is safer than motorcycle riding?
Makes one think, doesn’t it?
Hmmm… reminds me of my own driving style. I push the total performance envelope (when I’m not trying to save gas, of course) of whatever I drive. Dunno why; I just feel like it, ya know? It’s like, as long as I’ve got my hands on the machine, I might as well enjoy it.
However, I’m not stupid about it like the “Fast and Furious” crowd. I always ignore stoplight challenges from assholes in Civics and Cavaliers. Their machines may be faster, but they don’t really know how to drive. Hell, a monkey can drive as fast as any twenty-something moonbat in $200 hi-tops and baggy pants.
Youth think they’re immortal. Too bad the ones who find out they’re wrong don’t actually live to realize it.
Ever consider that killing yourself on a motorcycle might be the result of PTSD, otherwise what the F.ck is your point.
After WWII, returning vets formed a outsider MC club called the Hell’s Angels. They were post-combat misfits then, not the members of organized crime that they are now. T.E. Lawrence rode his Brough motorcycle fast as the wind on narrow English roads, maybe to regain the excitement he had known as “Lawrence of Arabia”. A long time racer of my acquaintance, (still rides in the senior class) won’t ride on the street. Most of the risks and riders on the track are known to him; the street has a surprise around every corner. Death by scooter as contrasted to death in combat is an interesting statistic; as shown by previous posts, some use it as a way to chuck merde at our neighbor.
Gee, motorcycles are dangerous. Oh, well I guess an unnecessary war of choice in a foreign land that had nothing to do with 9/11, had no WMD’s, and has only resulted in increased worldwide terrorism, put us $300 Billion in the whole but killed **only** 2000 soldiers and maimed, oh, somwhere upwards of 12,000 young men for their lives – really isn’t that big a deal.
[Close captioned for the sarcasm impaired] Come on!
If statistics like these have any meaning, one wonders why Americans got so upset by 9/11, after all fewer people were killed in the towers than are killed in cars in a month.
People who can’t click links shouldn’t play with “sarcasm”…
What a bunch of idiots.
Is that why Osama isn’t “that important” anymore? Does Bush spend his time thinking about motorcycles
now?
(Your post is weak, old man.)
Wow, there’s nothing like the descent of a horde of illiterate lefties for a thread to take a turn into the misunderstood and down the hill to the completely and utterly irrelevant.
BUT NEVER WASTE AN OPPORTUNITY TO BASH BUSHMCHIMPYHITLER AND THE OILBURTONWAR!
That’s what I hear, anyway.
Hmmmmm… let’s see here. 119 Americans died before ‘major combat operations’ were declared over by the president. 2133 have been killed since then. Let me just whip out my calculator and check the numbers…
Sweet! Being on the front line of a war is 19 times safer than keeping the peace!
Remember, righties: enlisting isn’t just patriotic– it saves lives!
Over 10% of deaths among American soldiers in irag are suicide. 50,000 soldiers lost their lives in Vietnam over 150,000 lost their lives to suicide when they came home.
I would agree with Kate here. This post wasn’t supposed to be so serious. Even though I missed the underlined word and the link, I got the point. Motorcycles are fun, therefore folks ride them. Just like driving is fun for me. I know full well I could perish doing so (particularly after a minor collision with an inattentive motorist who wouldn’t let me have the right of way), but I make the most of it and love it. Better than kicking the bucket while sitting on the hopper or something similarly mundane, ain’t it?
On the other hand, there’s no greater honor to die serving the cause of freedom by fighting evil!
Amen.
Hunt deer please! As a motorcyclist I would really appreciate it if deer hunters would get out there and blast away, there’s too many of them. It’s not like I’m paranoid(today), but I think Bambi is out to get me!
Your post is statistical nonsense. In order to make this case, you would have to prorate this statistic by the relative number of actual soldiers engaged in the various activities.
Since there are relatively few soldiers left in Afghanistan (compared to what we would need to, you know, actually hunt for bin Laden) and a far greater number of soldiers driving around outside of Afghanistan, I think it is pretty easy to spot this post for what it is – another dumb right-wing manipulation.
Kate,
I am a retired U.S. Naval Officer. In 1972, during the Vietnam War, the hospital wards at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, Oakland, CA, had as many motorcycle casualties in the severely injured and rehabilitation wards as they did war casualties.
Major Steven Pless, one of the Medal of Honor recipients of that war, was killed when run over by a motorist while he was riding his motorcycle home from work in Florida. He had been transferred back stateside less than four months when the accident took his life.