OCEAN CITY, Md. - Bikers may not like to think about it, but if you crash on a motorcycle, your chances of dying are 35% higher than if you were in a car - that's according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"The issue that we have is everybody thinks motorcycles are fast and dangerous, but it's actually the operator," Corporal Chuck Russell of Prince George's County Police Department said.
In 2008 alone, Maryland saw 83 people killed in motorcycle crashes and 1,500 injured. "On a normal roadway, like a 50 miles an hour roadway where a motorcyclist is traveling down and somebody pulls out in front of them, the devastating effects that could have for the motorcyclist," Lieutenant Schreier of the Worcester County Sheriff's Office said.
Police officers from all over the state of Maryland gathered in Ocean City this week to get special training in motorcycle crash investigations. They tell us these crashes are not easy to investigate. "Once a bike does hit, what were dealing with is the aftermath of the wreck, not the wreck. So we have to start from ground zero and work backwards to figure out what happened," Corporal Gary Lewis of Montgomery County Police Department said.
A part of the crash reconstruction course includes a simulation of a motorcycle crash. Lieutenant Schreier says the most common crash a motorcycle encounters is a vehicle turning left in front of it. We're told bike crashes are deadly at any speed. "We've done testing at 35, 30 miles an hour, 60 miles an hour, and they're relatively close and similar in result," Corporal Russell said.
Officers hope these types of demonstrations will erase any misconceptions people have of motorcycles and speed.
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