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Daytona Beach Bike Week: A time for extra caution.

There are 9 days until the official start of the 68^th Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Florida.  Bike Week is the world's largest motorcycle event, and lasts for 10 days from February 27^th to March 8^th.   All throughout Volusia County there will be an influx of motorcyclists coming from all over the country, many of the expected 500,000 riders can already be seen arriving into the area for the festivities.

So all beware and heads up: Drivers: give bikers the lee way, have extra caution, and take extra time on the road. Remember that the majority of bike accidents occur with a car or truck driver that didn't see the rider or their passenger near them.  It is not an uncommon statement to hear that the vehicle driver never even saw the motorcycle before crashing into them while they were turning or changing lanes.  Make sure to look a third time before you change lanes or make a turn, to look for the motorcycle that is often hard to see.

As an accident attorney that has been helping seriously injured motorcycle accident victims for over 38 years in Daytona and all of North Florida, I recommend that this is also an important time for bikers to take extra precautions as well. Bikers: ride knowing that the cars and trucks around you do not see you, and be aware that many on the road over the next few will be drinking and riding or drinking and driving.

This is the time of year that Emergency Rooms in Volusia County increase their staff to help with the increase in accidents.  The worst year for Bike Week fatalities was 2006, when there were 21 deaths of bikers reported.

According to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Mary E. Peters, "motorcycle fatalities have more than doubled in the 10 years since the repel of the Florida Universal Helmet Law and now account for over 4,500 highway deaths and 78,000 injuries each year.  In addition, the crash rate among motorcyclists in the 50-plus age group has increased by over 400 percent".   Ms. Peters is a motorcycle enthusiast that wears a helmet and says it has saved her life. She is pro-helmet use and pro-motorcycle safety education, but against Universal Helmet Laws, as she feels the rider should wear a helmet for self protection, not because it is the law.

Bikers Beware:  Overall fatalities for motorcycle riders have increased dramatically for nine straight years due to a variety of reasons.

Here are some facts and factors that could put the biker at increased risk for death:

• The larger the engine's size of the motorcycle, the greater the chance of rider fatality.
• An at risk group for fatalities are the above 40 age group, where there has been an increase in the number of riders, and riders with bigger engines.
• Speeding.
• Not wearing a helmet - about one half of killed riders in 2006 were not wearing a helmet.
• Driving under the influence - forty-one percent of the 2,007 motorcycle riders who died in single-vehicle crashes in 2006 had Blood Alcohol Concentration levels of .08 or higher.

I have written frequently about the need for bikers to protect themselves from the under-insured or uninsured vehicle driver or owner, (which are the majority of drivers on the road today in Florida) this is a good time, before heading to Daytona, to check your insurance policy and make sure you have at least $100,000 of Uninsured Motorist Coverage and $50,000 of Medical Payment Insurance.

I hope all bikers, drivers and residents have a great Bike Week.  Have fun. Be safe. Take extra precautions. Remember to share the road!

For more information about Bike Week's events you can visit the official Bike Week site.

For more information:

I don't sell insurance: I "sell" being protected

Heads up to everyone on the roads in and around Daytona Beach 

Motorcycle riders need to protect themselves NOW more than EVER