Deer v M/C - Paging Dr. Bones

[BobFV1]

Bones - I lifted this post by Jeff Dean off of the MOA site. Any chance you can get access to the full article?
http://www.nerdseyeview.com/IMG/Canada/images/Canada_Road_Trip_07.jpg

Here is the abstract of what looks like a very interesting article of concern to motorcyclists in deer country:

"Journal of Trauma-Injury Infection & Critical Care. 60(6):1297-1300, June 2006.
Nelson, R Scott DO; Gustafson, Paul T. DO; Szlabick, Randolph E. MD

"Abstract:
"BACKGROUND: Risk of deer motorcycle collisions (DMC) continues to increase in Midwestern and East Coast States and is a growing regional public health issue.

"METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review of all motorcycle collisions involving animals over a 9-year period from October 1993 to October 2002. Data collected included Injury Severity Score (ISS), injury type, outcome, use of helmets/alcohol, time of year/day.

"RESULTS: Fifty-five DMC were identified, 49 drivers, and 6 passengers. ISS for helmeted patients was 6.02 +/- 4.6 and 17.6 +/- 14.9 for non-helmeted patients. There were 7 human fatalities (all without helmets). Of the 55 patients, 16% of those injured were intoxicated, without helmets, and had average ISS higher than those non-intoxicated. Head, chest and orthopedic extremity trauma accounted for >70% of injuries seen within the entire population. Incidence peaked in June/July, and 55% of the collisions occurred between the hours of 1800 and 2200.

"CONCLUSION: DMC are a significant public health issue in mid-western states. Education about helmet and alcohol use and safety on rural roads may be the best prevention. Continued research focusing on prevention is necessary."

Unfortunately, I cannot get the full text because I am not a subscriber to The Journal of Trauma.

Is anyone out there a subscriber? Can you obtain the full text?
__________________

[Bones]

Bob,
I can get a copy of that article through our Med Center library. I don't know the turn around on that, but I suspect the deer will still be out there, regardless. I will get the article and send a copy to you if you want it. I will see if I can access it online via one of the medical periodicals I subscribe to.

Jeff

[Bones]

"Conclusion: DMC are a significant public health issue................"

How about this?

Conclusion: Riding intoxicated, without a helmet, at night are factors contributing to DMC and subsequent morbidity and mortality."

The abstract certainly suggests that, doesn't it? As always, reading the whole article will be important in drawing conclusions properly, but from what I gleaned from the #'s presented, it is clear that those riding NOT at dusk or thereafter, WITH a helmet, NOT intoxicated, fared a lot better.

Jeff

[BobFV1]

Jeff -

I obtained a copy of the full article today - if you want to read it Pm me your Email address and I will send it to you.

[geechie]

...it is clear that those riding NOT at dusk or thereafter, WITH a helmet, NOT intoxicated, fared a lot better.

What is NOT clear, however, is why this is not smacked in the face with it obvious to everyone who rides.

George

[Dallara]

Hey, George...

It's always been real clear to me. Remember the "Deer" thread not that long ago?

It's not the deer that are the killer... It's the inattentive, unfocused, non-dedicated, uneducated rider who is stupid enough to drink and ride, and think he is so smart and so invulnerable that he need not wear a helmet.

Hell, even the deer know he's stupid.

An old mentor of mine (Jack Connolly) once told me that any motorcycle crash you were involved in was your own fault, period. If you put yourself in a position to get nailed then you were the only one to blame for getting nailed. There's another thread on the board much along those lines right now, only it deals with cagers. Why people don't apply the same attitude and vigilance when it comes to animals is beyond me...

Just my two cents... YM, OC, MV.

Cheers!

Allan (Dallara - NAABSCD)

[BobFV1]

Hey, George...

It's always been real clear to me. Remember the "Deer" thread not that long ago?

It's not the deer that are the killer... It's the inattentive, unfocused, non-dedicated, uneducated rider who is stupid enough to drink and ride, and think he is so smart and so invulnerable that he need not wear a helmet.

Hell, even the deer know he's stupid.

An old mentor of mine (Jack Connolly) once told me that any motorcycle crash you were involved in was your own fault, period. If you put yourself in a position to get nailed then you were the only one to blame for getting nailed. There's another thread on the board much along those lines right now, only it deals with cagers. Why people don't apply the same attitude and vigilance when it comes to animals is beyond me...

Just my two cents... YM, OC, MV.

Cheers!

Allan (Dallara - NAABSCD)

Allan -

Much of what you say is correct, but there certainly is an element of "when your number is up" here. Look at Larry Grodsky, one of the preeminent American motorcycle safety authors and educators - killed by a deer this past Spring. No less emminent a motorcycling authority than yours truly nearly nailed a fawn on a Virginia backroad in the early afternoon last Saturday.

I think we all need to buy deer tags.

[geechie]

It also boils down to the proper balance between risk and reward. There seems to be greater risk, these days, for DMC encounters. So it is up to us as rational riders to periodically re-assess that risk and behave accordingly.

If only it was that simple.

George

[DarthRider]

None of the riders I personally know, and would consider riding with, who have experienced deer strikes were of the "inattentive, unfocused, non-dedicated, uneducated rider who is stupid enough to drink and ride, and think he is so smart and so invulnerable that he need not wear a helmet" variety.

They were the "anti-that" and the strikes were not at dusk. Including the one who hit an 80-lb. Javelina!

It's a little like getting rear-ended by a cager...LOTS we can do to prevent or even mitigate it, but sometimes...

[Dallara]

No question, and certainly no argument to all of the above...

Like George says, it's a "risk vs. reward" equation every single time you get on the sled, and it's all up to you. All you can do is attempt to push back that inevitable bad situation on the motorcycle as far back over the horizon as you can...

As Roger brought up in another thread.

Understand, folks... I have had friends take deer, possum, raccoon, dog, coyote, armadillo, sea gull (in the neck, no less, and not crash!), dove, and worst of all, cattle strikes. I have never argued they are a danger to motorcyclists, only that they should not be eradicated simply so motorcyclists have a safer place to ride. All potential animal strikes scare the bejeezus out of me, but I try to pay attention, watch the sides of the road for possible animal sign, and ride the best I can.

Like you say about being rear-ended by a cager... There's not much you can do about that. Well, except for leaving your bike in gear at stoplights and signs, watching the mirrors, being to one side of the lane or the other so you have an "out" if you are behind another car, having things like Hyperlites to increase your visibility, etc. Point being is that you do all you can, and try your best not to get placed in the bad situation, and literally hope for the best.

I am much more fearful of errant cagers and their complete unpredictability than I am of animal strikes. Statistically there is so much more out there that is potentially dangerous to the motorcyclist than animal strikes that they fall way down my threat radar unless the conditions warrant it... And that's the thing... The *risk assessment*, if you will. In any given riding situation you have to set your threat radar to the proper targets.

If I am riding down a downtown street my animal threat radar is pretty much shut down, but my cager and pedestrian threat radar is at full amplification. And vice versa... When I am out on a Hill Country road at near dusk my animal strike radar is turned up to full warble mode, along with the loose gravel and road obstruction side band, and pedestrian is turned way, way down... and so on.

When I ride out near Padre Island and Port Aransas my bird radar is the one cranked way up high, as there are all sorts of birds, from sea gulls to killdees all over the place...

The only thing one can do is learn and understand as much about any and all possible threats, take whatever detection and avoidance measures you can, stay alert and vigilant, and then try and enjoy the ride.

Cheers!

Allan (Dallara - NAABSCD)

ps - I was not trying to imply that all animal strikes were by inattentive, etc. riders... Just agreeing with the studies findings that idiot riders who were drunk and stupid had a much more likely chance of being involved in an animal strike... Just like they would be more likely to be involved in a cager strike. Only point being the more of an idiot the rider is the more likely he is to be involved in any accident. I also don't think many of us hang around many riders who ride drunk, with no helmets, little or no protective gear, and with little regard for our surroundings... Hence, the people we do know who have had animal strikes are much like us in outlook and experience, and therefore on the small minority of that study's scale.

[Road Dog]

Here is my 2 lbs:

If the heards are going to be fed and managed in a manner to increase their populations then they should be deemed domesticated heards and should be controlled as such. If you feed the heard, put up a game fence.

If a land owner's business is leasing hunting rights on a managed herd and someone is damaged in a legal sense due to not controlling these business stocks, one of these days a slip & fall lawier is going to catch on.

Cheers,
Bill

[DarthRider]

I learned long ago...after the 14 year old Darth hit *2* dogs in 6 months on his Sears Moped...to leave the animal radar on all the time.
I usually am not even aware of it but "catch" myself once in a while continuously scanning for little "animal clues" like a hint of movement in stil grass, a shadow in a light area or vice versa, a patch of color that doesn't fit it's surroundings, any movement perpendicular to the direction of travel, ditches or road-side bushes that could conceal a critter, places where they might be, like near farms and neighborhoods, other non-threat animals that might have close-by buddies and other clues.
Infantry sniper & concealment training was a big help.
Works well for tots on trikes, dykes on bikes, cagers & cops, too!

[Wild Will]

where I live; you must scan the roadside for deadly vermin. I've almost (damned fine word, that) collided with deer, pigs, rabbits, 'possums, cats, dogs, boulders, cows and opposing traffic. Do I scan consciously? Yep. As much as I can, 'cause it's always a roll of the dice when you live in critter areas. I find it most intriguing that dearly departed Larry Grodsky (USA moto riding instructor/journo) "knew" he'd be taken out by a deer. It has validity because it happened just as he said it would. Why? Because he knew the deadly danger they posed to him. Some say, "that's the natural order of things, and man's the nature hating bastage after all", but I say beware the 200 pound meat missiles IF you ride where these tall road rats dwell.
I feel for the gentle, dumb animal that deer are; I loathe that I have this 100 horse back roads monster bike and these antlered gut bags can come at you from 90 degrees like a battering ram and really tear your bike up. I'm amazed that we have these fast single track devices of absolute accelerative power and we can collide with the loathed meat bag from hell at any minute!
Must be the Herradura rambling...

[Wild Will]

if you live in the city, you have little fear of animal strikes like the kind that killed grodsky and so many of my friends over the years. Traffic is your concern. It is my great fortune to be able to say that traffic is of no concern to me; but deer are a deadly menace to all but an uninformed fool, a new rider of limited experience or an NFL football star. One of my best pals was taken out by an uninsured illegal from China in San Fran driving a cab.
Death is death, mis amis.