Up until now, Estonia has enjoyed the «good kid» status in EU as related to fatal motorcycle accidents. This year, three people have lost their liver ere the season has begun in earnest. Already, this fills up our yearly average.
Bikers increasingly involved in accidents
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26th May 2015, 18:31
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Though no research has been made into the reasons, Road Administration traffic safety department chief specialist Reigo Ude did cite a main cause: traffic density is growing about seven percent a year while bikers are multiplying on streets of Estonia.
«I don’t think the bikers are more careless, perhaps this (riding bikes – H. M.) is gaining popularity and there are a bit more of the daredevil types around. While we used to have just the bona fide fans riding around, now we see those who think they’d give it a try and see. With folks like that, the background knowledge and skills may not be as good,» he said.
As also observed by Mr Ude, the beginning of a season – May and June – does come with somewhat more accidents than later towards the fall. He stressed that bikers need to take special care at the start of the season, the road conditions not being too good – the roads are not cleaned yet, they are dusty and feature more holes.
Road Administration is launching a study to scrutinize riding habits of bikers, and these related to safety. In Estonia, this has not been researched before.
As seen in Road Administration statistics, in three years there have been 253 accidents with a biker involved. In 2012 there were 65 such cases, 84 in 2013 and 104 last year. During the three years, these accidents had 265 injured and 11 dead – of the latter, ten were the people driving the bikes, one was riding in the back.
Serious accidents in 2015
On May 10th a man (25) lost control of his Yamaha on a straight section of a road in Viljandi, hitting a gate port to the right of the road. He died in the hospital.
On April 30th, a truck and a bike collided in Pärnu. The biker (33) perished.
On April 20th, a man (51) headed from Tallinn to Paldiski lost control of his bike and drove off the road. He died in hospital due to injuries.
Source: Postimees