The Record Online Edition, NorthJersey.com

MOTORCYCLISTS NEED MANDATORY SAFETY TRAINING

Thursday, May 22, 2008

BY PAUL EVAN KOVATIS

In the health care lexicon, motorcycles are called "donor cycles." Fatalities are frequently young, healthy people whose organs are donated after they die.

AS AN ORTHOPEDIC surgeon who treats victims of motorcycle accidents on a routine basis, I'd like to expand on the data presented in " 'It's like riding a bullet' " (Page A-1, May 2).

New Jersey has some of the busiest and congested roads in the entire country. Just drive Route 4 or Route 17 at rush hour if you don't believe it. There wouldn't be a "Road Warrior" column in The Record if this weren't true. Tractor trailers, cars, SUVs and motorcycles all compete for the same dangerous driving lanes.

With people riding unprotected on a machine that can accelerate from a standing start to 60 mph in three seconds under these circumstances, it is no wonder that motorcycle fatalities have increased. You do not have to be physicist or insurance actuary to calculate that a human being, even equipped with a helmet, gloves and boots, essentially turns into an unprotected human projectile in the absence of air bags, passive restraints or a metal frame, and cannot survive impacts at those speeds.

Trauma units throughout the state are filled with young, once-vibrant patients who have suffered unimaginable injuries as a result of these accidents. I personally lost friends and patients under these circumstances. Many I have treated are accomplished riders and not the "idiots" alluded to in the article.

High cost of care

In the health care lexicon, motorcycles are called "donor cycles" because their victims are frequently young, healthy people whose injuries prove fatal, but their organs are healthy and often donated at the time of their death. Pretty grim stuff, but that is the reality.

Furthermore, motorcycle insurance policies dictate that the rider can obtain up to $10,000 in medical payments for injuries. Injuries exceeding $10,000 would pass into their health insurance. Anyone who has been hospitalized lately can attest to the fact that $10,000 does not last very long these days, especially for serious injuries.

Furthermore, New Jersey does not allow personal injury protection for motorcycle owners. Unfortunately, and perhaps to the dismay of those in the motorcycle lobby, many riders do not carry health insurance. So when their motorcycle coverage is exhausted, they become medical charity-care cases.

Translation: Taxpayers foot the bill for their medical care; and that free care can be enormously expensive. My last motorcycle patient ran up a bill of over a quarter of a million dollars — all unpaid to date. Although this scenario also occurs with auto injuries, the chance of a horrible injury is greater with motorcycles due to their inherently unprotected nature.

Telling regulatory lapse

New Jersey is one of the most regulated, bureaucratic states in the nation, with mandatory seat belt laws, helmet laws and even boating safety training, all in the name of public safety. Given the clear and compelling data, the fact that there is no mandatory motorcycle safety training makes no sense and reeks of special-interest pandering.

The legislative director mentioned in the article uses "liberty and freedoms" as excuses not to have safety training. Pam Fischer, the director of the state Division of Highway Traffic Safety, mentions that "more study is needed" and "we must all share the road." That's the usual political cop-out expected from Trenton.

Given her quest for more study, I would be happy to walk Fischer through a trauma unit at a hospital of her choosing or introduce her to families whose loved ones have perished or have been mangled in motorcycle accidents. I would be happy to show her the unpaid medical bills that have turned riders' lives upside down.

Yes, we all must share the same congested and dangerous roads, but we must also share personal responsibility and common sense when we are on them. Fischer should wake up. They're not called "donor cycles" for nothing.

Paul Evan Kovatis, a physician, lives in Paramus.