Improvements in saftey ?

I first went to the British GP in 1989, this was the first major motorcycle racing I'd been to and I was horrified at the amount of people hobbling round on crutches or with bits of metal holding their legs together, or even just horrendous scars of past injuries.

I was thinking about this last sunday as I sat frying in the Donnington sunshine.
I only saw one guy on crutches and another in a wheel chair wearing sort of a rib / back brace. (he later took it off and stepped out of his wheelchair).

So are we being more careful these days or have improvements in protective equipment improved in the last 16 years saved us from more serious injuries. ? (or are we just wearing it more) ?

Or perhaps the walking wounded decided to watch it on telly !

or,

do people with more serious injuries stay away cos of the huge crowds and hassle getting off the site at the end of the day?

I guess that over the years road safety has improved and certainly the amount of accidents has reduced over the years also. But also I think the bike test has improved since then and awareness of bikes and the injuries has improved. That said you could say that bikes are far more dangerous now with all that bhp and very little weight even though some brakes are very efficient at scrubbing off speed. But the equipment has improved a fair bit with kevlar this and back protectors. Who knows eh!

[Biker Biggles]

Protective kit has improved massively.Armour was a rarity then,more common was a bit of padding in elbow and shoulder,and back protection consisted of a thicker bit of padded leather hanging down by your bum.
The other thing that has leaped forward is tyres.Most tyres then had no grip in anything less than perfect riding conditions,and therefore the brakes did'nt work either.
I also have to admit that the newish fashion for riding with headlight on seems to make bikes far more visible to dozy cages.

[fizzwheel]

I saw a fair few people hobbling about on crutches and a couple of guys in wheelchairs.

I think that whilst it probably has got safer. Motorcycling is much more popular now so thats why you see more walking wounded.

On a similar vein, the helmet law in Pensylvania was repealed a couple of years ago due to the election of a bike loving Governor. However it has been noted that the number of serious and fatal head injuries since has increased alarmingly.

So I guess the suggestion might be..legislation or not if it can save you....wear it.

[northwind]

Funnilly enough, in a lot of studies helmets and protective gear have increased serious injuries, as they make previously fatal accidents survivable The total killed and seriously injured by proportion of total bike crashes mapped against speed is way down, though.

Originally Posted by northwind

Funnilly enough, in a lot of studies helmets and protective gear have increased serious injuries, as they make previously fatal accidents survivable The total killed and seriously injured by proportion of total bike crashes mapped against speed is way down, though.

Yep, and don't forget the improvements in medicine since then

jenni wrote:

don't forget the improvements in medicine since then

Err since when exactly Jenni? Florence Nightingale's days perhaps? :P

[northwind]

Har har. Tons of good upgrades in medicine recently. Take my rubber hip. 10 years ago, it would have meant a full hip replacement with all that entails (permanently reduced mobility, more muscle damage, and frequent future surgery for the rest of my life) or alternatively, months in traction (with, I'm told, a fatality rate as high as 1/5). Or alternatively, break it on monday, fix it on tuesday, discharged by next monday and close to fully fit after a year and a half with potentially a perfect prognosis.