I never drink and ride. The old pilot's adage of "24 hours from bottle to throttle" applies to motorcycles too!
The risk of crashing increases by a factor of 5X if the rider has any alcohol in their system, and a factor of 40X if their alcohol level is .05% or greater
Then, if they are in an accident, the table below shows the results (total disastrous outcomes) from the California accident study:
Helmet Use; Alcohol; # Accidents; Disastrous Outcomes # (%)
No Helmet Use; Yes; 83; 25 (30.1%)
Helmet Used; Yes; 20; 3 (15%)
No Helmet Use; No; 439; 35 (8.7%)
Helmet Used; No; 331; 12 (3.6%)
"Disastrous Outcome" in this context means a fatality or a brain injury serious enough to cause lifestyle changes.
Clearly drinking and riding is a major risk factor, and if one chooses to to drink and ride without a helmet and has an accident they are nearly 9 times! as likely to experience a fatality or serious brain injury as having an accident helmeted and sober.
But the risk factors multiply as you add risks. So, if a biker chooses to ride without a helmet with a blood alcohol content above .05%, the cumulative risk factor is 40 x 9. In other words, an unhelmeted modestly impaired rider is 360 times more likely to die or have serious brain injury than is a sober, helmeted rider.
Ride at night, and the risk is tripled or quadrupled again.
So, the most important risk management strategies to be employed (in addition to learning how to ride) are:
1. Never drink and ride!:newsmile059:
2. Always wear a DOT approved helmet!:newsmile059::newsmile059:
3. Avoid riding after dark, if possible. :newsmile059::newsmile059::newsmile059:
