Half the dead on the road are motorcyclists |The nation

La mitad de las víctimas en accidentes de tránsito son motociclistas y el porcentaje con respecto al total de fallecidos en carretera viene en aumento en la última década.

From 1.January ° of this year and until August 16, the Traffic Police recorded 228 deaths in situ and that total, 113 were traveling by motorcycle, that is, 49.5%.

One of the most serious accidents was recorded on July 9 when a two -year -old girl, her dad and another adult died when he collided with another motorcycle on Route 32, passing through Guápiles de Pococí.

Against what the Traffic Law provides, on that motorcycle there were five passengers, the three deceased and two survivors.The girl did not even have the minimum age to travel in that type of vehicle (5 years).

Imaging, as in this case, is one of the factors that the Transit Police identifies to explain the increase of those killed in these two -wheeled vehicles.

10 years ago, in 2012, only 25% of total fatalities circulated in a motorcycle and since then the percentage weight has been growing, to exceed the 40% barrier in 2019 and now almost 50% in the first sevenmonths of the year, according to statistics from the Road Security Council.

The 2020 had a decrease, because 36% of the total deaths were motorcyclists, however, that is not a representative year because there were severe mobility restrictions as a product of the pandemic.

In addition to recklessness, some of the causes of growth in the number of motorcycle deaths derive from now more people are users of this type of vehicle, speeding, mechanical failure and drunkenness.

Finally, being a low -cost good, which can even be acquired in a supermarket, is more accessible to the population, which is rarely educated to learn to handle it responsibly.

In addition to measuring motorcycle accidents by the number of victims, it can also be evaluated according to growth in the total number of accidents.

Data from the National Insurance Institute reveal that in 2016 there were 15.246 accidents with motorcyclists involved and the figure continued up to 18.869 incidents in 2019.There was a decrease in the 2020 product of the restrictions of the pandemic, when 14 were reported.149 and from January to April 2021 were 5.484.

If only the first four months of 2021 are analyzed, that figure represents 60.6% of all accidents attended by car insurance in that period (9.040).

On average, the medical care of an injured motorcyclist is around ¢ 2.1 million.

"Many of the accidents, a great concentration, is given by violations of the law and the little responsible education in the behavioral part," said German Marín, director of the Traffic Police in an interview with La Nación.

As he explained, when reviewing the figures of the last decade there are parameters that are repeated, for example, that the vast majority of motor victims in motorcycle are young between 20 and 34 years.

Many of them migrate from pedestrians to motorcycle drivers without going through theoretical and practical exams to obtain a license and that translates into risks on the road, such as not using safety, helmet and vest devices or leading to excessive speeds.

That is why the fines of the law try to be a deterrence "so that drivers are inhibiting practices outside the law and thus strengthen road safety," said Marín.

“I don't have to save the 10 seconds that I delay putting the helmet, that decision can mean the difference between life and death.The objective of the helmet is not to avoid a fine, but a protective element to save my life.The helmet does not have to go in the elbow, ”lamented the official.

Rural zones

This type of behavior is exacerbated in rural areas, as the motorcycle is an ideal vehicle to travel short distances, such as the house to an agricultural production farm.

Unfortunately, Marín reiterates, in those zones it is possible that the driver has no license, does not use the safety devices required "because I go there more", or that travel with more occupation than allowed, because there the road controls are morescarce that in urban areas.

For example, on August 18 a team of this medium could verify how an adult circulated on the motorcycle with three minors, one of them did not even have the minimum age to travel in that type of vehicle in Ticabán, in La Ritafrom Pococí.

“In places where people feel that they are in their place of residence where everything is very close and they are going to do a diligence or sent.

“Sometimes the helmet is close in case a transit officer are located, but we are going to a behavioral and cultural issue, the helmet is not for the officer not to do the fine, the helmet is demanded because it is a mechanism, aTool to avoid driver injuries, ”Marín explained.

In the fight to eradicate irresponsible behaviors on the road, since April of last year the Road Safety Council evaluates, in the theoretical license test, a specific chapter on motorcycle driving.

This section explains aspects how to always use the helmet, travel with the light on and correct postures to drive a motorcycle and avoid traffic accidents.

[Driver's manual will include chapter for motorcyclists]

Rebound in accidents

Considering all accidents, not only motorcyclists, the Traffic Police recognizes that in 2021 “normal” roads of road deaths have been re -registered, because this year the restrictions on road mobility that were imposed in the firstMonths of Pandemia.

The most recent data released by the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation speak of 215 fatalities between January and July of this year, that is, 42 more than between January and July 2020.

“This year unfortunately the trend has been to the increase compared to 2020 with 2021 where we had several months in numbers of 30 (deceased), which are already numbers that begin to be high and that are very similar to the year 2019 and that yearBack, ”said Marín.

Vanessa Loaiza and Reiner Montero collaborated in this information.