AMA praises motorcycle industry for funding new motorcycle crash study

The American Motorcyclist Association today praised the motorcycle industry for committing $2.8 million to make a new study into the causes of motorcycle crashes a reality.

The motorcycle industry announced that it will provide the money through the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. The funding will go to the Oklahoma Transportation Center, which is an independent and respected research center at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.

That industry money will be used as matching funding for a federal grant previously approved by Congress. The terms of the federal grant required the motorcycling community to come up with 50 percent of the funding for the study. The AMA has also committed funding to the project, and the association has been collecting additional money from riders through its Fuel the Fund program.

Since 1973, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation has set internationally recognized standards that promote the safety of motorcyclists with rider-education courses, operator licensing tests, and public-information programs. The MSF is a not-for-profit organization sponsored by BMW, BRP, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Piaggio, Suzuki, Triumph, Victory and Yamaha.

"This commitment by the motorcycle industry is a vital ingredient in getting the first comprehensive study of the causes of motorcycle crashes in more than 25 years," said Ed Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations. "We recognize and appreciate the investment the motorcycle industry is making in its customers. Without this financial support on their part, we could not have taken advantage of the federal funding we worked so hard to secure."

The last major study into the causes of motorcycle crashes was completed in 1980. That study provided a wealth of data that has been used by organizations and individual motorcyclists to help keep riders safer on the road. But the traffic environment has changed enormously in the decades since, prompting the AMA to begin campaigning for a new study several years ago. That process continues with the Fuel the Fund program, designed to finalize the budget for the study, which is expected to begin this fall.

"With funding from the federal government and the industry in place, the motorcycling community is nearing completion of the long process leading to a new study of motorcycle crashes," Moreland said. "This is a tremendous example of the entire motorcycling community-businesses, organizations and individual riders-working together to secure this vital research designed to help prevent crashes and save lives on the highway."

Riders can still support this effort by going to the Fuel the Fund website.