The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to mandate that all motorcycles come with antilock brakes that prevent the risk of an accident. According to the IIHS, motorcycles that have antilock brakes are less likely to skid and crash when the motorcyclist applies the brakes, than motorcycles that do not come with antilock brakes.
To California motorcycle accident lawyers, it comes as no surprise that the IIHS has made such a request to the federal agency. Last month, the IIHS released the results of a study, which indicated that motorcycles that came equipped with antilock braking systems had a risk of being involved in an accident that was 38 percent lower than motorcycles that did not come with these features. According to the IIHS, it found it hard to get motorcycle manufacturers to make these systems mandatory on all bikes, and therefore, decided to appeal to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
However, support for the proposal from the motorcycling community has not exactly been gushing. The Motorcycle Industry Council told the New York Times that the group did not have enough evidence to indicate that the benefits from having antilock braking systems on motorcycles, were sufficient to mandate that these be required on all motorcycles.
Antilock brakes may not make as much of a difference when you’re driving a car, but on a motorcycle, the situation can be vastly different. Motorcycle braking systems are much more complex, and harder to use. If you brake too slowly, you risk crashing into the vehicle or object that you’re trying to avoid. If you brake too fast, you run the risk of skidding, or even worse, flipping over. Either of these situations can lead to serious injuries or fatalities for the motorcyclist.
The IIHS does have support from independent researchers elsewhere in the country. According to researchers at the National Crash Analysis Center at George Washington University, antilock brakes would make motorcycles safer.
Given the speed with which the NHTSA reacts to recommendations that would keep Americans safe, California motorcycle accident attorneys won’t expect to see antilock brakes as mandatory equipment on motorcycles for at least the next few years.
