Under what circumstances do motorcyclists drink and ride?
Riders described five typical circumstances that are likely to result in drinking
and riding.
- The most traditional circumstance of drinking and riding revolves around
bars that have traditionally catered to the riding community, popularly known
as “biker bars.” Some of these establishments even feature unique drive-up
serving arrangements that allow motorcycle riders to purchase and consume
alcoholic beverages without dismounting from their motorcycles. Individual
rider preference determines how much riding occurs after drinking in these
situations, but it seems quite common.
- Other bars and public establishments that serve alcoholic beverages serve
as routine meeting places and traditional social venues. Rider preference
determines how much riding occurs after drinking in these situations. Riders
said that perhaps not as much drinking and riding occurs here as might be
expected based on the number of motorcycles parked outside because some of
these riders may be displaying themselves and their motorcycles rather than
focusing on drinking. Also, concern for damage to the motorcycles may minimize
drinking.
- Riders in our groups described poker runs as organized rides on a route
consisting of destinations that riders visit to collect a card for their
hand (written verification of arrival at a particular destination). They
typically purchase products (alcoholic or nonalcoholic) or services offered
for sale by each establishment on the route. According to the riders in our
groups, traditional poker runs consist of circuits of bars, and riders are
expected to drink an alcoholic beverage at each stop. They stated that considerable
drinking can occur under these circumstances.
- National or regional rallies or meets are well known for the presence of
one or more “beer trucks.” Drinking and riding under these circumstances also
can be considerable.
- Club meetings may occur at private venues owned by the club or at a public
establishment’s meeting room. Drinking and riding under these circumstances
is a function of the drinking-and-riding policies of each club.
Do motorcyclists understand what the term “BAC” means?
Most riders understand that BAC is an abbreviation for blood alcohol concentration.
They understand the importance of BAC in a legal context with regard to DUI,
DWI, DWAI, and other prosecutorial distinctions, but they also consider legally
prescribed BAC levels as arbitrarily determined and not necessarily related
to impairment.
At what BAC do motorcyclists believe a motorcyclist becomes
impaired and riding skills begin to deteriorate?
Riders’ views on BAC prevent a clear answer to this question. All attempts
to explore this area were characterized by riders’ denunciations of BAC in the
context of impairment. Some riders were transiently willing to indicate that
riding skills deteriorated at a lower BAC than driving skills, but these discussions
did not result in a rider consensus in this area.
Should the illegal BAC level for motorcyclists be reduced
to reflect the level at which rider skills are impaired?
Nearly all riders were strongly opposed to the suggestion of lower illegal
BACs for riders only, but were less resistant if the BAC was lowered uniformly
for riders and for drivers of cars. Even riders who felt that a lower BAC level
might be appropriate from a safety standpoint thought that it would be discriminatory
and impossible to pass into law for political reasons.
Leadership Groups repeatedly stated that even if this level could be scientifically
identified, the motorcycling community would view the results with suspicion.
It might also run the risk of awakening latent motorcycling activist groups
into open opposition against this and possibly other motorcycle safety measures.
Additionally, it might be viewed as discriminatory and politically unfeasible.
What would motorcyclists be willing to do to reduce drinking
and riding?
Before riding, drinking riders are willing to reduce their drinking to levels
that they perceive as within their limit. Riders and road captains consistently
stated that their clubs have adopted and enforce policies to minimize drinking
and riding. These policies typically take the form of informal club rules and
more formal bylaws. Extending the use of followup trucks to riders impaired
by alcohol is one example of a current practice that minimizes riding after
drinking.
What are effective strategies for reducing impaired motorcycle
riding?
The results of the Rider Groups and Leadership Groups indicate that enhancing
peer activities; incorporating social norms models into drinking-and-riding awareness
programs; offering responsible server training and expanded crisis intervention
training to servers, event staff, motorcycle organization leaders, members, and
rank-and-file riders; and exploring the feasibility of encouraging motorcycle
impoundment as a countermeasure are promising approaches for reducing impaired
motorcycle riding. These strategies are discussed in more detail on pages 50-53.
What is the role of each of the following in addressing impaired
riding?
Law Enforcement Agencies
The results of this study support continued participation in enforcement, public
education, and educational activities. Leadership Group participants encouraged
widespread training of law enforcement personnel in the NHTSA program, “The
Detection of DWI Motorcyclists.” In addition, in jurisdictions with large numbers
of registered riders, law enforcement agencies should consider greater involvement
in rider training programs and direct involvement in drinking-and-riding prevention
efforts oriented specifically to the riding community.
Rider Groups
Rider Groups can play an important role in reducing drinking and riding. Activities
can include sponsoring alcohol-free rides and lock-ins, changes in formal and
informal club practices to discourage or prohibit drinking and riding, and other
forms of internal policing, where feasible. Umbrella organizations that reach
out to individual riders or that are considered influential or trend setting
should consider changes in sponsorship and publication policies to disassociate
motorcycling and alcohol.
Rider Training Programs
Encouraging expansion of training capacity is an important priority for these
programs. Rider training programs also might consider the feasibility of longer-term
followup with graduates of their programs. The Rider Groups spoke favorably
of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s Basic RiderCourse® and Experienced RiderCourse®.
Expansion of training opportunities for this program, especially with its integrated
drinking-and-riding elements, seems desirable.
State Motorcycle Safety Programs/State Highway
Safety Offices
These agencies should consider expansion of current mandatory training programs
across all States and future requirements for re-training for re-entrant riders.
Motorcyclists
The responsibility for reduction of drinking and riding weighs most heavily
on riders. Individual riders can encourage their peers not to drink and ride
and to refrain from participation in clubs and events that do not discourage
drinking and riding. They can also encourage their clubs and organizations to
sponsor lock-ins and alcohol-free events. The overall response from riders is
that they are already doing everything they deem appropriate to prevent themselves
from drinking and riding.
Highway Safety Organizations
As with State highway safety offices, the results of the Leadership Groups
suggest the need for a renewed emphasis on motorcycle safety within the total
complex of highway safety programs. Credibility would be enhanced among motorcycle
riders if some of these efforts also included motorcycle-awareness campaigns
aimed at car and truck drivers.
Riders in this study offered remarkably consistent reasons for riding motorcycles,
emphasizing themes of freedom, independence, and membership in a special community
of peers. Riders in this study appear to view themselves very differently from
drivers of cars, and this difference carries implications for prevention efforts.
For example, the motorcyclist is more inclined to accept and take risks and to
view himself and his fellow riders as individuals, responsible only to themselves
and for themselves for the actions they take and disinclined to change their beliefs
or behaviors based on mandates or suggestions from a centralized authority (e.g.,
government). This context is important when considering suitable strategies to
reduce drinking and riding.
The strong social fabric of the motorcycle riding community and the ongoing informal
peer-based activities to reduce drinking and riding suggest that building on existing
peer-based activity may be an effective approach to reduce drinking and riding.
This could be accomplished in two ways: (1) develop or modify existing peer intervention
curricula or training and (2) offer training seminars to leaders of nationally
recognized motorcycle organizations in a cost-effective, train-the-trainer format,
and disseminate this training to local motorcycle clubs.
The results of the Leadership Focus suggest that social norms models (Perkins
et al., 1999) should be explored for application to motorcycling, specifically
drinking and riding. Our findings suggest that this may be promising because (1)
riders report that their groups already discourage drinking and riding; (2) new
and independent riders may harbor misconceptions of rider views on drinking and
riding; and (3) the social norms model is already in use on college campuses and
in some state-based youth alcohol and driving programs. At least one university
has demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing on-campus drinking by 29.2 percent
(Johannessen et al., 1999) where students were educated concerning drinking norms
on campus, contrary to their perception of heavy drinking as the status quo. Social
norms modeling may also serve to reinforce ongoing and future peer-based interventions;
for example, expanding the norm of concerns for group safety (“don’t ride near
me”) to include concerted drinking-and-riding intervention (“don’t drink and ride”).
The Rider Groups offered a suggestion for awareness training for servers and event
staff in techniques for intervention with intoxicated riders. Crisis Intervention
Techniques have been used for at least 20 years (Mitchell, 1981). NHTSA might
consider exploring the applicability and portability of these techniques to servers
and event staff and also to motorcycle organization leaders and members.
Our findings suggest that motorcycle impoundment may be an effective countermeasure
to drinking and riding. Riders indicated that the risk of motorcycle impoundment
would discourage them from drinking and riding, more so than other potential consequences.
NHTSA might consider studying motorcycle impoundment and exploring the feasibility
of encouraging its expansion in circumstances of drinking and riding.
Our findings suggest that drinking-and-riding media messages should incorporate
specific motorcycle content. Riders indicated that messages should be aimed at
specific rider subcultures (e.g., sport bike riders, cruisers), rather than generically
at all motorcyclists.
Table 16 is a summary of varied approaches to reducing drinking and riding,
identified as promising by focus group participants.
Table 16. Strategies for Reducing Drinking
and Riding
Peer Activities
- Build on existing peer-based activities
(e.g., group rides)
- Offer training seminars to group
leaders
- Disseminate prevention training materials
to local clubs
|
Social Norm
Models
- Develop multimedia approaches to
change drinking-riding attitudes
- Address the “not-hurting-anyone-but-myself”
concept
- Move from “don’t ride drunk near
me” to full drinking-riding intervention
|
Intervention
Techniques
- Provide awareness training to servers
and event staff
- Provide crisis intervention training
to motorcycle organizations
|
Vehicle Impoundment
- Study impoundment issue
- Consider expansion of impoundment
laws
|
Targeting
the Drinking Rider
- Identify specific rider subgroup(s)
contributing to drinking and riding
- Use appropriate messages, images,
and media to reach the drinking rider
- Incorporate message: “Sober Riding
= Protecting Your Motorcycle”
|
- Focus group participants expressed considerable interest in the findings
of recent NHTSA studies. To avoid influencing their focus group comments,
we deferred responses to their questions to the end of each group meeting.
Riders most commonly asked about the type of motorcycles (sport bikes or cruisers)
that were most often involved in fatal alcohol-related motorcycle crashes.
This data element is currently unavailable. We recommend that future studies
of motorcycle crash fatalities try to capture this type of information.
- We recommend caution in expanding the role of victim impact panels in motorcycle
safety training. Polacsek et al. (2001) reported that victim impact panels
are not effective in moving individuals through the stages of change toward
not drinking while driving (Procaska et al., 1994, and prior studies). Furthermore,
de Baca et al. (2001) reported that exposure to victim impact panels is actually
associated with an increase in arrest rates for female repeat DWI
offenders.
- More research is needed on drinking and riding. In the absence of more specific
information, many riders will assume that they need not be concerned about
drinking and riding because they believe that the impaired riders at risk
are always “the other guys.” Information on age and engine displacement, for
example, is available from FARS, but other data are lacking. Are the older
impaired riders primarily riding sport bikes or cruisers? Are they primarily
novice or experienced riders? Answers to these and other related questions
will not only refine our understanding of the drinking-and-riding issue but
also will aid in the development of targeted information campaigns that may
be more likely to influence riders’ views.
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