Lucky Idiot

Maslow Magnotti is one lucky idiot.

Who is Maslow Magnotti? He’s the 20 year-old student who crashed his newly purchased YZF600 on I-90 last month within minutes of picking it up from the seller. He is also the subject of Monday’s page one article in the Seattle Times. Headline: Motorcycle ridership grows; rider death rate grows faster

That is the kind of headline that makes lawmakers salivate and scream, “Something must be done!” 

Magnotti had never owned a motorcycle in his life. He had no training. He had no endorsement. (He says he was unaware of the requirement for an endorsement.) Nonetheless, when he got on that bike, he was a natural.

“When I drove it, it came natural to me,” he said. “I thought, ‘Wow!’ At 40, it felt like I was going 20. I thought this was pretty easy to ride.”

Ah, the arrogance of youth. So off he went. Eastbound on I-90, with his girlfriend following in their car. He was going about 70 (which must have felt like 35) near Snoqualmie when “a sharp right-hand turn came, so I leaned,” he said.

Had “Notti Magnotti,” as he is known on MySpace, bothered to take a riding course, he would have known that a motorcycle does not turn because it is “leaning”. It leans because it is turning. The result of this common newbie mistake is all too predictable.

“And it turned a little bit, but it didn’t turn enough. I tried to lean more and it didn’t quite turn enough. I was almost off the left side. When I got really close to the grade, I tried to brake really slowly. Either the bike wobbled, or I hit a storm drain, or something.

“I knew it was going over. I tried to lay it down, with the bike sliding in front of me.”

According to the State Patrol Magnotti’s motorcycle hit a tree, throwing Magnotti off with enough force that he was knocked out of both shoes. To his dubious credit, Magnotti admits that his inexperience caused the crash.

“The bike seemed like it was easy to ride,” he said, “but at a sharp curve at 65, 70, it wasn’t so easy.”

This sad tale makes the front page of The Seattle Times. Notti Magnotti, poster child for what not to do, provides yet another opportunity to trot out the already well worn statistics about motorcycle fatalities in Washington.

1. One-third of the motorcyclists involved in fatal crashes on Washington roads didn’t have endorsements.
2. Most fatal accidents occurred during the day, in dry weather.
3. More than 80 percent took place between April and September, prime riding weather.
4. Half involved just one motorcycle and no other vehicles.
5. The most common causes were inability to stay in the lane of travel, speeding, alcohol and inattention.

Let’s look at item 1. One can turn this statistic upside down and say that 70% of riders involved in fatal crashes were endorsed. Take it to the extreme: if every single rider in the state was endorsed, then 100% of the riders involved in fatal crashes would be endorsed. The statistic is meaningless without context. What percentage of the total motorcycle riding population is endorsed? The real question is do unendorsed riders represent a disproportionate segment of the fatal crash population.

Lawmakers have taken action to reduce the number of unendorsed riders. A new law that takes effect on July 22nd will allow law enforcement to impound the motorcycle of any rider found to be riding without a proper endorsement. It is hoped that the threat of impound will encourage more riders to get their endorsement.

Of course it has been legal to impound the vehicles of unlicensed drivers for some time. But in my experience it does not happen often. Impoundment is an option; not a requirement.

Items two and three always make me chuckle a bit. They are the kind of factoids that sound good on TV and look good in print. Basically they are saying that most motorcycle fatalities happen when most people are riding motorcycles. Well, duh. It’s pretty damn difficult for someone to be killed in a motorcycle accident when they aren’t riding a motorcycle.

That leaves items four and five. With the exception of alcohol involvement, which I will address in a moment, these are all skills-related. Mandatory rider training would address most of these. Soon the state-subsidized fee for the Basic Rider Course will increase from $100 to $125. The increase is intended to be used to expand the program to serve more riders. I sure hope that works. However, one has to wonder how a rider who is unwilling to spend $100 to get trained is going to be convinced to spend $125.

That leaves alcohol. I have said before that alcohol related motorcycle fatalities should not be counted in the fatality statistics. They should be counted as suicides. Anyone who gets on a motorcycle while under the influence is suicidal. Simple as that.

As for Magnotti, his injuries are expected to heal in about a month. He says he will consider riding again.

“I’d do it again — if I take a safety course,” he said.

That’s the smartest thing I’ve heard him say.