Theory: Alcohol And Motorcycles Are Incompatible • At a BAC* of 0.01 to 0.04%, judgment begins to lessen, the drinker is less critical of their own actions, reaction time is slowed, and indications of mental relaxation may appear. • At a BAC of 0.05 to 0.07%, judgment is not sound, thinking and reasoning powers are not clear, and the ability to perform complex skills is lessened. • At a BAC of 0.08% or above, judgment and reasoning powers are severely hampered, and the individual cannot complete common simple tasks without error. Proof: Statistics From Recent Studies (by NHTSA, Florida, Kentucky, and Australia) • Having any alcohol in one’s body increases the chance of crashing by five times. • Having a BAC greater than 0.05% increases the risk of crashing about forty-fold. • 46 percent of all motorcyclists killed in crashes were using alcohol. • One fourth of all fatal alcohol-related motorcycle crashes involve motorcyclists running off the road, overturning, or falling from the motorcycle rather than striking another object. Explanation: Alcohol Affects Your Ability To “SEE” SEE is the acronym for MSF’s strategy to help motorcycle riders maintain a safety margin as well as remain ready and able to respond properly to traffic situations. SEE stands for: • Search for hazards that might lead to trouble. • Evaluate how the hazards might interact to create risk; prioritize multiple hazards to deal with one at a time. • Execute an action to maintain a margin of safety. Alcohol affects these three human elements of safe motorcycle operation by impairing your vision (Search), judgment/decision- making ability (Evaluate), and coordination/reaction time (Execute). Recommendation: Plan Ahead • Ideally, riders should never mix alcohol with riding. Even low, legal limits of BAC increase your risk while riding a motorcycle. • Riders who fully appreciate the risks and decide to drink in moderation at an event should also have a backup plan; for example, to leave the motorcycle in a secure location and stay overnight or find alternate transportation home if they or the host decide riding would be unsafe. *BAC = Blood Alcohol Concentration www.msf-usa.org 5/06 |
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