US military pushing for training for biking troops

[Bob]

The US military has made training mandatory for troops who ride motorcycles.

Pentagon top brass were shocked to find that in 2008, more marines died on motorcycles back in the US than were killed in Iraq or Afganistan. "That was a wake-up call," says Rear Adm. Arthur Johnson, commander of the Naval Safety Center. "It focuses your attention on what your real issues are." New Pentagon directives now require ‘servicemembers’ who ride to undergo training, including a course on advanced sportsbike techniques.

The training also includes psychological self-assessments aimed at identifying and stopping high-risk practices. As one fighter pilot who undertook training said "It's a huge problem that we have… the Superman complex. I survived IEDs (improvised explosive devices), bazookas, whatever."

Marines can't register their motorcycles on base and are subject to discipline if they ride without training. So far, 700 of the estimated 18,000 motorcycle-riding Marines have taken the course, said Peter Hill, the Marine Corps' senior safety engineer, who confirmed that since training began, accident rates have fallen.

[CookMySock]

It was the same with fighter planes - many more (pilots and planes) were lost in landing crashes than in battle.

Steve

[The Stranger:Me]

said Peter Hill, the Marine Corps' senior safety engineer, who confirmed that since training began, accident rates have fallen.

That is significant, given our governments position that training is bad and increases accident and death rates.

[AD345]

So far, 700 of the estimated 18,000 motorcycle-riding Marines have taken the course, said Peter Hill, the Marine Corps' senior safety engineer, who confirmed that since training began, accident rates have fallen.

That is significant, given our governments position that training is bad and increases accident and death rates.

Unfortunately, unless the USMC can show some pretty specific targeting of the 700 who have been trained, that not a significant enough sample to correlate a drop in accidents amongst 18,000 riders with the training of 700.

Unless of course he meant the accident rate amongst those who were trained

[carver]

someone show sarge

[Genestho]

was a guest speaker at the Pentagon regarding this topic.

His appearance at the Pentagon coincided with an announcement by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) that it has officially recognized the Kevin Schwantz School, making it thefirst outside training curriculum to receive this distinction.


“The feedback to Kevin’s participation at the event was very positive,” noted Managing Director of MSF Programs Al Hydeman. “Several of the military commanders expressed their appreciation to Kevin for assisting the military with its goal of decreasing accidents and fatalities among their forces through safety and training.”

The rest of the story

Go Kev!

[awayatc]

We don't want marines to die by accident while on leave...
We want them to be shot on purpose!

That's what we pay them for......

[Squid]

It was the same with fighter planes - many more (pilots and planes) were lost in landing crashes than in battle.

Steve

Is that because they land more often than shoot at each other??

We don't want marines to die by accident while on leave...
We want them to be shot on purpose!

That's what we pay them for......

Damn stright! Value for money and what not.

[Swoop]

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=73572

[caseye]

What do ya know, some sense at last.I look forward to hearing that all 17000,00 bike riding marines are going into battle on combat bikes with full kit. No actually I think the Yank Military are finally doing something good for their own guys and girls, there are girl marines right???