Changes to Puerto Rico's motorcycle rider law.

Details

• Creators:
  Fell, James C. ; Ramirez, Anthony ; McKnight, A. Scott ; Yao, Jie ; Auld-Owens, Amy
• Corporate Creators:
  Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
• Contributors:
  Cicchino, Jessica ; Wochinger, Kathryn
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Office of Behavioral Safety Research
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Blood alcohol levels
  • Impaired drivers
  • Motorcycle helmets
  • Motorcyclists
  • Protective clothing
  • State laws
  • Traffic law enforcement
  • Motorcycle riders
  • helmet usage
  • protective gear
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT HS 812 397
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.21949/1525910
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Puerto Rico
• Edition:
  Final report, 05/10/2010 - 12/30/2011
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Abstract:
  In 2007 Puerto Rico enacted Law 107, a motorcycle safety law that introduced or expanded previous safety-related statutes ; such as requiring motorcycle riders and passengers to wear (1) reflective vests at night and protective gear at all times of day, ; (2) maintain daytime running headlights and taillights while operating the motorcycle at all times, (3) stay in the same lane ; as other vehicles, and (4) it lowered the illegal level of per se blood alcohol concentration (BAC) illegal level for motorcycle ; riders from .08 g/dL to .02 g/dL. The purpose of this project was to examine the degree to which the law was enforced, ; assess motorcycle riders' reactions to the law, and estimate the law's impact on motorcycle crashes, fatalities, and arrests. ; Observations of motorcycle riders found that 366 (86.3%) wore Department of Transportation-compliant helmets, ; 49 (11.6%) wore non-DOT-compliant helmets, and 9 (2.1%) did not wear any type of helmet. Over 80 percent of observed ; riders wore protective gear; 416 (98.1%) wore long pants, 340 (80.2%) wore protective shoes that covered the ankle, 397 ; (93.6%) wore some type of eye protection, and 354 (83.5%) wore protective gloves. ; Discussions with motorcycle riders indicated that riders accepted the statutes of the motorcycle law, especially those ; requiring protective gear. However, the perception among these riders was that enforcement of the law was lacking or ; uneven. Discussions with law enforcement officers revealed that officers perceived that helmet and protective gear use ; quickly and clearly increased among riders after the law’s enactment. Also, officers noted that it was difficult to recognize ; cues of impairment for motorcycle riders with BACs at or just over .02 g/dL. ; BAC data collected at checkpoints revealed that 6.5 percent of passenger car drivers had positive BACs compared to 29.1 ; percent of motorcycle riders. Data from citation logs issued at checkpoints suggest that motorcycle riders were cited at BACs ; lower than .08 g/dL. For example, about 20 percent of passenger car drivers and over 50 percent of motorcycle riders were ; cited at BACs between .01 and .07 g/dL. This difference may indicate that the .02 BAC law for riders was being enforced. ; Until 2007 Puerto Rico had experienced a steady increase in motorcycle crash fatalities beginning in 2003 with 54 fatalities ; until a peak at 2006 with 111 fatalities. Following 2007 (the year the law was enacted), fatalities decreased steadily, from ; 2007 onward with 83 fatalities, to 47 fatalities in 2012 (the latest data that were available at the time of this study).
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  DTNH22-06-D-00035, Task Order 0020
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/2091/dot_2091_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.04 MB]
• Collection(s):
  NHTSA - Behavioral Safety Research
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:a814745b0d2eb055a6573dc4eba3f399b70bb4dd934e15794f1cb18560ffb791