In another example of a tiny bit of information being a dangerous thing, an English policeman has denounced motorcycles for killing the Baby Boomer generation.
Hampshire's chief constable, Alex Marshall, recently told The Portsmouth News: "Mature people riding motorcycles are having accidents and that is something we will be focusing on."
What disturbs Marshall is that of the six recent motorcycle fatalities in the southern coastal county "three of those motorcyclists were in their 40s to 60s".
Now that might shock those who think our golden years are best left for parcheesi and shuffle board, but it hardly warrants a "Police warn on mid-life crisis motorbike risks" headline.
The screaming headline implies, of course, that motorcycling is a young man's pastime and, if we born again bikers are dying while riding, then it must be because we, the ageing, are simply too doddering to ride our steeds safely.
The fact missed by the chief constable and others decrying that "Baby Boomers Are Killing Themselves On Murdercycles" is that the reason older riders are crashing their motorcycles in greater numbers is because it is older riders who are riding motorcycles in greater numbers.
The average age of Harley-Davidson riders in the United States was 48 in 2007. That decreased last year by two years, says Harley's vice-president, Bill Davidson.
Nonetheless, the median age for a first-time Harley owner is 43, while 20 per cent of Harley owners are 55-plus.
The statistics for the rest of the industry are not much different. According to a survey by the American Motorcycle Industry Council, the median rider age is 41 (in 1985, it was 27, according to the same source). But since the median age for motorcycle-related fatalities is 38, we aged and infirm types are actually under-represented. Indeed, motorcycle riders under 30 are 50 per cent more likely to perish in motorcycle accidents than riders aged over 40.
The In-depth Study of Motorcycle Accidents report for the British Department of Transport in 2004 showed that 16 to 20 years old and 30 to 35 are the peak age ranges for motorcycle accidents.
In the UAE, nine motorcyclists were killed on the roads of Abu Dhabi in 2008. There were 196 motorcycle accidents in total, resulting in 25 serious injuries, 92 moderate injuries and 70 minor injuries.
Exact figures about the age of motorcycle accident victims were not available but a spokesman for the Abu Dhabi Traffic police said mostly "younger" riders were involved in these crashes. Marcel Bode, the general manager of Harley-Davidson UAE, says the average age of a Harley buyer here is 39. Safety is "absolutely important" to the company, he added.
"All buyers are automatically made members of a Harley-Davidson riders group and made aware of the advanced training that we offer," Bode says. "We have safety officers who organise the training."
What is killing riders around the world is not necessarily age but alcohol, lack of training and, in some parts of the United States at least, the repeal of helmet laws. Almost 60 per cent of motorcycle fatalities happen at night and half of the fatalities involve riders failing to negotiate a curve.
Alcohol is a major contributing factor to the above because motorcycles, unlike cars, require perfect balance of the operator. Additionally, a study by the American National Highway Traffic Safety Association found that one-third of riders killed in accidents did not have a proper motorcycle operator's permit and that the helmetless were over-represented in fatalities.
That we ageing 'Rubbies' (rich urban bikers) are neither the cause nor the victims of an overly large percentage of motorcycle fatalities does not alter the fact that motorcycling is a sport best enjoyed by the cautious.
According to the authors of that 2004 British study, motorcyclists make up less than one per cent of vehicle traffic but riders account for 14 per cent of total deaths and serious injuries on Britain's roads. When the comparison is made according to kilometres driven, the news gets worse (bikers, being seasonal animals, tend to cover fewer kilometres per year), with a motorcyclist 28 times as likely to be killed or seriously injured compared with car drivers for the same number of kilometres driven.
Notwithstanding the erroneous conclusions of the Hampshire chief constable, the advice to motorcyclists remain the same no matter which part of the world you ride in. Don't drink and ride. Wear the best safety equipment you can afford, including a full-coverage helmet, gloves, boots and a jacket.
As well, any time you switch motorcycles, give yourself time to acclimatise. So much of safe motorcycle operation is tied to familiarity with the bike's response and controls.
It's also worth noting that the type of bike you ride also seems to affect how you ride. According to the American Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, riders of supersports - those race-replica "crotch rockets" - account for 23 deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles.
Just riding the "naked" versions of those same sport bikes seems to make bikers ride more safely as they average 10.7 deaths per 10,000 register motorcycles. But riding a cruiser cuts that statistic again in half, averaging 5.6 deaths per 10,000 in 2005.
It also helps if you're female; in Britain, males are 12 times as likely to have a motorcycle accident, though, according to that same National Travel Survey, they are only seven times as likely as women to make a motorcycle trip.
It is also worth noting that, in England at least, large displacement motorcycles (500cc and up) are under-represented in accident statistics, even though they are the largest group by both registration and kilometres travelled.
The most over-represented size of bike involved in accidents was the 50cc to 125cc motorcycles, mainly, according to the accident study, because these are the machines "most often used by young, inexperienced and learner drivers".
In the end, however, it's not what you ride, but how you ride. The most important advice for safe motorcycling remains constant; ride as if a calamity awaits you around every corner, and to the paranoid go the spoils.
motoring@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz E 300 Cabriolet
Price, base / as tested: Dh275,250 / Dh328,465
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 245hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,300rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
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The biog
DOB: 25/12/92
Marital status: Single
Education: Post-graduate diploma in UAE Diplomacy and External Affairs at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: I love fencing, I used to fence at the MK Fencing Academy but I want to start again. I also love reading and writing
Lifelong goal: My dream is to be a state minister
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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%3Cp%3EAsked%20to%20rate%20Boris%20Johnson's%20leadership%20out%20of%2010%2C%20Mr%20Sunak%20awarded%20a%20full%2010%20for%20delivering%20Brexit%20%E2%80%94%20remarks%20that%20earned%20him%20his%20biggest%20round%20of%20applause%20of%20the%20night.%20%22My%20views%20are%20clear%2C%20when%20he%20was%20great%20he%20was%20great%20and%20it%20got%20to%20a%20point%20where%20we%20need%20to%20move%20forward.%20In%20delivering%20a%20solution%20to%20Brexit%20and%20winning%20an%20election%20that's%20a%2010%2F10%20-%20you've%20got%20to%20give%20the%20guy%20credit%20for%20that%2C%20no-one%20else%20could%20probably%20have%20done%20that.%22%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The Laughing Apple
Yusuf/Cat Stevens
(Verve Decca Crossover)
ICC Awards for 2021
MEN
Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
Bournemouth 0
Manchester United 2
Smalling (28'), Lukaku (70')
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
The specs: 2018 Bentley Bentayga V8
Price, base: Dh853,226
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 550hp @ 6,000pm
Torque: 770Nm @ 1,960rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.4L / 100km
As it stands in Pool A
1. Japan - Played 3, Won 3, Points 14
2. Ireland - Played 3, Won 2, Lost 1, Points 11
3. Scotland - Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1, Points 5
Remaining fixtures
Scotland v Russia – Wednesday, 11.15am
Ireland v Samoa – Saturday, 2.45pm
Japan v Scotland – Sunday, 2.45pm