According to the service manager at my local dealership, 2008 has been an unusually bad season for motorcycle accidents. He says that his shop has "tons" of busted-up bikes in various stages of disrepair all over the place and he can’t recall this many insurance claims ever coming through.

Although much of the evidence is anecdotal, some of the statistics floating around out there would seem to back this up. According to the U.S.-based Insurance Information Institute, motorcycle fatalities are at their highest level in over 25 years and have been going up steadily every years since 1996. That may be partially because there are more bikes - and large displacement ones at that - than ever on the road these days, but it’s also because there are also more cars than ever out there. Our highways and byways are getting crowded, and riding a motorcycle or scooter has become considerably riskier than it used to be.

For example, a driver recently ploughed into a group of bikes on a highway in New Brunswick, badly injuring six of them, and Andrea Pininfarina, boss of the legendary Italian automotive design firm, was killed while riding his scooter near Turin. Closer to home, there have been a rash of accidents in my hometown, the last one of which happened on one of the busiest streets in the city. An elderly driver turned left in front of a rider, who lost control, mounted the curb and collided with a utility pole. He died.

In fact, this last scenario is a common one. "I just didn’t see him" is a refrain frequently heard by law enforcement personnel and paramedics who attend these accidents. If you’ve ridden for any length of time, chances are pretty good you’ve been cut off yourself by an inattentive driver who "just didn’t see you." I know I have; more times than I care to remember. But I’ve never bought this excuse; I think drivers see motorcyclists, allright, but subconsciously choose not to give them their legal right of way. The eyes see the bike, but the brain doesn’t process the image. According to various studies in Europe and elsewhere, part of the problem here is that because a bike is so much smaller than an automobile, drivers may have a built-in sense of "safety superiority" that leads to careless attitudes and sloppy driving behaviour. Studies have also indicated that, being smaller, bikes are harder to judge in terms of their speed by some motorists, and, if it’s proceeding in a straight line towards them, a motorcycle can sometimes "fool" an oncoming motorist when it comes to location and speed. This seems to be especially true with inexperienced and/or senior drivers.

Despite what many riders may think, a left-turner failing to yield the right of way is not the most common accident involving motorcyclists, it’s the fourth most common, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, accounting for at least eight per cent of all motorcycle accidents. Having said that, it’s the most common mishap involving another vehicle. All the mishaps ahead of the failure to yield scenario are single vehicle accidents: a rider that fails to negotiate a turn in the road, falls off his/her motorcycle, collides with something else, has too much to drink, or similar situations.

In a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Transport, almost 70 per cent of all right of way violations between bikes and cars were caused by a motorist who failed to yield to an oncoming motorcycle. And according to the widely-read Hurt Report, two-thirds of all motorcycles accidents are a result of a motorist "not seeing" the bike, with predictably horrific results. And they are horrific. Don’t kid yourself; a motorcycle accident is a sickening thing to witness - or be involved in. I know; I’ve been there. Even at comparatively slow speeds, a rider can suffer tremendous injury in an accident and there’s an 80 per cent chance he/she is going to suffer an injury of some kind. Motorcycle accidents are life-changing events.

As a rider, there are some things you can do to make yourself more visible. A light-coloured helmet - especially white - has been shown to increase motorcyclists’ visibility by up to 25 per cent, and fluorescent-coloured clothing will increase your visibility odds by up to 45 per cent. Needless to say, always have your headlight on, and if you have auxiliary lights, put them on too. Try to remember: as far as most motorists are concerned, you are invisible. Ride accordingly and take nothing for granted.

On top of that, I would like to scream out loud and clear: A MOTORCYCLIST IS NOT AN IMAGE. That’s a real person on that bike, with a real life, and they are vulnerable to your stupidity. More importantly, they have as much right to be there as you do. How many more of us have to be struck down, lying on the street, like roadkill, before drivers smarten up? How many more motorcyclists have to die or suffer serious injury before people get the message?