Safety for the Riders:
the number one priority!

We all know that in motorcycle races safety depends on both passive and active factors. Active safety features prevent accidents from happening, while passive safety features lessen the chance of death and serious injury in instances where an accident is unavoidable.

Among passive safety factors are the design of racing circuits, for example, and the protective clothing worn by Riders.

Active safety factors include the motorcycle itself with all the technological advances we have seen, and, most important of all, the Rider’s own behaviour.

All the advances we see today are the fruit of tremendous efforts made over the last seventy years to avoid and ideally totally eliminate fatal accidents. We can identify two key dates in this connection: 1949, when the era of modern motorcycling began, and the end of 2018.

The work done on the configuration of racing circuits alone has had extraordinary results. Let us look at a few statistics. Between 1949 and 1988 the number of serious accidents was high. We had one serious accident in every eighth Grand Prix. From the data we have collected, we know that from 1989 until 2018, roughly the last thirty years, the number of fatalities fell by 95%, to just one serious accident for every 70 Grand Prix.

As regards clothing, one of the most important advances was the introduction of the full-face helmet and the back protector. Only very recently, we have seen the advent of the rider’s air bag and it would be a good thing if its use could be extended to all riders in all classes.

There have also been great steps forward in terms of motorcycle technology: there is a huge difference between the motorcycles we were riding fifty years ago and those that riders use today. In recent years, four-stroke engines have been introduced in all our races.

In the 1970s, the first slick tyres were used and disk brakes were introduced. With advances in electronics and the addition of the multiplicity of gadgets racing motorcycles are equipped with today – particularly in the MotoGP class – one that has make a great improvement in safety is what we call ‘traction control’.

And finally, as regards riders’ behaviour on the track, the rules provide for sanctions to deter riders from behaving in a way that can endanger themselves and other riders. Bearing in mind that new Junior championships have been introduced in recent years, it is vital that these sanctions be very strictly applied.

As these youngsters are learning the job, it is important to pay great attention to the way the riders approach the competitions, so that they can reach the World Championships serenely and with the necessary technical mastery. Equally importantly, though, we must teach them how to behave. The way they are trained from the first stages will have a defining impact on the way they act on the track.

The admission of these young riders into new Junior Championships should be based on a holistic approach: their technical skills must be assessed, of course, but at the same time it is vital to make sure that they have developed the right mentality to cope with the type of challenges that they will encounter in a World Championship before they can be allowed to enter these events.

“And yes, a good attitude saves us from danger”.

The AIMA Team