Yamaha Venture Royal

Motorcycles: Danger on 2 wheels

Ten years ago, James Burth almost was killed in a motorcycle accident.

He was riding home to Poland from Rotterdam around 10:30 p.m., cruising along on his Honda Goldwing on Route 5S near Fort Plain, when a car turned in front of him.

At least that’s what he was told when he woke up in a hospital.

“I don’t have any memory of it whatsoever,” said Burth, 68.

It’s hard to say exactly how many people will be out riding this summer, but according to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, there were more than 314,000 motorcycles registered in the state last year, and slightly fewer than 8,000 were in Oneida County.

There aren’t very many motorcycles involved in accidents compared to the overall number of licensed drivers (more than half a million outside New York City) and registered vehicles, but when there are, it can be tragic.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2007, motorcyclists were 37 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in an accident and nine times more likely to be injured.

In Burth’s case, he learned about his close call with death from investigators. He was told that he T-boned a Pontiac Grand Am that turned left just in front of him. The windshield, he was told, ripped his scalp off above his eyebrows as he was ejected from the bike.

The back of his helmeted head struck a guiderail where he landed 85 feet away. His skull was cracked, he had a severe brain injury and a knee was shattered.

It was so bad, a helicopter was called in to fly him to Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown.

“I spent the whole summer in the hospital,” Burth said. “About a month after that I could get on the bike again.”

He estimates he’s logged another 100,000 miles on a motorcycle since the accident, and hasn’t had another since. Maybe it’s because it’s been so long since that night, maybe it’s Burth’s understated sense of humor, but ever since the accident he said he’s been “a stickler for safety.

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