USA Today

A quick research with current available tools:       

The 100$ question, should the system protect us from ourselves or do we truly have freewill and choice?

Sports Risk Comparison – Analytical Summary

This document summarizes peer-reviewed and medically validated data comparing fatality and severe-injury risk across youth sports in the United States.

Key Data Sources:

• NCAA Injury Surveillance Program (ISP)

• National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research (NCCSIR)

• NEISS Trauma Database (CPSC)

• Level I Trauma Center outcome studies

• Epidemiological studies on motocross and off-road motorcycling

1. Injury Rates per 1,000 Athlete Exposures

— Motocross: 20–30 (highest measured in youth sports)

— Wrestling: 9–15

— Ice Hockey: 8–9

— Football (HS): 4–12

— Soccer: 4–8

— Basketball: 4–7

— Baseball/Softball: 1–4

2. Fatality Trends (Annual, Youth)

— Motocross / Dirt Bikes: 6+ per year (under-reported)

— Football (all levels youth/HS): ~1

— Cheerleading: <1

— Ice Hockey: <1

— Baseball: <1

— Soccer: <1

3. Hospital Admission Rates (Severity)

— Motocross: 22–31% of ER cases require hospitalization

— Hockey: 5–7%

— Football: 3–5%

— Soccer: 2–4%

— Baseball: 1–3%

4. Severe Trauma Incidence (ISS ≥16)

— Motocross: 9–14%

— Hockey: 1–2%

— Football: 0.5–1%

— Skiing/Snowboarding: 1–3%

5. Why Motocross Ranks Highest in Combined Risk

— High velocity (25–80 mph) + high mass

— Multi-impact potential (initial crash + other riders)

— Mixed-age/mixed-skill riding environments

— Delayed EMS response at many tracks

— Lack of standardized national reporting

Conclusion:

Across all analytical datasets, motocross consistently ranks as the highest-risk youth sport in the United States for fatality rate, severe trauma, and hospitalization percentage. Football, while widely considered dangerous, has significantly lower fatality and severe-injury rates compared to motocross.

This document is intended to provide a clean, shareable overview grounded in verifiable medical and epidemiological research.

He used to be on here and go after anyone with opinions about the sport he did not like.  In my case he had my deleted even though I never broke any rules.  All I did was point out things that should be corrected or things we as a group could do to improve safety.  Now, remember this year at LL a rider hit a tree! Yes, a tree. They cut down the tree that night I think, but don't you think they should had looked at the track and thought to themselves it might had needed to be cut down before the racing?  We have all been at a track and seen a dangerous situation unfolding and then someone gets badly injured and then the track owner goes and fixes the situation.   Why reactive?   Why not proactive and make sure stupid things do not happen in the first place.   I am not talking about racing incidents of two riders of same skill and size coming together.............that is an accident.   I am talking about the things we have all seen for ourselves and we knew someone was going to get hurt and then they did.  The crazy part is the track owner is hurting their customers and thus hurting their future income.  

For me, this is the grey areas that are hard to reconcile.
Grey meaning; In between a pure accident / tip over with really bad luck / outcome and a tractor crossing during a race.

Every single AMA event states at the riders meeting (paraphrasing here) "Mx is inherently dangerous, if you feel unsafe with anything, please come get a refund right now"

I'm not attacking you here, or saying you are necessarily in the wrong... But we all need personal accountability.

If they ever tried dropping a women's class before one of my pro motos, I would like to think i would have thrown a royal fit...
"Hold on here, lets re-think this..."

Same with the finish line.
If "everyone knew", why didn't anyone say anything?

Maybe us riders need to unite more often if we all feel the same way.
Like, look - Were not racing until you modify this track exit...

Back in the day... LOL (90's) I can think of a couple times off the top off my head that i talked wit a promoter about unsafe jumps and then was granted permission to hop in a machine and fix them.  Highly unusual, but if we don't speak up, nothing happens, and then bad happens.

If ol' Rich Taylor "knew that berm was so dangerous" - why didn't he speak up and stop his families participation?
Grey areas - personal responsibilities....

We all used to walk the track in the morning.
Now, everyone want to pretend to be Jett doing all the jumps on the opening lap of a SX practice.
But even they walk the track!!!!

Just some thoughts for all of us to consider here...

Going 18+ will save local motocross!   Spectators like fast racing, big jumps, and crashes.
Having 75% of the program kids paddling their bikes around like the flinstones is boring and repels spectators. 
 

what is the flag football version for motocross?

BMX Racing  

I feel like this article may have been sponsored by the NFL..... ;-(

Kids 1-19 top causes of deaths PER YEAR....This is average!.. Don't be argumentative for a particular year plz.  

1- Firearm Injuries – ~4,000–4,700 per year (depending on the year and exact age band)

2- Traffic Vehicle Crashes – ~3,500–4,000 per year

3- Drug poisoning/overdose – ~1,700+ per year

4- Cancer – ~1,600–1,900 per year

5- Suffocation – ~1,400 per year

6- drownings at - ~1,056 youth/year . Recent CDC analyses and reviews of pediatric drowning data below

            46.4% of those deaths occurred in pools, hot tubs, or spas

            32.9% occurred in open water (lakes, rivers, ponds, etc.)

            But hey! that's only 79.3% (!). How did the remaining 20.7% drown???

Just drowning is about ~25,000 since 2000!!  A far cry from the 158 kids since 2000, a number that is still way too much, yes. 

While it is super, super sad to lose friends and our kids doing the sport we love so much, I believe if most of our kids survived the gun/Commuting/Drug/poisoning/Cancer/Suffocation/drowning statistics/and more, the odds for them to pass from riding are very minimal. 

Before you sell your kid's bike,  sell your boat &  bury your pool & SPA  (you see how I clearly stay away from Guns discussion? ;-) 

Anyway, this is my once-in-a-Super Moon post, to which I will not comment any further.

But did they mention the 2$ plaque you could potentially win? 

Really wish people would stop copy/pasting these long ass AI answers. If we want to talk to AI we'll go there ourselves. Use your own brain and make a comment.

I'd say 95% of the spectators at a local race are parents and family of kids. And at least 70% of registered racers are less than 18. 

Local racing will die immediately without kids.

That was a hard read. 

Can’t lie though, that article was researched incredibly well and put together nicely.

They made some good points regarding track safety…

Who wrote it isn’t the point though. It’s an issue (track and rider safety) than can no longer (or should be) be avoided.   Whether anyone likes it or not, tracks need more safety precautions and better safety protocols.  

Now that these issues are coming to the forefront, the AMA, MX Sports, and local tracks better take note. Because if they don’t, it’s going to spell trouble for the sport as a whole. 

RIP to the moto brothers and sisters who lost their lives doing what they loved. 

 

I wonder what Davey Coombs and Carrey Coombs did when they read that article 😳😳 must have been freaking out 

Oh brother..give me a break 🙄

Parents don't count as spectators.

I'm seeing it more like car racing, or demo derby, or rodeo.............people actually pay to watch because it's exciting. 

 I've heard MX tracks with big spectator base used to exist in the US!  But that was before there were 300 classes at every event.

I can feel my local race track insurance going up along with my blood pressure. I'm sure insurers already factor it in now, because it's their business to have the data, but yet another reason they can use to raise rates.

And local communities rallying anew against tracks to close them down. 

It is a matter of common sense.  Expert men should not be gate 2 to women who are on gate 1.   If the track owner is the expert of owning and running a track, then that should never happen.   It did and it went horribly wrong.    A track exit should not be on the landing of a finish line 90 ft jump causing some riders to cross jump and slow down on the landing when faster riders are coming by. I have been to so many tracks where they have a Vet practice class, yet they let 20yr olds buy a ticket to ride in that class?   It makes no sense to have a Vet class if you are going to let young guys ride in it.  There is a reason why Vet riders want their own class.  That is the point.............tracks should do things for safety and then police it correctly.   Kick people out if they break the rules even if you have to.   Safety should be the most important function of the track owner on ride days. 

I'm not sure I know anyone that has raced moto that hasn't had a concussion. Every single rider that I know (dozens, over 100?) has had at least 1. It's my biggest concern for my son (he's 19) as I know he's had at least 5 between ages 7 and 18, along with the bruised spleen, broken collarbone, broken arm, and other, smaller injuries. And we buy the best helmets and change them every time they take a big hit. I've had at least 4 myself from moto. No idea what this will do when I am 75, or he is 60. Edit - article states "Those crashes lead to concussions, musculoskeletal injuries and fatal internal bleeding, said Charles Jennissen, an Iowa pediatric emergency doctor who specializes in off-road vehicle injury research." Boy howdy I can vouch for that in my small world of 2 (formerly active) racers. We've obviously not had a fatal, but the spleen could have been and the last one with the broken arm was frightening due to the speed of the crash. I was unsure what I'd find when I got to him and I've never been so scared.

I do think we are seeing more, bigger injuries and deaths in the last 10 years as bikes have gotten so powerful, and the highest levels of the sport take so much more speed/risk to be competitive. Tracks have changed so that 100ft doubles are not uncommon and kids see the fast guys make them, and they want to do it too. Every track in the PNW has had issues, insurance rates are soaring, and some (PiR) now can only get insured through the AMA underwriters. 

I hate to be pessimistic and doom/gloom but I think moto's days are numbered for many of the reasons above, and many others. 20 years from now who knows? I do know I will still be riding my 2 stroke classic street bikes and keeping the sound/smell alive. Well, maybe not. In 20 years I'll be 82. 

This is not the type of mainstream attention our sport needs! It was a very well written and and researched article but not necessarily all the facts were given, just simply that some of these accidents had occurred because of the rider  own negligence and taking unnecessary risks! Which inherently makes our sport look bad! For instance if I remember correctly one of those deaths at perris in 2001 was due to the rider not turnin  his gas on and the bike bogged over a double.

I think a lot of us here can agree that something should be done. I don’t know what that something is but when 50s can hit jumps most of us that grew up in the 80s-90s would never dream of hitting on big wheel 80s….something needs to change 

Except "safe version" BMX is significantly more hazardous than "dangerous version"  tackle football.

There is no Dave Mirra of flag football.

I don't understand what the big deal would be with AMA safety standards for practice days that are actually enforced regarding flagging, objects near the track, separating big bikes and little bikes etc. Track owners tend to freak out when these things are suggested. You can't open a swimming pool for example and just have no rules.

The sheer amount of idiocy I have seen in track design and other stuff over the years is amazing. Like an unattended track with not even a paper arrow to show direction, just asking for a head-on collision.

If Dave Mirra had stuck to racing instead of freestyle his life would have probably turned out different. 

The AMA needs to use that track visual for each race IMO. That's awesome!

Ok, then. There is no Connor Fields of flag football.

Shocked it took this long for a major news organization to pick this up after years of the powers that be of this sport bury their head in the sand after every amateur death and do nothing…

I literally copied this exact portion of the article to post it here, because fuck man. 

The fact is, the sport is too dangerous. I quit racing in 2011 so my kids would. They were both just doing it locally for a recreational activity, and had plans for college. Once they graduated from college, got married etc I started up again.

The question is how do you fix it? Government isn't a solution. Of course we need to do the obvious like not entering the track with a dozer but from my own research and experience that's not the majority of incidences. I'm under the impression insurance companies already do inspections. 3 deaths that occurred when I was at the track would likely have been mitigated by more protective gear. I don't want to insinuate anyone, especially the parents, did anything wrong, as I said previously the gear has improved since then. One of the deaths where my kids were working the track and I wasn't there was a rider unfamiliar with the track mistaking a berm for a jump. It was hot, it was a vet race, he must have gotten disoriented, he launched way off the track too high and too fast for him to land. Was it heat stroke, fatigue, whiskey throttle, or a concussion from earlier in the day? I don't know, regardless I don't know how you stop those kind of occurrences. Some level of risk is inevitable. For anyone under 18, I'd advocate for some minimum gear requirements but more importantly peer pressure to use it. For adults, let them decide their own risk vs reward level.

MIPS/6D style helmet

Torso protection

Neck brace

Boots

Goggles

Hip pads need to improve. Seeing my son spend months in a wheelchair recovering from major pelvis damage from a crash that wouldn't have been that severe had he not been occupying the space between his bike and the ground have me thinking there is room for improvement.

It's worth noting that my other sons worst two injuries were the dreaded scaffoid and MCL. Both occurred in high school wrestling.

This article is one tough to refute statement after another.  

I have a 9 year old daughter who rides a 65 and I’m constantly rethinking how much time I want to see her spend in this sport…this article makes me feel neglectful as a parent honestly which sucks because I love moto so much.

BMX Racing is a different sport than freestyle BMX.

BMX racing is pretty much flag footbal motocross.