Sep. 20--James D. Livingston drove his motorcycle everywhere in all kinds of weather. Cold or hot. Wet or not.

It was a clear, pre-dawn April morning when a driver pulled in front of him on Missouri 210. Livingston didn't have a chance, Kansas City police said. He slammed into the side of the sport utility vehicle. It was like hitting a brick wall.

Livingston died at age 41 -- and became part of a disturbing trend.

In the last five years, the number of motorcycle fatalities has doubled in Kansas City and across Missouri, even as overall traffic accidents and deaths have fallen steadily. The trend has played out across the country as well, with dramatic increases in bikers injured and killed in the last decade, one national expert lamented just last month.

In Missouri, motorcycle wrecks account for nearly 11 percent of all traffic fatalities despite making up only 1.6 percent of all traffic accidents. The toll last year: 107 dead, more than 2,100 injured.

In Kansas, deaths doubled from 2004 to 2006 but have dropped slightly since.

Already this year, Kansas City has recorded 10 fatalities, the same as all of last year and more than twice that of 2007. Victims have included brand-new riders and experienced ones, from age 26 to 56. One man was a former minor-league football player. Another worked at the Harley-Davidson plant in Kansas City, North. Some were parents. At least one was engaged to be married.

State officials and Kansas City police say they aren't sure why bikers are dying in increasing numbers. But police think contributing factors include:

--The number of motorcycles registered in Missouri jumped more than 20 percent in 2008, with at least 10,000 more bikers on the road. The rate of death, however, outpaced the influx.

--New riders may have avoided taking the recommended eight-hour training course to save money, in part because of the bad economy. The classes can cost about $200.

--Milder weather in recent summers may have brought more motorcyclists outside.

--More cell-phone calls and text messages could be districting more drivers of other vehicles.

Whatever the reason, Kansas City police think lives could be saved if more drivers watch more carefully for motorcycles and more motorcyclists get better training.

A collision that would be a fender bender between two cars can turn into a fatality for motorcyclists because they don't have a vehicle surrounding them for protection, said Kansas City Police Sgt. Bill Mahoney, who investigates the city's most serious wrecks.

"As a motorcyclist, you're only as safe as the drivers around you," Mahoney said.

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Livingston had been riding his Harley consistently for more than three years to save money on gas. Before that, he had ridden off-road motorcycles.

Livingston's sister Julia McDonald doesn't think her brother ever took an official training course, but his motorcycle buddies told McDonald that Livingston was the safest biker in their group.

Livingston moved to the Kansas City area in 2007 to live with his sister in Oak Grove after a divorce. He worked in a rural town until late 2008, when the struggling company cut his hours. He got a job as a machinist and began commuting to North Kansas City.

His route took him down Missouri 210 -- a roadway that his motorcycle buddies told him to avoid. McDonald never knew why.

"It's as straight as straight can be," she said.

On April 15, about 5:35 a.m., a 46-year-old woman leaving a parking lot pulled out her vehicle in the darkness in front of Livingston at Arlington Road. She told police she didn't see him. They cited her for failing to yield.

Police found no fault with Livingston.

"There's not a lot you can do if a driver pulls out right in front of you," said Jay Atkinson, a sergeant in the Kansas City Police Department's motorcycle traffic unit.

In this year's fatal Kansas City wrecks, the motorcyclists were at fault about half the time, according to police reports. Some of the bikers were speeding or passing improperly or were inattentive. One man was riding an unfamiliar motorcycle.

Some of the riders had licenses to drive motorcycles; others did not. Two had suspended or revoked licenses. It appeared that all were wearing helmets, although police were unsure in one case.

Drivers of other vehicles caused some of the crashes. In one case, a driver clipped the back of a motorcyclist near Westport Road and Southwest Trafficway and kept going.

The impact sent Chad McCurdy into a pole, where he hit his head and died. The former art student had just finished his first day of work at a new restaurant, where he hoped to gain expertise in wine. He wanted to become a sommelier.

McCurdy, 32, had professional motorcycle training and had ridden for 17 years with no wrecks.

Two months after the fatal crash, McCurdy's mother still struggles to understand how someone could knock her son off the road and drive away.

Police are still looking for the hit-and-run driver.

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Officers eager to ride motorcycles for the Kansas City Police Department weaved around small orange cones last week at the police training academy driving track as instructors monitored their speed and stability.

Motorcycle safety experts and police highly recommend that new riders take a course that teaches methods to avoid collisions.

Atkinson, who helps teach Kansas City police officers to ride motorcycles, said he thinks many motorcyclists die for one reason: They don't practice "countersteering."

Motorcyclists often try to steer away from an obstacle, but that can send the motorcycle directly into the object that the rider was trying to avoid, Atkinson said.

When you're going faster than 12 mph, "It's the opposite of how you ride a bike," he said. "Whichever way you push, that's the way you're going to go."

Kansas City police officers who want to join the motorcycle traffic unit must complete an 80-hour class and also ride 160 hours with a training officer.

The training has the reputation for being the hardest of all the specialized training in the Police Department.

At one session, an officer from an outside agency crashed and broke his jaw, leg and collarbone.

"He spent two days in intensive care," Atkinson said. "But the next year he was all healed up, and he came back and passed the course."

Five Kansas City officers have survived wrecks this year.

Atkinson said he teaches riders that they must act as if they never have the right of way and never have the green light.

"You just drive like you have invisible paint on you," he said. "You can't expect other drivers to see you."

The U.S. Marine Corps embraced advanced training last year after realizing that more Marines had died from motorcycle wrecks from October 2007 to September 2008 than while fighting in Iraq. The corps also developed an edgy educational video. After that, deaths decreased nearly 50 percent.

Gail Worth, the owner of Gail's Harley-Davidson in Grandview, agrees that new riders should train in a professional course instead of thinking their friends can teach them.

Riders also should not buy a motorcycle that's too big or too fast for their skill level, she said.

Police said they had noticed two high-risk groups among motorcyclists: older riders who think they know everything about safety and young riders who feel the need for speed.

"What's a 20-year-old going to do with a bike that goes 180 mph? They're going to try to ride at that speed," Atkinson said. "At that point, you're just riding a bullet, hoping it goes where you push it.

"People feel safer than they really are."

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Chad McCurdy's parents visit his grave in Ottawa, Kan., every day.

They used to enjoy riding motorcycles together as a family, but after the hit-and-run driver killed their son in July, Randy and Gwynn McCurdy said they don't think they'll ever ride motorcycles again.

Randy McCurdy asked a friend to store the motorcycle he had owned for 15 years.

"I didn't want to look at it," he said. "I can only imagine what my son went through."

Gwynn McCurdy wonders whether her son died instantly or suffered any pain. She wishes she could have been there to comfort him.

"The thought of what happened to him is too strong," she said. "I'm afraid that's all I would see, rather than the fun and joy we used to have."

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SAFETY TIPS FOR MOTORCYCLISTS

--Take a professional training course.

--Avoid riding in inclement weather if possible.

--Slow down in darkness, on curves and on unfamiliar roads.

--Don't change lanes on a curve.

--To avoid excess dirt, gravel and oil that may accumulate in the middle of the lane, ride where most vehicle tires touch pavement.

To reach Christine Vendel, call 816-234-4438 or send e-mail to cvendel@kcstar.com. Source: Kansas City Police Department

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Copyright (c) 2009, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

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