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By Rick Foster/Sun Chronicle Staff
When Attleboro motorcyclist Robert Lamaire died suddenly following an accident in Easton last weekend, it sent a chill through other local riders -- particularly those with whom he used to befriend regularly outside the North Main Street Dunkin' Donuts in Attleboro.
`` It shocked everyone,'' said Michael Flynn, 45, who like the 50-year-old Lamaire, had taken up motorcycling again recently after a flirtation with two-wheeled vehicles during his youth.
`` Bob was just a good guy,'' he said. `` If you had a mechanical problem with your bike or your car, he'd help you out.''
Lamaire, died Monday, two days after he crashed his motorcycle on Route 138 in Easton. The driver of an automobile that had been in the vicinity said she witnessed the crash.
The circumstances surrounding Lamaire's accident are murky.
According to Easton Police Chief Thomas Kominski, an investigation is still in progress to determine the cause of the crash, in which police also interviewed the driver.
The motorist, a 20-year-old woman from Brockton, had made a left turn on Route 138 and told police she noticed a motorcycle in distress in her rear-view mirror. The driver, who stopped at the scene of the accident, said she did not cause the crash.
`` She felt that her vehicle had nothing to do with it,'' Kominski said.
There was no contact between Lamaire and the woman's auto, Kominski said.
One thing is certain, however. Lamaire, 50, is the latest victim of a worrisome chain of deaths among older motorcycle riders nationwide.
Both in the Attleboro area and throughout the country, riders 40 and older are showing up ever more frequently as victims of fatal cycle crashes.
In the Attleboro area, where there has been a spate of motorcycle fatalities in the past year, victims have been evenly split among young cyclists and mature riders.
E In March, Taunton resident Kurt Dufresne, 50, was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle and grazed a utility pole on Phillips Street in Attleboro. A witness said the rider appeared to lose control after taking his hand off the controls to wave at children.
E In May, Attleboro resident Russell Choiniere, 45, died when his motorcycle crashed off South Main Street near the Dodgeville Mill and struck a line of boulders.
E Two other area fatalities this year, one in Franklin and another in Attleboro, claimed the lives of two young adults.
Nationally, the trend is even more striking.
According to figures compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of motorcycle riders 40 to 49 years old involved in fatal accidents ballooned 140 percent from 1997 and 2004 to 971 deaths -- almost a quarter of all victims.
In addition, the number of riders ages 50 to 59 who were involved in fatalities skyrocketed more than 200 percent.
The largest number of motorcycle deaths annually is still among riders ages 20 to 29.
Traffic and safety analysts say that the rise in deaths among mature operators parallels a trend in which thousands of older riders, often with empty nests and disposable income, are rediscovering their love for motorcycles.
In the last 10 years, U.S. motorcycle registrations vroomed from just under 4 million to almost 6 million. But between 1990 and 2003, the percentage of motorcycles owned by people 40 and over has surged from 40.7 percent to 63.4 percent. By contrast, riders aged 25 to 29, who used to represent the single largest motorcycling age group, have dwindled to just 7.6 percent.
Motorcyclists and safety experts differ over the causes behind the upsurge in fatalities, citing everything from inattentive automobile drivers who fail to pay attention to the presence of motorcycles to overconfidence by cyclists equipped with powerful machines, but little training.
Cyclists often complain that automobile drivers don't give them room, fail to see them or cut them off, causing riders to take sudden evasive action.
Flynn says such encounters are frequent.
`` Sometimes I'll be riding, and the car behind me will be almost up to the back tire,'' he said. `` If I suddenly had to slow down, I'd get hit.''
According to the latest statistics, about 55 percent of fatal motorcycle accidents also involve another vehicle.
`` In about two-thirds of those cases, the automobile driver is at fault,'' said Mike Mount, a spokesman for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, which promotes rider education through a system of novice and `` seasoned rider'' motorcycle courses.
But while careless drivers in cars or trucks may constitute part of the problem, motorcycle education experts say riders also have a responsibility to anticipate problems on the road.
`` Sure you can say, `Hey, he cut me off,''' said Joseph Proia of Ironstone Ventures, a large motorcycle training school that provides classes at Seekonk Speedway. `` But if you've got a Dunkin' Donuts down the road, you have to anticipate that there are going to be cars turning in and out.''
That can be a particular problem for older riders, who may not react as quickly or see as well as some of their younger counterparts -- especially at night.
Proia said he sees many older riders taking up riding or re-entering the motorcycle fraternity after having not motorcycled for many years.
Often such students present themselves as `` experienced,'' even though they have not ridden for a decade or more.
Such overconfidence can be poisonous to mature riders returning to a world with greater traffic congestion, more powerful machines and greater hazards than they may have been used to in the past.
`` Older riders forget how to ride, as much as they say they haven't,'' Proia said.
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