NEW YORK, N.Y. -- City hospitals are seeing a spike in emergency-room visits by motorcycle and scooter riders as more commuters turn to two wheels to beat the gas crunch.

"I am going to be operating on three patients this week from motorcycle accidents," said Dr. Dean Lorich, associate director of orthopedic trauma surgery at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and the Hospital for Special Surgery.

"It's quadrupled in the last four weeks to two to three a week, compared to one big one a month during the summer."

More and more inexperienced riders are pushing up the casualty figures, according to Lorich.

Statewide, registrations of motorcycles have jumped 13 percent, from 256,571 in 2004 to 291,396 as of June 2008. Registrations in the five boroughs grew from 26,798 in 2004 to 30,592 in June 2008.

"If I had to give you an explanation for the increase in motorcycle accidents, I'd say it's primarily due to inexperienced riders not going through the proper training courses that are available," said Robert Goldman, head of the metro New York chapter of the American Motorcycle Association.

"They are getting onto bikes for economic reasons to save money on gas. Then they put themselves into situations that they are not prepared for."

Motorcycles average more than 40 mpg, with many models getting up to 60 mpg, and motor scooters can get anywhere from 75 to 100.

Republished with permission of The New York Post.