Statistics for Motorcycle Riders
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Per vehicle mile travelled, motorcyclists' risk of a fatal crash is
35 times greater than a passenger car
to the U.S. National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
in 2006, 13.10 cars out of 100,000 ended up in fatal crashes. The
rate for motorcycles is 72.34 per 100,000 registered motorcycles. Motorcycles
also have a higher fatality rate per unit of distance travelled when
compared with automobiles.
2004, figures from the
for Transport indicated
that motorcycles have 16 times the rate of serious injuries per 100
million vehicle kilometers compared to cars, and double the rate of
A national study by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATS)
Motorcycle rider death rates increased among all rider age groups
between 1998 and 2000
Motorcycle rider deaths were nearly 30 times more
than drivers of other vehicles
Motorcycle riders aged below 40 are 36 times more likely to be
killed than other vehicle operators of the same age.
Motorcycle riders aged 40 years and over are around 20 times more
likely to be killed than other drivers of that same age.
data from the United States reveals that there are over four million
motorcycles registered in the United States. Motorcycle fatalities
represent approximately five percent of all highway fatalities each
year, yet motorcycles represent just two percent of all registered
vehicles in the United States.
80 percent of reported motorcycle crashes result in injury or death;
a comparable figure for automobiles is about 20 percent
of accidents were found to involve a motorcycle and a passenger
vehicle, while the remaining 25% of accidents were single motorcycle
the single vehicle accidents, motorcycle rider error was present as
the accident precipitating factor in about two-thirds of the cases,
with the typical error being a slide-out and fall due to overbraking
or running wide on a curve due to excess speed or under-cornering."
"Almost half of the fatal accidents show alcohol involvement" and
"injury severity increases with speed, alcohol involvement and
the multiple vehicle accidents, the driver of the other vehicle
violated the motorcycle right-of-way and caused the accident in
two-thirds of those accidents.
report's additional findings show that the wearing of appropriate
gear, specifically, helmets and durable garment, mitigates crash
"Vehicle failure accounted for less than 3% of these motorcycle
accidents, and most of those were single vehicle accidents where
control was lost due to a puncture flat" and "Weather is not a
factor in 98% of motorcycle accidents."
"The failure of motorists to detect and recognize motorcycles in
traffic is the predominating cause of motorcycle accidents...Conspicuity of
the motorcycle is a critical factor in the multiple vehicle
accidents, and accident involvement is significantly reduced by the
use of motorcycle headlamps-on In daylight and the wearing of high
visibility yellow, orange or bright red jackets."
Main article: MAIDS
most recent large-scale study of motorcycle accidents is the MAIDS
report carried out in five European countries in 1999 to 2000, using
the rigorous OECD standards,
including a statistically significant sample size of over 900 crash
incidents and over 900 controlcases.
MAIDS report tends to support most of the Hurt Report findings, for
example that "69% of the OV [other vehicle] drivers attempted no
collision avoidance manoeuvre," suggesting they did not see the
motorcycle. And further that, "the largest number of PTW [powered
two-wheeler] accidents is due to a perception failure on the part of
the OV driver or the PTW rider." And "The data indicates that in
68.7% of all cases, the helmet was capable of preventing or reducing
the head injury sustained by the rider (i.e., 33.2% + 35.5%). In
3.6% of all cases, the helmet was found to have no effect upon head
injury" and "There were no reported cases in which the helmet was
identified as the contact code for a serious or maximum neck injury.
Findings on Conspicuity
New Zealand study using data taken between 1993-96 in the city of Auckland,
a "predominantly urban area" (Wells et
supported the Hurt Report's call for increased rider conspicuity,
claiming that riders wearing white or light colored helmets, fluorescent
or reflective clothing or
using daytime headlights were under-represented when compared to a
group of motorcycle accident victims. The accident victims were
those who were killed, or admitted or treated at hospital "with an injury
severity score >5
within 24 hours of a motorcycle crash". Accidents that did not
result in hospitalization or treatment for a critical injury, or a
death were not considered, nor was there any consideration of
involvement of other road users, or culpability. The definition of
reflective or fluorescent clothing was taken to include "clothing or
other articles such as a jacket, vest, apron, sash, ankle or wrist
band, or back pack including stripes, decals or strips". No
assessment of the type (open or full-face) of helmet was undertaken.
Most of the crashes took place in "urban 50km/h speed limit zones
(66%), during the day (64%) and in fine weather (72%)". No
association was observed between risk of crash related injury and
the frontal colour of the drivers' (sic) clothing or motorcycle.
MAIDS report did not publish information on helmet color or the
prevalence of reflective or fluorescent clothing in either the
accident or control groups, or the use of lights in the control
group, and therefore drew no statistical conclusions on their
effectiveness, neither confirming nor refuting the claims of the
Wells report. In each MAIDS case, the clothing worn by the rider was
photographed and evaluated.
MAIDS found that motorcycles painted white were actually
over-represented in the accident sample compared to the exposure
clothing, MAIDS used a "purely subjective" determination of if and
how the clothing worn probably affected conspicuity in the accident.
The report concluded that "in 65.3% of all cases, the clothing made
no contribution to the conspicuity of the rider or the PTW [powered
two-wheeler, i.e. motorcycle]. There were very few cases found in
which the bright clothing of the PTW rider enhanced the PTW’s
overall conspicuity (46 cases). There were more cases in which the
use of dark clothing decreased the conspicuity of the rider and the
PTW (120 cases)." MAIDs concluded that in one case dark clothing
actually increased conspicuity but reported none where bright
clothing decreased it.
Motorcycle Deaths and Veterans
Growing data shows that an alarming number of veterans returning
from combat areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan are
dying in motorcycle related fatalities. Between October 2007 and
October 2008, 24 active-duty Marines died from motorcycle accidents.
There were 4,810 deaths on motorcycles in the U.S. in 2006, an
increase of 5 percent over the previous year, and more than double
(2,161) over the decade before, according to the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In the Marine Corps,
high-speed bikes account for the majority of fatalities. In 2007, 78
percent of motorcycle mishaps in the Marines occurred on a sport
bike, compared to 38 percent nationally
Consequences of Accidents
motorcyclist unbuckles his chin strap in order to remove his helmet
after sustaining a minor hand injury through losing control on a wet
Once the collision has occurred, or the rider has lost control
through some other mishap, several common types of injury occur when
the bike falls:
Collision with less forgiving protective barriers or roadside
"furniture" (lampposts, signs, fences, etc...). Note that when one
falls off a motorcycle in the middle of a curve, lamps and signs
become impossible to negotiate around.
Concussion and brain damage, as the head violently contacts other
vehicles or objects. Riders wearing an approved
the risk of death by 37 percent.Breakage
of joints (elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and wrists), fingers,
spine and neck, for the same reason. The most common breakages are
the shoulder and the pelvis.
Soft tissue (skin and muscle) damage (road
rash) as the body slides across the surface. This can be
prevented entirely with the proper use of motorcycle-specific
protective apparel such as a leather jacket or reinforced denim and
There is also a condition known as biker's arm, where the nerves in
the upper arm are damaged during the fall, causing a permanent
paralysis of arm movement.
Facial disfigurement, if in the absence of a full-face helmet, the
unprotected face slides across the ground or smashes into an object.
Thirty-five percent of all crashes show major impact on the chin-bar
The Hurt Report also commented on injuries after an accident stating
that the likelihood of injury is extremely high in these motorcycle
accidents - 98% of the multiple vehicle collisions and 96% of the
single vehicle accidents resulted in some kind of injury to the
motorcycle rider; 45% resulted in more than a minor injury.
List of motorcycle deaths in U.S. by year
Annual U.S. motorcycle deaths
† some NHTSA lists
‡ some NHTSA lists show 3,714
a list of motorcycle
deaths in U.S. by year from
1994 to 2010. United States motorcycle
fatalities increased every year for 11 years since reaching a
historic low of 2,116 fatalities in 1997, until a decline in 2009.
In nine years, motorcycle deaths have more than doubled.
Since 1980, motorcycle ownership among riders aged 40 and over has
increased dramatically, from 15.1 percent of all riders in 1980 to
43.7 percent in 1998. The mean engine displacement of the
motorcycles involved in fatal crashes has also increased, from an
average engine size of 769 cc (46.9 cu in) in 1990, to 959 cc
(58.5 cu in) in 2001, an increase of 24.7 percent. This
combination of older riders on higher-powered motorcycles may be
partially responsible for the increase in motorcycle deaths from the
late 1990s until 2004.
Half of motorcycle fatalities in single vehicle crashes relate to
problems negotiating a curve prior to a crash—almost 60 percent of
motorcyclist fatalities in single vehicle crashes occur at night.
In 2009, motorcycle fatalities in the US declined for the first time
in 11 years. The yearly total dropped from 5,312 to 4,462.
Automobile fatalities continued to decline for the seventh straight
year. A decline in
recreational motorcycling due to the late-2000s
account for the decrease in accidents, according to the authors of a
report by the Governors
Highway Safety Association, but a State
rights organization, the Motorcycle Riders
Foundation, said motorcycle use appears to have increased,
influenced by motorcycles' better fuel
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