Motorcycle Fatalities on the Rise

June 2007

Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show a deadly trend in motorcycle fatalities – in just one year from 2004 to 2005, motorcycle deaths rose by 13 percent in the United States. And in the ten years from 1995 to 2005, fatalities from motorcycle accidents more than doubled.

In 2005, 4,553 people died in motorcycle crashes. The NHTSA estimates that nearly one out of every six of those lives could have been saved if riders had been wearing helmets. In Pennsylvania, almost half of all bikers that died in crashes in 2005 were not wearing a helmet.

Over one out of every four motorcyclists fatally injured in 2005 had blood alcohol content (BAC) above the legal limit. Nearly the same amount of fatalities included a motorcycle operator with an invalid license at the time of collision.