Motorcycle fatalities up from 2009 to 2015 according to NHTSA

If you had to guess, how many motorcycles do you think are out on the roads in the United States every year? Would you say a couple million? Maybe 3 million? It is likely that many people would underestimate the number, which now stands at 8.6 million motorcycles (both personal and commercial in nature) out on the road in 2015. Six years prior, there were 8 million motorcycles out on the road.

With all of these motorcycles out on the road, it is only a matter of time before some of them get into accidents. According to crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 4,976 people died in motorcycle accidents in 2015, with another roughly 88,000 people suffering injuries. Oddly enough, the fatality rate reflected a massive jump compared to the 2009 number (up 8.3 percent from 4,594 fatalities), but the injury rate went down (by 4.3 percent from roughly 92,000 injuries).

One of the biggest statistics to come out of all this data though is that roughly 40 percent of the motorcyclists that were killed in accident in 2015 were not wearing a helmet. Every motorcyclist should wear a helmet. It is the first line of defense for your body, and one of the few pieces of safety equipment that can actually protect you when you go down in a motorcycle accident.

Motorcyclists are in a vulnerable position out on the road. They will do their part to stay safe. Drivers of other vehicles need to do their part too.

Source: iii.org, “Background on: Motorcycle crashes,” Accessed Jan. 26, 2018