Motorcycle Fatalities On U.S. Highways Have Doubled In The Last 25 Years. Why?

It’s bad out there for bikers, say authorities.

5,579 motorcyclists were killed in crashes in 2020 in the United States, more than double the number in 1997 and 11 percent higher than in 2019, reports the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety.That 5,579 figure is the highest number of motorcyclist crash deaths in a single year since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began collecting fatal motor vehicle crash data in 1975.

Our entire society is becoming more and more safety-conscious in every way, from cars to home security to requiring I.D. just to enter certain buildings and schools. So why would motorcycle fatalities go UP?

Here are a few reasons.

There are a lot more people on the highway than there were 25 years ago.

In 1997 there were 272.65 million people in America. In 2022, there are around 333 million. Some don’t drive, of course, but many do and the sheer amount of humans on the road means, statistically, more people who don’t signal, don’t pay attention to anything around their vehicles while they drive and create dangerous situations for themselves and everyone they encounter on the road.

Did your ma tell you, “It’s not YOU I’m worried about – it’s all the crazy drivers out there!” Mom was right.

Resistance to helmets

The federal government estimates that wearing a helmet reduces the risk of dying in a crash by 37 percent. Unhelmeted riders are 3 times more likely than helmeted ones to sustain traumatic brain injuries in the event of a crash (NHTSA, 2008).

Yet wearing a motorcycle helmet is not required for drivers over 21 years old in the majority of the United States. No one is anxious to have the government in “every pocket of my clothes,” but you’ll never see a pro biker bare-headed on or off the track when riding, will you? Also, when you take a motorcycle training course, does the instructor tell you to ride while wearing shorts, a t-shirt, flip-flops and no helmet? No. Protect the ol’ noodle and you’re less likely to suffer a catastrophic injury.

Motorcyclists are getting older.

Regardless of how much yoga you do or brown rice you eat, the plain hard fact is that getting older means less time to react on the road. A Brown University study published in 2013 compared the injuries of motorcyclists aged 20-39 years old, 40-59 years old, and 60 years old or older who went to emergency rooms for treatment. While the youngest motorcyclists had significantly more accidents, they suffered less severe injuries:

• Adults 60 years old or older were three times more likely to be hospitalized than the youngest riders.
• Adults 40-59 years old were two times more likely to be hospitalized than the youngest riders.

The study found that the youngest riders were more likely to suffer arm fractures, bruises, cuts, scrapes, strains, and sprains. Older riders were much more likely to suffer chest injuries, head injuries, or internal organ damage—often with fatal results.

Despite statistics, motorcycling remains one of the great joys in life, up there with swimming in the ocean, eating a great meal or sleeping in on a rainy Sunday.

S0 – to all brother and sister bikers of all ages – careful out there.