Major findings at a glance
By GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
Heather Wines, Gannett News Service
Motorcycle safety instructors run through drills in Manassas, Va., during a refresher course offered through APEX Cycle Education.
Gannett News Service analyzed federal data on fatal motorcycle accidents and found that the national death rate from motorcycle crashes began rising after 1995, when the federal government stopped penalizing states without mandatory helmet laws.
The GNS analysis and information from other sources shows:
• In 1996, 5.6 motorcyclists were killed for every 10,000 registered motorcycles on the road. By 2006, the rate had risen to 7.3.
• About 42 percent of motorcycle riders killed in accidents between 2002 and 2006 were not wearing helmets.
• In raw numbers, the annual death toll in motorcycle crashes rose from 2,116 in 1997 to 4,810 of 2006.
• The proportion of older riders killed also has increased. Riders 40 and older made up 47 percent of those killed in 2006, up from 44 percent in 2002. The percentage of fatally injured motorcyclists age 50 or older also increased — from 21 percent in 2002 to 24 percent in 2006. The average age of motorcyclists killed in accidents is about 38.
• Two decades ago, 47 states required helmets for all riders. Today, only 20 do. Twenty-seven states require helmets only for younger riders. Three — Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire — don't require helmets at all.
• As states repealed helmet laws, the percentage of riders who wore helmets began dropping. In 1994, when the federal government still penalized states without helmet laws, 63 percent of riders nationwide wore helmets. By 2006, that had dropped to 51 percent.
• States with some of the highest fatality rates in 2006 were concentrated across the Southeast. Some of these states require all riders to wear helmets, but they also have long riding seasons that expose bikers to more risk over time.
• Half of motorcyclists killed between 2002 and 2006 lost control and crashed without colliding with another vehicle, underscoring the inherent risks involved in riding a motorcycle.
Motorcyclists account for about 2 percent of vehicles on the road but 10 percent of all traffic fatalities, according to federal statistics.
• When a motorcyclist did collide with another vehicle, the biker hit the other vehicle — rather than getting hit by it — nearly three quarters of the time.
• Neither urban nor rural areas account for a big majority of fatal crashes. About half happen in the city, half in the country.
• A consistently large majority of those killed — about 90 percent — were men.
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Originally published March 26, 2008
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