With 2020 ranking as the deadliest year for motorcyclists in documented history with 5,579 riders killed, an 11% jump from 2019, a national safety group is calling for changes to reduce that grim statistic.
“Motorcycles are the most hazardous form of motor vehicle transportation,” Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told US DOT Newswire. The organization is an alliance of consumer, medical, public health, law enforcement and safety groups and insurance companies and agents working together to make U.S. roads safer.
“Per vehicle mile traveled, motorcycle riders were nearly 29 times more likely to be killed in a traffic crash in 2019 than the occupants of passenger vehicles,” Chase said.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety President Cathy Chase.
| Submitted
The Advocates released their report Monday, to mark Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. It said 14% of highway deaths involved bikers.
“This May, Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month comes at a particularly crucial time,” according to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. “Traffic is returning to pre-COVID-19 levels, families are planning for summer road trips, and interest in motorcycling — for commuting and recreation — is seeing strong growth. This means more drivers and riders will be out on the roads this summer.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported more than 82,000 motorcyclists were injured in 2020. The Advocates are calling for changes to reduce the toll, including mandatory helmet use in all states.
“Motorcycle helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 69% and the risk of death by 42%,” Chase said. “Estimates show that helmets save the lives of approximately 1,800 motorcycle riders each year and that nearly 750 more lives in all states could be saved if all motorcycle riders had worn helmets.”
According to Advocates, 18 states and the District of Columbia require all motorcycle riders to use a helmet, while 29 states mandate some riders, including younger people, wear them. Advocates said such age restrictions just make it difficult for law enforcement to determine who should be wearing one.
Three states (Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire) have no motorcycle helmet laws. In 2021 efforts were made in six states with mandatory helmet laws to repeal the law; all failed. A survey shows 80% of people favor mandatory helmet laws.
Helmet use has declined in the last couple years, according to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Riders wearing Department of Transportation-approved helmets was at 64.9% in 2021, a drop from 69% in 2020, 70.8% in 2019 and 71% in 2018. Another 5.7% wore non-DOT-compliant helmets.
Almost all riders in states where helmets are mandatory wore one, according to the report, 95.9%, with 86.1% wearing DOT-approved headgear.
In states where helmets are not required, only 56.9% of riders wore them, with 53.4% using approved ones.
Advocates also want automatic emergency braking (AEB) and other advanced driver assistance systems required as standard equipment in all new vehicles. That would allow drivers to detect and respond to motorcycle riders and other vulnerable road users, the safety group states.
While the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in November requires AEB in new passenger vehicles and large commercial trucks, it is essential that the U.S. Department of Transportation includes protections for motorcyclists and other vulnerable road users in the rules, Advocates argues. Performance standards for antilock brakes on motorcycles would also produce compelling safety gains.
A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that motorcycles with antilock braking systems were involved in 22% fewer fatal crashes than those without this technology.
Chase said if these reforms are put in place, fewer people will die or suffer major injuries.
“For those riders injured in crashes, the repercussions can result in a lifelong, debilitating injury,” she said. “Fortunately, solutions, including all-rider motorcycle helmet requirements and vehicle safety technology to prevent crashes, are available. State lawmakers and the U.S. DOT must act expeditiously to prioritize these lifesaving countermeasures.”
Full 2021 statistics have yet to be released, but NHTSA has released preliminary data on the first nine months of the year. It shows a continued spike in road deaths, with evidence of speeding and increased alcohol use by drivers, but it did not detail motorcycle fatalities.
“A statistical projection of traffic fatalities for the first nine months of 2021 shows that an estimated 31,720 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes nationwide,” the report states. “This represents an increase of about 12% as compared to 28,325 fatalities that were projected in the first nine months of 2020.”
“This is a national crisis. We cannot and must not accept these deaths as an inevitable part of everyday life,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a release. “The good news is we now have a strategy, as well as the resources and programs to deliver it, thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The National Roadway Safety Strategy is America’s first-ever national, comprehensive plan to significantly reduce deaths and injuries on our roads.”
“We have to change a culture that accepts as inevitable the loss of tens of thousands of people in traffic crashes,” Dr. Steven Cliff, NHTSA’s deputy administrator, said. “This will require a transformational and collaborative approach to safety on our nation’s roads.”
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety’s mission is the adoption of federal and state laws, policies and programs that prevent motor vehicle crashes, save lives, reduce injuries and contain costs.
