subject: Percentage of Motorcycle Accident [print this page] Percentage of Motorcycle Accident Percentage of Motorcycle Accident
Compared to other vehicles, motorcycles have a higher number of fatalities per units of distance driven. A study done by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that for every 100,000 motorcycles, 55.82% were involved in fatal crashes, but for every 100,000 cars, this number was only 18.06%. In 2004, 4008 motorcycle riders were killed in accidents, which represents an 8 percent increase over the total in 2003.
These deaths represent 5 percent of total highway fatalities in the United States, but the 4 million registered motorcycles in America only account for 2 percent of all vehicles. One main reason why the fatality rate with motorcycles is so high is that the occupant is tossed clear; the motorcycle cannot protect him or her. This means that in 80 percent of motorcycle accidents, injury or death results, whereas this occurs in only about 20 percent of car accidents.
According to The Hurt Report, a study conducted in Southern California on motorcycle accidents, three-quarters of accidents happened to involve another vehicle, which was usually a car. The rest of the total accidents involved the motorcycle colliding with a stationary object. In about 3 percent of these cases, vehicular failure was the major cause of the accident, usually stemming from a punctured tire that caused the driver to lose control and be involved in a single-vehicle wreck. In 2 percent of cases, the road itself was to blame, due to defects such as potholes or ridges. In 1 percent of accidents, there was an animal involved.
Single-vehicle accidents usually involve an error in judgment on the part of the rider. According to The Hurt Report, this is the case about two-thirds of the time. The most common errors involved sliding and falling due to overbraking, or taking a curve too widely at a high speed, or under-cornering.
Multiple-vehicle accidents, in two-thirds of the crashes, were caused by the other driver violating the right-of-way of the motorcycle. This is usually because the driver either did not see the motorcyclist before the crash, or saw the motorcycle at a point where it was too late to react. In almost half of all multiple-vehicle accidents, the driver's view was obstructed by other vehicles or glare.
Very rarely, wrecks can be caused by the other driver deliberately seeking to harm the motorcyclist.
