The Department of Transport (DoT) recently revealed some frightening information about motorcycle accidents.
The DoT report showed that 4,612 bikers were killed in 2011. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NTHSA) has stated that this is a 2 percent hike in fatalities from 2010. Motorcycle collisions are becoming more frequent as larger numbers of drivers opt to reduce gas consumption by buying motorcycles to ride to work.
Across the nation, motorcycles only make up about 3 percent of all registered vehicles on the roads. However, bikers are involved in a shockingly high number of accidents. Just slightly more than 50 percent of all fatal motorcycle accidents resulted from a biker colliding with another vehicle. In 2011, more than 42 percent of bikers died in two-vehicle crashes. Thirty-eight percent of those collisions occurred when another vehicle turned left in front of the bike.
Not all accidents are the result of inattentive driving. The NHTSA’s figures for 2011 show that 35 percent of the deaths were caused due to bikers speeding.