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Making Sense of the Fatality Data, a One Page Summary

One Page Summary, Compare 1990s to 2000s

2012 SMSA Presentation "Measuring the Danger of Driving Motorcycles and the Effectiveness of Motorcycle Safety Programs in the USA"

A. Percentage Licensed: 78% of the Motorcycle Drivers killed annually in the USA have a Valid motorcycle license.
3105 Licensed Motorcycle Driver Fatalities out of 3965 Total Motorcycle Driver Fatalities
Most motorcycle drivers in the USA experiencing fatal collisions are licensed.
Licensed riders are at risk.

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B. Relative Danger: 20% of all drivers killed annually (including passenger vehicles)
in the USA were driving a motorcycle, although less than 1% of all drivers using the roads are driving motorcycles.
3,965 Motorcycle Driver Fatalities and 15,921 Passenger Vehicle Driver Fatalities.
Motorcycle Drivers are excessively over-represented in the fatality data. See below "Checking the numbers".
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C. Fatality Rate: The average Motorcycle Driver Fatality Rate for the USA is 12.8 Motorcycle Driver Fatalities per Million Population. This is significantly (83%) higher than the previous average Fatality Rate of 7.0 fatalities per million during the mid 1990s. (Compare this to the decrease [-14.8%] for passenger vehicles over the same periods.)
3965 Motorcycle Driver Fatalities and Population 309 M. Using this population method of motorcycle driver fatality rate is useful for evaluating state motorcycle safety programs, as well for state to state comparisons.
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It must be emphasized that motorcyclists are excessively over represented in the fatality data. Motorcycle Vehicle Miles Traveled (about 12 Billion Miles per year) represent a very small fraction, less than 1%, of Passenger Vehicle Miles Traveled (about 3 Trillion). If driving motorcycles had a similar danger as that of driving passenger vehicles, then it is reasonable to expect motorcycle drivers to represent less than 1% of the fatalities. Motorcycle Drivers killed represent an incredible 20% of drivers killed! You can check this number yourself, see below "CHECKING THE NUMBERS".

CHECKING THE NUMBERS:
The hardest part of checking is getting used to counting so many passenger vehicles. To practice, just count passenger vehicles next time you get a chance. For example, count the number of passenger vehicles you see on the way to work. Once you get good at counting passenger vehicles, you can add counting motorcycles.

There is 1 motorcycle driver killed for every 4 passenger vehicle drivers killed. If the risks were the same, we would only be able to count 4 vehicles before we saw a motorcycle. If motorcycling were twice as risky, we would count 8 vehicles before we see a motorcycle. If it were 3 times riskier, 12 vehicles, and so on. See how easy it is to count over 40 passenger vehicles before you see a motorcycle! (If you can count 40 vehicles before you see a motorcycle, then it is more than 10 times as dangerous.)

You, and your friends and kids can verify the ratio of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) by counting vehicles as you travel anytime in any area. (This is not recommended if you are driving a vehicle. You can be a passenger, or be a stationary observer of a road or intersection.)

Copyright (c) 2000-2012 National Motorcycle Training Institute
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Page edited 04.21.13