Motorcycle Serious Injuries and Fatalities on the Rise

On this Georgia Injury Lawyer blog, our attorneys have previously written about motorcycle accidents involving serious injury or wrongful death. Based on the rise in the number of serious injury and death claims our firm is handling at present, our firm’s experience mirrors what the statistical evidence indicates: These tragic cases are on the rise.
The National Center for Statistics and Analysis, a division of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), keeps statistics for motorcycle accidents each year. NHTSA also uses a Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) to track data on fatalities on a nationwide basis. What this information shows is that for the last several years there have been approximately 75,000 motorcyclists annually injured in collisions throughout the United States. Included in this number, of course, are fatalities. Regrettably, the number of fatalities is now upwards of 4,000 motorcyclists killed each year. What is disturbing about these numbers, however, is the national trend upwards. As an example, ten years ago, in 1997 there were only 53,000 motorcyclists injured in collisions and only 2,116 killed. In 2007, by years end, the number of fatalities may be close to double this number. While this may reflect the popularity of motorcycles in general and the increasing number of riders, it also continues to show that riding on a motorcycle can be dangerous, particularly for drivers 50 years of age and older. Indeed, the older the driver the more likely it is that the rider will die if involved in a motorcycle accident. This seems to be common sense because the health of an older rider might not be as robust as it would be for a younger person, therefore, the older rider is not as likely to survive serious injuries as a younger person would be.
Our attorneys currently are handling three death cases involving motorcyclists. In these cases what we see is that the accident was not caused by the motorcycle rider at all but instead by a third-party who simply pulled out in front of the rider and failed to yield such that the motorcycle rider could do nothing to avoid the accident. Thus, what we see is that even in cases where the motorcycle rider is exercising due care for his safety, nonetheless, a serious injury or fatality can occur.
According to the government’s statistical data, about half of all motorcycles involved in a fatal crash collided with another vehicle. A little over a third of the cyclists died while speeding which is approximately twice the rate for drivers of passenger vehicles or light trucks. A fair percentage of the accidents also involved some alcohol involvement. (Obviously, it makes no sense to drink and drive in any vehicle much less a motorcycle.) Those killed where they may have been drinking or speeding or in some sense negligent themselves are statistically less in number than those who were not negligent at all.
Because there is so little protection afforded to the rider of a motorcycle other than a helmet, obviously, safety must ever be foremost in the rider’s mind. Regrettably, the cases that we are currently handling have occurred in situations where notwithstanding excellent safety precautions by the motorcycle rider, nonetheless, a death occurred. In short, like any other activity, motorcycle riding involves risk, some of which can be avoided and some which cannot.
It is always sad to confer with clients who have experienced the tragic loss of a loved one due to the negligence of a third-party particularly where the decedent or the seriously injured individual was completely innocent in the premises. Nonetheless, our civil justice system still remains the best avenue of relief and some measure of justice for the victims of these tragic occurrences. While we continue to hope that cases of this nature will decline in numbers, statistically, it appears that they are on the rise. It goes without saying, therefore, that all riders, regardless of age, should be extremely careful.