Motorcycle Safety

GHSA Policies & Priorities

Motorcyclists are over-represented in traffic crashes. Coupled with the greater vulnerability of the motorcyclist, this represents a serious highway safety problem. Hence, GHSA encourages funding for development, implementation, and evaluation of statewide comprehensive motorcycle safety programs. At a minimum, these programs should address rider training, protective gear use, impaired riding, operator licensing, motorist awareness and conspicuity.

Motocycle Helmet Laws

GHSA urges states to support the use of DOT-approved helmets by motorcycle riders of all ages, oppose efforts to repeal their universal motorcycle helmet laws and adopt motorcycle helmet laws for all riders. States should vigorously enforce their motorcycle helmet laws to ensure that motorcyclists are not using helmets that do not meet DOT-approved standards.

Motorcycle Operator Training

All states should require motorcycle operator training for minors, novice and re-entry riders by qualified instructors.

NHTSA, along with motorcycle organizations and other stakeholders, should develop a model motorcycle operator training program and quality control guidelines for instructors, deploy them at selected locations and then evaluate their effectiveness. Once the model curricula and instructor guidelines are complete, then states are encouraged to use them. States should also examine their motorcycle crash data to determine if the model training program should address specific state problems by emphasizing certain situations or skills. States should be encouraged to enhance their training.

Impaired Motorcycle Programs

Impaired motorcyclists are a substantial proportion of total motorcycle fatalities and injuries. States should develop and implement programs for the impaired motorcyclist that include enforcement, sanctions (including fines and vehicle sanctions), and publicity about the enforcement effort. States are also encouraged to develop, deploy and evaluate other initiatives that discourage drinking and riding.

Licensing of Motorcyclists

All states should require motorcyclists to obtain a motorcycle operator license and endorsement before they ride on a public highway. In order to obtain the license, motorcycle operators should be required to pass knowledge, skills and vision tests unless the motorcyclist can demonstrate that he/she has completed a stateapproved operator training program. States should actively enforce their motorcycle operator licensing laws.

NHTSA, along with motorcycle organizations and other stakeholders, should develop a model motorcycle operator licensing and testing program that includes graduated licensing for motorcyclists. NHTSA should ensure that this program measures the minimum skills and knowledge needed for safe riding and should evaluate its potential impact on crashes, fatalities and injuries. Once completed, states should be encouraged to implement the model program statewide, periodically evaluate its effectiveness, and modify the program as necessary.

Motorcycle Awareness Programs

States should undertake awareness programs to promote motorcycle helmet use, publicize state motorcycling licensing laws, discourage impaired riding, and encourage the use of protective and conspicuous clothing as well as increased conspicuity of the motorcycle. Additionally, states should undertake public information campaigns to raise motorists’ awareness about sharing the road with motorcycles and should ensure that novice driver education and training courses include instruction on sharing the road with motorcycles.

Motorcycle Research

NHTSA should conduct a study on the causes of motorcycle crashes so that effective countermeasures can be developed and implemented.

Reports and Analyses

According to 2005 data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), total traffic deaths in the United States in the last ten years have increased by 2 percent, while motorcycle rider deaths were up by 80 percent as compared to 1995. Motorcycle fatalities have increased each year since reaching an historic low in 1997.

Using data available through FARS, the Federal Highway Administration and the Motorcycle Industry Council, NHTSA published a paper analyzing how demographic changes in motorcycle ownership, rider age and motorcycle engine size have affected motorcycle crashes. The changes in behavioral issues among age groups relating to motorcycle riders in crashes (like alcohol involvement, speeding, helmet usage and licensing) were also analyzed.

Some interesting observations emerged:

  • The number of registered motorcycles has been increasing, particularly in the on-highway category with a larger engine size. Between 1995-2004 the cumulative increase in the number of units sold is almost 128 percent. In 2003, nearly 4 million on-highway motorcycles were licensed.
  • Crash data parallels registration data, showing a greater number of motorcycle rider fatalities involving a motorcycle with a larger engine size. The mean engine displacement has increased from 841 cc in 1995 to 1,015 cc in 2004. The data indicates a rise in the average age of motorcycle rider killed and greater involvement of motorcycles with larger engines in fatal crashes.
  • The greatest increase in ownership has occurred in the 40 and above age category, which has also experienced the greatest increase in rider fatalities. The average age of motorcycle operators has increased every year since 1995. The mean age of a motorcycle owner in 1990 was 33.1 years, compared to 38.1 years in 1998 and 40.2 years in 2003.
  • Among the fatally injured motorcycle operators, one-fourth were improperly licensed. From 1995 to 2004 the percentage of fatally injured motorcycle operators who were properly licensed has increased steadily. In 2004, the percentage of properly licensed motorcycle operators fatally injured in crashes reached an all time high of 75 percent, an increase of 12 percentage points compared to 63 percent in 1995. Still 25 percent of the operators killed in 2004 were riding a motorcycle with an improper license, by definition.
  • Helmet use among fatally injured motorcycle riders in crashes has remained the same, above 50 percent for the last ten years. During the past decade states have begun repealing mandatory helmet use by all riders, in favor of requiring helmet use only for a specific segment of riders (typically those under 18 years of age).
  • Speeding is decreasing but continues to be a significant contributing factor in motorcycle rider fatalities. A crash is considered to be speeding-related if the driver was charged with a speeding-related offense or if an officer indicated that racing, driving too fast for conditions, or exceeding the posted speed limit was a contributing factor in the crash. The percent of motorcycle rider fatalities in crashes where speeding was recorded as contributing factor decreased by 6 percentage points from 43 percent in 1995 to 37 percent in 2004.
  • Motorcycle operators with Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher continue to be a major problem. The percent of fatally injured operators who had been drinking actually declined by 8 percentage points, from 42 percent in 1995 to 34 percent in 2004. However, a majority of operators killed who had been drinking were intoxicated with a BAC of .08 or higher. In 2004, there were 1,264 operators killed that had been drinking (BAC >.01), of which 1,025 (81 percent) were intoxicated (BAC .>08). Even though alcohol involvement among operators is declining, there is still an underlying problem because of the high proportion of operator fatalities with BACs over .08.

State Responses

States can use these types of data to help them find the right mix of rider education, enforcement and laws to decrease deaths and injuries resulting from motorcycle crashes. Current state approaches to address motorycle safety include:
  • Mandatory rider education courses
  • Special endorsements on driver licenses
  • Reducing the number of impaired motorcyclists
  • Increasing motorist awareness of motorcycles
  • Increasing helmet use through education and/or legislation