Safety Breakdown: How Dangerous Are Motorcycles?

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that passenger vehicles are much safer than motorcycles. The adrenaline-driven desire to generate higher speeds and the lack of safety equipment leads to tragic fatality and injury statistics for motorcycle riders. Studies have confirmed that passenger vehicles provide superior safety to their occupants.

These studies involve analysis of fatality statistics, medical costs and physical damage to the operator. Most passenger vehicles have the upper hand in weight and are often equipped with effective safety entities like antilock brakes, airbags and seatbelts.

The occupant fatality rates are much higher for motorcycles. In 2010, as seen in the infographic, the total number of fatalities for crashes involving cars in the United States was 22,263, while the total for motorcycles was 4,309.

Although motorcycle crashes only account for around 16.2 percent of the casualties, this number is astoundingly high when the number of motorcycles sold in the United States is compared to the number of cars sold.

The percentage of occupant fatalities in accidents involving a motorcycle and a passenger vehicle is another revealing statistic. Ninety-eight percent of motorcycle occupants die, while only 2 percent of occupants in passenger vehicles die. This is largely due to the safety entities of passenger vehicles.

And more important than these numbers is the impact of the results on families. There are parents, brothers and sisters that will never come home again. Athletes will never be able to reach their dreams and blue collar workers won’t be able to provide for themselves and their families. Lives are shattered.

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It is important to know these statistics, and if you decide to purchase a motorcycle, obey the laws and ALWAYS wear a helmet. Wearing a helmet that meets the Department of Transportation (DOT) standard is the best way of preventing injury and death from motorcycle accidents.

Safety Breakdown

Infographic presented by Sutliff & Stout Accident and Injury Law Firm: Houston’s premier motorcycle accident lawyers.

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