Recent reports have some good news for motorcyclists in the Los Angeles area. Specifically, the number of motorcyclists who get hurt or die on the roads across the country has been on a steady decline over the last decade or so.
For example, in 2007, there were 5,174 fatalities, but there were almost 1.5 million fewer motorcycles registered for road use as well. The fatality rate for every 100,000 registered vehicles was just a hair over 72.
In 2016, the number of deaths was 5,286, but the fatality rate per 100,000 bikes was just under 61. What this implies is that, overall, a motorcyclist is less likely to get killed in a motorcycle accident should they choose to ride on California’s roads or the other roads of this country.
The injury rate has also declined. In 2007, 103,000 motorcyclists got hurt, meaning there were 1,443 injuries for every 100,000 registered motorcyclists. In 2015, the last year injury statistics were available, there were only 88,000 injuries that were significant enough to get reported. This translated into an injury rate of 1,028 per 100,000 motorcycles.
Although this is encouraging news, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the area of motorcycle safety. For one, judging by the statistics, someone who gets on a motorcycle has greater than a one in 100 chance of getting significantly hurt in an accident. This means riding a motorcycle is still risky, especially when compared to traveling in a car.
While some of this risk is just the nature of riding a motorcycle, in many cases, the reason motorcyclists are more prone to getting hurt is because other motorists are not properly looking out for motorcyclists with whom they are sharing the road. In these sorts of circumstances, the injured motorcyclist or the victim’s family may be able to get compensation for their losses.
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