MOTORCYCLIST FATALITIES

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MOTORCYCLIST FATALITIES
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Summary

• Motorcycle fatalities have been rapidly
  increasing over the past 10 years, from 28 in
  1997 to 80 in 2006, a 185.7 increase!
  Preliminary 2007 numbers do show a dramatic drop
  from 2006, down to 69, a 13.8 decrease. The
  fatality rate per 10,000 registered motorcycles
  shows a similar pattern- from 2.94 in 1997 to
  4.22 in 2006, a 43.5 increase.
• The largest majority of motorcycle fatalities
  occurred on rural county roads (25.2), followed
  by rural highways (23.4), and urban city streets
  (22.3).
• Over one-third (35) of motorcycle fatalities
  occurred during July and August alone, the peak
  riding season. The summer months, June through
  September, comprised 60.5 of all motorcycle
  fatalities.
• Males comprised an even larger majority of
  motorcycle fatalities than they did in overall
  fatalities. On average, from 1997 to 2006, 89.7
  of motorcycle fatalities were male. In 2006,
  males comprised 96.3 of the fatalities.
• Unlike other traffic safety measures, with
  motorcycle fatalities, 40 year-olds comprised
  the largest majority of the fatalities (48.3),
  while those 30 and under comprised only 32.1.

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Summary continued...

• Whites have the highest number of motorcycle
  fatalities and also the highest fatality rate,
  with 1.05 deaths per 100,000 population, followed
  by Blacks with 0.89.
• The majority of motorcycle deaths occurred during
  the daytime hours (6 AM to 559 PM). The time
  frame with the largest percentage was between 2
  PM and 559 PM, with 29.6.
• Similar to overall drivers involved in
  fatalities, the top two driver errors for
  motorcyclists are speeding and impaired driving.
  Of all motorcycle drivers involved in fatal
  collisions from 1997 to 2006, 49.6 were speeding
  compared to 25.2 of all drivers, and 44.7 were
  impaired compared to 29 of all drivers. Also,
  only 14.4 of motorcycle drivers were not cited
  for errors, compared to 30.8 of all drivers.
• Of those motorcycle drivers tested for alcohol,
  36.6 had a BAC greater than zero, 30.6 had a
  BAC greater than or equal to the legal limit of
  .08, and 17.5 had a BAC of .16 or greater, twice
  the legal limit.

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Excludes cases with unknown functional
classification.
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Driver Errors As indicated on the police
accident reports. Investigating officers can
input up to four driver errors for each driver
involved in a fatal collision. No errors
indicates the driver was not committing any
traffic offense when the collision occurred,
implying they were not at fault in the collision.
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Summary- County Level

• The five counties with the largest number of
  motorcycle fatalities from 1997 to 2006 were King
  (24), Pierce (12), Snohomish (10.2), Spokane
  (5.1), and Whatcom (4.5). However, these
  counties tend to have a large number of
  vehicle-miles-traveled and as a result did not
  have the highest fatality rates. Counties with
  the highest motorcycle fatality rates per
  registered vehicles (though they have low numbers
  of fatalities) were Ferry (58.82), Garfield
  (45.05), and Skamania (41.69). In contrast, King
  county had a motorcycle fatality rate of 3.67,
  Pierce a rate of 5.14, and Snohomish a rate of
  3.66. The counties with the largest proportion
  of motorcycle fatalities were Skamania (32.1),
  Ferry (23.1), Whatcom (14.5), Chelan (12), and
  Jefferson (11.9).
• When comparing average rates from 1997-2001 to
  2002-2006 averages, several counties experienced
  dramatic increases or decreases in their
  respective rates. Counties with the largest
  increases were Okanogan (467.6), Skamania
  (466.5), and Clallam (238.7). Counties with
  the largest decreases were Lincoln (100),
  Garfield (100), and Douglas (67.2).

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