Mary Peters, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation announced that traffic fatalities in the United States dropped to a historical low in 2007.  Specifically, the fatality rate dropped to 1.37 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.  The actual number of traffic fatalities dropped to 41,059, the lowest number since 1994.

While this is good news, the number of motorcycle deaths increased in 2007 accounting for nearly 1 out of every 8 motor vehicle deaths.  Statistically, motorcycle deaths increased from 4,837 in 2006 to 5,154 in 2007, an increase of 6.6% according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report released this month titled, 2007 Traffic Safety Assessment.

A recent NY Times article discussed several theories for the increase in motorcycle deaths including:

1.      an increase in motorcycle registrations,

2.      a decline in states requiring helmets, and

3.      the increase in fuel costs prompting more people to start riding or return to riding motorcycles.

In the Tampa Bay area, although I do not have traffic statistics, our firm has definitely noticed an increase in motorcycle-related traffic fatality cases, which would appear to correlate with the statistical data reported above. 

Although many of the reasons given for the increase in motorcycle deaths may be valid, my own observations indicate that another reason is the negligence of automobile drivers who seem to have difficulty sharing the road with motorcyclists.  Not always the case, but many of the motorcycle injury cases our office has accepted lately were caused by an inattentive car operator rather than any actions of the motorcycle rider himself.