Motorcycle Deaths the Highest in the Last 20 Years

Although motorcycle manufacturers struggled to develop new safety features meant to prevent and minimize the consequences of impacts, motorcycle accidents exploded over the last few years. Unfortunately, recent figures show that all these efforts aiming to reduce the number of deadly crashes were useless, with no less than 33 deaths this year, all of them recorded on Utah highways. Officials say that this is the highest number of accidents since 1980 when 44 crashes were reported.

"While it is true that motorcyclist deaths are the highest in the last 20 years, the early 1980s saw higher numbers of deaths. In 1980 there were 44 motorcyclist deaths,” Gary Mower, a research analyst for the Utah Department of Public Safety, was quoted as saying by Salt Lake Tribune.

The number of motorcycle accidents followed a decreasing trend since 1980, with 42 reports in 1981, 39 in 1984 and 37 crashes recorded in 1985.

However, the growing motorcycle popularity over the last few years also raised the number of accidents, the aforementioned source added, with no less than 31 deaths reported in 2004. This represents an average of 7.6 accidents per 10,000 registered motorcycles, “the highest in the last five years,” Salt Lake Tribune wrote.

A few days ago, motorcycle manufacturer Honda unveiled a new inter-vehicle communication system which gathers details on potential road dangers and sends warnings to approaching riders. This way, riders are notified about the risk of accidents before reaching the affected location, allowing them to reduce the speed and prevent impacts. Moreover, US motorcycle authorities are aiming to change the local legislation and introduce new tests to verify the helmet performance.