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Motorcyclist deaths declined by about one percent in 2019 compared to the year before, according to the preliminary numbers recently released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Deaths declined slightly more among most other categories of road users.
Every year, NHTSA issues a preliminary estimate of traffic deaths in the spring and follows up with a more detailed report in the fall. While the spring numbers are mostly just the headlines, and we have to wait until later to get any real insight, the preliminary numbers suggest the trends remain the same: A decline in overall traffic deaths with motorcycle fatalities also slightly declining or staying flat in some recent years.
| Preliminary estimate of 2019 road user deaths | |
|---|---|
| Category | Change from 2018 |
| Motorcyclists | -1 percent |
| Pedestrians | -2 percent |
| Bicyclists | -3 percent |
| Car drivers | -3 percent |
| Car passengers | -4 percent |
The early estimate from NHTSA is that 36,120 people died in traffic crashes in 2019, a reduction of 440 or 1.2 percent from the previous year. That was despite an estimated 0.9 percent increase in vehicle miles traveled.
Motorcyclists usually account for about 14 percent of U.S. traffic fatalities, even though — by some estimates, anyway — motorcycles cover just 0.6 percent of the vehicle miles traveled. As we reported last year when talking about the final NHTSA statistics, however, even the federal agency itself admits that its VMT statistics for motorcycles are not reliable.
That was then, but what about now, in the pandemic?
Perhaps the more interesting question is one that won't be answered with any detailed statistics for quite some time. How will the sweeping changes brought about by the coronavirus pandemic affect motorcycle fatalities? In Washington state, officials recently told a local television station that 20 riders have died so far this year, including 12 in April, compared to 13 by this time last year. And last year was a bad year for motorcycle deaths in Washington with 92, the most since the early 1980s.
Emptier roads are luring some people out to ride — and drive — and often at higher speeds than would normally be possible. The California Highway Patrol reported an 87 percent increase in the number of tickets issued for speeding above 100 mph in the first month of California’s stay-at-home order. That was both in spite of and partially because of the much lighter traffic on California highways. Drivers and riders used to being stuck in traffic were taking advantage of wide-open roads. Other states, from Minnesota to Virginia, have also reported increases in triple-digit speeding tickets.
In Georgia, a local police department showed a photo of a radar gun reading 172 mph. Police said that's the speed a motorcyclist was doing on an empty road. The rider got away. In Nebraska, a state trooper tried to stop a motorcyclist he'd clocked at 117, but the rider fled, hitting 170 mph during the pursuit, according to police. The rider crashed and was apprehended when he slowed down for an exit ramp.
The 2019 report on fatatlies coming later this year will be interesting. The 2020 report should be even more interesting.
