U.S. motorcycle fatalities keep trending upward

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued motorcycle fatality statistics for 2021 that showed 5,932 deaths, the fourth consecutive year of increases. (NHTSA has also issued preliminary figures on overall traffic deaths in 2022 showing a 0.3% decrease from 2021, but those are not broken down by types of vehicles, so we don't yet know if 2022 continued the deadlier trend for motorcyclists.)

NHTSA noted that the number of motorcycle deaths in 2021 is the highest number since 1975! Yesterday I wrote about the big changes that have happened in the 15 years of RevZilla's existence and was surprised how much has changed. But the changes since 1975 are astounding.

In the 1970s, motorcycling was booming as the Japanese companies expanded the market and Baby Boomers embraced riding in their younger years. Even safety-minded riders likely wore no more protective gear than a very basic open-face helmet, a leather jacket, work gloves, and boots, none of it with protective armor and probably none of it, except the helmet, even designed with motorcycling in mind. Tires and brakes offered a fraction of the grip and stopping power provided by today's radials and disc brakes. The 1970s streets were swarming with new riders on less capable motorcycles and yet as many of us are dying today as back then.

Even looking at a shorter time frame, over the past 10 years, NHTSA says the number of registered motorcycles on U.S. roads is down slightly, the estimated number of vehicle miles traveled is also lower, but fatalities are up more than 10%.

We motorcyclists are human, too, so as humans we naturally want to blame someone else. We rant about "cagers" not paying attention and cell phones and car infotainment systems and vision-impaired Teslas running over us while their "drivers" nap. And all those things are true, to some extent. But it's also true that we are often our own worst enemies.

It's not the first time I've reported it, but one of the most serious but also easily avoided road hazards is the rider drinking. NHTSA said 29% of the 2021 fatalities involved a rider who had been drinking alcohol. That number tends to jump up and down year to year, and 2021 was one of those years with a big jump up. If you look at more in-depth statistics from past years and narrow it down to riders who died in single-vehicle crashes at night or on weekends, almost half were drinking. In my opinion, this is just a long-standing problem, not a trend, but it's a problem that's easily avoided.

We've written multiple articles on how to improve your survival odds, from listing the most common mistakes street riders make to providing expert safety tips to giving advice on how to ingrain good habits to make performance riding easier. But still one of the most common ways we kill ourselves is very easy to avoid. Here's a thought: If motorcycling is so boring to you that you need a drink to enjoy the ride, maybe it's not the right hobby or mode of transportation for you.

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