Accident types?

[Horse]

Are there any nationally-gathered, or State by State motorcycle crash statistics published in the USA which detail crashes by accident types (single vehicle loss of control, right of way violation, overtaking, etc.)?

 

Either by Govt. or other research?

 

If so, has a comparison been down to see how those have (if they have) over the years?

 

Some UK stuff:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme5/indepthstudyofmotorcycleacci4784

 

Which also shows how the type of crash vary by time of day, and day of the week.

[Woodie]

Good, clean data? Nope.

 

There may be localized info (from state DOTs), but nothing with decent quality that I've heard of or seen.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has some stuff here.

 

A more detailed analysis of their data from 1994 is here; includes a breakdown of fatal accidents by type of accident.

[Albert]

By the way Blighty, given those statistics if I were you I'd stay off of the motorways on Tuesdays around 5 er, sorry Killer, around 17:00.

[pmdave]

Motor vehicle statistics in the USA are gathered by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis--part of NHTSA under the Department of Transportation. Try http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.a0bd5d5a23d09ec24ec86e10dba046a0/

 

Fatal accidents are collected in the Fatal Accident Reporting System, where states contribute data to the feds.

 

There are some special motorcycle reports attempting to describe what's happening and outline the government approach to solving the problem. Try www.nhtsa.dot.gov and you'll find access to a whole boatload of reports such as "motorcycle safety program" "Fatal Single Vehicle Motorcycle Crashes", or "motorcycle crash facts"

 

Most states also have websites for motor vehicle statistics, often found as "traffic crash facts". Try the state name plus .gov and look for "motorcycle". For instance, Washington just completed a study last fall. Sometimes the motorcycle statistics are stuffed into columns within motor vehicles.

 

You should not be surprised to discover that the state numbers do not exactly match the federal numbers for that state. The folks who attempt to decipher the numbers have different methods and rules, and sometimes different needs to prove something.

 

Personally, I'm suspicious of anything from the IIHS, which is the insurance/safety arm of the auto industry. They have historically had a very anti-motorcycle bias. Thomas Hadden, when president of the IIHS, suggested that one way to reduce the problem of too many "at fault" auto drivers crashing into motorcyclists would be to simply outlaw motorcycles.

 

Be forewarned that rooting around in crash/fatality statistics is like stumbling around in summertime Alaska muskeg without a map. There's so much data that it's easy to get totally lost, stung, and maybe sucked under, and very difficult to figure out where you are and what it all means.

 

The people who collect the statistics (much of it comes from state and local accident reports) and factor the statistics are often not motorcyclists, so they may not realize the importance of noting the circumstances rather than simplistic stuff like speed or helmet compliance. IOW, the reports might indicate that the rider was wearing a helmet and speeding, but not whether he/she had taken a training course, or the rider's experience level.

 

Although the "Hurt Report" (funded by NHTSA back in the 1970s) is awfully long in the tooth, it does contain some useful observations. There is finally a new study underway for NHTSA, but the rules of crashes and privacy within the USA have changed so much over the years that it's very difficult to get useful information about background crash history.

 

Over the past several years USA motorcycle fatalities have been rising faster than registrations. Why? One hot rumor is that certain brands of motorcycles are over-represented in fatal crashes. I can't seem to track that one down. And even if it proved to be true, then what? I have my suspicions about the whole thing, and I can't avoid noting that the rise in the fatality rate started just about the same time the MSF converted to the BRC curricula (which I think is severely "dumbed down")

 

Let us know if you discover anything you believe is important.

 

pmdave

[peterh]

This link (http://www.umich.edu/news/) will take you to a recent study regarding accidents in Michigan as reported by a transportation research group at Ann Arbor's local university. The study is rather superficial, and the overall conclusions are weak, but the study does break accidents down by type.

 

Peterh

[Horse]

There was the "Hurt Report" that was done years ago. Do a Google search. I'm sure you'll get a bunch of hits.

 

I qualified as an MSF instructor (MRC & ERC) in 1994 - so I have a fairly good idea of how far-reaching it was.

 

 

Thanks for all the other information, folks.

 

I'm intrigued as to whether you have the same general 'split' of crashes your side of the pond as we do.

 

Developing that further, I'd love to know how (if?) that division has changed over the years.

 

As one poster pointed out, info recorded may vary, and in the UK although there have been a number of studies they've tended to be regional (so varying in road type urban/rural) and have used different categorisations of the crashes themselves.

 

Thanks again, plenty of searching to do!

[ScooterCop]

http://www.nysdmv.com/Statistics/2004NYS_MotorcycleSummary.pdf

[Horse]

http://www.nysdmv.com/Statistics/2004NYS_MotorcycleSummary.pdf

 

Thanks!