Everything You Need to Know This Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month

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The month of May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. As such, federal and state traffic safety organizations and traffic law enforcement agencies are making it a point to raise awareness about how to safely maneuver the motorcycle on the road. This national initiative does not only cater to riders, but also to motorists in general who share the road with the former.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is once again spearheading this awareness campaign. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has expressed his optimism with it, saying that safe riding and cooperation among all road users must be increased to essentially reduce the number of deaths and injuries in U.S. roadways.

Aside from the NHTSA providing pointers to both motorcyclists and motorists on how to share the road with each other, the federal traffic safety agency is also raising awareness about how dangerous motorcycle accidents can be. These include statistics and other vital information with regard to such unfortunate occurrences.

Here are some them:

• NHTSA statistics for the year 2011 showed that 4,612 motorcyclists died on U.S. roadways. This was a 2-percent increase from the previous year. Said figure accounted for 14 percent of all highway deaths. Per vehicle mile, it is said that motorcyclists are 30 times more likely to get killed in a crash than vehicle occupants, and 5 times more likely to get injured.
• The primary cause of death of motorcyclists in the U.S. is head injury. This is due to the lack of helmet usage. With helmets, the estimated number of lives saved, according to the NHTSA, was more than 1,600 in 2011.
• Another common cause of accident deaths involving motorcycles is alcohol consumption. About 42 percent of motorcycle riders who died in single-vehicle crashes in 2011 had blood alcohol concentration levels of 0.08 or higher. Said percentage was the highest among any other driver. In addition, the likelihood of injury or death in alcohol-induced motorcycle riding is greater at night than during the day.

These important pieces of information would benefit a lot of motorcyclists in avoiding accidents on the road. Meanwhile, every Los Angeles motorcycle attorney is hoping that awareness of safely motorcycle riding must not only observed this month, but all year round as well.