Causes of Motorcycle Accidents
November 13, 2008 @ 12:17 AM — by unknown
Any auto accident has the potential to result in injury, but accidents involving motorcycles are even more likely to have devastating consequences. This is because motorcycles, by design, offer less protection than other motor vehicles. Even with motorcycle helmet laws in place, motorcycle riders are particularly vulnerable to injury or death in the event of an accident. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 5,154 motorcyclists were killed in auto accidents in 2007, more than double the number that had been killed just ten years earlier.
By far, the most common cause of motorcycle accidents is collisions with passenger motor vehicles, accounting for approximately three-fourths of all motorcycle accidents, according to a study conducted by Harry Hurt at the University of Southern California and funded by the NHTSA. In the majority of these collisions, the operator of the passenger vehicle was at fault; in most cases, the at-fault driver either f