Going into May, I think we officially have the riding season of 2024 upon us! It seems about time. May is in fact Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, and I think we need to do our part to help promote that within our riding community. With some warmer stints of weather through the late winter months, followed by more cold and dreary weather, it seems mother nature was properly confused, but hope that is behind us now.
With the earlier days of warmth, people got out and about, and sadly we have already lost a number of riders this season. It is painfully obvious that no one cares to watch out for us out on the roads, so we must be wary of the common causes of motorcycle crashes and fatalities and take an active part in our own safety. Knowledge is key, and I feel that we need to all know more about what is happening, take our safety into our own hands, and not just make the blanket statement that it is automatically the drivers of vehicles that cause all of the crashes, because that simply is not the case. Don’t get me wrong, shitheads in vehicles do cause us issues, I have been the victim of that myself, but that is not the only cause of motorcycle traffic crashes.
Here is some data from the USDOT:
- 6,218 motorcyclists were killed in traffic crashes in 2022, which represents 15% of all traffic fatalities.
- The fatality rate for motorcyclists was 22 times more than the passenger car occupant fatality rate in 2022, per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.
- 35% of all motorcycle riders involved in fatal crashes in 2022 were speeding, compared to 22% of all passenger car drivers. Motorcycle riders 21 to 24 years old involved in fatal crashes had the highest speeding involvement at 51% in 2022.
- Of the 2,254 motorcycle riders who died in single-vehicle crashes in 2022, 42% were alcohol-impaired.
Just from these few statistics, it appears that a considerable number of the crashes involved riders that were speeding or impaired. That is significant from a statistical basis, and also, a couple of the things that we as riders can do to help curb the incidence of crashes and fatalities. Slow it down and be wary of riding or riding with people that tend to become impaired. The two things can combine and be exponentially more problematic for those that ride that way, and anyone around them.
Other things that we can do are to make sure that we have and are riding with people that are properly trained and licensed to ride motorcycles. NHTSA also has documented that thirty-six percent of motorcycle riders involved in fatal crashes in 2021 were riding without valid motorcycle licenses. If you don’t have a license, go get one. If you are new to riding, or need a refresher, go take a riders education course. Education is the one thing in this world that the government cannot take away from you, so learn as much as you can, and in this case, learning more about riding and being safe on two or three wheels could save your life!
On top of being responsible riders and stewards of a safe motorcycle community, we can also reach out to the other aspects of users of the roads, and encourage them to watch out for motorcycles. Especially here in the month of May, there will be plenty of “watch for motorcycle” and “distracted driving kills bikers” types of messages and images on social media. Feel free to snag those and share the hell out of them!
If we work at being safer ourselves, and work at spreading the word of watching for us on two wheels, hopefully the motorcycle community can suffer fewer losses this year doing what we love.
For this month of May, we have also added the Thunder Roads Magazine of Iowa Bike Night list inside the back end of the magazine. Then on the next page is the always present Thunder Roads Magazine of Iowa Event List. If you know of anything to add to either one of these lists for confirmed bike nights or events, please email the information to
Ride safe, ride often, rinse and repeat!
Vernon