Miami Accident Lawyer Blog
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has declared the month of May to be Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, in an effort to encourage motorists to be mindful of motorcyclists while simultaneously encouraging motorcycle safety. Our Miami motorcycle accident attorneys wish everyone in the state to exercise safety when going out for a ride.
According to NHTSA statistics, in 2012, 4,927 motorcyclists were killed in traffic crashes, a continued increase from 4,630 in 2011. The 2011 deaths accounted for 15 percent of the total highway fatalities that year, despite motorcyclists representing only 3 percent of all vehicles on America’s roads.
As this blog has discussed before, motorcycle accidents are particularly dangerous due to the limited amount of protection they provide to riders compared to more traditional modes of transportation such as cars and trucks. Motorcycles are also far less visible in traffic than cars, resulting in an increased risk accident. One report concluded that the risk of a motorcyclists’ likelihood of being killed in a traffic accident is sixteen times that of the driver of an automobile.