Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Public safety:

Motorcycle fatalities projected to rise in Nevada

Report says motorcycle deaths expected to see a slight dip nationwide

Crash Test Conference

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

A crash test dummy flies off a motorcycle after slamming into a car during live, full-scale motor vehicle crash testing at the ARC-CSI Crash Conference at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Monday, May 24, 2010.

Click to enlarge photo

Investigators upright a motorcycle as they investigate a fatal accident between the motorcyclist and a school bus on Sahara Avenue by Knudson Middle School Monday, May 3, 2010. Police said the bus ran over the motorcyclist after the collision. No other injuries were reported. No children were on the bus, police said. Traffic on Sahara was closed in both directions during the investigation.

A national report released this week says motorcycle fatalities have likely fallen in the last year — but not in Nevada. And transportation safety experts are worried about some other trends they are starting to see.

The Governors Highway Safety Association, a non-profit group representing state highway safety offices, released the report Tuesday saying motorcycle fatalities dropped nationwide at least 2 percent in 2010.

The report is based on preliminary data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Exact numbers of traffic fatalities won’t be finalized for months.

The report estimates that motorcycle fatalities nationally will be 4,376 or fewer in 2010, while in 2009 there were 4,465 fatalities.

Nevada had a 2 percent decrease in deaths in the first 9 months of the year, the report says, but more recent data from the state Office of Traffic Safety indicates that the final number of deaths for the year may have risen slightly.

The office said the current count of motorcycle fatalities in Nevada is at 43 for last year, although that number could change as officials finish their investigations.

While well below some other years, the number is the nearly identical to 2009, when there were 42 motorcycle fatalities in Nevada.

And while the total number of traffic fatalities has fallen so far this year, there have been a dozen motorcyclist deaths in Nevada — double the number in the same period last year.

Nationally, the slight decline in deaths isn’t cause for celebration, the national association said.

The decline is far less than the 16 percent drop in 2009 and may signal a shift back to the prior trend of increasing motorcycle fatalities.

Prior to 2009, there was an 11-year streak of increases in motorcycle deaths, and 2010’s numbers are still among the highest in the past three decades.

“Active motorcycle safety measures likely will be needed to prevent motorcyclist fatalities from rising in 2011,” the report said. Those measures should focus on increasing helmet use, reducing alcohol impairment, reducing speeding, and providing motorcycle operator training, the report said.

The report said officials are especially concerned about a decline in the use of helmets last year. A separate study released in December by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association said helmet use dropped to 54 percent in 2010, the third lowest rate in 15 years, and well below 67 percent in 2009.

The new report said helmet laws are the only motorcycle safety measure with a five-star effectiveness rating.

Nevada is one of 20 states that require all motorcyclists to wear helmets, but lawmakers in Carson City are considering removing that requirement. The helmet report did not give information by state.

The number of fatalities for Nevada are low enough that the change could be a fluke, officials said, but they reflect concerns that Nevada is backtracking on traffic safety.

The number of all types of fatal traffic accidents hit a high of 427 in 2005, but then the numbers began to decline and by 2009, there were just 243 traffic deaths in the state.

Last year, however, the number of deaths went up to 256. It’s a slight increase but still a cause for concern among traffic officials.

John Johansen from the Office of Traffic Safety warned that the numbers always vary from month to month and year to year, and it’s important to look at longer trends.

The report suggests there may be an increase in motorcycle ridership because of the struggling economy and rise in gasoline prices, a concept supported by Erin Breen of UNLV’s Safe Community Partnership.

Breen, who advocates for traffic safety measures, said Las Vegas has especially struggled with reducing pedestrian and motorcyclist fatalities. “Motorists aren’t looking out for them,” she said. “We have motorists in this town that don’t watch what they are doing.”

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